The highly anticipated annual Top Lists, published for the first time since the pandemic, spotlight top performing group business hotels and sought after meeting destinations

TYSONS CORNER, VA – May 23, 2023 - Cvent, an industry-leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider, today released its lists of the Top Meeting Destinations and Top Meeting Hotels for meetings and events worldwide. These lists – which are broken out regionally by North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa – were compiled based on sourcing activity through the Cvent Supplier Network, one of the world’s largest venue-sourcing platforms. This is the first time Cvent has published the annual lists since the COVID-19 pandemic upended the meetings and events industry in early 2020.

“The critical role the meetings and events industry plays in bolstering local economies worldwide was never more apparent than when that business disappeared overnight during the pandemic,” said Stacey Fontenot, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Cvent. “Fortunately, destinations and hotels alike have seen a dramatic comeback from pandemic lows as they benefitted from the pent-up demand for in-person experiences.

“These Top Lists highlight hotels, venues and destinations that have embraced technology to engage planners, enhance their sales and marketing efforts, and deliver incredible results. After four long years, we’re excited to share these insights once again and provide a resource that is used by event organizers to find great hotels and destinations and by hospitality professionals looking to set themselves apart to increase their group business revenue.”

Cvent Top Meeting Destinations | North America

As pandemic restrictions eased and travel returned, convention & visitors bureaus (CVBs) worked diligently to promote their cities and revive the industry as quickly as possible, and those efforts are paying off. While Orlando, FL retained the number one spot in North America from 2019, both Nashville, TN (#2) and San Diego, CA (#3) progressed in the ranking, moving up from (#6) and (#7) in 2019, respectively. Newcomers to the Top 10 include Austin, TX (#8), Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ (#9) and Denver, CO (#10).

Top 10 Meeting Destinations in North America

“We’re thrilled to be the number one city on this year’s Cvent Top Meeting Destinations list,” said Casandra Matej, President and CEO, Visit Orlando. “With a state-of-the-art convention center, an abundance of hotel rooms, ease of accessibility, award-winning dining and world-class entertainment, Orlando offers everything meeting planners need to create memorable experiences for their attendees.”

“We are honored Cvent has included Austin in their Top Meeting Destinations list,” said Alysia Roden, CMP, CEM, Visit Austin Vice President of Sales. “Meetings and conventions are vital to our community, providing economic impact, supporting jobs, small businesses, restaurants, our music community, hotels and more. We are thankful we get the opportunity to introduce clients and convention attendees to our fun and amazing city. We invite meeting planners to build the agenda, and we’ll bring the excitement. Meet in Austin, you’re in for a show.”

Cvent Top Meeting Hotels | North America

Many hoteliers leveraged the downtime in 2020 and 2021 to invest in upgrades and renovations to prepare their properties for the post-pandemic travel boom. For example, Grand Hyatt Nashville (#1) opened as a new property in late 2020 while other properties in the Top 10 – including The Westin Charlotte (#4), ARIA Resort & Casino (#6), Bellagio Hotel & Casino (#7), The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa (#8) and Arizona Biltmore, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel (#10) – each unveiled significant renovations in the last two years.

Top 10 Meeting Hotels in North America

“We’re thrilled to be this year’s number one Cvent Top Meeting Hotel. This recognition reflects our continued dedication to delivering the experiences and amenities planners and attendees are looking for,” said Cherylanne Thomas, Director of Sales and Marketing at Grand Hyatt Nashville. “Our unique indoor and outdoor event spaces facilitate engagement and inspiration, while our various outlets support relaxation outside the event environment. In addition, our use of the Cvent Supplier Network has been critical in our success. We offer virtual tours, event menus and meeting room layouts all in one place – which helps us attract event professionals by giving them the ability to truly visualize their program here.”

“ARIA is home to some of Las Vegas’ premier resort amenities, and much of our business includes repeat groups that return year after year due to the deep, trusting relationships they’ve built with our team members,” said Tyler Stewart, ARIA Vice President of Sales. “Cvent technology continues to provide efficiencies across all of our business units and allows us to create a seamless, convenient customer journey for guests, planners and attendees. Through platforms such as Passkey, we are able to provide guests options to upgrade or purchase additional amenities during their stay. This not only generates incremental revenue, but more importantly creates a customized guest experience allowing attendees to enjoy Las Vegas in exactly the way they want.”

To view all Cvent Top Meeting Destinations and Cvent Top Meeting Hotels worldwide, click here.

Methodology

For Cvent Top Meeting Hotels, Cvent evaluated hotel properties that generated business through the Cvent Supplier Network between January 2022 and December 2022. The properties were ranked according to various criteria, including total requests for proposals (RFPs), awarded RFPs, total room nights, awarded room nights, major metropolitan area market share, conversion rate, and response rate. The criteria are designed to provide the most accurate reflection of the top meeting hotels in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific regions.

For Cvent Top Meeting Destinations, Cvent evaluated 12,500+ cities worldwide listed on the Cvent Supplier Network. Activity was tracked between January 2022 and December 2022. Rankings were determined by a set of qualifying criteria, including: the number of total room nights booked through the Cvent Supplier Network; the number of unique electronic request-for-proposals (RFPs) sent through the marketplace to venues within the city; the total value of the RFPs submitted; and the actual awarded value for meetings booked.

About the Cvent Supplier Network 

The Cvent Supplier Network features more than 300,000 hotels, resorts and special event venues, serving as one of the world’s largest and most accurate databases of detailed venue information. More than $14 billion was sourced through Cvent’s sourcing networks in 2022. The CSN contains listings of hotels and other venues in 18 languages that can be searched and filtered based on over 200 characteristics and criteria. The Network is part of the comprehensive Cvent platform, which delivers solutions that hotels and venues leverage to directly engage a global network of more than 109,000 planners, manage their group and corporate travel business and drive profitable results.