As travel resumes, mitigated by robust industry efforts around cleanliness and safety, IHG^® Hotels & Resorts, which includes brands such as Holiday Inn^®, InterContinental^®, Crowne Plaza^®, Staybridge Suites^® and Kimpton^®, is seeing gains in group business with entertainment and sports leading the way.

The show must go on

Derek DeCross, SVP Global Sales, IHG Hotels & Resorts commented: “Film and television productions are looking for responsible ways to keep their projects on track and produce content for 2021 and beyond. Many productions are utilizing our hotels in cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, San Diego and Manchester, England to create ‘bubbles’ for crews to sequester while filming. Bookings for Q3 alone have more than doubled year-over-year in this vertical. This boost in business allowed at least two IHG Hotels & Resorts properties to reopen sooner than anticipated. It is a testament to the committed efforts of hotels to integrate IHG’s signature, enhanced IHG Way of Clean standard into virtual site inspections.”

•  Play to win – Sports has seen month-to-month improvement since May and, through August, has accounted for more than a third of all booked group business with larger bookings slated for 2021 and beyond. Strength in youth (17 and under) sports bookings (primarily baseball and hockey) have been driven by IHG’s trusted, mainstream brand such as Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. While college and university sports bookings are down this year, the company anticipates a return once tournaments and events resume.

•  More bright spots – In addition to sports and entertainment, IHG Hotels & Resorts has also seen optimism in other sectors. There was a notable gain in medical and pharma related bookings in August and the company also saw the biggest increase in bookings from the automotive industry since January. Bookings in the professional services vertical, particularly legal, saw growth in Q3 and are beginning to rebound after bottoming out in Q2.

*excluding Olympic related bookings

•  Meet with Confidence – IHG Hotels & Resorts moved quickly to give planners and corporate clients confidence that meetings and events follow leading cleanliness and safety practices, including clutter-free event spaces configured for social distancing, leveraging outdoor areas where possible and providing tech solutions to support virtual meetings. Learn more here.

Original Article Link:  https://www.ihgplc.com/en/news-and-media/news-releases/2020/ihg-hotel-and-resorts-shares-new-data-showing-sports-and-entertainment

Need help promoting your event?  Are you feeling overwhelmed with all the details?  Here are steps that will keep you from feeling overwhelmed and will help you have a successful event!

• Start Marketing your Event Early 
  • Start marketing your event through social media, emails, and mailers no later than 2 to 3 months prior to your event date.   Some can fill an event in just two or three weeks, but it can tend to be more stressful.
• Set a Schedule for Marketing your Event
  • Save the Date, Register Now, and Last Chance – Scheduling and sending these emails/social media posts at different times will allow you the flexibility to eliminate the last email/post if your event is full, or you can also add another email/post if you are not full.

• Make a “Catchy Phrase” to Use in Your Email/Social Media Posts
  • Use this “Catchy Phrase” in your subject line of an email and provide an easy-to-see link to register for your event.
  • Use photos from previous events so individuals don’t want to miss out on your event.
  • Ensure to highlight any special guests or exciting activities at your event.
• Take Advantage of FACEBOOK
  • Use your organization or company page and create a Facebook event.  This will provide your event more exposure and it works!
  • Make sure to provide a link so that individuals can register for your event.

• Don’t forget LinkedIn for promoting your Event
  • Be sure to share the link to your event on LinkedIn as a publication.  This will notify everyone in your network.
  • Use LinkedIn and send outbound messages to individuals in your network inviting them to attend.
• Remember to provide Partner organizations with your event social media posts.
  • If you are working with a partner organization on an event, ask them to promote your event through their social media/emails also.
• Start Calling Your Contacts
  • If you are wanting to get the max attendance for your event, start a calling campaign inviting your contacts and asking if they know of anyone that may want to attend your event.   It can be time consuming but effective.

Good luck!  We hope you have a successful event!

Written by Laurie Santel

Will parents and children be eager to return to team sports once the threat of the coronavirus outbreak has passed?

“The youth sports sector plays a critical role in our economy and the development of our youth but has faced particularly severe consequences as a result of the coronavirus and resulting national emergency,” said the letter signed by several U.S. sports federations, including those for football, lacrosse, soccer, volleyball and wrestling.

They did take a moment on their anniversary to appreciate what they had accomplished, but then shifted quickly into what the coming years would look like.

“We are going to be an altered version of ourselves, for sure,” Boyle said. “It’s hard to predict what that is, but all we can do is put in the work.”

Joe Drape has been writing about the intersection of sports, culture and money since coming to The New York Times in 1998. He has also pursued these lines of reporting as a book author, most recently in the Times best-sellers “American Pharoah: The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Champion’s Legendary Rise” and “Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains With the Smith Center Redmen.”

Original Article