And why this is important to understand for the future of 'venue finding'

Let me be bold and direct by saying that the current status of our beloved (international) meetings & events industry has strong parallels with the taxi industry from before there was Uber. Specifically when comparing finding a taxi (when you actually need it, for a fair price) with finding the right event venue (available for when you need it and for a fair price).

Let's not say that this is a bad thing, let's say it gives us a mayor opportunity.

I'll explain you why!

The pre-Uber taxi world

Let's not make it to old-fashioned, let's focus on the era where there was already (mobile) internet and so when the Yellow Pages were not needed anymore. In that time, everywhere you travelled and you needed a taxi, you'd go online and google something like 'Taxi company Amsterdam'. Tens of results you'd get to choose from, from which you just picked one or two to give them a ring. Not knowing what the price was going to be and if there was going to be a taxi available. Bottom line: you were just left to luck.

This pre-Uber taxi world was far from tech-savvy, it was biassed, it wasn’t transparent at all and it was definitely ready for some strong innovative disruption. And there was Uber. An independent online platform that became a unicorn because it was solving such a big pain for most of us. And we all know the story since then. (Yes I know, nowadays Uber is facing some real challenges and criticism, but that's not what this story is about :).

Taxis v.s. events

Now, if you are an event planner, or even anybody that often or sometimes organises a meeting or event, you'll be walking the very same route when looking for a good matching venue as when you would have needed a taxi in de pre-Uber-era. You'll be googling and using key words like 'Unique event venue Amsterdam', resulting in 14.300.000 (!!!) hits. Good luck with that! As you are a busy person, you'll be probably contacting an agency to do the venue search for you. But I can tell you that they'll be probably executing the very same google task for venue finding like you would... Far from effective.

I've also mentioned this in my previous blog because it extremely important to understand that this is bringing you nowhere. Unless you're just lucky of course...

Some key negative results by executing venue finding in this way are:

• You're shooting with hail;
• You're not in control yourself;
• You'll get crappy responses from venues, or maybe even no respons at all;
• You're not only waisting your time, but as well the precious time of venues.

So it's time for change, right? Everybody agrees with this, however, the right solution is still to be discovered. There are countless initiatives from which most of them are being led by hotel companies or individual event venues. Sometimes a collaboration between a few but the golden eg is yet to be found.

When I was at IMEX in Frankfurt last May (IMEX is the world's largest trade show for the meetings & events industry together with the Las Vegas edition), I talked to multiple hotel and venue representatives, from junior sales reps to C level hotel chain executives, and all of them told me the very same story that goes something like:

'We are happy to be back after Covid but the current challenges (shortage in staff, tight budgets and a massive explosion in number of event requests) are killing'.

And yes, it is a tough world out there nowadays... In a nutshell, the challenges that we are facing are driving us to a need of change. And this is why:

Solutions are okay, but not good enough.

The different ways hotels and event venues are trying to cope with these challenges can be called ambitious. Yet not delivering the real solution. (If you ask me). It’s merely cosmetic measures for themselves and not the solution for the industry. So let's say these solutions are okay, but far from good enough.

For example: While a lot of hotels and venues are just accepting the way it is by settling for less because there is just no better alternative, many of the larger hotel chains are currently spending tons of money on building their own software. The objective is clearly to (1) serve their clients better and (2) receiving better qualified leads. A fancy but very expensive plugin (or something comparable) is being created and implemented on their brand websites. Great! But how does the customer finds your website? Only by you still spending a lot on SEA (search Engine Advertising) to drive traffic. And worst of all, it's not solving the actual problem for one simple reason: Event organisers need to go shopping by comparing your venue with your competitors'. And I can assume that you are not going to showcase your competitors on your own website, right?

The Uber success formula

So what is the solution then for this problem? Let's better understand Uber's succes first. The big advantage of Uber is its proposition. It provides three customer benefits from simplicity:

1. Ease of use, by simplifying the process;
2. Usefulness, with a much better quality, which is time saving, transparent and automated;
3. Art, the experience is a revelation when compared with traditional taxis.

The system itself is extremely simple, not least for the company itself.

And... (drum roll) it owns no cars! Like booking.com owns no hotels and like Airbnb owns no apartments. It remains independent. Forever. And that is very important for the success it gained.

'Uber is just an intermediary that uses technology to connect riders with drivers'.

A nice read for some better insights on how Uber did what it did.

An independent online marketplace for venue finding

This Uber-lesson learns us that, to serve our customer better, we need to solve their problem and not just trying to solve only our own problem. We (at Wice) are convinced that the international meetings & events industry is in big need of a fully transparent and independent online marketplace for venue finding. Something that should work like this:

Automation is the way forward

Like what already took place in so many other industries, automation by smart technology is one of key solutions for a long lasting and healthy future. We all know how Uber disrupted the taxi world by simply implementing easy and smart technology. When looking back at the earlier described challenges our industry faces right now, automation technology will be the biggest solution for all of them too. Because:

• You'll need less people;
• Which cost you less;
• There will be less errors made;
• The job will be done much faster;
• Your commercial reach is much, (MUCH) bigger;
• Data makes things measurable and transparent.

Convinced? I am!

Let's disrupt our industry like Uber did with taxis.

An important call to all hotel and event entrepreneurs out there: Please stop investing in building your own technology, simply because it's not going to work. Save yourselves hundreds of thousands of Euro's and spend only a small fraction of that on something that will work: An independent digital marketplace for venue finding for instance.

Get on board as early adopter

We have several packages prepared for you to join us as an early adopter. Not only you will be recognised as one, you'll be part of shaping Wice together with us, ánd you'll be able to gain free access for a lifetime (!!!).

Get in touch and we'll tell you all that is possible and we'll keep you posted along the way of this amazing journey. Our motto: Let's get it together.

Cheers!

Bart

Co-Founder at Wice

wice.co