Maximizing MICE Bookings: Key Hotel Strategies

Is your hotel struggling to get more MICE bookings and has a desire to increase revenue per available room (RevPAR)? Then you’re not alone in this.

Just like you, many other hoteliers failed to do that because they don’t evolve with changing guest expectations. Today's MICE clients are looking for-

• Hybrid meeting that blend in-person and virtual settings
• Virtual hotel tours to evaluate spaces before booking
• Sustainable practices and green initiatives
• Highly personalized experiences rather than one-size-fits-all packages

Studies suggest that the MICE market size is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.25% from 2025 to 2030. This highlights the industry's great potential, presenting a diverse pool of opportunities for hotels and resort owners.

By offering good venues and positioning themselves as premium centers for such large-scale conferences and events, hoteliers can possibly attract MICE travelers and earn more profits.

Let's talk about what MICE means, what benefits it offers to hoteliers like YOU, and the tried and tested strategies you can adopt to attract such group travelers.

What does MICE mean?

The acronym MICE stand for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions. 

MICE constitute an important part of the hospitality industry, and these include corporate travelers and group businesses, who generally book a hotel for the purpose of conducting board meetings, seminars, workshops, and other team meetings.

The other reasons can include experts coming together to share their insights or wanting to book a conference hall where they can do networking calls, or businesses doing a new product launch.

Earlier, MICE was related to traditional business events, but now leisure elements such as concerts and festivals have become a part of this.

What benefits does MICE provide in the hospitality industry?

MICE events are a game changer for the hospitality industry as organizers are looking for space to conduct business conferences and meetings to promote their products.

While hoteliers, on the other hand, can generate a steady stream of revenue, fill their occupancy, and even contribute to economic growth.

Here's how MICE can be advantageous for hoteliers-

1. Increase your hotel's revenue

MICE travelers tend to spend more as they come from sectors such as IT, pharmaceutical, retail, and banking segments, making it the fastest-growing segment in the travel industry.

As compared to leisure travelers, MICE attendees spend a lot of money on travel as event organizers bring a lot of people along with them.

A report from top CXOs around the globe says that -

The hotel industry benefits a lot from MICE events. The business travelers who attend MICE events intend to spend 65% more on hotel and dining.

Then another report from Convention Industry Councilstates that nearly 85% of the meetings are conducted at lodging venues which filled more than 275 rooms on that night.

By reading the above data, you can imagine how much revenue MICE tourism can create for hospitality businesses.

2. Maximize your occupancy

MICE events are conducted every year, so you can position your hotel as a MICE hub where you can attract a bunch of business travelers and maximize your occupancy regardless of whether there's an off-season or not.

3. Make your hotel infrastructure better

When MICE events are conducted in an area where your hotel is located, it not only boosts the local economy but also makes you realize the fact that you need to upgrade your hotel infrastructure. 

You may want to provide a better experience for guests, and that's possible if you provide them with better facilities, use modern equipment, and create large meeting spaces to accommodate such guests. 

4. Sell more rooms during the offseason

Generally, the off-season is when hoteliers are struggling to fill their rooms and find more guests. Even if they can't maintain their occupancy level, they have to offset rooms at lower prices.

In that case, MICE events bring in more people, allowing hoteliers to make the best use of under utilized rooms during quieter times.

5. More visibility for your property

When hotels can host such events and conferences, it makes their brand more visible in the eyes of MICE attendees.

Also, when such events are conducted either once or twice a year, guests try recommending your property to others through word-of-mouth marketing, then it increases your chances of getting more exposure from other travelers as well. 

What are the top strategies hotels can adopt to maximize MICE bookings?

Here are the few strategies that hoteliers can adopt to maximize MICE bookings, which are as given below -

1. Creating customizable packages for MICE travelers

• The most popular and underrated way of attracting MICE travelers is creating customized packages for your guests.You can create tier type packages for travelers that suit their budget and preferences.

For instance – create packages for attracting guests of different profiles such as standard, premium, and VIP. The premium package is customizable to attract elite travelers, and it includes transportation facilities, personal concierge services, etc.

• You can offer flexible meeting room options (adaptable spaces), allowing travelers to choose the meeting spot and customize it as per their needs.
• You can even have modular furniture for meetings and conferences suited to different group sizes and meeting styles.
• Integration of digital amenities such as virtual meetings, interactive tools, and streaming services converts the virtual event into a hybrid one. This way, through flexible meeting space, you can meet the needs of modern business travelers.

2. Personalizing the guest experience

Today's guests demand personalized experiences, and if you try providing them with ONE AND DONE experiences, then they won't feel good enough staying at that place. 

That's where automation can be a game changer as it changes the way hotels operate and deal with their guests. 

Investing in hotel management software such as PMS helps you record every minute detail about existing guests, such as their booking history, interests, dietary preferences etc. This helps you personalize your guest experience and make them feel more valued.

For new guests, you can offer them personalized welcome kits, attendee badges, and menu options upon their arrival. They then have to adjust their offerings accordingly that match audience expectations.

3. Turn first visitors into LOYAL guests

Attracting a MICE guest is one thing, and retaining it is another. The best way to keep the existing guests coming back is by offering loyalty programs. 

Creating corporate packages and promoting special offers on your website and socials helps to nail the art of attracting MICE clientele. These can be:

• Free room upgrades for VIP clients 
• Complimentary coffee breaks 
• Discounts on future bookings for events and conferences

4. Invest in content marketing and SEO

An effective and most underrated way of getting more MICE bookings for your hotel is to create an SEO-friendly website.

You can create a dedicated section for arranging events and conferences (corporate travel packages and conference events) that target business travelers  

When you create content regularly on such things and promote it through social, you'll surely get bookings for your hotel. 

The other way is to create a landing page and promote your hotel as a venue for MICE events. 

You can add attractive and high-quality visuals about conference events and big halls to make them curious, and lastly, you can add a lead capture form so that you can get visitor details with call-to-value buttons such as "Plan your event now." 

You can promote this event by promoting through email campaigns and social media. 

How can BOTSHOT help you manage your MICE events?

MICE tourism is the biggest contributor not just to any country's economic growth, but it presents tons of opportunities for hoteliers and accommodation service providers as they can cover their lost revenue during the off-season. 

If you can put yourself in their shoes and understand what makes them get into your property and extend their stay through personalized experiences or present upsells or cross-sells, then you can increase your hotel revenue eventually and build long-term relationships. 

At BOTSHOT, we help you manage your group bookings, especially during MICE events, using our property management software. You can offer them a group check-in/check-out facility and make their stay experience more memorable.

Besides that, it keeps a record of guest preferences so you can access it through this single dashboard and offer them extras such as SPA appointments or any wellness session. This brings more revenue for your hotel.