Lime Venue Portfolio has reported the brand’s best ever month in its 12-year history as summer events, outdoor receptions and Christmas Party bookings continue to drive market recovery. The brand reported a 74% increase in enquiries in Q1, reporting the highest value of enquiries since before the pandemic. The portfolio also has an unprecedented ‘business on the books’ figure across its 80+ portfolio of venues.
The brand’s success should be seen as a positive sign of recovery for the industry, as well as further evidence of the much talked about ‘Race for Space’. The speed and volume of both enquiries and placed business coincide with massive reductions in lead-times, 32% of all enquiries placed in 2022 have been for events within the same quarterly trading period, according to Lime Venue Portfolio’s figures.
The key drivers of this growth are around the seasonal interest in outdoor events, receptions, and summer parties, with longer lead Christmas Parties also contributing to ‘business on the books’. The dynamics of the growth of outdoor events, however, could also mean positive news for the industry. Jo Austin, Sales Director, Lime Venue Portfolio, commented; “We’re seeing a lot of businesses who had to cancel their Christmas Parties and January conferences consolidate these events around summer.”
“Many businesses have tied traditional summer parties into company updates or team building events and are using them as a way to bring disparate work forces back together, give them a very late end of year reward, and a more relaxing reception as the sun comes out in the spring and summer,” continues Jo. “It’s great to see businesses using events in this way, it adds value to what we do, means increased investment, returns on investment, and creates strong growth for us and our agency clients.”
Lime Venue Portfolio have championed the trend around ‘Event Convergence’ for some time, advocating for businesses that wish to boost their own returns on event spending by mixing traditional conferences with training, team building and parties. Jo concludes, “Businesses are seeing better returns when they consolidate their spending on events into one big, powerful experience, rather than smaller ones. It’s great news for brands like ours as it means budget goes into the best venue, that offers the best experience, while making food play an increasingly important part, with a variety of menus to suit every occasion.”
