Is the Events Industry Finally Ready for Instant Booking?

Booking a venue for a small meeting often requires event planners to fill out a lengthy request-for-proposal. Then there are the numerous back-and-forth emails between the planner and the venue, hashing out the details and negotiating deals, which could take days. All for a 15-person meeting. This is a process that is nearly universally hated and yet has stayed the same for decades, even as technology advances and other parts of the meetings space evolve. Both venues and event planners have clamored for an instant booking process for years, but have not always been ready to make the tech and operational investments that it would require. There are signs this could be changing, however. Event platforms are continuing to develop technology to make meeting booking instant, and hotels are starting to realize that it may only be a matter of time before consumer demand pushes them to adopt a new system. “Direct booking is in the very early stages,” said Brian Ludwig, vice pre