Skift Take
Cvent's approach of filling the holes in its platform through acquisitions continues.
Cvent made yet another acquisition last week, snapping up California-based Wedding Spot to bring a stronger focus on weddings to its platform.
It’s an interesting acquisition; weddings represent a valuable piece of group business, but one has to wonder how many hotels on the Wedding Spot’s platform are already on Cvent.
Airbnb is also experimenting with reduced fees for guests, which could make shared apartments even more competitive when compared against your hotel room block. There could also be implications when Airbnb eventually launches a dedicated platform for booking event space.
Check out both stories below.
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— Andrew Sheivachman, Senior Editor
The Future of Events and Meetings
Cvent Hitches Up With Wedding Spot to Boost Venue Business: Cvent remains committed to bringing new products to its customers through acquisitions. By diving into the U.S. market for weddings, the event tech giant hopes to keep its platform relevant despite the friction it creates for hotels and planners alike.
Why Luxury Travel Purveyors Should Pay Attention to Generation Z: While most members of Generation Z have yet to make a substantial income, they are having unexpected influence over family travel decisions. That’s why travel marketers need to start paying attention to this new generation of consumers. Sorry, millennials.
Hyatt Launches New Lifestyle Brand Division to Meet Growing Demand: Hyatt is not the first and will not be the last hotel company to launch a new lifestyle brand or division. You can take that to the bank. The sector’s popularity is only matched by that of the homesharing market.
Rosewood Hotel CEO Demands ‘Sense of Place’ in Each Property: An ambitious expansion strategy won’t stop Rosewood from tailoring each of its 21 planned properties to the cities they’re in. CEO Sonia Cheng says localization is a critical differentiator for Rosewood. Cheng talked about bringing a sense of place to each of the Rosewood properties.
Around the Industry
Airbnb Eliminates Most Guest Fees to Take on Booking Holdings: Airbnb is clearly now well down the path toward a host-only fee structure. Chalk it up to its push toward onboarding hotels, which don’t charge guest fees, and Airbnb’s competition with Booking.com, which sees guest fees as unholy.
Can Leisure Advisors Crack the Incentive Travel Market? For leisure travel advisors, especially those already accustomed to providing concierge-style services, expanding into incentive travel could be a realistic goal. With help from outsourcing services, even small agencies can handle the complexities involved.
Wynn Resorts Bets on Vegas-Style Glitz for New Boston-Area Hotel: Usually casinos outside major cities lack some of the polish of Las Vegas. But with its new hotel outside Boston, Wynn is trying something different. The Encore Boston Harbor will be a Vegas-style operation. Will it work?
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Skift Senior Editor Andrew Sheivachman [[email protected]] curates the Skift Meetings Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Wednesday.
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Tags: cvent, meetings, meetingsiq
Photo credit: A couple during a wedding reception in a hotel. Hiroaki Maeda / Flickr