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Meetings management technology platform provider Cvent last summer surveyed more than 500 meeting and event professionals in the United States about their venue sourcing habits and preferences, releasing the data in February. The company identified eight major trends going into 2025.
1. Cost concerns are real, but trust wins—Meeting and event managers prioritize preferred partners even when they cost somewhat more than the next-best choice. Only 6 percent of meeting organizers are not willing to increase their budgets to partner with a preferred venue. Thirty-nine percent would increase their budgets by up to 10 percent. Fifty-four percent would increase their budgets more than 10 percent, but not up to 20 percent. On the flip side, however, 58 percent of event organizers would consider switching away from they preferred venue, so decisions may also be made in comparing the quality and total value offered by the second-choice option. Given that meeting execution requires close collaboration and seamless delivery on the venue side, meeting organizers in Cvent’s survey seemed to lean into trusted suppliers whom they know will support objectives.
2. Fast RFP responses inspire bookings—The vast majority of meeting organizers (80 percent) want responses to their requests for proposals in four days or less, according to the Cvent survey, and they want venues to respond more thoroughly to the specific needs in the request. Thirty-five percent of Cvent survey respondents said they spend the time to create unique RFPs to send to venues, and 22 percent said venues could do better in returning that same effort. Twenty percent said venues should turn RFPs around faster—though 32 percent believe hotels and venues still have staffing shortages that cause delays.
3. More time planning online—Thirty-six percent of surveyed meeting and event organizers said they spend more time working with technology tools in the planning process than they did in 2023. Almost 20 percent of planners said hotel or venue event technology support capabilities have the greatest influence on their decision to submit an RFP because they are looking for efficiencies. Indeed, resource constraints were a big challenge for the survey respondents, with 20 percent experiencing resource limitations on their event teams and 29 percent facing time management constraints due to other responsibilities (like sourcing transient hotel programs for their companies, among other tasks). At the same time, 66 percent of survey respondents said offsite meetings and events will increase in 2025 from 2024.
4. Key performance indicators: experience vs. cost—Event success includes a variety of factors. The most common single factor across survey respondents was controlling costs, with more than one-third of respondents identifying this as a critical metric. But more critical metrics overall pertained to experience: Thirty-one percent of event organizers said attendance was a critical metric, while attendee engagement while positive event feedback was a critical metric for 27 percent. That said, a combination of cost and experience—event ROI—was highlighted by 28 percent of respondents.
5. Unique venues support attendee experience and engagement—Nearly half of meeting organizers told Cvent they actively sourced special event venues. This was a big shift from just two years ago, when that number was only 17 percent. Top special venue choices for 2025 were restaurants (37 percent), art galleries (26 percent) and sports stadiums (26 percent). Forty percent of organizers cited cost as the decision driver around shifting to special event venues; 37 percent cited attendee experience or “wow” factor.
6. Planning online requires the right visuals and information—For more than half of meeting organizers (52 percent), the decision to submit RFPs depends on a hotel or venue’s meeting room specifications. Images and video influenced the RFP submission for 47 percent of survey respondents.
7. Venue availability a major concern for 2025—Thirty percent of meeting organizers are concerned about venue availability, as 66 percent see demand for meetings increasing. More than one-quarter won’t submit an RFP if a venue does not show availability for their exact dates. Others are more flexible to negotiate within a window, but 20 percent of organizers say that date flexibility and availability transparency in the RFP response could be improved to win their business.
8. Simple meetings require a different sourcing process—Seventy-five percent of meeting organizers say simple meetings account for up to 50 percent of their workload. And a third of those said that percent will increase in 2025. Organizers of simple meetings are looking for a different process that may not include a negotiation process. In the Cvent survey, 84 percent said they would be more likely to book a simple meeting with a property that had a turnkey online booking process, rather than an RFP-driven process.