May 08, 2012 - 10:55 AM ET

Atlas Travel International enlisted SignUp4 for meetings and events online planning and management.

April 30, 2012 - 03:25 PM ET

Meetings technology firm Certain upgraded its software-as-a-service platform to better track and assess attendee interaction through mobile applications and during virtual conferences, and boost email marketing reporting capabilities, among other enhancements. "You're capturing interaction at the event, and afterward through email and a variety of channels you have the opportunity to continue the conversation with your attendee," Certain CEO Peter Micciche told BTN.

April 20, 2012 - 01:40 PM ET

CORRECTION: An April 19 BTN story incorrectly asserted that Carlson Wagonlit Travel's new CWT Meetings Optimizer tool incorporates food and beverage data into its meetings cost estimates. It does not. A corrected version appears here.

April 13, 2012 - 01:20 PM ET

CORRECTION: An April 11 BTN report incorrectly described Sabre Virtual Meetings as a joint venture. Wholly owned by Sabre Holdings, Sabre Virtual Meetings has partnered with Polycom, Regus, Glowpoint and others on the product. The corrected version appears here.

April 10, 2012 - 11:45 AM ET

North America group hotel bookings during the first three months of 2012 for stays through the end of the year are up 5.1 percent versus a year ago, according to TravelClick. The average rate on those bookings was up 4.9 percent from 2011. This year's transient business demand through March, meanwhile, increased 2.3 percent year over year with a 5 percent increase in the average rate.

April 03, 2012 - 03:55 PM ET

Meetings management firm Maritz Travel announced the acquisition of Experient, one of the largest third-party meetings management companies. Experient will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Maritz, and Experient CEO Jeff Price "will be stepping down," according to a Maritz statement. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The two firms in 2011 "represented more than $2 billion in industry volume spend and nearly 3 million travelers served," according to Maritz. "The event industry has had to evolve as a result of a volatile business environment," said Maritz Travel president David Peckinpaugh in a statement. "Spend is returning to pre-recession levels, and together Maritz Travel and Experient are leading the market in delivering the flexibility and range of services organizations need to achieve growing and increasingly aggressive business results."

March 19, 2012 - 02:10 PM ET

Group Travel Partners and Canadian travel tech firm MagnaTech Travel Management Systems released a group air itinerary monitoring system that recognizes multiple passengers on a single passenger name record and identifies passengers as attendees of a specific event. The two firms "for several months" developed and tested the system, dubbed SafeToGo, according to a release from GTP, which is Travel Incorporated's group and meetings air service management division. GTP said the next phase of development will be "focusing on mobile alerts to participants, planners, and travel managers."

March 15, 2012 - 01:05 PM ET

SignUp4 integrated FlightStats data into its event management software allowing users to download real-time meeting attendee flight information. "This is helpful information for managing ground transportation logistics around your events," according to SignUp4 vice president of client and industry relations Mark Hubrich.

March 07, 2012 - 12:10 PM ET

StarCite added Worldhotels, a collection of about 500 independent hotels, to its Supplier Marketplace. Through the platform, StarCite users will be able to view and submit requests for proposals for events at Worldhotels member properties. Worldhotels' portfolio includes about 42,000 rooms in Europe, 39,000 rooms in Asia/Pacific and 26,000 rooms in North America, as well as a handful of properties in the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America.

February 28, 2012 - 03:55 PM ET

Egencia hired industry veteran Terry Sloan as meetings and incentives director for North America, focusing on growing the company's business, "including group air and strategic meetings management." According to Egencia, Sloan brings "20 years of experience in the M&I space." He most recently served as Carlson Wagonlit Travel North America director of business development. Working from Egencia's Mississauga, Canada, office, Sloan will report to Egencia Canada managing director Dirk Baerts.