Meetings occupancy in all U.S. meetings markets in March has been decimated because of the Covid-19 outbreak and government restrictions on group gatherings, according to STR.
Group occupancy in the top U.S. meetings markets—Chicago, New York, Orlando and Washington D.C.—has been deeply affected, according to an STR analysis. (Las Vegas, which is typically in the top five markets for meetings, is not included in the data below, as casino comps, loyalty rates and other factors make it difficult for STR to provide accurate comparisons with other non-gaming markets.)
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New York started to see occupancy decline in February, before the first coronavirus case in the state, in New Rochelle, was announced on March 3. But the other destinations were still seeing year-over-year growth. March has changed that, with cancellations skyrocketing and even hotels beginning to close, such as the large meetings property the New York Hilton Midtown, which shut March 20.
How might this situation impact the buyer-supplier relationship?
"[That] relationship, especially in the meetings marketplace, is one of trust and support for one another. You need each other to pull off a really successful event," Bizly's chief strategy officer Kevin Iwamoto told BTN. "I don't think that will change. It will be even stronger and tested, and who comes through it will work together in a new environment. What will change is if you currently as a company or association … have a reliance on one or two events a year for 80 percent to 90 percent of your annual revenue intake. This crisis will really devastate you if your event or conference or convention has to be canceled. From a business-positioning and revenue-generation perspective, that is where you will see changes. You will probably see a lot more virtual components to conferences. … Or a lot more hybrid meetings. You'll probably see more thought around that and how to expand that, so [there will be] less of a revenue hit if the conference has to cancel."