The Providence Warwick Conference and Visitors Bureau of Rhode Island received its first business meeting on January 27. The conference focused on renewable offshore wind energy, which includes 3,300-room nights, is expected to bring in direct spending of $1.8 million.
“We were told to stop the signing process due to funding concerns,” said Thomas Riel, senior vice president of the bureau. Riel said President Donald Trump’s policy shift to climate change led to the cancellation.
Three cancellations followed, including meetings for veterans affairs and IRS meetings.
“These groups lost $2.4 million in direct spending and lost 5,235 room nights,” Riel said.
Most cancellations cannot be replaced
Another group verbally canceled the written confirmation. “The conference covered 2,536 room nights, another million dollars in losses,” Riel said, funded by the Interior Department.
“It is scheduled to start on May 5. We can’t replace the business,” Riel said.
Looking ahead, Riel is preparing for further impact. “There are 30,000 rooms in our sales channels at night,” he said.
Providence has positioned itself as a hub for scientific conferences and practices over the past decade. “If we were a big city, we would move to the company’s business and move to less threatened markets, but we were a small destination,” he said.
In addition to these multi-professional meetings, the single-stage business has also been affected.
In 2024, Providence Conference Bureau booked 245 groups representing 140,000 rooms for the night, with direct spending of $100 million. Of these, 40% are sports-related groups.
Dangerous Government Meetings
The impact exceeds Providence. Brett Sterenson, a site selection company specializing in government events, said government meetings across the country have been hit.
Since January 20, 21 government groups in Sterenson have cancelled, representing $550,000 in hotel revenue.
Last year, Sterrenson booked 467 groups, 75% of which were government groups. Many of his reading sessions also apply to associations whose members are state or federal employees.
His lead volume was also reduced. By the end of February last year, he had purchased 90 groups. This year is 40.
Most of these cancellations are targeted at meetings scheduled for January, February and March 2025. His latest cancellation was in a meeting in May.
“Based on what is happening, the cancellation will probably be tripled in the next 30 days,” he said.
Is it force majeure?
Most government meeting contracts include waiver of cancellation and wear-off penalties, Strunson said. A hotel he is dealing with is postponing cancellations that are force majeure.
Attorney Joshua Grimes said whether the cancelled government meeting was eligible to become force majeure.
“If the federal government directs an agency to cancel or prohibit employees from attending government-sponsored meetings, it could constitute a force majeure ‘government order or regulation’,” Grimes said. However, for private organizing meetings, it becomes more challenging to prove impossible or illegality. The government rarely orders the cancellation of private meetings.
To strengthen the claim of force majeure, Grimes suggests that in “impossible or illegal contracts” include “commercially impractical.” He also suggested designating the purpose of the meeting in the contract. Without clear conference statements, it is difficult to prove that government action is a serious damage.
