“Our results this year indicate that a long- awaited recovery is taking place for those centers positioned to do so,” said Dave Arnold, co-president and CEO-East with PKF Consulting USA. “Corporate meetings have proven to be the last segment of the market to claw back to some semblance of former glory.”
Demand for conference centers grew along with average rates, with executive-style conference centers performing better than average with an ADR increase of 5 percent over the previous year. This led to a higher-than-average rise in rates compared with the hotel industry average in 2012, indicating conference centers are in vogue and the choice of meeting planners.
The report, compiled by PKF Hospitality Research on behalf of the IACC, showed that executive conference centers enjoyed the greatest gain in occupancy during 2012, growing on average 7.3 percent. In 2012, IACC resort centers achieved the highest profits on a dollars per-available-room basis. On average, Operating Profits increased 14.5 percent during 2012, and in 2012, residential centers enjoyed greater gains in net operating income compared to comparable transient hotels.
In 2012, executive centers achieved the greatest increase in profit margin, increasing by 27.4 percent.
“With improving margins and greater stability on the marketplace, we expect to see our members investing further in their conference environment for their clients,” said Mark Cooper, CEO, IACC. “It will be our aim to provide our members with knowledge, trends and research to help them make the very best choices as they further development their services and facilities.”
The IACC’s Trends in the Conference Center Industry report is available online at http://iacconline.org/resources/index.cfm?fuseaction=Store&categoryid=7
Trends in the Conference Center Industry is compiled and produced by PKF Consulting USA and PKF Hospitality Research.
Founded in 1981, the is a non-profit IACC is dedicated to promoting understanding and awareness of the conference center industry and to giving member properties the tools needed to provide an exceptional IACC meeting experience. Active members meet a set of stringent quality standards and agree to a code of ethics. Currently, the association includes approximately 400 members from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Philippines, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, France, Spain, England, Scotland, The Netherlands, Germany and South Africa.
