MICE outsourcing is one of the key topics at ITB 2024

This year, we had our own stand at ITB 2024 for the first time and had three other top-class partners from the travel and event industry at our stand. After three days at the trade fair, many exciting discussions and a fantastic MICE Night at NIO House, we can now sum up the event.

MICE DESK exhibition stand at ITB 2024

Lead generation

Of course, a primary business objective at a trade fair is to conduct sales talks and generate new leads. We also announced our presence at ITB in advance and arranged many appointments with interested parties from our target group. And so the diaries of our Managing Director Bernd Fritzges and CFO Tobias Feickert were correspondingly full. Many meetings were held with hotel chains and hotel operators in order to offer individual solutions for the Groups & Convention Sales segment. Our specialized MICE outsourcing service completely takes over the sales departments in conference hotels and thus offers support in the event of staff shortages and declining sales. Our MICE DESK team checks all incoming inquiries on behalf of the hotel, makes bookings independently in the hotel systems, takes care of contract preparation and all customer communication until handover to the operational team on site. Hoteliers are very interested in these services and our team had a lot to talk about at ITB. In this respect, the trade fair has been very successful for us so far. We will see what comes out of the discussions over the next few weeks.

Customer orientation

Another goal for us was to deepen existing partnerships and maintain contact with our customers. Because only those who listen can learn and develop. And so we listen carefully to the needs and wishes of our customers in order to improve both our products and our collaboration. One major learning from last year was the desire for a flexible pricing model, which is exactly what we have developed in recent weeks and were able to present at the trade fair. The dynamic hotel industry needs quickly adaptable services and a flexible model that can adapt to the needs of conference management at any time. We are delighted that our new offering has been so well received. This shows us that we are on the right track.

Networking

What would a trade fair be without networking? Every year, the ITB attracts thousands of people from the travel and event industry from all over the world. There is probably no better opportunity for networking. For many, the trade fair seems like a kind of school trip, where you see lots of old acquaintances and contacts again. During the day, we spent most of the time at our stand and unfortunately hardly had the opportunity to see the rest of the halls or meet people spontaneously. But it was a special pleasure for us to meet important decision-makers and acquaintances from the MICE industry at the official ITB MICE Night. The MICE Night was once again organized by the Association of Event Organizers(VDVO) and generously supported by this year's ITB host country OMAN . We at MICE DESK also organized part of the event and were delighted with the positive feedback from the many guests. In addition to the fine culinary delights, Oman also showed how sustainability, innovation and technology can be successfully implemented in practice during the presentations and the cultural evening program. His Excellency Azzan Al Busaidi, Minister of State for Tourism of Oman, emphasized the importance of these topics in his opening speech: "Our participation in the ITB MICE Night enables us to present the many facets of Oman as a future-oriented and at the same time tradition-conscious travel destination."

Bernd Fritzges and Azzan Al Busaidi in conversation at the ITB MICE Night

Trends

We are taking many new ideas and inspiration home with us from ITB. In our discussions, it became clear that the hotel industry and conference hotels in particular still have a major problem with a shortage of skilled workers, even two years after the pandemic. MICE outsourcing was one of the key topics that was discussed a lot. More and more hoteliers are looking for support for their sales departments and are outsourcing some of their tasks to competent service partners. It was particularly important for us to understand how we can provide the best possible support with our products and services. Another trending topic that is becoming increasingly important is technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Since the expansion of Open AI with Chat GPT and other AI services from Google and Microsoft, these topics have finally arrived in the travel and event industry. From MICE software and online booking portals in conference management to hybrid event formats and internal process optimization - technical systems and self-learning algorithms are making work easier in many areas. We are also big fans of digitalization, but we also believe that there are some areas in which interaction between real people will continue to be important in the future and some tasks can only be performed by human experts. Another important topic was sustainability. People's desire to travel has increased after coronavirus, with Germans spending more on travel this year than in 2019 (i.e. before the pandemic). The situation is similar with business trips and conferences. More and more consumers have a growing environmental awareness and want to ensure that both their arrival and departure as well as their stay on site are as sustainable as possible. Hotels, event organizers and other providers are adapting to this and integrating the topic of sustainability into their corporate strategy. Due to the current situation, we have also heard many discussions about the renewed GDL (Deutsche Bahn) strike. We are of the opinion that only a reliable means of transportation can ensure that more people leave their cars at home in future and travel by train, which is more environmentally friendly.

In conclusion, ITB 2024 was an important milestone for us. We now feel well positioned to further expand our offering and set new standards in the field of Convention & Groups Management.

After this exciting and successful week at the trade fair, we are now looking forward to being back in the office next week. There is a lot to follow up on :-)

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