Marriott, IHG, Accor and Hilton Invest in Meetings Booking Platform


Skift Take

The hotel industry has had a tough time improving the painful process of selling event space and room blocks to meeting planners. Perhaps this deal is a sign the sector is finally ready to invest in meaningful change to help repair the ecosystem.
The event technology landscape has seen major consolidation in recent years, led by Cvent as it scales up to retain its position as the industry leader. Global hotel chains, which have long-neglected an embrace of event space booking technology on their own terms, have made a new investment with major ramifications for meeting planners and hotel operators around the world. Groups360, a booking engine for meeting space founded in 2014 by a few former Gaylord Entertainment executives, will receive a $50 million investment from Marriott International, InterContinental Hotels Group, Accor, and Hilton. The company, originally known as Eventaglobal, took the Groups360 name after acquiring Group0Nomics in 2015. It has r