New Study Reveals Planners Want Speed and Accuracy in RFP Reponses

LONDON (July 31, 2017) Cvent, the market leader in meetings, events, and hospitality technology, today announced the results of a survey it conducted on more than 1,200 planners worldwide, including nearly 300 planners in the UK. The study entitled the 2017 Global Planner Sourcing Report, was conducted April – June 2017, surveyed event planners in the UK working for corporations, associations and other organisations. More than half of those (54%) who responded were Millennials (18-34%) with nearly four in ten (38%) aged between 35-521.

The study revealed that the planners cite poor transparency and accuracy over pricing, along with lack of clarity and poor response rates, as their main pain point with venue selection.

"Not surprisingly, location and cost continue to be the key factors that planners look for when selecting a venue," said Stacey Fontenot, VP of Marketing for Cvent. "Event planners have made it clear there are certain frustrations, including accuracy in pricing and response time to RFPs, they have during the RFP process, that venues can work to address to generate more events and business."

Highlights of the survey include:

  • Four in ten planners revealed that venues could improve chances of getting business by providing answers to all of their questions to request for proposals (RFPs), nearly a quarter (24%) stated accurate pricing quotes would improve chances of winning the RFP, whilst nearly a fifth (19%) said more should meet the response deadlines to win more business.
  • Location, venue cost, and availability of preferred dates are the top features that influence a planner's decision to book a specific venue. Event planners also said the comparing different price structures, negotiating with the venue and researching venues caused the most challenges during the sourcing process
  • 6% of planners surveyed are not certain about the destination or their budget in the early stages of planning their event, while in contrast only a fifth were extremely or very certain about the event venue.
  • 30% of overall respondents use a standard chain hotel for events, whilst nearly the same (29%) opt for cultural venues such as museums, 21% prefer hotels with unique meeting spaces. 16% prefer independent or boutique hotels.
  • Event planners still rely heavily on word of mouth, citing peer recommendations as the top influence for sourcing venues (28%) followed by the venue's corporate website (20%) and Google search engines (19%).

Media enquiries

Sam Pepper/Sharon Coleshill: 020 8334 4005
Spotl1ght Communications

About Cvent

Cvent is a leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider with 4,800+ employees and ~22,000 customers worldwide as of December 31, 2023. Founded in 1999, the company delivers a comprehensive event marketing and management platform and offers a global marketplace where event professionals collaborate with venues to create engaging, impactful experiences. Cvent is headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C., and has additional offices around the world to support its growing global customer base. The comprehensive Cvent event marketing and management platform offers software solutions to event organizers and marketers for online event registration, venue selection, event marketing and management, virtual and onsite solutions, and attendee engagement. Cvent’s suite of products automate and simplify the event management lifecycle and maximize the impact of in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. Hotels and venues use Cvent’s supplier and venue solutions to win more group and corporate travel business through Cvent’s sourcing platforms. Cvent solutions optimize the event management value chain and have enabled clients around the world to manage millions of meetings and events. For more information, please visit Cvent.com. 

Notes to Editors

Link to download the report:

http://www.cvent.com/uk/hospitality-cloud/cvent-2017-planner-sourcing-report.shtml

Verbatim responses regarding issues included: "Some costs are not included in the original cost", "Lots of additional costs being added in at the last minute" , "Continually changing pricing and add ons", "Poor communication- we constantly have to chase", "Venues not filling in the correct information", "Delays in responses –48 hours is not acceptable", "I have to wait too long for a quote and then they never answer my questions", "Not negotiating", "They don't want to mention the price, even though it's the most important information", "Unwillingness to negotiate reasonably to our needs", "Price fluctuations during the negotiating process", "Was too slow to respond –if a venue isn't hungry for my business." .

1Nearly a half (48%) organised more than 10 meetings a year – 32% of respondents organised 20+ events. 40% of the events organised are conferences, followed by seminars (17%), awards and gala events (15%) and fundraisers (15%). Nearly half of events planners (48%) are organising events for 100-500 people with a further 36% organising smaller events between 21-100%.