Working During Demand Disruptions

Events like health emergencies, acts of violence, political disruptions, and extreme weather can cause large and sudden changes in demand. IDeaS recommends the below steps during such periods. Keep in mind that these steps vary based on the size, duration, and recovery period of the disruption.

Import Data Daily and Continue Your Regular Tasks

  • Import data daily to keep the system up to date. It's critical that you continue to import data, monitor your business, and complete all other regular tasks.
  • To monitor cancelled bookings, see Review Critical Booking Report .
  • For bookings that still plan to go ahead:
    • Can you move their function space to increase space efficiency and reduce costs, so that all meetings are in one part of your venue, and you can fully shut down another part?
    • If you expect bookings to cancel, can you offer re-booking without financial penalty, providing definite base business for later? It might also improve the relationship with clients for repeat business.
  • Daily imports enable accurate pace, which is important for comparisons in the future.
  • Daily pace also helps you measure the impact of restrictions on travel and meetings. In the future, you can anticipate the impact of similar restrictions.

Update Demand Forecast, not Pricing Strategy

  • On the Demand Forecast page, use the Show History option in the Monthly Input tab. Review how strategies change on a weekly or monthly basis. That helps you identify trends, such as large changes in the increase or decrease of demand for future months.
  • Use the Events tab to define the start and end time of the demand disruption. Having a record of when demand was irregular helps you when you need to forecast next year.
  • Change demand levels, not your Pricing Strategy. For example, if the disruptions impact a high demand period, don't lower your High Demand pricing. Instead and only if necessary, lower the demand level for that period.
  • Avoid discounting:
    • Discounting after demand disruptions might have marketing benefits. It might show “good-will.” But it doesn't create new demand. 
    • The disruption reduces demand in the market overall and makes that demand less price sensitive. So lowering prices is less likely to increase demand because fewer guests travel to the destination.

Review Critical Booking Report

  • After opening the Critical Booking Report, lower the Revenue Threshold to zero. That allows you to see all Lost/Cancelled business.
  • Click the header of the Last Status Change column to sort by date of cancellation. Review Lost/Cancelled for trends in which arrival dates are impacted, such as whether cancellations reach further into the future.
  • Review cancellations with your sales team. Build a strategy to encourage bookings when the demand disruption is over.

Review Enquiries by Attendees by Lead Time

On the Enquiries by Attendees by Lead Time page, use the Data Table tab for the last year. Identify the lead time trends by event size. For example, for which months would you now get large event bookings? If that function space remains empty due to the demand disruption, can you split larger function space to accommodate smaller groups in those months?

  • Smaller groups also might be less impacted by the demand disruptions.
  • And they tend to have shorter lead times and might book sooner when demand recovers.
  • Does your local market have demand for smaller meetings that you didn't consider in the past? 

Take Advantage of any Downtime

  • If the disruptions lead to downtime, can you redo your analysis of your competitors? Can you move internal meetings to a competitor to assess their strengths and weaknesses (and offer a reciprocal)?
  • Call clients from the last 6 to 12 months to thank them for their business, building and growing relationships.
  • If possible, showcase a meeting room in your venue for meetings, banqueting, or weddings to your local community.