Demand for Flexible Meeting Spaces Increases, But Who Can Pay for Them?
Photo Credit: Flexible meeting space at the Moxy Chelsea in New York City. Moxy Hotels
Skift Take
Venues are enticing meeting planners with innovative and technology-driven flexible meeting spaces. Meeting planners have embraced these creative spaces but a major challenge remains: budget.
Planners need to balance unleashing the creative juices while maintaining tight budget restraints. Caught in the middle, planners are finding themselves educating their customers that flexible meeting spaces come with a price – and that price is usually higher.
“They all want a new and interesting space but the budget is still set from three years ago on the traditional set-up,” said Dana Zita, president of And Logistix, a Toronto based conference and meeting planning company.
Zita explained it is especially challenging with larger groups and “enhancing the seating and furniture adds to the cost and in a break situation with communal tables, high tables, and the audio/visual to stimulate different senses [all] cost more too.”
Customers are demanding more for less. Mark Cooper, CEO of IACC, said, “We know meeting planners are expected to deliver more with less
