The Summer, and Discontent

So that was summer, a brief flash of sunshine, a few evenings just about warm enough for the family to barbeque and a flush of flying ants breaking out from the patio to cause havoc at the aforementioned family barbeque.

No I am not going to whinge about our lack of summer, we are all totally aware that global warming or not we do, on occasions, get pretty poor summers and this has been one of them so let’s all just look forward to Autumn!

What I am however going to whinge about is the state of this industry; the state that the relationship between agents and venues still appears to be in after all of the efforts made by so many committed individuals and trade associations to smooth the ground between them. I am astonished to see that the total mistrust between the two parties still exists and that accusations are made so generally and so blatantly, a situation which can only damage this excellent industry.

This morning I read yet another rant bemoaning venues; in this instance it was suggested that ‘many venues are increasing their prices at whim’. And just the other month we learnt that venues felt that agents are holding options on too many venues thereby forcing up prices as many venues respond to ‘supply and demand’ and then prices crash as options are released late in the day.

So what is the answer to this damaging industry conundrum?

Perhaps we simply need to accept that there are the good guys and then there are the bad guys and they are not always easy to identify, in other words there are good venues and there are bad venues just as there are good agents and bad agents.

Surely the way to avoid these difficult and often time consuming relationships is to follow a simple but very effective code of practice such as The Meetings CODE and always make sure you are doing business with the good guys.

The Meetings CODE includes a ‘model’ of an agreement between venue and agency something that we at the MIA believe should always be in place in order to avoid misunderstanding and mistrust. And we know that the use of this type of agreement encourages excellent relations between the two parties because we see it every day amongst the membership of the MIA.

We are actively encouraging corporate and association buyers to seek out agents and venues who have gained AIM the MIA’s accreditation scheme which includes adherence to the Meetings CODE so perhaps both venues and agents should be doing the same and demanding AIM from the venues they use or the agents they choose to do business with.

What do you think?

Jane Evans
Chief Executive, MIA