Cvent Releases Top Meetings Destinations for 2025:
Event management software Cvent has announced its annual list of leading meeting locations around the world. Orlando once again claimed the #1 spot for North America, followed by Las Vegas and Chicago. Rounding out the top ten are Nashville, Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego, Washington, D.C., Phoenix, and Denver. Toronto, the only North American location in Canada in the top 50, was #39. Cancun and Cabo San Lucas in Mexico and San Juan, Puerto Rico, nabbed the top three for Latin America/Caribbean. Internationally, other leading destinations were London, Barcelona, and Madrid (Europe), Singapore (Asia Pacific), and Dubai (Middle East-Africa). You can see the www.cvent.com/en/toplists/destinations.
Source: Cvent
Come Fly Away With Me:
Between the summer travel crush and the impact of REAL IDs on TSA lines, you might want to budget some extra time to get your passengers to the airport. If your passenger is flying United, you should be aware that their check-in policy is now 15 minutes shorter—all passengers on domestic flights with or without luggage must be checked in no later than 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time. Just something to keep in mind if you have an antsy traveler in the back of your sedan.
Southwest Airlines also removed its longtime perk of checking a free bag. Travelers now face a $35 fee for the first checked bag and $45 for the second, although Business Select fares and above, as well as Rapid Reward A-List or credit card holders are excluded from the new fees. These fees are in line with other competing carriers in the US.
Newsweek and CNN are also reporting that airlines are quietly charging solo travelers—business or leisure—higher fares than when booking two or more tickets at a time. According to CNN, this fare discrepancy was found with the big three US airlines: American, Delta, and United. While it’s been reportedly aimed at the business travel sector—who tend to be solo fliers and have the tab picked up by the company—they’re not discriminating based on who is paying the fare. In one case, travel website Thrifty Traveler found that they could buy two economy tickets for a one-way trip from Chicago to Asheville on United for less than one ticket ($218 total for two compared to $224 for one). Of course, the airlines didn’t respond for comment, but the social media world sure did ... with lots of angry comments that we can’t post here.
Sources: CNN, Newsweek, Southwest.com, United.com, Thrifty Traveler
It’s the Economy, Stupid:
Of course, we’re not calling you names, but here are the latest stats we have on economic conditions at the end of May. The US Department of Commerce reported that gross domestic product—or GDP, a measure of the United States’ output of goods—shrank 0.2% in the first quarter of 2025 (January-March). This wasn’t necessarily a surprise since President Donald Trump is aggressively pursuing global tariffs, which are still being worked out with many countries. On the positive side, consumer optimism jumped more than 12 points from April according to the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index. The report notes that optimism was boosted due to possible tariff negotiations with China as well as a rebounding stock market, but investors are getting spooked by US debt, which is reflected in the downgrade of the government’s credit rating and weakening bond market.
Source: Associated Press, The Conference Board, CNBC
It’s the Economy, Stupid (part 2):
Well, it’s something of a mixed bag on the job front as the US Department of Labor recently reported that employers added 139,000 jobs in May. While that figure is slightly above the projected estimate of 130,000 jobs, it’s admittedly a much cooler report compared with the 177,000 jobs added in April or the 185,000 jobs gained in March.
However, the unemployment rate was 4.2%, which is unchanged from the past two months and in line with an estimate from analyst LSEG.
“This isn’t a bad report, per se, but there are clear signs of erosion just below the surface that may not be apparent just by looking only at the headline numbers,” Cory Stahle, economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, wrote on hiringlab.org.
Our space is seeing above-average growth, with employment in the leisure and hospitality sector rising by 48,000 in May (although the bulk of the gains—30,000—were in food services and drinking places). This was well above the 12-month average of 20,000 jobs added.
While EY Chief Economist Gregory Daco says that there is a “softening in the labor market,” stocks rallied after the report, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all rising about 1% in early trading.
The solid job gains seen for May, however, likely won’t do anything to coax the Fed to reduce its key rate at a mid-June meeting. Since cutting interest rates by a percentage point late last year, Fed officials have said they’ll probably remain on hold until they determine the effect of Trump’s tariffs on the economy.
Sources: Fox Business, Yahoo! Finance
[CD0625]
Did something newsworthy happen at your company? Share it with us!
We’ll help you get the word out to our international audience about your new staff hire, addition to your fleet, acquisition or merger, move to a new location, or a recent award won by your company. We’ll publish it on our website, social media, and in our weekly E-NEWS ON THE GO.
Email your press releases (photos highly encouraged) to:
