"I’ve sent three e-mails, 24 hours apart. I can’t get a reply."

A new client shot me a text trying to get her hands on her rooming list. She was out of Saturday night rooms due to a soft shoulder night that traditionally had very light pickup as exhibitors and attendees rushed back home to their families, which was now full. The hotel was quoting $600 per night to secure additional inventory. The group rate was sitting at $199, and attendees were clamoring to extend at the group rate. The only option was to start removing attendees without a confirmed registration to avoid last-minute wash and to maximize the block on those guaranteed shoulder nights with confirmed and paid registrants. The problem? Our assigned CSM was also working front-of-house positions to fill in for staffing shortages across the hotel. They were almost never at their desk.

Initially, many believed we were entering into a market that was going to shape up to feel much more like how we emerged from the 2008/2009 recession and downturn, with a very gradual return to normal, but it truly appears that we may be headed for a slightly bigger challenge this time around. The low rates and attrition issues that plagued us in 2008 thru 2012 seem to be less of an issue during this recovery. Rates are quickly rebounding in most cities, largely fueled by a sky-high leisure demand and fueled by savings and stimulus money. The meetings and events industry has created its own compression in 2022 and into 2023, with so many programmes that have “lifted and shifted” that even the most shoulder or marginal dates are not a surefire way to guarantee you are going to find rooms or space. The good news? Once you do, conferences are seeing record attendance, particularly those in markets where “leisure” pre and post stays are easy to add. Under blocking and running out of rooms is already directly hampering attendance numbers as group rated rooms become impossible to get after cut off due to white-hot leisure demand.

While the financial prospects feel far less grim, new challenges are presenting themselves and threatening our “silver lining recovery.” The biggest pending issue looming in the fourth quarter is a bustling docket full of meetings that are ready to operate, while at the same time, a desperate shortage of labor to fill the necessary front and back of house positions in hotels and venues to ensure that those programs will operate seamlessly. This is happening at a time where the virus is still circulating and where labor needs will be elevated for live meetings, particularly where food and beverage functions are impacted with labor-intensive protocols that are required to keep the 30 to 50% of attendees, who may or may not be vaccinated, safe during a meeting.

Another troubling trend? Senior sales and CSM positions in hotels, jobs that were slashed very early in the pandemic, are being re-posted with salaries being slashed by 25 to 50%, by select ownership groups and publicly traded hotel chains that are seeking to keep costs low and increase revenue to make up for their pandemic-related losses. Hotels that have maintained their experienced teams who know how to get business done and can get contracts closed and signed quickly are going to reap the rewards of well-contracted and well-executed events and repeat loyalty business. It’s going to be interesting to watch how those hotels that let their institutional knowledge go and are now trying to make up for the brain drain by putting “bumpers” on the lane of very inexperienced new hires (who now no longer have the benefit of fantastic experienced trainers/mentors) fare by creating rules and procedures that allow for very little “free-thinking” and by discouraging relationship building, networking, or cultivation of deep and lasting relationships.

I, for one, am relieved to be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I am purposefully taking a moment to appreciate and be grateful for the hope that the agony of the past five quarters may finally be ending for so many of my industry friends and colleagues. We now are all moving forward, navigating what the new horizon looks like and trying to figure out how much of the hospitality may be removed from the hospitality industry by the involvement of Wall Street in this recovery. Expert contracting is more important and more critical than ever with creative fees and surcharges being applied to Master Accounts to try to make up for the hole that 2020 left. What I know for certain? The people in this industry are special, creative, funny, smart and truly innovative. Those that make it to the other side of this will be prepared for the next inevitable change that is most certainly around the corner. When we work together in good faith, with transparency, and with the intent to collaborate to make sure all parties to any event or agreement come out “better” for having worked with each other, we will make it to the other side of this intact.

Best Wishes,

Alisa Peters, CMP, CMM

Chair, CMP Governance Commission