When it comes to demand indicators for travel and hospitality companies, events stand out as one of the most accurate predictors of out-of-season spikes. Many businesses still rely on gut instinct or “educated guesses” to predict demand fluctuations, often based on previous year experiences.
NB: This is an article from Aggregate Intelligence, one of our Expert Partners
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But what happens if the person with prior knowledge leaves? Or if a new major event is announced? Or if an event experiences a significant increase in attendance? These are problems that can be solved relatively simply by having the data intelligence for confident decision-making.
One of the first considerations for many travel and hospitality companies is the event type. In the world of events, they are not all created equally when it comes to the impact they will have on demand. Let’s take a look at a few event categories and how they can potentially impact local demand.
Trade Shows & Conferences
Many trade shows have significant international attendees, as well as many cross-country attendees. If we look at a large trade show, it is not uncommon for over 50% of the audience to be international. What are the impacts this has on demand? Firstly, flights to this location are very likely to see increased levels of demand as exhibitors, organizers, speakers, and attendees all descend on the location. This is an indicator for airlines to firstly look at fares and how to optimize them to match demand and secondly look at capacity. Do they need to open up more seat availability?
Many of these attendees will also be looking for rental cars, particularly at airport locations. So, there will most likely be a spike in demand here. Again, rental car companies can use this indicator as an opportunity to adjust pricing. They can also look at whether they have the correct inventory levels and vehicle categories – for example, are business travelers, who are traveling in groups, more likely to want MPVs that can carry extra luggage? Potentially.
Lastly, the impact on demand for hotel rooms and accommodation is going to be incredibly high. With higher demand comes the opportunity for hoteliers to adjust their rates to maximize revenue or offer additional services such as shuttle buses to the venue or even utilize their facilities to host meetings for event attendees.
Sporting Events
Sporting events have the capacity to draw hundreds of thousands of attendees, depending on the type of sporting event taking place. For example, a Premier League football match might attract 30,000 fans every week – but will this have a significant impact on demand for hotels, flights, rental cars? Potentially not. Most attendees will be local and therefore relatively transient. It is likely they will drive increased demand for rail travel, parking, and food and beverage, though.
