KIMPTON THE FORUM HOTEL

A university hotel in a small city with big group ambitions uses Cvent to open with success

 

100%

Response rate

63%

Of RFPs are from organizations new to the property

700

Diagrams created per year

INTRODUCTION

New hotels in secondary markets face an uphill climb: planners don’t know the property, airlift can be limited, and bigger cities often win by default. For Kimpton The Forum Hotel in Charlottesville, Virginia, overcoming this challenge meant engaging with the right technology and leveraging it to find and win group business opportunities.

The Forum has 198 elegant guestrooms, 22,000 square feet of indoor meeting space, and an additional 19,000 square feet of outdoor space in botanical gardens. The largest ballroom can accommodate 720, and the property also offers a variety of smaller, more intimate spaces, including boardrooms and classrooms. 

A unique challenge for the new property is that nearly half of its group business comes from a single client: the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, which owns the hotel. To meet revenue targets, Director of Sales and Marketing Darby Gyscek needed to quickly build awareness among corporate and association planners, strategically fill gaps left by the university’s programs, and attract new demand into a smaller drive-to-market.

To do this, she leaned into the power of Group Pipeline Multiplier—a suite of advertising products designed to give venues new opportunities to bid on group RFPs and build relationships with planners who are a good fit for the property. 

 

A new hotel coming online—awareness is everything. You spend your first year just trying to get in front of as many eyeballs as you possibly can.

Darby Gyscek
Director of Sales and Marketing

CHALLENGE

New opening in a smaller market

Charlottesville is a smaller city with a population of about 45,000. While only a two-hour drive from Washington, DC, the city is often overlooked for the diverse venue offerings in the much larger city. The Forum opened in 2023, bringing a new level of flexibility, charm, and service unavailable locally. Experienced event planners assumed they knew what the city offered, and those new to the region automatically turned to the larger destinations. 

Early on, Darby and team confronted three interconnected challenges:

pictures of exterior of hotel and lounge
  • Limited awareness among planners. As with any new opening, “getting the word out and having some sort of awareness campaign” was mission-critical. Planners simply didn’t yet think of Charlottesville when sourcing meetings.
  • Heavy reliance on a single owner‑client. The Darden School accounts for about 48% of the hotel’s group business, but doesn’t fill the entire property. The team needed incremental corporate and association demand that complemented, rather than conflicted with, university programs.
  • Competing against larger nearby markets. Richmond and Washington, D.C., both bigger and more familiar to planners, were frequent winners for regional meetings. The Forum needed a way to appear wherever planners were already searching for those markets.

Need for smarter prospecting and relationship‑building

Beyond pure visibility, Darby wanted tools to help her small team focus on the right planners. Historically, prospecting meant manually revisiting past leads and contacts. Today, “things like Planner Navigator have really been helpful to identify different planners [who] already fit within what we’re looking for.” The team also needed ways to backfill cancellations and shore up need periods, especially in off-peak months like December. 

At the same time, expectations around speed and responsiveness were rising across the industry. IHG tracks each property’s response times and conversion metrics, and corporate teams can see when KPIs slip. For Darby, staying fast and consistent on Cvent leads is non-negotiable.

SOLUTION

Group Pipeline Multiplier Supports the Hotel’s Efforts to Grow Awareness and Build Relationships

Darby partnered closely with Cvent to build a cohesive strategy across the Cvent Supplier Network. This included both inbound and outbound efforts, made easier and more effective through advertising and technology. 

1. Group Pipeline Multiplier Advertising: Making a small‑city hotel “bigger than we are.”

After analyzing early performance and regional demand, The Forum invested in the Group Pipeline Multiplier, which packages diverse advertising options across the CSN. 

“With the group pipeline multiplier, it definitely makes us bigger than we actually are… It helps us to just get in front of as many eyes as possible.”

Key tactics the Group Pipeline Multiplier empowered Kimpton The Forum Hotel to act on successfully:

  • Targeting the Richmond drive‑market demand. Using cross-market Suggested Ads, Darby set up campaigns so that when a planner searched for Richmond, The Forum would also appear—offering a compelling alternative just an hour away.
  • Layering multiple ad types. The hotel uses a variety of Diamonds, Diamond Plus, Promotions, and Suggested Ads to “see as many people as possible” and keep creative fresh so planners don’t get ad fatigue.
  • Shifting targeting as the hotel matures. As awareness grew, campaigns evolved to focus on specific regions, such as Washington, D.C., and nearby states like North Carolina, as well as on key need months and patterns. 

2. Planner Navigator: Smarter, data-driven prospecting

To complement inbound demand, the team relies on Planner Navigator as a targeted outbound engine. They use Planner Navigator to:

  • Fill specific need periods. If pace reports show a soft month, the team filters for planners whose events historically occur in that window, then reaches out with tailored pitches.
  • Mine market‑level demand. They look at planners sourcing other Charlottesville properties or repeatedly meeting in nearby cities (like D.C.) and position The Forum as a new, compelling alternative just a short drive away.
  • Prepare informed outreach. Before contacting planners, salespeople review what those planners typically book, so outreach never feels like a cold “Do you need a hotel?” email. 

Planner Navigator has really been helpful to identify different planners who already fit within what we’re looking for. It’s a way to start an intelligent conversation where you can really address what they need.

