Legacy Meetings Platforms Join the Hybrid Gold Rush

The virtual side to company meetings looks like it’s here to stay, even with a return to face-to-face. After switching their business models to factor in remote work locations, traditional meeting platforms are jumping into the hybrid space, offering organziers and venues more seamless ways to invite other participants virtually. Platforms like Groupize, Meetingsbooker and Meetingselect have made it their business to carry out that painful integration directly into hotels and other spaces, to offer instant availability. A common bugbear with many hotels is they rarely offer a way to book meeting spaces directly on their own website. "Ninety five percent of hotel websites do not offer group bookings with live availability," said Judith Huisman, Meetingselect's founder. "More than 80 percent of booking requests do not convert. Look at the manual labor costs they have." Combined, these three meetings platforms plug into hundreds and thousands of properties. Now they're developing ne