Meetings and events are set to be squeezed further by inflationary pressures in 2025. But by how much? According to Maritz, which crunched numbers from a range of surveys (including the 2025 Global Business Travel Forecast, the 2024-2025 World at Work Salary Budget Survey and the Payscale 2024-2025 Salary Budget Survey, among others), event professionals should prepare for a 4.3% year-over-year increase come 2025.
The rate is a tick less than the 4.5% meeting and event costs rose by in 2024, which Maritz attributed to a slowdown across post-COVID revenge travel, hiring sprees and general inflation. However, prices could rise further than they did this past year for food and beverage in particular.
Event professionals could also be subject to even further price hikes if they’re hosting a meeting or event “at a major conference hub that’s also trendy with tourists,” per the report. By how much, Maritz didn’t say, but it did report that big cities remain “post-pandemic winners,” bleisure appeal is still in effect and luxury is still in demand.
Steve O’Malley, Maritz’s chief operating officer of business events solutions, warned that “pricing pressure will continue in our industry due to supply and demand imbalance.” A good alternative to offset those costs is looking to midsize cities that still have lots to offer, but at a better price. Maritz’s report pointed to Baltimore, Md., Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Ky., and San Antonio, Texas.
The average hotel group rate here is $217 per night, while in larger cities like Atlanta, Houston and Phoenix, rates can go up to $232, according to Maritz. And in the top five cities—Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco—expect to dish out an average of $285 per night for groups.
O’Malley continued: “Fuel costs are going up due to conflict in the Middle East and regulation in the US. Boating strikes will take time to recover from as far as lift capacity for airlines. And ownership and management of hotels, airlines and all of the events supply chain have grown more disciplined and aggressive in their desire to optimize profit.”
“These pressures aren’t stopping short of an economic slowdown,” O’Malley concluded in an interview with Vendelux.
Here’s Maritz’s full predictions for 2025, which sales and marketing services company released as part of Martiz’s IMEX America edition of its industry trends report:
| 2024 Prices | 2025 Prices | |
| Hotels | Up 3-5% *Overall average is 2.5% but the 3-5% estimate reflects the higher rates for locations and venues booked by groups. | Up 2-4% |
| Air | Up 2% | Up 1% |
| Food & Beverage | Up 4% | Up 3-6% |
| Wages for Event Staff | Up 4% | Up 3-4% |
| Meetings & Events | Up 4.5% | Up 4.3% |
When asked about how to mitigate some of these pressures, O’Malley said that “if the economy underperforms, we may see a re-balancing of supply and demand, which would help ease price increases.”
In the meantime, event professionals should approach budgeting as soon as they “start designing the event and [deciding on] the objectives you want to achieve.”
“If you focus on your guiding principle or imperative, then decisions about where to invest become more apparent,” O’Malley added, noting that one place where you’ll often find savings is with audiovisual vendors. “The ‘last mile’ in AV is the most expensive and generally does not have the ultimate impact as much as the message and passion in how that message is delivered,” O’Malley offered.
And when it comes to food and beverage, there’s ways to “find efficiencies,” according to O’Malley, who advised event professionals to work with their partners “to use the same products as groups before you and after you, so the supplier can buy in bulk.”
“And be sensitive to the portions you serve to both cut costs and to limit food waste—one of the biggest drivers of sustainability in events,” O’Malley said.
