Cvent's 245,000-property supplier network offers one of the
meetings industry's deepest sourcing pools. This puts the onus on
Cvent to provide the best search and filter capability to get to the right
property set for a particular meeting and enough property-specific detail for a
meeting organizer to choose the best single fit. That's the goal of Cvent's
redesigned supplier network and sourcing tools that debuted at the meetings
technology company's Cvent Connect conference in Las Vegas last week.
Supply Side Gets Revenue Management Support
Business intelligence support was the big news for Cvent's hotel partners coming out of the Las Vegas conference. Cvent's Group Business Intelligence tool will enable hospitality professionals to see real-time data and analytics of their own group business and that of their competitors. That translates into more-sophisticated revenue management strategies and more-targeted RFP responses for groups. Hoteliers can segment information based on their reporting needs—including specific time periods, customer segments and locations—to see how particular parts of the business are performing. An accessible, comprehensive dashboard will allow suppliers to drill down from overall results to individual RFPs within Cvent’s platform and align responses with the venue's overall business goals. Suppliers now can see how their venue is performing relative to their competitive set with regards to demand generation, response and award behavior. It's good news for suppliers but could cause more sourcing complexities for meetings buyers.
“This
launch marks a paradigm shift in venue sourcing based on our customers’
holistic interests and feedback,” said Cvent VP of marketing Kevin
Fliess. “Our technology team has spent thousands of hours doing field research
and has worked hand-in-hand with our customers to ensure that the redesign
meets the needs of the modern planner and our supplier partners.”
Cvent worked with clients to prioritize functionality and intuitive
search. It also looked to proven, user-tested content like Google Maps to upgrade
the experience.
Highlights include a single search field where users enter the desired
location of their meeting by city name, airport, specific address or general
neighborhood. The tool searches for hotel clusters in that city or neighborhood
and displays them on Google Maps to allow an easy visual check for location.
The tool also will automatically display hotels with need dates or that are
running promotions over the organizer's desired dates, making it easy for users
to find rate opportunities.
City aliases and other enhancements smooth the location search
process, particularly for international planners who may be unfamiliar with
locations, spellings and local nuances.
Users who are logged into their CSN accounts can access the new Venue
List, with unified search across devices. This allows users to start a search
on a mobile device, for example, then shift to tablet or desktop at another time
and pick up the search where they left off.
On the supplier side, the redesigned tool offers a deeper reservoir for
images and floor plans, which, according to Cvent, are among the most important determining
factors of final venue selection. Further enhancements on the supply side include
support for mobile advertising and streamlined venue profiles.
Cvent's Largest Technology Investment to Date: Cvent Flex
Cvent also introduced Cvent Flex at the conference. Representing the
company's largest technology investment to date, Cvent Flex will offer meeting
organizers a widget-based website building tool that minimizes technical
requirements and maximizes design options.
In addition to drag-and-drop widgets, the tool will offer instant
preview to eliminate guesswork in terms of content placement and design. The user
will have more comprehensive control over design elements like typography
choice, borders and backgrounds.
On the information side, the tool offers expanded format options for
registration that range from a simple form to several layers of attendee types
and profiles. Tool users also can customize the attendee registration path
according to business need or industry best practice.
“With Flex,
we saw the opportunity to raise the bar with regard to what event organizers
expect from their registration solution,” said senior product management director
Brett Fitzgerald. “It wasn’t easy getting there ... but the result is a
brand-new way to build, design and manage events that’s not only intuitive for
the planner but also provides complete control over their event website,
registration process and all attendee workflows.”
Cvent Flex is currently in a limited rollout. The meetings technology
company plans a full rollout to all customers in the next 12 months.