Cvent’s Top Lists are back! It’s been a few years, but we’re excited to bring back our best hotels for meetings and top meeting destinations. From Nashville to Austin, Boston, and Toronto, these hotels are everywhere. And with the market for hotels for business meetings so competitive, anything you can do to gain an edge will help you keep pace with your market.
What better way to gain an edge than to hear from successful hotels about what they did to make it to the top of the list? In this post, we’ll walk through how we create the list, advice from some hotels that landed in the top 10, and how you can improve your ranking (or get on the list next year, if you didn’t make it this year). Keep reading for our best tips to move up the list in 2024.
How do you decide who makes the list?
The list is based on data we source through the Cvent Supplier Network. Over 4,000 requests for proposal were sent every day last year on the CSN, so we have plenty of data to work with. The list is designed to find the most overall successful hotels, which can’t be determined by any one metric alone. The overall score used to rank hotels for our list is made of up eight different metrics, weighted to result in one total.
Total RFPs received and total room nights are weighted heaviest of all the metrics we measure. These two provide a general look at how often planners want to book at your venue and the size of the events you’re bringing in.
We then look at awarded RFP and awarded room nights, as well as metro area market share and how many unique planner organizations send RFPs to you. Awarded RFPs and awarded room nights not only show how successful a hotel is at closing new business, but they also provide a comparison across markets. That’s also why we care about metro market share—a hotel in New York might have the same number of awarded RFPs as a hotel in Indianapolis, but the New York hotel likely commands less of their major metro area market share.
Finally, we turn to conversion rate and response rate to make up the last percentage of our overall assessment. These show us how well your property communicates and support planners working with your venue.
All of these metrics put together give as a picture of your venue as a whole, and ranked as one of the top hotels in North America.
How do I move up the list?
If you want to move up the list next year, or you didn’t make it this year and you’d like to in the future, don’t worry. There’s plenty you can do to improve your ranking.
Update your Cvent Supplier Network presence
With all of the data used to determine which properties made the list and their ranking, one of the best things you can do to move up the list is optimize your CSN profile. Most planners are sourcing virtually now, so your online presence is vital to make a great first impression. In fact, planners ranked using photos, videos, and other visuals on your profile and the top thing they look for when sourcing online.
Complete profiles are also more likely to receive an RFP than empty or generic listings. Complete listings fill all possible fields on their profile, including plenty of photos, 3D renderings of their space, floor plan diagrams and meeting space information, promotions and special opportunities, local attractions, and even reviews. If you need a second set of eyes, or want some advice on how to update your listing, talk to your account manager.
If you’re looking to really improve your ranking, diamond and search ads are a great option. Both allow you to appear higher up in a search than you might organically. Appearing higher in the results is key to receiving more RFPs on the CSN. 70% of RFPs are sent to a venue that appears on the first page of the search results.
Suggested ads allow you planners to add you quickly and easily to an RFP when they’re sending one to a similar hotel. They appear on the competitor’s listing and have a quick add button, allowing the planner to send the same RFP they’re sending your competitor to you as well. You can boost your total RFPs number without lifting a finger.
Respond to important leads faster
Not only are response rate and conversions factors we take into account for the Top List, but the best hotels for meetings know that speedy proposals win you more awarded RFPs. It’s a double whammy when it comes to moving up the list. So far in 2023, 61% of RFPs have been awarded to one of the first three responders.
Especially when it comes to your high-value leads, it pays to respond faster. Identifying and quickly responding to your most important leads is a lot easier when you have software to back you up. Software that can help you score your leads will help you figure out which leads best align with your current strategy and calendar. Crafting proposals in just a few minutes with all the relevant information means you can respond quickly and completely.
Build better, customized proposals
Everyone wants to feel like they’re special, and like your attention is just for them. Planners are no different. They want to see that your proposal pays attention to their needs and ideas. Dynamic, visually impressive proposals are more likely to win you business from those same event planners. But that level of attention and personalization takes time, which many hotel staff don’t have right now.
That’s what tech is for. Use software to autofill the important information from the RFP, build and adjust the layout with widgets, and add a whole bunch of those beautiful visuals that make your CSN listing so impressive. A stunning custom proposal is the first step in increasing your awarded RFPs.
What do 2022’s best hotels for meetings recommend?
All of 2022’s top hotels in North America are unique in their own way, each with plenty of wisdom to impart to you. But they also have some similarities that might help you pinpoint strategies to improve your venue’s ranking for 2024.
Stay on the cutting edge of tech
One factor that the vast majority of the best hotels, especially the best hotels for business meetings, share is tech. These hotels use tech in many ways, from room block management to advertising to proposals and lead scoring. Using tech and automation frees up time for your staff and allows you to reach a wider audience than using traditional means.
The ARIA Resort and Casino uses Cvent Passkey to help guests extend their stays in Las Vegas outside of their room block dates, and to offer their luxury amenities to their guests. Not only do planners love the extra personalization, but this use of tech helps boost the resort’s bottom line as well. It’s a win all around.
Whether Passkey, CSN advertising, or a variety of other tech solutions, all of the Cvent top meeting hotels use tech to reach their goals.
Be up front
Mentioned by several of our top hotels as a major part of their success is their transparency. Event planners love honesty and clarity, and offering that up front can win them over. That means complete profiles for your venue, as we mentioned earlier. And it means being clear and descriptive whenever possible. Planners have said they’re finding transparency with venues to be an issue recently.
The Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington, D.C. noted that clear communication is important for their work with event planners. They find that their tech solutions help them make a wider audience aware of their property and capabilities, who they’re then able to communicate with faster and more effectively.
Know your customer
Many of our top hotels discussed the importance of understanding your customer and catering to it. Find out what events you’re most often booking, what planner organizations are sourcing you, and if you have a peak season or emptier areas in your calendar. Understand what those planners are looking for and what those events need to succeed. Then it’s as simple as using that information to provide those planners with a better experience and attract more of those events. Play to your strengths.
The Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto does just that when they work with event planners. Part of what planners love is their experienced in-house planning team and wide range of event options. They always check in with the event planner when they book an event to discuss what has worked in the past, so they can create an event that uses successful tactics in a fresh new way. It’s all a matter of communication.
Flexibility is key
Hotels that are unable to adapt won’t succeed in today’s market. Many of our best hotels for meetings secured their spot on the list by changing the way they do business to succeed in the modern hospitality industry. Some also mentioned they’ve experienced an uptick in events after focusing on being flexible with event planners. In fact, flexibility itself can win you more business—many hotels are turning down business even when planners have stated they can be flexible with their dates.
The Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport only opened its doors in 2021, but they’ve been focused on adaptability ever since. Their team devotes time to learning and understanding the current market trends, so they can shift their strategy accordingly. In large part, this has taken the form of effective CSN advertising, as a result of the shift to virtual sourcing during the COVID-19 pandemic. But they’re committed to staying on top of the latest and greatest in hospitality to make sure their property remains one of the top hotels in North America.
Check out more advice from 2023's top hotels
Now you know what it takes to be on the Cvent Top Meeting Hotels List
You now have an understanding of how the Top List is chosen and how you can get on it, or move up it in the future. It’s all about working with planners and making sure your team is equipped with the tools they need to be effective. If you want more information, or you’re wondering how you can begin to implement some of these solutions, reach out to your Cvent Account Manager. They’re always available to answer your questions.
You can find out more about what the Top Hotels had to say about their success in our newest ebook. Up next, you can check out the world’s most luxurious hotels to find out more about successful hotels across the globe!
