'It’s time to show commitment to global climate change pledges as well as to industry accreditation’ Iain Dix, Head of Property & Projects and Director responsible for sustainability strategy at etc.venues

Hospitality and event businesses should look more at the world at large, including the world of their clients, when making commitments around their sustainability best practice.

The industry is making tremendous efforts to gain greater recognition from government and business at the highest level as a sector that contributes enormously and valuably to the growth of the economy and to increasing employment.

To complement that approach and ambition, hospitality and event businesses should not only be pursuing accreditation from specialist schemes recognised within the sector, they should also look outwards and commit to climate change programmes that are recognised and adopted by major international organisations.

A good example of such a scheme is the SME Climate Hub, a ground-breaking one-stop-shop climate action platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to curb carbon emissions, build business resilience and take climate leadership.

It was launched at the start of the UN General Assembly Week by the High Level Climate Action Champion for the United Kingdom, Nigel Topping who is playing a major role in the development of COP26. He is helping to drive action from businesses, investors, organisations, cities, and regions on climate change and coordinate this work with governments and parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The SME Climate Hub is co-hosted by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Exponential Roadmap Initiative, the We Mean Business coalition and the United Nations Race to Zero campaign. It has received support from several supply chain leaders including BT Group, Ericsson, IKEA, Telia and Unilever, as well as funding support from Amazon and Verizon through their partnership with the We Mean Business coalition.

Every organisation that joins the SME Climate Hub must sign the UN-recognised “SME Climate Commitment”, which forms part of the SME Climate Hub. In making this commitment, the company pledges to halve its carbon emissions by 2030, achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and to regularly report on progress towards these aims.

This is a pledge to act, a commitment to achieving targets and to reporting results. It is a great way to ensure continual progress towards those targets.

With so many important organisations hosting it and so many major enterprises supporting the campaign, it was, then, a great surprise when we signed the pledge to be told that etc.venues was the first hospitality company in the UK to do so.

If our industry is to make an impact and be recognised at the highest level for its determination to pay more than lip service to sustainability and climate change, then every business in our industry should sign up to the SME Climate Hub and other national and global schemes that have the support of organisations outside of our industry.

www.etcvenues.com

Wyboston Venue Management – a new specialist service to help venue and hotel owners make the most of meetings and events business

Wyboston Lakes Resort has launched Wyboston Venue Management to help venue owners make the most of meetings and events business opportunities.

Steve Jones, Managing Director of Wyboston Lakes Resort explained: “Our new service is designed to suit the needs of venue owners and investors who feel they need an experienced operator to help them achieve their objectives in the MICE sector or those who have a business that needs re-focusing and revitalising, or owner directors looking to step back from the business.

“We have an award-winning senior management team with superb experience both at Wyboston and in previous roles in generating increased revenues, transforming venues to be ready for the latest generation of planners and delegates and in maximising their green credentials. The fact that last year we were chosen to host one of the government organised pilot events to test Covid security measures is a strong testament to our operational standards.

“They can bring their expertise to a venue and replicate what they have achieved here at a fraction of the time and cost that it would take with a new team.

“From assisting to operating on a full management contract, we can work with any organisation which shares our values and commitment to high standards and quality of service, looking after clients, delegates and staff. We are focused on long term agreements where we can add the maximum value to those we partner with.

“There are many companies who offer a similar outsource service in managing hotels but very few that specialise in a management service specifically for venues operating in the MICE sector. With our team’s expertise we are already generating considerable interest.

www.wybostonvenuemanagement.co.uk/

HBAA, the trade association for the Meetings, Events, and Accommodation Industry, has introduced its new identity at a Members & Partners Meeting today

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beam represents the business events, accommodation, and meetings sector. This new name begins a new chapter for the association that is based on the solid foundations of the last 24 years. Underpinned by the Association’s four pillars, Resilience, Innovation, Ethics, and Quality, it will ensure that the association remains relevant and sustainable for the future.

The board has, through member and peer engagement, for some time recognised the need for change and the need to have an identity that truly represents the span of membership today and tomorrow, as well as continuing to be at the forefront of the industry in future. The new identity and plans for extensive changes are the result of extensive research.

