The moment that lasts: How MICE DESK makes hospitality possible again
Why AI does not replace, but liberates. And how hotels can use human-driven AI to do what really sets them apart again: create unforgettable guest experiences.
The MICE DESK team at a meeting
Hospitality is not a product. It is a feeling.
"It's not about the food. It's about making people feel seen."
With this sentence, Will Guidara, former operator of "Eleven Madison Park" and speaker at TED, sums up the essence of hospitality. His restaurant became number 1 in the world - not through perfect service or the most innovative cuisine, but through unreasonable hospitality. Through a hot dog in the fine dining restaurant. Through moments that were so personal that they burned themselves into the memory.
"Hospitality is about making people feel seen. And the best way to do that is not to treat them like a commodity, but as a unique individual."
- Will Guidara, TED Talk 2022
The question is: Why is this so rarely successful in convention sales?
The bottleneck is not in the will, but in the system
Many hotels want to inspire their guests. But there is often no time for this in day-to-day business.
Requests are transmitted manually.
Offers assembled by copy-paste.
Leads peter out because there is no structured process.
According to an analysis of over 7,000 MICE inquiries (Q1 2025), the conversion rate is 55.88% if a response is received within 5 hours. If the response time drops to more than 24 hours, the probability of completion drops to 28.3%.
Source: MICE DESK Performance Report 2025
But quick, personal responses require resources that many hotels simply no longer have. This is exactly where we come in.
Human-driven AI: more human with less machine
We follow a clear approach: AI thinks, humans steer.
With our Rocket 2.0 solution, we rely on a "human-in-the-loop" system:
AI takes over the pre-qualification of leads,
automates recurring tasks,
creates quotation proposals,
organizes data consistently across systems,
...and thus creates space for the essentials: people.
Because as Will Guidara describes:
"Being present means caring so much about the thing you're doing that you stop caring about all the other things you need to do."
Hospitality requires this presence. But it is only possible if systems relieve rather than block. Rocket 2.0 is precisely this enabler.
New guest experiences need old virtues
A hot dog in a Michelin-starred restaurant. Budweiser instead of Dom Pérignon. A snow ride for children who have never seen snow.
What Will Guidara shows in his lecture is not magic. It is attention, creativity and the will to give someone a real feeling. But this is only possible if systems don't get in the way.
We don't just offer another tool. Our solution is the Dreamweaver of your convention sales:
fully integrated with your PMS and CRM,
Structured 24/7,
measurably faster,
learning through AI,
controllable by your team.
We create the time for you to be a host again. Not an offer machine. Not a ticket processor. But rather creators of moments that last.
Conclusion: Technology creates space for humanity
"Making good products is no longer enough. Serving them efficiently is no longer enough. It's how we make people feel that matters most of all."
- Will Guidara
Hospitality is an attitude. But it needs structures to support it.
MICE DESK gives your team the systems they need to host again.
Not with more tools. But with less friction, more freedom and a radical focus on the guest experience.
If you want your team to sell with energy again instead of managing processes - let's talk.
Create resources now for what counts: the guest
We analyze your convention sales in just a few days, show you immediate operational profits and get you into the new loop system in under 14 days.
So that the focus is once again on people. And the moment that lasts.