Skift Take
Hybrid meetings may not bring the revenue of a fully in-person event, but Hilton's hybrid event strategy at least lays the groundwork for a much-needed recovery in the hotel industry's collapsed group business sector.
Coronavirus cases may be on the rise, but Hilton is still looking to a future when people will once again meet in person — to some degree, anyway.
Hilton launched a hybrid meeting and events strategy Monday aimed at enabling event planners to book meetings at a hotel while also allowing people to tune in virtually from other locations. The program, called Hilton EventReady Hybrid Solutions, builds on its heightened health and safety protocols around events previously announced last summer.
It may seem like an odd time to launch any type of product tied to people meeting in person. New coronavirus case counts are soaring around the world, and an even more contagious strain of the virus has been reported in the UK and several U.S. states.
But Hilton leaders emphasize the hybrid meeting platform expansion is more about preparing clients for the future rather than signaling now is a safe time to fully return to hosting in-pers
