Following the acquisition of VenueDirectory earlier this month, Cvent’s Vice President of International Sales, Graham Pope talks to Mike Fletcher about the digitalisation of venue sourcing
Reading the news that Cvent acquired VenueDirectory earlier this month, planners could be forgiven for assuming that it’s a strategic consolidation and that a UK competitor within the venue sourcing space has simply accepted an offer to become part of Cvent’s expanding suite of technology-focused event solutions.
After all, with over 378,845 venues across 310 cities in over 170 counties, VenueDirectory.com enables planners to search, select and make enquiries - just as they can with the 290,000 worldwide hotels and venues listed on the Cvent Supplier Network.
However, as Cvent Vice President of International Sales, Graham Pope verifies, the rationale behind the VenueDirectory acquisition is complementary, rather than consolidatory.
“VenueDirectory caters for smaller business meetings with short turnaround and response times. Whereas the Cvent Supplier Network is more of an RFP-based system, geared towards longer lead-times and more internationally-focused business," he says. "Yes, there’s an overlap in users and listed venues but it’s a different product, serving meetings and events with an average size of around 30 delegates."
VenueDirectory’s established niche, along with its potential for dedicated growth, means that it will remain a stand-alone branded product - at least for the immediate future.
“We will of course learn from each other by sharing best practice, while offering support and our extensive resources to help deliver more ways for organisers and venues to better connect,” Pope continues. “For almost 30 years, VenueDirectory has been a trusted resource for both planners and hoteliers alike. We’re extremely proud to bring it into the Cvent portfolio.”
Cvent’s extended focus on online venue sourcing reflects the technology's post-pandemic importance, both as integral to the planner’s digital tool-kit and as a vital revenue generator for venues.
Many hotels and meeting venues have found themselves under-staffed and under-prepared for today's ‘race for space’ - caused by an insatiable appetite for a return to in-person events after two years of mainly meeting online.
Pope says: “Venues have been slow to respond to RFPs as they no longer have the pre-pandemic staff levels. While planners are being asked to do more with less resource and without many of the venue relationships they once enjoyed. Technology and automation is the answer to both these scenarios.
“Rising ADRs (Average Daily Rates) indicate the increased market demand for venue space but our industry is missing out on the efficiencies and rewards that come with digitalisation. With reduced staffing levels, online venue sourcing saves both time and money.
"From a procurement perspective, planners can conduct online site visits and send out multiple RFPs, in order to compare ‘apples with apples’ without incurring the costs associated with travel. Meanwhile, venues able to automate a response to the majority of a RFP document can save themselves a considerable amount of time, which is important as ‘fast response times’ is a key factor to winning agency and planner business.”
Despite these benefits of online venue sourcing, Pope isn’t saying that site visits will become a thing of the past - the pandemic years have already shown us the importance of face-to-face interaction.
Most events however require multiple site visits, in order to assess the layout, plan the production and make numerous amendments when capacities and other factors change.
“Just as Cvent’s diagramming tool is perfect for planning layout and event design but doesn’t allow you to assess any disruptions that may be occurring around the venue, venue sourcing technology will save the planner time and money in the initial phases - but they’ll still need to visit and develop relationships with new venue staff, in order to truly build a successful collaboration,” Pope asserts.
“Cvent’s technology allows planners and venues to collaboratively manage event design in the Cloud - making digitalisation a vital aid to a more sustainable planning process and an effective way of developing those new relationships between organiser and supplier.”
By bringing VenueDirectory into the Cvent family, the event technology provider will continue to play its part in accelerating the industry’s digital transformation. But, as Pope concedes, venue managers and hoteliers need to come along on the journey as well.
“During 2020, we trained and certified more than 60,000 event planners on how to use the Cvent platform so we know there’s a massive appetite to incorporate digital and automation into event design, especially amongst the younger planners,” he says.
“However, planners need venues to have up-to-date technology infrastructure in place, in order to offer more hybrid formats, respond quicker to RFPs, collaborate both onsite and in the Cloud, and to provide planners with greater confidence and knowledge on what the digital future of meetings and events holds.
"Those venues that invest today and help to drive accelerated industry change from within are guaranteed to win more business for the long-term,” Pope concludes.
Five benefits of venue sourcing technology
- Destinations and venues at your fingertips
The narrowing process, however necessary, can quickly become overwhelming without the aid of technology. At the end of the day, you need to find the destination that meets your group needs and will promote maximum attendee satisfaction. Venue sourcing technology provides a truly effective online marketplace, giving you massive sourcing power. With a powerful database at your fingertips, the exhaustive (and exhausting) process of manually searching from dozens of windows open on your browser disappears.
- Narrow down you choices in seconds
Venue sourcing technology provides all the information you need, all in one place. Critical information like average hotel room rates, average daily meal costs, the total number of sleeping rooms, activities and entertainment, star ratings, promotions, and pictures of venues are all available to review and dissect, with just a few clicks of your mouse.
- Send RFPs in a flash
Venues understand that when they receive eRFPs via sourcing technology, they’re competing for business with other venues, so their response time needs to be much quicker than usual. By making your eRFP as complete as possible, you’ll get a more detailed response, eliminating rounds of back-and-forth with the venue. If you create a library of custom questions, requirements and necessary clauses, you can compare ‘like with like’ more easily when you receive the responses.
- Virtual site visits and real-time collaboration
Use virtual site visits and 3D event diagramming tools to ensure your chosen venue can accommodate your event design and capacities. Cvent Diagramming and Seating (Formerly Social Tables) allows you to collaborate with the venue or stakeholders in real-tine about setup, seating, production, catering and more.
- One single system of record
A significant benefit of digital sourcing is the ability to store all of your historical data in a single system of record. This allows you to easily access all the information you need to make informed choices in the near and distant future. Use your technology as a place to store all previous bids and contracted rates, which you can use as leverage when you are negotiating with suppliers.
