Tripleseat, a web-based sales and event management platform for hotels, restaurants and unique venues, recently released its first Event Professionals Career report, which compiled data from over 200 event planners in the hospitality industry to better understand the career of an event professional.

For the first time, Tripleseat conducted a survey to share with leaders in hospitality the amount of hours professionals put into each event to make sure that every one of their clients’ events are a success, as well as their experience in the industry, type of training received and salary earned, among others. Loyal to their venues, roughly 68% of respondents have worked for one to three different locations, with about 15% spending 10 or more hours on planning just one event.

Most notably, the report uncovered that the title of an event professional is unclear, as respondents shared 62 different positions. The most popular titles include event sales manager at 17.4%, event coordinator at 12.4%, event manager at 11.9%, event director at 8% and sales manager at 6.4%. While some job descriptions look the same, it seems the titles are not reflected.

Other findings include:

  • Almost a third of event professionals earn between $40,000 to $70,000 annually.
  • 18.5% hold more than 500 events.
  • 62.5% visit competitors to keep up with industry changes and trends.
  • 58% of professionals currently work at restaurants and 5.5% at hotels.
  • Verbal skills, customer service and multitasking are the top three skills needed to work in the events industry.

“The event planning industry is booming, with demand for event planners expected to grow between now and 2026, and job growth rising to 11%,” said Jonathan Morse, CEO of Tripleseat. “Professionals work long hours and endure crazy schedules, so we conducted this study to learn more about their careers, the amount of work and time they put in daily, and tools they’d like to be provided with to make their jobs more seamless and less time-consuming. Having a better understanding of the types of events professionals hold, salary earned, training offered and tools accessible, other professionals can have insight into building a more structured career path and share their concerns with their leaders.”

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