Just as we predicted this past March, normality has indeed come to the meetings and travel business. Many of our clients and colleagues have gone from dipping their toes to fully diving into planning for in-person face-to-face events for the rest of 2021 and going into 2022.

We can also find optimism in a number of live events that have already been successful in maintaining high standards of safety and health.

Throughout our recent sourcings, hotels have taken the lead in providing health and safety guidance and COVID-related protocols. For example, Melia’s “Stay Safe” Program and Posadas’ “Travel with Confidence” are two of the best we’ve seen at addressing our clients’ questions and fears as well as protecting all parties involved with maximum safeguards and flexibility. We have scheduled programs next month at Posadas’ Fiesta Americana Coral Beach in Cancun and in February 2022 at The Level at Melia Punta Cana Beach in the Dominican Republic. With both, we are fully confident that they will go off without a hitch or be safely rescheduled if COVID flares up in the respective locations.

A large part of our air travel business is international meetings. Group travel is starting to come back but we need to see more initiative and assistance from international countries with stricter rules for entry. Eventually, more leeway with fully vaccinated American travelers will be required for 100% of the meetings business to come back. Hopefully, the US government will also allow for mask-optional travel through airports and on flights for those fully vaccinated.

In the meantime, our pharma and corporate events will continue to be hybrid in nature, with a virtual component to accommodate those unable or unwilling to travel yet. For the foreseeable future, meeting room sizes will have to be larger than the normal capacity to allow for proper social distancing and unorthodox room designs (see below).

We can help with air, hotel, car rental, and cruise reservations. Call Marty Beery our Director of Reservations at 973 239 4005 ext 110 or email marty@summitmgt.com.

If you would like to review how your meetings business can get to the next normal safely - with a firm that is certified as Pandemic Compliance Advisors, schedule a complimentary consultation with us (973) 239-4005 ext. 133 or email glen@summitmgt.com