Putting hospitality meetings and events at the heart of growth

Jacqui Kavanagh – CEO, EDGE Venues

I rarely rant on LinkedIn, but after my post last week and a packed Labour Party Conference, I feel it’s time to put more detail behind the frustration.

Because here’s the truth: our sector is hurting. Hospitality, meetings and events aren’t “nice-to-haves.” We are the infrastructure that allows communities to thrive, businesses to connect, and public life to function. If you’ve ever walked into a conference, enjoyed a team celebration, welcomed a visiting client, or gathered in a local pub, you’ve benefited from what we do.

Yet the reality on the ground is this: we’re carrying rising costs, battling labour shortages, and paying ever-increasing fees to suppliers and partners, often without seeing proportional value. And now, with the Budget fast approaching, there’s still no clear sign that the Government fully understands the pressures our industry faces.

What Labour promised — and what’s missing

At their Conference in Liverpool, Labour’s central message was ‘growth with fairness’. Motions were debated on everything from industrial energy prices to the skills system. The rhetoric was strong: invest in people, rebuild Britain’s economy, deliver better outcomes for communities.

But when you drill down, the hospitality, meetings and events sector, one of the UK’s largest employers and a vital tax contributor, barely featured. A few key signals matter to us:

• Industrial energy. A recognition that spiralling prices hurt business viability. Yet no detail on how that relief will flow to hotels, venues, and suppliers that keep our events alive.
• Skills and visas. Labour spoke about upskilling Britain, but the migration White Paper proposes tougher conditions and higher costs for bringing in overseas workers. For a sector already battling severe labour shortages, this feels like a step backwards.
• Business engagement. Reports circulated that Labour raised the prices of its own conference business passes to record levels. The optics aren’t great, accessibility for big corporates, but what about SMEs who form the backbone of hospitality?

In short, hospitality was not at the centre of the conversation. And that’s a gap too big to ignore.

Where the pressure really bites

While political speeches focus on growth and investment, here’s what daily life looks like in our sector:

• Energy and supply chain costs eating into margins to the point of survival.
• Staff shortages forcing businesses to reduce hours, cut menus, or decline events.
• Commission structures and technology platforms that demand higher and higher percentages of every sale, without delivering proportional returns.

These aren’t abstract issues; they determine whether businesses survive the next year or close their doors.

Partnership, not extraction

But government isn’t the only player here. As an industry, we must also look inward. Our survival depends not only on external support, but on the way we work with each other. Strategic partners, technology platforms, and marketing agencies need to show they are part of the solution, by lowering cost of sale, increasing reach and driving demand, not simply adding another invoice at the end of the month.

That’s how resilience is built; together, through shared risk and shared reward.