As meeting and event venues suffer staff shortages alongside increasing enquiries, the HBAA is asking event planners to exercise flexibility when it comes to service-level agreements (SLAs).
The call from HBAA, a trade association for the meetings, events and accommodation industry, comes after venues have seen a dramatic rise in enquiries, however, confirmed bookings remain low.
“Many venues and businesses in our sector are opening and ready for business. However, the length of lockdowns, furlough hangover, redundancies, Brexit-related workforce departures and visa issues plus the lack of contracted bookings has led to significant numbers of people leaving key positions, resulting in a severe shortage of staff across the sector,” HBAA consultant executive director, Juliet Price said.
“Coupled with employees testing positive for Covid or being required to self-isolate, businesses are under immense pressure when faced with a surge in enquiries, bookings and the overwhelming demands of large-scale reopening, without any immediate income.
“The knock-on effect is also being felt within other parts of the supply chain. Agencies experiencing a slow response from some venues are struggling to maintain their service levels to customers.”
Staff shortages are coupled with other delays such as venues taking time to reevaluate capacities, catering options, delegate flow and indoor and outdoor facility options.
“This adds pressure all round and has an impact on SLAs. It is vital that planners are open to temporarily adjusting SLAs during this challenging time and important for event organisers to understand that communication channels and response times may vary.”
HBAA venue sector advisor and De Vere group sales director, Gareth Warnock added: “We’re seeing signs of movement in the meeting and events sector, and we hope this increases as Step 4 of the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown in England comes into place.
“Consumer confidence appears to be shifting in the right direction, which everyone in the hospitality industry sees as a positive; we hope this continues throughout the sector as the nation continues to move towards unlocking.”
The HBAA has recently been outspoken in supporting campaigns for the temporary relaxation of post-Brexit visa regulations to help provide a short-term solution to the staff shortage crisis in the meetings and events industry and numerous other suffering industries.
A desire to travel led Holly Patrick to the business meetings and events world and she’s never looked back. Holly takes a particular interest in event sustainability and creating a diverse and inclusive industry. When she’s not working, she can be found rolling skating along Brighton seafront listening to an eclectic playlist, featuring the likes of Patti Smith, Sean Paul, and Arooj Aftab.
