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The meeting industry new normal – Part 3

Conferences that Work

Airline travel seems reasonably safe these days. Airlines claim “cabin air is refreshed 20-30 times an hour.” Plan for future COVID-19 variants (and new pandemics). To date we’ve had several COVID-19 variants play havoc with our in-person meeting plans.

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Job Hunting During COVID: What Meeting Professionals Need to Know

SmartMeetings

The travel, hospitality and meetings industry has been one of the hardest hit during the COVID-19 slowdown. Delta Airlines and American Airlines have announced that they will continue to furlough employees due to the ongoing slowdown in business; Marriott International anticipates further staff reductions.

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How to Avoid All Those Sneaky Airline Fees

SmartMeetings

Sneaky airline fees have become so standard that it’s hard to call them “sneaky” anymore. As Hopper said in its announcement of Fair Bear: “It’s tough to figure out your true cost of flying because the airlines are increasingly ‘unbundling’ their offerings.”

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Top Challenges Facing the Meeting Planning Industry Right Now

The Castle Group

While many industries were able to shift to a remote workforce, hotels, restaurants and airlines faced major layoffs and demand fluctuations and are now playing catch up, hiring and training staff in a tight market. With a few tools in your toolkit, seamless event planning is possible—and worth it.

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The 2020 CMI 25 in Pictures

MeetingsNet

A sampling of how the leading independent planning companies execute every sort of event, from user conferences to exotic incentives. The 2020 CMI 25 list is out, with profiles of the 25 largest independent meeting planning companies serving the corporate market in North America. Gating level. anonymous user. DataTable subpages.

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8 Lessons 2016 Taught Us About Meeting Planning

SmartMeetings

They prioritize price over airline loyalty, making airlines rethink their tactics and pricing strategies. Acquisitions are a part of life, as companies such as Starwood, Marriott, Virgin America, Alaska Airlines, Lanyon and Cvent can all attest to. Further reading: Best Practices of Using Sharing Economy for Business Travel.

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Meeting Profs Travel Report

SmartMeetings

And both sides of the political aisle criticizes DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg for ineffective leadership in dealing with Southwest Airlines’ recent mass flight cancellations. Airline itself responds by saying it will do better. Airline itself responds by saying it will do better.

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