The Meeting Incentive Conference and Exhibition industry, better known as MICE tourism, has rapidly become one of the fastest growing segments within the tourism industry. According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “MICE Industry by Event Type: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2023” , the global MICE industry was valued at $752 billion in 2016, and is projected to reach $1,245 billion in 2023, registering a CAGR of 7.5% from 2017 to 2023.

According to an Economic Times report, industry experts and analysts attribute increasing MICE events, including investor summits, to an improved economic sentiment amidst growing competition among states to score better ratings in ease of doing business and attract investments. These have directly boosted average room occupancies and returns. For example, Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), India’s largest convention centre managed by AccorHotels, had hosted more than 800 events in 2016, averaging more than 2 parallel events daily, highest in a decade.

This highly competitive sector is known for high-end events, generates significant revenues and has clients that are always on the look-out for a venue to serenade its guest list. Many big players in the hospitality industry, especially hoteliers, are stepping up their MICE game to make the most of this trend.

As a hotelier, how can you increase your MICE sector bookings?

1. Focus on diversity – MICE events can be both big or small. Your hotel may be able to hold large dinners, exhibitions, conferences, and annual summits, but that doesn’t have to mean that you let go off other meetings and regular events that take place quarterly or even monthly. This way you can be assured of guaranteed room sales and revenue, and better manage your hotel’s finances.

2. Plan your marketing strategy well in advance – The MICE market needs to be marketed effectively for it to be effective. Think through your customer experience from the beginning till the end. Pore over details regarding your brand image, your facilities and services, and even the commute to your venue. To be successful in attracting events, you must actively come up with a strategy that highlights all these features and targets the right audience through strong branding, social presence and state-of-the-art facilities.

3. Customize your activities – There is a rising demand for alternative options for team building exercises and incentive programmes, such as horse-riding lessons or even cooking classes. For instance, the African wineland of Paarl has stepped up its game as an attractive MICE destination by not only offering great spaces to host events, but also organizing activities like wine-tasting, to keep guests thoroughly engaged. By offering unique experiences for corporate events, your hotel can cater for clients in a way that other exhibition centres can’t compete with, thus building a strong case for differentiation.

4. Create a seamless experience through technology – With technology playing such an important role in the online booking process, it is vital for your hotel to make it easy for clients to reserve rooms and make other arrangements. Make sure your hotel has a great booking engine that is seamlessly integrated to your website. Respond to any query as soon as possible. Optimize your website to provide the best details about the event destination and your hotel, including blogs and other insider tips, in order to help the event planners with their decision-making.

What are some of the other ways that you can think of?

The post How an increased focus on the MICE sector can pump up revenues for hoteliers appeared first on TravHQ.

Members of Starwood Hotels and Resorts’ loyalty programme, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), will now be able to check-in via mobile device in more than 300 hotels across the Asia-Pacific region, including Hong Kong.

Image source: MelbTravel

The new mobile check-in feature is available for members who have downloaded the SPG mobile app and booked their stays directly with SPG on its website or in the app.Members will receive a notification a day before their stay asking if they would like to check-in using the app. On the day of arrival, a notification will be sent to their mobile device alerting them that their room is ready and their key is waiting for them at the front desk. When they checkout using the SPG app, their folio will be emailed to them.

Marriott is going to offer these app features for SPG members checking in at Westin, Sheraton, St Regis, Four Points, Le Meridien, Tribute Portfolio and The Luxury Collection hotels. More hotels will begin offering this feature on the SPG app with the global rollout completed by the end of 2017.

“Mobile check-in is incredibly popular among our Marriott Rewards members within Asia Pacific and we have seen usage grow almost 170% from 2015 to September 2017 which is why we wanted to extend this convenient app feature to SPG members as well,” said Irene Lin, VP of digital, loyalty and portfolio marketing, Asia Pacific at Marriott International.

“Mobile check-in is another example of how we are taking the best of our loyalty programmes to make the travel experiences for all of our 100 million members even better, with unmatched benefits and services rolled out at scale.”

Marriott first launched mobile check-in, checkout and room ready alerts in 2013, which is now available at all hotels that were in the Marriott portfolio before the company’s acquisition of Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Over the last few years, a mobile revolution has been brewing around us as hoteliers shift their focus to mobile bookings. They have realised the need to engage with guests beyond the regular face-to-face interactions. A mobile service portal gives them the perfect opportunity to engage, and even upsell amenities to boost incremental revenues, paving the way for self-check-in to be a standard in a few years.

Read more on how California-based startup Proxce is creating a seamless and secure hotel check-in experience, here.

The post Marriott rolls out its mobile check-in feature in APAC appeared first on TravHQ.