McLean, Va. –- Cvent (NYSE:CVT), a leading cloud-based enterprise event management platform, today revealed its third annual list of the top 50 cities for meetings and events in the United States. Chicago claimed first place, climbing from second place last year and fifth place two years ago. Orlando and Las Vegas continued to hold spots among the top three destinations.

The top 10 cities are:

• 1. Chicago, IL
• 2. Orlando, FL
• 3. Las Vegas, NV
• 4. Atlanta, GA
• 5. San Diego, CA
• 6. New York, NY
• 7. Dallas, TX
• 8. Washington, D.C.
• 9. New Orleans, LA
• 10.Nashville, TN

To see the full list of the top 50 cities, please visit here.

"Destinations are increasingly jockeying for lucrative meetings and events business which is an important generator of revenue for the cities and local businesses," said Bharet Malhotra, senior vice president of sales for the Cvent Supplier Network. "While investment in infrastructure, hotels and entertainment is critical for being an attractive destination, one of the stand-out trends this year is out of destinations' control – location. Across several metrics, we have seen more booking and interest in Midwestern and other centrally located cities during the past 12 months."

Event planners are drawn to convenient location and competitive pricing in the Midwest, prompting more events in those destinations. In addition to Chicago rising to number one, central cities New Orleans and Nashville climbed into the top ten ranking this year, both moving up several spots from last year. Additionally, St. Louis made the biggest jump from 2013, climbing eight spots to number 27 this year, and Louisville made the list for the first time, along with Chandler, AZ.

Cvent evaluated more than 5,000 U.S. cities featured on the Cvent Supplier Network to compile the third annual list. Activity was tracked from July 2013 to June 2014 and the ranking was then determined by a set of qualifying criteria consisting of:

• Unique Request For Proposals Received
• Total Room Nights
• Awarded Request For Proposals
• Awarded Room Nights
• Percentage of Qualified Meeting Venues
• Number of Profile Views

Featuring more than 218,000 hotels and special event venues, the Cvent Supplier Network is one of the world's largest, most accurate databases of detailed venue information. It contains listings of hotels and other venues in more than 175 countries that can be searched and filtered based on approximately 200 characteristics and data fields. Suppliers are also able to easily reach to new customers among the tens of thousands of meeting planners who use the Cvent Supplier Network, helping hotels maximize their existing sales and marketing resources. Additionally, Cvent's Destination Guide provides convention and visitors bureaus and suppliers an additional channel for building awareness among meeting planners with profiles of more than 1,000 destinations globally, giving planners access to destination-specific information and key statistics.