Negotiating meetings contracts and finding available meeting
space have increased slightly in difficulty over the past six months, according
to survey of 90 travel buyers by Maxvantage, a combined effort of American
Express Business Travel and Maritz Travel.
The survey, released on Monday, indicated that 60 percent of
buyers sense gradual improvement and stability in the meetings industry. As
such, buyers say they are facing a slightly more challenging negotiating
environment since Maxvantage conducted a similar survey in December 2009.
Of buyers surveyed, 37 percent said finding availability was
more difficult than it was six months ago, compared with 18 percent who said so
in December.
Additionally, 30 percent said negotiating lower rates was
more challenging, compared with 18 percent in December. Half the buyers said
the ease in finding space and negotiating lower rates had not changed in the
past six months.
Maxvantage also released hotel data also showed that group
hotel rates had begun to stabilize during the second quarter, compared with
2009. On a market-by-market basis, however, some rates increased considerably
while others continued to decrease.
Rates were up in Phoenix and Chicago, by 21 percent and 14
percent respectively, and also were up by 5 percent in Philadelphia. Rates
dropped by 16 percent in Chicago, by 14 percent in Atlanta and by 8 percent in
Dallas. Rates were nearly steady in Orlando, down by 1 percent.