2025: Navigating a Crossroads for the Event Industry: Boom, Stagnation, or Transformation
Explore the future of the event industry in 2025—will it boom, stagnate, or transform? Dive into key trends shaping the next chapter.
How Administrative Professionals Are Navigating New Responsibilities, Ways of Working, and the Future of Corporate Travel and Events
Since 2019, the world as we know it has changed drastically as everyone scrambled to move towards digitalisation.
New European Hotels for Meetings and Incentives: The 2027 Shortlist
A launch gliding up to a private dock on Lake Como. A board meeting beneath 12th-century cloisters in Florence. The Dolomites turning pink beyond a restored Art Nouveau terrace. These are the new European hotels for meetings and incentives that will shape 2027’s most memorable programmes. Some have stood empty for years; others are brand […]
Design Matters. So Does Where: Rethinking Corporate Retreats in Europe
On the eve of IMEX America 2026: why your next corporate retreat in Europe should start with a place you haven’t used yet By Susan Vanhuston, Co-founder, The DMC Collective On Tuesday morning, the doors will open on the show floor at Mandalay Bay. More than 17,000 meeting and event professionals are expected in Las […]
Incentive Travel vs Cash Bonus: What the Research Actually Says, and How to Make the Case (2026)
Research suggests well-designed incentive travel can outperform an equal-value cash bonus for motivating top performers, because cash feels like pay and travel doesn’t. But design decides the result, and in some situations cash still wins. It usually comes up once the programme is agreed in principle. The shortlist looks good, the dates work, and then […]
How to Choose a DMC: 7 Questions to Ask Before You Sign Anything
Shortlisting a destination management company usually happens under time pressure, with a budget attached to your name and a brief that might still be half-formed. Most planners compare proposals on price and polish, then find out what actually matters — communication, contract terms, who really shows up on the day — only after they’ve signed. […]
Hotel Prices Can Rise Up to 5x During European Trade Fairs, Here’s the Data
What Actually Drives Rate Spikes in Munich, Frankfurt, Milan, Berlin and Bilbao Hotel prices during trade fairs can rise by 2 to 5 times their normal rate: a Munich room that costs around €190 on an ordinary night hit €453 during the Bauma machinery fair, and a Frankfurt room that runs about €85 normally has […]
How Much Does a Corporate Incentive Trip Cost Per Person in 2026? (And What Changes by 2027)
It’s the question every planner asks us before anything else, and it’s also the question the industry answers worst. Search it yourself and you’ll find a $4,900 global average here, a $6,000 North American figure there, and a luxury guide quoting $8,000 two paragraphs later – three numbers, no context, and nobody telling you which […]
Bilbao vs San Sebastián for Corporate Events: What Planners Really Ask Us
We get this question almost every week. An event planner on a call, a brand marketing lead in an email, someone catching one of us at a trade fair: “Bilbao or San Sebastián, which one should we choose?” Quick answer: Bilbao wins on scale and value for conferences, trade shows and product launches over 200 […]
Berlin Airport Transfer Guide: Taxis, Chauffeur and Coach Options from BER
An Honest Comparison for Executives, Assistants and Event Planners You’ve just landed at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), or you’re planning congress shuttles for a delegation arriving there, and a decision is already waiting: taxi, train, pre-booked transfer, chauffeur, or a coordinated group shuttle. A standard taxi into the city runs €58–70, but the real question […]
How Much Does a Corporate Event Cost in Germany?
A 2026/2027 Pricing Guide for Conferences, Product Launches, Exhibitions and Incentive Programmes A typical corporate event cost in Germany ranges from about €150 per delegate for a lean single-day meeting to €800+ per delegate for a full residential conference with staging and AV. Large exhibition-inclusive programmes carrying catering and production can run into the millions. […]
What 150 Sales Leaders Taught Us About the Difference Between an Incentive Trip and a Holiday Dressed Up for the Office
Our Germany team still talks about the four-month window they had to turn a one-page brief into a five-day leadership retreat for 150 people. It’s the clearest example we have of something we say often but rarely get to prove in this much detail: there’s a real difference between an incentive programme and a family […]