Amidst the whirlwind of activity happening on the show floor during October’s IMEX America 2025 show in Las Vegas, Meetings
Today was able to get 15 minutes with Steve O’Malley, chief operating officer for global event strategy and planning firm Maritz, to hear his take on some of the results of its latest Industry Trends report released just ahead of the show.
Here are five areas where O’Malley and his Maritz colleagues are advising corporate and association event clients to adapt their approach in order to maximize event budgets, attendance and attendee impact.
[Related: Top Takeaways and Planner Insights From the 2025 Meetings Today Trends Survey]
1. Flat Pricing Fuels Multiyear Bookings
Smaller-than-usual projected hotel cost increases are giving planners the opportunity for savings through multiyear bookings: “We’re seeing hotel rates are not going up dramatically—between 1% and 2% for 2026 and the same for 2027,” O’Malley said. “If a planner wants to work with a big brand to book multiple events over the next two to three years in different destinations, there is real opportunity right now to gain operational efficiency and cost control.”
2. Tap Your DMO
Corporate events can benefit in several ways by partnering with the destination marketing organization (DMO) in a potential host city: “One thing we are doing more than ever [with corporate meetings] is looping in the DMO in a city so they can tell us about everything that is going on in a destination around our event dates,” O’Malley said. “They know if there is another big event happening the same week we want to be there, so they tell us what to avoid. And if we can put in the RFP that our client can shift the event one day on either side of their preferred dates, a DMO is an incredible partner for helping us place the business in the right property.”
3. Europe Remains Strong
With incentive programs, geopolitical tensions are having a less-than-expected effect on destination choices: “Europe is still selling strong for us, both the western and eastern regions,” O’Malley said. “We have not seen much concern [from clients] regarding states bordering the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. We still have demand for nearby destinations such as Prague, Czech Republic.”
O’Malley noted that other Central European countries are getting more interest from incentive planners, too. In fact, he recently returned from a familiarization tour in Slovenia, which borders Italy, Croatia, Austria and Hungary.
“I think that Slovenia and the surrounding countries offer something many people haven't seen or experienced before, and this will be an area of developing interest for incentives over the next couple of years,” he said.
As for potential complications for incentives in such destinations, O’Malley cites the importance of experience.
“Every incentive destination has its challenges; there was a national strike in France recently that caused disruptions for some of our travelers,” he noted. “Our job is to monitor all that, make the best of each situation, make sure that our customers understand what's going on and are prepared for it. But really, the world is open for our clients; they're not necessarily keeping closer to home. We’re seeing the same appetite we've always seen to go and explore new places.”
[Related: Meetings Industry Giants Join to Fight Human Trafficking]
4. Late Registrations Pushing Room Deadlines
Association-event registration patterns are complicating final room-block commitments: “Our report shows that a lot of attendees are registering very late—it’s often just four weeks out and sometimes just two weeks out,” O’Malley said. “So, how do planners get full credit from hotels for their attendee bookings? We are saying to our hotel and destination partners, ‘Given this group’s history, we know they are going to fulfill. Can we stretch the deadline of when we need to close these contracts out so we can get credit for our client?’”
O’Malley noted that Maritz has been able to get some agreements amended to allow 21 days for final room-block cutoff, and “we’re negotiating with one city right now to see if we can get it down to 14 days for a client."
5. Cultivate Younger Attendees
Associations can better appeal to attendees of all ages by creating and promoting the right kinds of networking opportunities across generations: “The younger crowd in particular has told us that they want to have the face-to-face experience, but they generally are not as practiced at it as their older colleagues,” O’Malley said. “To get them to register, invite them to participate in meaningful ways. For instance, connect them ahead of time with people who have been to the event before to make them feel more comfortable and confident that they don’t have to do it all by themselves.”
[Related: How Maritz Uses AI and How Meeting Profs Can Learn From It]
And for the older generations, networking with younger colleagues can be just as much of a draw to attend.
“For our group clients with a more mature attendee base, we’re finding ways to connect them with the younger generation at their events so that the mentoring can go both ways,” O’Malley said.
