If you are looking to make more money from your revenue meeting rooms, you will want to make sure that you are showing flexibility in responding to your customers’ needs. It can be tempting to try to cater to the big meeting market, but there is money to be made opening up your resources to “small” meetings as well.
“Small” meeting defined
Many companies and organizations are looking for space to hold meetings with 50 attendees or less. This number puts them into the “small” category. At this level, the attendees are not going to be listening to a presentation; they are more likely to be interacting with each other.
If you are able to offer meeting rooms that are appropriate to their needs, you will be able to tap into this part of the market. There is going to be more demand for small meeting rooms than large ballrooms for annual conventions. Your venue meeting rooms are more likely to be filled with bookings on a regular basis, which has the potential to create a more steady cash flow.
Make more money from your venue meeting rooms
1. Promote Meeting Rooms Online
Many consumers make a point of investigating their options over the Internet before they make a buying decision. When you have your meeting room options clearly listed online, it streamlines this process. Post images of different options, set up in available configurations, so that guests can see what they will be getting by booking a meeting room with you.
2. Offer a variety of settings for meetings
If you want to meet the needs of patrons looking to book space for small gatherings, look at what your venue has to offer and get creative. Could a guest hold a meeting in your lounge, on your rooftop or courtyard, beside your pool or in your library? By having a number of options available, you maximize the opportunity to book a meeting room that will appeal to them and meet their needs.
The traditional meeting room will still be in demand, since some patrons will still want a standard room for sales presentations, team meetings, etc. Large corporations may choose to hold several (relatively) small meetings at different venues to introduce new products instead of inviting all of their sales force to attend a single meeting, for example.It simply doesn’t make sense to pull all of their outside sales representatives away from servicing customers at once.
3. Charge patrons only for meeting equipment they need
Decide that the cost of the meeting space will include certain facilities, such as use of your facility’s Internet access, microphones and loud speakers for the duration of the meeting. You can then decide whether or not to charge an extra fee for use of other meeting equipment, such as flip charts, laser pointers, video equipment, etc. Cost-conscious customers will appreciate that they are not being charged for extra for items that they do not need (and are more likely to book space at your facility) and you can charge a fair fee for use of the equipment for patrons who do make use of it.
4. Offer online booking for meeting rooms
In today’s busy world, offering online booking for meeting rooms is almost a necessity. Business customers are extremely busy and want to be able to book space to hold a meeting quickly, often with on short notice. Specialized software can help to keep your available spaces up to date and tell a customer at a glance which spaces are available, the capacity of the rooms, and what types of equipment can be used in each one.
The customer can then go ahead and make a decision about booking a meeting room, how long the room is needed (anywhere from one hour to several days), whether additional equipment will be needed, if catering is needed (and if so, for how many people). More than one meeting room can be booked at the same time, during the same sessions, if desired. This feature helps to save time if the same organization needs to hold more than one meeting on the same day.
5. Make your web page mobile friendly
Many potential customers are going to be browsing and ultimately making bookings from a device other than a desktop computer. If your website has not been updated to suit the size and proportion of all mobile devices, you will be missing out on a significant portion of the market.
Invest in this technology so that users can find you with their smart phones and tablets. Let them book meeting rooms in five minutes or less using software that can guide them through the process quickly and efficiently. It will help you make more money from your venue meeting rooms as you target the smaller meeting market and offer options that will work for it.