Inntelligent News 2021

Meet Better Q&A IHG Hotels Many of our suppliers took advantage of the downtime during the lockdowns to evolve their hybrid meetings solutions, IHG explains their approach to us. In your opinion, how will in real life meetings and events change in the post-COVID world? We recognize that travel looks a little different right now and our focus is on making sure that meeting planners and bookers trust that we are implementing the right safety procedures and wellness measures to create a clean and safe experience. Have you made any changes to your meetings and events proposition to accommodate these new requirements? We initially launched the ‘Meet with Confidence’ programme in 2020 and have continued to evolve the programme to meet the ever-changing requirements of our B2B customers and to support and welcome groups and meetings back into IHG Hotels & Resorts in a safe and efficient manner. The program has been enhanced to support hybrid events while still providing flexibility that meeting planners need. Sustainable travel has seen significant development in the last few years in terms of measurement and offsetting, how do you think meetings and events will follow this? We understand the importance of operating responsibly and sustainably – it is absolutely core to our business and culture. It will be different: we may not see as many one-day trips for a two-hour meeting but there will be new sources of demand. For example, people may blend business and leisure travel and there may be more company events bringing colleagues together as work shifts from offices to flexible arrangements. In your opinion, which innovation or change do you think will have the biggest impact on the future of meetings and events? We are continuing to work with our hotels to ensure they have best-in-class technology to host successful meetings and events at our nearly 6,000 properties around the world. We are focussed on the training, best-practices and skills that our teams need to ensure we deliver a seamless experience for both hybrid and in-person events with the knowledge, expertise and service that planners need to confidently gather again. Technology company One of our tech clients explains how business meetings and events will change for their business going forward. Please can you outline how your organisation has changed the way they approach meetings and events? Of course, all our employees are now well-versed in attending and arranging virtual meetings, for both simple meetings and lager events. Going forward, we will fully embrace hybrid options to ensure we can reach the same or lager audiences. Some meetings will continue to take place online however, we are not underestimating the power of human connections! As a business, we will encourage face to face meetings as and when people feel comfortable doing this again. What is the company looking to achieve from these changes? (spend less, save time, sustainability) There have been some considerable changes in the last year, for example, our costs for travel and external meetings have been next to nothing. An additional benefit which we cannot ignore is that our travel and meetings carbon footprint has been zero. As a result, whilst we will encourage our people connecting with clients and their teams again, we will expect people to consider virtual options as an alternative. Quarterly team meetings may What is the company looking to achieve from these changes? (spend less, save time, sustainability) There have been some considerable changes in the last year, for example, our costs for travel and external meetings have been next to nothing. An additional benefit which we cannot ignore is that our travel and meetings carbon footprint has been zero. As a result, whilst we will encourage our people connecting with clients and their teams again, we will expect people to consider virtual options as an alternative. Quarterly team meetings may take place virtually twice a year but we would encourage making the most of in-real-life meetings by choosing a high quality venue in a location easy to reach for everyone. What impact had the pandemic has on the development of this initiative? Prior to the pandemic, virtual meetings had not been embraced by our workforce, they liked to meet in person. So, as for many others, this new way of working has been born out of necessity. Our business will encourage a blend of both going forward, use virtual to its full advantage but use in person meetings to connect where it is important. How will you ensure that employees do not fall back into old habits and embrace the new initiative? We have updated our meetings policy to include guidance on virtual and hybrid meetings and have included venues which offer a hybrid solution in our programme. But mostly, it is a change of mind-set! Our people will assess whether a virtual or hybrid meeting will suffice or an in-person meeting is the best option. We trust our people to make the right decisions. In your opinion, which innovation or change do you think will have the biggest impact on the future of meetings and events? The capabilities of virtual and hybrid events and the way they are delivered. Virtual meetings have been integral to doing business over the last year and hybrid events will be instrumental in helping to build people’s confidence over the next few months. I also feel there is a gap in the market for a solution which provides carbon measurement and offsetting specifically for meetings. INNTELLIGENT NEWS - ISSUE 17 PAGE TWENTY THREE