Hotels missing out on MICE revenue
A worldwide survey reveals an endemic lack of responsiveness to MICE inquiries across the hospitality industry, with hotels missing out on significant potential MICE revenues.
The survey, conducted by the Institute For Hospitality Management (IFH), Singapore, found that many hotels are failing to capitalise on the upswing in MICE and business travel due to “a lack of appropriate procedures and responsiveness to enquiries”. IFH actually reports that responsiveness to the MICE market has even deteriorated since 2009.
IFH sent mystery shoppers to 167 hotels around the world in the three- to five-star category. It found that an overwhelming number of the hotels neither addressed the actual needs and requirements of the enquiry and in many cases did not even respond. “Whether Amsterdam, Hong Kong or New York – with regard to personal communication with the customer, silence prevailed to a large degree.”
About one third of the hotels failed to respond and of those that did, only 15% bothered to pick up the phone. Furthermore, 75% of responses were too generalised and not client specific, while just 15% were able to offer tailor-made MICE solutions.
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