Darby Gyscek
Director of Sales and Marketing

3. RFP Showcase: Capturing incremental, highly qualified opportunities

As part of the Group Pipeline Multiplier package, The Forum has access to a repository of RFP through RFP Showcase, which gives participating properties the opportunity to bid on RFPs that were not sent directly to their hotel, but may be a great fit for the property.

The team bids on any Showcase RFP that fits their criteria, knowing that—even if they don’t win that event—the exposure can lead to being added to future sourcing lists. RFP Showcase is a key way for hotels to capture untapped RFPs and guide the right demand directly to their properties. 

“RFP Showcase is just another option," said Darby. "A potential planner may have never known about our property, so maybe would’ve never sourced us originally. It’s planting seeds.” 

picture of balcony and website listing of event spaces

4. Cvent Event Diagramming: Visual storytelling and operational efficiency

The Forum uses Cvent Event Diagramming (CED) to support collaboration among sales, operations, and planners. Event Diagramming supports The Forum’s need to visualize flexible ballrooms, light-filled boardrooms, and unique private spaces, helping planners picture their programs and aligning with industry trends that emphasize “visual proof” and collaborative design as key to winning group business. 

RESULTS

Faster growth, stronger awareness, and a healthier group mix

While Kimpton The Forum opened only recently, the combination of CSN Advertising, Planner Navigator, RFP Showcase, and Cvent Event Diagramming has already produced measurable gains across the funnel. The new hotel’s top priority was to build awareness and increase the property's visibility on sourcing platforms, where they could build relationships with qualified event professionals. Year over year, the hotel has experienced a 35% increase in RFP value. 

Of the organizations that have sourced the hotel in the past year, 63% have never sent an RFP to the hotel, and 70% of the planners sourcing the property are new contacts. The opportunities available via the Group Pipeline Multiplier tools helped the hotel “get there faster” in building a sustainable base of group business. 

The hotel follows up with prompt and comprehensive service. They have a 100% response rate and an average response time of 6.5 hours. 

Additional Cvent data support the hotel’s efforts to better understand booking patterns and windows and take proactive steps to maintain a consistent base of group business. Understanding the incoming demand helps the team forecast need periods and plan outbound campaigns with Planner Navigator. This helps Darby adjust targeting and avoid unproductive RFPs.

Cvent Event Diagramming adds another layer of insight for delivering exceptional planning and on-site experiences: with nearly 300 events created and 700 diagrams, the team can review layout trends, export event history, and collaborate on invites to refine how they sell and service events. 

History and data are just something that you don’t have with a new hotel. Market data helps to fuel decisions and helps me not feel like there’s so much guesswork going on.

Darby Gyscek
Director of Sales and Marketing

BEST PRACTICES

How New Hotels Can Raise Awareness and Build a Pipeline with Cvent

For Darby Gyscek and Kimpton The Forum Hotel, Cvent is not just a lead channel; it’s the backbone of their go-to-market strategy. In a competitive environment where planners demand speed, insight, and visual clarity, that unified approach has turned a new university-owned hotel in a small city into a serious contender for high-value group business. Kimpton The Forum Hotel’s experience offers a blueprint for similar properties that are new in their market or are located in smaller markets:

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Invest early in CSN Advertising. Tools like Group Pipeline Multiplier and Planner Navigator can compress the time it takes a new hotel, especially in a smaller market, to build awareness and RFP volume.

Filter image with a blue triangle and a grey line, creating a funnel-like shape on a black background.
  • Use Planner Navigator to be intentional about outreach. Target by need dates, geography, and event type so your small team spends time on planners who are a genuine fit.
A blue square with a white line and blue arrow pointing upwards on a black background.
  • Leverage RFP Showcase for incremental opportunities. Even when an RFP doesn’t convert, exposure to new planners builds relationships for future cycles.
A pixelated image of a computer monitor with a light bulb inside on a black background.
  • Make visual tools part of your differentiation. Cvent Event Diagramming helps sell unique spaces (such as botanical gardens or campus-adjacent venues) and strengthen collaboration among sales, operations, and planners.
A pixelated blue symbol of a dollar sign with a checkmark on a black background.
  • Treat Cvent metrics as core KPIs. Response times, conversion rates, and awarded value give both brand and property leadership a common language for performance—and, as The Forum shows, are highly improvable with focus and process.
Products used:
Kimpton Forum thumbnail

MEETING SPACE

22,000 sq ft

GUEST ROOMS

198

LOCATION

Charlottesville, VA

CHALLENGE

  • As a new hotel in a secondary market, planners didn’t naturally consider Charlottesville or Kimpton The Forum Hotel when sourcing.
  • Nearly half of group business came from one owner‑client, creating pressure to diversify and cover need periods.
  • The team needed better tools to respond quickly and differentiate the property.

SOLUTIONS

  • Group Pipeline Multiplier expanded visibility and drove more qualified CSN traffic.
  • Planner Navigator enabled focused outbound prospecting by need dates, market, and event profile, turning cold outreach into informed, data‑led conversations.
  • RFP Showcase captured incremental RFPs.

RESULTS

  • The Forum grew total RFPs, room nights, and RFP value.
  • 100% response rate.
  • Detailed Cvent data on booking windows, attendee sizes, and decline reasons now guides targeting, pricing, and need‑period strategy with far less guesswork.
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