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

LONDON & FRANKFURT, Germany – 23 May 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 Europe. These lists – which also include regional rankings for North America, 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.

Cvent will host a live, in-person press conference at IMEX Frankfurt (Hall 8, stand C470) on Wednesday, 24 May, at 12.35pm CET, to share more in-depth insights into this year’s Top Lists results.

“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 Graham Pope, Cvent Vice President of International Sales. “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 and destinations that have embraced technology to engage planners and enhance their sales and marketing efforts, while exhibiting a deep desire to innovate and expand their meetings and events offerings to better attract MICE business from around the globe. After four long years, we’re excited to share these insights once again and provide a resource that is used by event organisers to find great hotels and destinations and by hospitality professionals looking to set themselves apart to increase their MICE revenue.”

Cvent Top Meeting Destinations

As pandemic restrictions eased and travel returned, convention & visitors bureaus worked diligently to promote their cities and hotels, and revive the industry as quickly as possible, and those efforts are paying off. London, for example, retained its #1 ranking from 2019 and has more than 400 hotels in the pipeline, having opened 17 in 2022 alone. Barcelona (#2) opened eight hotels during the time the research was undertaken, whilst raising its profile as a leader in sustainable tourism by becoming the first Biosphere Platinum Destination; and third placed Paris is gearing up for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games with significant tourism infrastructure development across the whole of the city. Lisbon, Portugal (#5) is the sole newcomer to the Top 10.

Top 10 Meeting Destinations in Europe

“We are truly excited to be the number one Cvent Top Meeting Destination, confirming once again that London is a global leader in the meetings and events sector,” said Fiona Plumpton, Head of London Convention Bureau Services. “London is a diverse and inclusive city and offers unrivalled choices when planning a meeting or event. London is also a global leader in technology and innovation. Utilising technology, which includes the Cvent platform, allows us to bring London directly to event planners and enables our team, and those of our partner hotels and venues, to quickly respond which helps us stay ahead of the competition.”

Cvent Top Meeting Hotels

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. Newcomers to the Top 10 – including Corinthia Lisbon (#7), Hilton Vienna Park (#8), InterContinental Athenaeum Athens (#9), and Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon (#10) – each unveiled significant renovations in the last few years.

Top 10 Meeting Hotels in Europe

“Being recognised as a Top 10 Cvent Meeting Hotel in Europe is a testament to our team and our continued dedication to provide exceptional service. Our recent full renovation, completed in 2022, further enables our team to do what we do best - Making Moments,” said Hilton Hotels Austria Area General Manager, Norbert Lessing. “Platforms like Cvent help us streamline event planning, but also make data-driven decisions. At Hilton Vienna Park, we embrace the use of technology and just launched the online booking option of small meetings up to 35 people, giving planners instant event confirmations.”
 

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

Methodology

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.

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.

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 MICE and corporate travel business and drive profitable results.