HOSPITALITY BY NICK EASEN
EVERYTHING IN MODERATION...
Corporate hospitality undoubtedly benefits business, but be aware of the legal pitfalls
CORPORATE HOSPITAL- ITY IS BACK WITH A VEN- GEANCE. Posh boxes are jammed at events from Wimbledon to Royal Ascot, as well as top music venues. Business entertain- ment is doing rather well, thank you. Take the Rugby
World Cup, which took place at venues across England and Wales last autumn. The or- ganisers claimed that corporate hospitality sales were more than 50 per cent higher than
during the London Olympics – 90,000 packages were sold, compared to 60,000 for the Games.
“Hospitality season ticket and box
renewal rates at Chelsea are also at a record level,” says Simon Hunter, head of venue and brand at the football club. “Ad hoc match day packages are increas- ingly popular and games have been selling out weeks in advance. Of those that bought a corporate hospitality package last year, 94 per cent of them renewed again this year, which is a record high.”
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Corporate expenditure in this sector is heading north, but overall we’re not back to the levels before the financial crash, when spending thousands of pounds chartering private aircraft and yachts for sporting events was more com- monplace. “I doubt we will see the likes of pre-2008 again,” says Jonathan Hutton, head of specialist services at Hillgate Travel. “Corporate hospitality is not so in-your-face these days. There’s more control and things like sponsorship are not as exuberant.”
LOW-KEY TREND These days there are certainly more requests from buyers for low-key and simpler packages, with ticket-only options and fewer full-on days out. Clients are more likely to take their guests to a restaurant than fork out on a lavish corporate package. Above all, there is now an element of discre- tion, and price-controls are firmly applied. “There is certainly a trend for less formal hospitality,” says Adam
Knights, managing director at ATPI. One reason is because the Bribery Act
a few years ago helped put the kibosh on those profligate events. The hospitality industry took a real hit when this nifty bit of legislation landed on the desks of quivering compliance departments across the UK. “Without doubt the act has struck irrational fear into many employ- ees and companies,” says Clive Wratten, commercial director at CTI. One bank, for instance, was so con- cerned about the limits of this act that its
BBT JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 121
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