Experience-led events win over corporates

CORPORATE events are becoming more experience- led, and participants now expect more from trips than a conference room, reliable Wi-Fi and a hotel bed. Chatting to Travel News at the launch, Sun City Resort GM Brett Hoppé and Sun International CMO Nthabiseng Motsoeneng said corporate travellers were now looking for opportunities to experience the destination alongside their business commitments. Full experience Motsoeneng said the conference should be part of a wider destination experience, with delegates given opportunities to explore and enjoy the destination during their stay. “It’s about offering the total package. Don't look at conferencing as just the formal side. What are we doing during that period that the group is here? And what are the add-ons that we can offer?” She believes delegates should not be viewed solely through the lens of the conference they are attending. “Remember, I'm not just a conference-goer. Don't just see me in a vacuum. I'm a mom with kids and I'm also an executive. I want to be able to pull away from the conference so that I get to explore what else the destination has to offer.” Motsoeneng said at Sun City those experiences included game drives, the Valley of Waves, golf, padel, hiking, entertainment and food and beverages. Big groups Hoppé said at Sun City corporate guests still sought those authentic experiences – the big dinners in the bush and the unique selling propositions that made Sun City attractive. And, according to Hoppé, the resort could offer experiences at a scale that would be difficult to replicate elsewhere. “There's nowhere else in South Africa where you're going to move a thousand people through a game drive and give them a great experience. There's nowhere in South Africa you're going to give 1 500 people an authentic bush experience at one time.” The challenge, he said, was combining those experiences with the objectives of the event itself. “It's about how we ‘Tetris’ all the bits and pieces of Sun City to give a remarkable experience, including achieving the conference objectives.” Authenticity Hoppé identified authenticity as an important aspect of corporate events. He said research conducted by the resort during COVID had verified this as a key customer expectation. He said Sun City was now looking to its Tswana heritage and its South African setting to differentiate the guest experience and the resort had started to move away from its ‘Vegas of South Africa’ proposition. “We want to be one of the best resorts in the world and celebrate our South African heritage. We don’t want to copy anything else. What you get at Sun City is completely unique compared with any other product you can get anywhere else in the world. We want to honour our South African heritage rather than copy something that’s American.” Technology Despite the rise of virtual meetings during COVID and major advances in technology, Hoppé said the fundamentals of corporate events had not changed, and people still wanted to meet and interact in person. “There's nothing that replaces networking. There's nothing that replaces food and beverage or human contact. However, he acknowledged that technology had become an integral part of the physical conference experience. Connectivity and bandwidth are now non-negotiable for major conferences. Sun City is presently considering how future- proof technology should be incorporated into its accommodation and conference proposition. Sustainability Corporate travel buyers are under growing pressure to consider the sustainability credentials of suppliers. Hoppé said this was something that was coming up in conversations with Sun City's clients. Sun City holds ISO 14001:2015 certification, an international environmental management standard. Hoppé said it was the only resort in South Africa to carry the certification. “The reason we did that, apart from all our other sustainability programmes and certifications, is because it's a question that gets asked, and rightly so. We use it to attract incoming customers.” Sustainability was also being incorporated into procurement and event planning, including local sourcing and socioeconomic considerations, said Hoppé.