2026 will be a key year for MICE: AI accelerates routines, Payment and processes are getting smarter. Ghis creates more room for what really makes events strong: good collaboration. The DER BUSINESS Solutions team attended the 7th MICE Corporate Forum, organised by the meetago Group at the Scandic Frankfurt Museumsufer hotel, and described his impressions of the day. Representatives of the industry from hotels, business and service providers met to discuss current developments.
Innovation driver meetago, hivr.ai and MEETA-X organised the forum for industry representatives to discuss the trends, pitfalls and opportunities of artificial intelligence, distribution and payment solutions. Meetago, one of the leading European booking portals for the purchase and distribution of MICE services, works closely with hivr.ai, an AI platform that automates the MICE area of hotels. As a SaaS solution, MEETA-X offers a cockpit for hotels that can be used to bundle all enquiries from different portals and communication channels.
The day was framed by guests from a wide range of industries: to kick things off, there was a valuable keynote speech from the company Parloa, which specialises in the automation of customer service through intelligent, voice-enabled AI agents. An unexpected impulse appearance was organised by the GOP Bonn, the 2nd largest variety theatre in the world. This left a lasting impression that the human component also plays an indispensable role in the MICE industry in order to serve emotional themes.
In conclusion, the America's Cup winner compared the Dominik Neidhart the situation with gears that interlock: Only if everyone can clearly define their role in the team and fulfil it excellently will everyone win together. What does this mean in detail and what exactly do industry representatives expect?
The rapid development of AI is shaping the MICE industry, but personal relationships remain the decisive success factor. AI takes over routine tasks from planning to logistics, creates time savings and precision and ideally acts as an invisible supporter in the background. The decisive factor is that technologies the Reduce complexity, and do not increase. Because how dhe insights from MEETA‑X and the conversations in the forum showten: A scThe rapid submission of offers significantly increases the chance of closing a deal and sales. Many processes last too long, dEven at higher Response time decreases the Conversion Rate clearly.
An investment in the measurement of speed, as well as support from AI, will be unavoidable in the future. In addition, small meetings with average booking values < €5,000 dominate the market. This means more Expenditure with a smaller volume. Creating standardised and automated processes with the use of AI more time, to have the important conversations whereo they have an effect.
Many customers today expect a consistent, compliant end-to-end process from enquiry, approval and contract to invoice verification and payment. This is precisely where there is still friction: standard processes such as tool onboarding, invoice verification and payment take too long and vary from customer to customer. The expectation from the business world is that these processes should ideally be mapped in one system. AI will also play a role in hotel searches by simplifying communication between hotels and customers and providing technical support for regular tasks such as rebookings or cancellations.
Meetago organised two parallel workshops in the Forum MeePay and the meetago Club Rate as building blocks for faster, integrated payment and instalment processes. The meetago Club Rate is intended to give small and medium-sized companies in particular the opportunity to benefit from pre-negotiated rates. With MeePay, it will be possible to handle the payment process for customers faster and more securely in future. In addition to accounting issues, tax law topics were also discussed. The DER BUSINESS Solutions team analysed the existing processes and contributed ideas for the tool development.
From a hotel and service provider perspective, reliability and structured collaboration remain the linchpin: standardised enquiry channels, clear budgets, detailed briefings from the outset and proactive communication in the event of changes. A short phone call for clarification will definitely not lose its relevance and importance. This is the only way to solve certain problems quickly.
However, conflicts arise, for example, due to different general terms and conditions, commission regulations and additional costs (service fees, payment processing, AI investments). Service providers, such as DER BUSINESS Solutions, are therefore becoming increasingly important as a mouthpiece for customers, for example to negotiate the best conditions.
On the hotel side, all departments must work together in a well-coordinated manner in order to successfully realise events. AI can also provide support here, but in no way replaces personal coordination. Tools such as meetago, MEETA-X or Voice-AI increase speed, as the copy-paste effort is reduced and more capacity remains for consultation.
Our DER BUSINESS Solutions team used the day for a lively exchange with hotel partners, customers and service providers together with its partner meetago and has a positive outlook for the coming year! 2026 will be faster, smarter and more human at the same time. When AI takes over the routine, there will be more time for conversations that deepen relationships, strengthen trust and accelerate new business deals. The MICE Corporate Forum has shown that the industry is ready to go exactly this way. The use of AI will change the MICE industry and rebalance the distribution of tasks.
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