The booking behaviour and trends for year-end events have shown a similar pattern to what has occurred generally during this year, says Garnet Basson, coo of The Capital Hotels & Apartments.
“The number of enquiries are far below last year’s numbers, but there is still enough of them to keep this industry occupied,” he adds.
“The lead times have shortened drastically and bookers have a value-for-money requirement. Consumers are shopping around for the best price and what you get for that price. In the past, most big brands simply lived off their brand name, however now the smaller brands are making waves simply by being more flexible and accommodating in their approach.”
Greg Hoffmann, marketing manager of the Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre, agrees that it’s certainly about ‘bang for buck’ in this economic climate. “Clients are wanting the best deal possible. For us, it’s so important to provide a package that is cost effective without compromising on quality.”
The decrease in the number of year-end bookings is also due to clients and groups combining their activities in to one comprehensive experience instead of different events on different dates, he says.
“This is our speciality! We’ve provided a hospitality hub with ample venue options (indoor and outdoor), dining experiences, leisure facilities and more, to ensure a memorable multi-day stay.”
Premier Hotels & Resorts is receiving encouraging enquiries regarding year-end functions and those important final meetings and conferences, says group sales, marketing and revenue director, Mark Jakins.
“Bookings are encouraging due to the value for money we offer and our creative, packaged banquets and menus. As always at this time, booking activity is increasing, as people have started to book their year-end holidays.”
Although there has been a very last-minute booking trend throughout 2019, Kim Vermaak, group business development manager of The Barnyard Theatres, finds festive-season bookings to be surprisingly active and promising at the moment. “We’re set to exceed last season, so we are very grateful.”
André Turnbull, gm of Lagoon Beach, explains that most of its year-end functions take place in November and only a handful in December.
“Corporates do not tend to travel too much in December. The little we do get, however, is about 12% up on the same time last year (STLY). Conferencing in December is down about 15%. We’ve also seen a decrease in year-end events; we’re nearly 50% down on STLY.”
The Hilton Sandton has noticed that corporates are not booking big dinners or lunches for year-ends. Instead there is a need to host smaller groups, showing appreciation to teams per department, according to Elena Ioannou, groups, conference and events manager.
“This is why we’ve created a corporate Christmas lunch or dinner solution for companies wanting to take out smaller groups or departments.”
Peermont sales manager, Yugashnee Naicker, says historically December tends to take a dip and booking trends decrease for the market segments.
“Compared with last year, however, we’ve enjoyed a slight increase in bookings that can largely be attributed to the launch of our trendy rooftop venue, Olympus Sky Bar, above the Peermont Metcourt Hotel at Emperors Palace.”
She adds that with the current economic climate, they have noticed companies opting to keep their year-end events in-house.
One director says his company generally prefers not to use an external venue for year-end functions because transport for staff becomes an issue, both to the event and then home again for them.
“We’ve found that a simple braai at our premises works best. We don’t serve alcohol, but we bring in external caterers and offer good entertainment.”
He says they will not reduce their budget for the 2019 function despite the challenging economic climate.
“Our employees have had a tough time this year and we want to keep the morale as high as we can.”
