Online Booking Finally Becomes Reality for Meeting Planners

The meetings and event sector is due for a makeover to bring the process of finding and securing meeting space closer to the traditional online travel booking process. Not every meeting is so complex that a long and confusing contract needs to be signed or months of planning needs to go towards its execution. Ciaran Delaney, co-founder and CEO of online meetings space booking tool Meetingsbooker.com, believes that technology is empowering meetings professionals to make smarter, and quicker, decisions about where to hold events. More meetings are also being help outside traditional hotel meeting rooms places like co-working spaces. "What we're finding is business is so quick now, that the lead time for half of our bookings is within a week," said Delaney, whose firm works on commissions. "If you need a meeting room next Wednesday, you don't have time to make phone calls and send emails. The customer has always wanted an online solution for meetings, particularly when you think of all the other [sectors of travel]." Skift spoke to Delaney about the rise of online bookings for meeting space, the challenges venues face when dealing with simple meetings, and how the concept is seeing more buy-in from the world of corporate travel. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Skift: Business travel has long lagged behind leisure travel when it comes to technology, and the meetings and events space is no different. How big a challenge has it been to develop and market an online booking site for meetings? Ciaran Delaney: Business travel is such a big industry, with so many major companies heavily invested in it from a technology perspective, providing solutions, but if someone is going on a business travel trip and they need a meeting room for two hours at the airport, that's not bookable online. Our whole goal at Meeti