Members of beam will benefit from being part of a wider community with tools and content accessible to members, as well as strategic partnerships developed to aid members’ business growth. With membership being for both agencies and venues, this change ensures that both sides of the sector are truly represented, respected and encouraged to do business together, for the benefit of the end customer.

beam represents an industry in need of shared learning, best practice and behaviours and a louder voice in government; the association creates a meeting place and a network for all members to unite as a community, for the ongoing development of our sector and to address these needs.

To fulfil beam’s mission, the association will be launching three new board positions: Industry Relations Director, Next Generation Director, and Content Delivery Director. The Industry Relations Director will serve as a primary face of the Association to attract and retain members and garner support for events, and special initiatives.

The Next Generation Director will serve as a primary face of the Association to attract, retain and recruit next-gen talent as the emerging faces of the industry and future leaders, and will provide a new outlook on industry matters and the direction of the association, from different angles.

The Content Delivery Director will serve as a primary role to ensure that the Association curates authoritative, knowledgeable and forward-thinking content across all channels,

Beckie Towle, HBAA Marketing Director and Founder of Events Raccoon commented: “beam will shine a light on our industry and on its members. It will be outward facing into the industry and to government, collaborating and striving for a united voice.

“beam will continue to champion change and lead the debate on key issues that will impact our industry, with macro environmental issues at the forefront, with clear collaboration pathways across the sector, while creating the industry leaders of tomorrow.

“Our new identity gives us real purpose and true representation of our membership.

“Our members remain the core of our success and like all businesses we have had to change to ensure we survive and have a prosperous future. We have big ambitious plans and need an identity that represents us, to showcase our vision.

Angie Mason, founding member of HBAA added: “As a founder member of HBAA, and having enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to its long-term development, I am delighted that the Association continues to go from strength to strength with the transformation to beam. 

“All good things evolve to become their best and this is a perfect example. Our industry thrives on best practise, learning and networking and these are the areas in which beam will lead. It will continue to be the voice of its members on a wider stage and lead the way for the continuing transformation of the business events, accommodation and meetings sector into the future.”

Over the coming months beam will unveil further details of the strategy and vision, as well as the membership benefits that it will offer and provide.

Sian Sayward, HBAA Governance Director and Director of Commercial Partnerships & Projects at Inntel, said: “Today is just the start of many changes, the start of the journey of transformation as we continue our work to widen the membership, to deliver the benefits of membership to our members’ businesses and make our voice louder.

“beam is the new shining light of the industry”.

Wyboston Lakes Resort sees demand for events surge for 2022, well ahead of pre-pandemic years

Bookings for conferences, meetings and training events at Wyboston Lakes Resort for 2022 are currently over 140% ahead of 2019, alongside a record number of large events from leading pharmaceutical companies taking place this Autumn.

According to the Bedfordshire-based venue, other sectors that are proving buoyant and the keenest to return to in-person events include government (and associated bodies); associations; professional services, technology, education and training providers, financial services and construction.

There is also a clear trend for short lead times in 2021, even for relatively sizable events.

These findings are backed up by the latest statistics from Trinity Event Solutions that show pharmaceutical event bookings have increased for the agency by 476% in 2022 compared to this year, followed by the finance and insurance industry, which is up by 21%. New business has increased by 266%, compared to 2020, and is up by 14% on 2019.

Richard Smith, Sales Director at Wyboston Lakes Resort, said: “Business is back with a bang. Currently, the market can be split into two: very short lead times for good quality events for 2021, and excellent longer lead bookings for 2022. In August for instance, we confirmed significant volumes of events for September and October at almost three to four times the level we’d normally expect. Our provisional base to year-end is well over 200% more than previous years.

“While it is great to see rapid recovery, it is much more important to see stable growth throughout 2022. Clients now seem confident to book further out. We have benefited from being very proactive throughout the crisis in terms of marketing and business development and the huge recent investment in transforming both of our conference and training centres. As a result, our enquiries have stacked up well during the whole of 2021. Year to date our enquiry values are at 96% of what we’d want in any normal year, which means we’ve kept on converting throughout the year.

Smith added: “However, we do know that there is still a huge amount of work to do to secure the best outcome for both 2021 and 2022. We are also seeing that clients understandably want reassurance over contract clauses and the ability for us to run safe events not just in 2021 but into 2022.

“But overall, it is great to see that our recovery plan for events post pandemic is proving very successful and producing exciting results.”

For more information, please visit https://www.wybostonlakes.co.uk