WTM: Prices up, Margins down!!!! Again!!! Sustainable?

World Travel Market. One of our (UK) biggest shows I believe. A golden goose perhaps? 7% average rises in the south hall on electrics, 11% + rises in the North Hall. Increase passed to my client: 0% Why: Because I am not stupid. How much has the economy shrunk by in the last 12 months. What is the inflation rate currently? Deflationary isn't it?
I pass those increases on in today's climate, WTM very possibly loses an exhibitor next year. (A big one). I lose a client. (A good one). The show loses the delegates that client draws in. (Many), the other exhibitors question visitor numbers and thus their spend. (bad for everyone). Am I a buffer? Am I a saviour? No. I'm in business. The exhibition business. Which can't afford to lose exhibitors. It might lose a contractor or few caught in this squeeze. The reasons for the increase: Excel mainly (no pun intended). Don't they need more exhibitions and exhibitors filling their expanded space?...thats some way to go about it. Or the price of copper wire if you are Stanco. They must use a lot of wire for a 7% average rise on all power supplies. Mind you their main must have gone up last year to account for the 15% rise 2007-8.

I'm sure the customer service we receive will be great though (what are my chances?). Unlike the Recycling and Waste Management show where I waited 7 hours for a single electrician. Three or was it four messages left at the desk. 9am, 11am, 2pm, 'Did I have a problem? What is it needs doing?', just what I am paying for. Just connect me up! Please god! I'm a Melville Gold Contractor.....If there were melville bronze would they have power ready for opening? Labour cost to me: 8 hrs of waiting time. Built into the job that time.....sometimes you just know!

Anyway some good news; WTM mains prices frozen in 2010. The bad news: BS7671.

P.S I hate posting negativity. I'm going to post a postive thread to follow.....just to show its not all doom and gloom.

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Comment by Gary van der Watt on December 14, 2009 at 3:10pm: Wasnt there - no experience this year but I have heard some rumblings from disatisfied exhibitors. What ever the concerns and whether warranted or not we arent to judge. That organisers everywhere need to take note seems to be essential. Contractors cant keep on taking up the slack. The answer is total industry buy in. This isnt just the WTM but an international issue that affects many of our major events world wide - also in South Africa.

Comment by Robert Brackstone on November 17, 2009 at 2:38pm: Its only fair following on from the above post I react to the service received onsite, by both Melville and Stanco. First the good. Melville were absolutely excellent. They provided us with 3 electricians and completed all connections and sockets amounting to 1700.00 pounds in two hours, with the mains being live an hour later. Not only that but we also received a customer satisfaction form which we are in the process of filling in: extremely satisfied thanks very much. Not only that but the order is on account, so around the time our client pay, is when we will pay!
Then the bad. Stanco. 2100.00 pounds worth of electrics, = one electrician, requested 8am Friday, finished on and off by the end of the Friday after much swearing and muttering (6pm), and the form had been submitted/ hadn't been submitted, we would have power, no we won't, right up until Saturday at 3pm. To boot, we had an electrician seemingly unaware of any client/supplier relationship. Moaning about the world, his employer, 'tread softly' we were told. In fact he threatened to walk off twice!
The worst came later, asking at the Stanco desk about the likelihood of mains power being switched on I was told to chase up the form at the 'mains office'. Failing to find this I wandered into the Stanco office to be told a little rudely (I may have been confrontational myself by this time) 'your contract is with us, they won't talk to you, why would you go there' eerrrm 'because the lady at your desk told me to perhaps?'. Then a complaint about their electrician and how the job was undermanned was met by a blunt 'no it isn't, don't make blanket statements or accusations' when in fact who had told me it was undermanned.....our electrician himself. I haven;t had their customer satisfaction form yet.

So one good experience and one bad. The Good was extremely encouraging though. Long may that continue!