How to attract MICE Tourists and boost the revenue of your hotel

Apr 01 / admin@aplbc

Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events. If you come from the world of tourism, we’re sure you know what MICE stands for. Since decades MICE tourism has been an important part of business tourism and its share of the world’s economy is rising every year. To attract quality MICE tourism leads, you must nurture them with your hotel CRM software and need to be well versed on the specifications of the MICE market. We also do recommend you to get updated with the ever-evolving trends of MICE hotel.

In this Blog, you will find some essential tips from AP LBC experts, to attract quality MICE tourists, that helps to boost the revenue of your hotel through events and business programs.

Why MICE tourism is important for your hotel?

Are you planning to expand your services to the market of MICE tourism, here are some facts for you to consider?

Europe is spending more on MICE tourism. According to American Express, overall MICE spending of Europe is increasing the most, comparing to Central and South America, and it will reach the growth rates of North America.
According to UNWTO and IPK international, the share of MICE within business travel is estimated to be at 54% in 2014.
The majority of MICE travellers ‘ expenses are paid by their client, while leisure travellers generally pay for themselves. MICE travellers still have a higher spending capacity, as they haven’t had to spend their budget on the costliest travel items.

Best ways to attract MICE tourists to your hotels

Many hotels simply attract business and MICE travellers with their venue, but often hotels need a much more sophisticated marketing plan to be competitive on the MICE market. Here are some good techniques handpicked by AP LBC MICE hotel experts to make your hotel effective for prospected business and MICE tourists.

1. Define your market and know the needs of MICE clients

Get a good understanding of the value you have to offer, and which type of clients appreciate this value. Your hotel sometimes has a strategic location which will be in demand for a particular event. Or perhaps your hotel has some stand out facilities stand out, such as a spacious plenary session hall that can accommodate a large number of delegates. Most hotels are doubling their ballroom as plenary session rooms.

When you are considering facilities, here is the ultimate list of expectations that you must cover in your hotel.

Accommodation Facilities

Equipment for the event

Food

Location of the venue

Security of the clients and hotel policies

2. Europe, the promising source market for the MICE

When identifying your business, consider the extent of MICE’s growth and popularity in the various countries. Many countries spend more than others in MICE and this knowledge is key to reaching the best audience and preparing an effective marketing strategy.

Through evaluating the growth rate (2019), the Global Business Travel Association studied the most attractive European target markets for MICE. Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy make up 75% of the European business travel industry. Germany and the UK seem to be the two economies with the most promise.

MICE GROWTH RATE, 2019

3. Have a unique landing page for MICE

With your target audience already in sight, you now know what you must offer to them. Now it’s time to act and spread the word about your wonderful MICE tourism venue. Having a unique landing page would help you explain clearly what facilities and services you are providing to the guest-clients.

Some hotels also create the entire new websites for the particular services they offer. Why would you ask? Just because the hotel’s positioning for MICE tourism can be quite different from the hotel’s positioning in a leisure travel market.

While the general brand will remain untouched, you may want to change the website’s layout, design and content presentation to make your MICE landing page (or MICE website) more enticing to online visitors.

4. Aim for return customers

Be sure to build long-lasting relationships while developing your plan, as this is important for the MICE market. MICE is a regular activity so you can expect for returning customers if you manage to’ wow’ your clients. Word-of-mouth is a very powerful channel of communication in the MICE industry and your happy customers would most definitely support you and recommend you to their colleagues.

Build a reputation for a MICE rock-star venue, and see new customers come to you. Remember that MICE customers want unique experiences that provide good value for money, and that value for money is more important for European MICE customers than price.

Based on the team experience of AP LBC, we have listed some of the prominent features that will help you to attract MICE tourists to your hotel. These tips from our AP LBC MICE and business travel experts will help you in converting leads to your hotel. We hope that these tips will bring new opportunities for independent and MICE hotels this year.

Independent hotel partners and global chains prefer AP LBC, the solutions and revenue management partner where brand awareness and global sales happen. As an independent hotel representation company, we address the specific business needs of our partner hotels by providing sales and marketing solutions.