According to a recent survey, it seems that a lot of corporate meeting planners are juggling more work beyond booking and building out their organizations’ events.

The 2025 Planner Sourcing Report, released in early October by event-technology giant Cvent, found that 66 percent of the 500-plus responding planners say they’ll handle sourcing for more meetings in 2025 than in 2024—but more than 70 percent are also involved in sourcing hotels for and otherwise managing their company’s preferred transient hotel program. In fact, 87 percent of those respondents say managing the transient program occupies the majority of their working hours.

As a result, before they send out event RFPs to potential host properties, about half rely heavily on technology to gather key supplier information:

• 49 percent are spending more time than ever doing online research for meeting-space specs and diagrams; 38 percent are seeking out online peer reviews more often; and 35 percent are looking more at properties’ online photos and videos.

This online research is a key factor in planners choosing potential host properties:

• 52 percent of respondents say their RFP submissions depend on finding meeting-room specs, while 47 percent say images and video play a main role.

And once they send RFPs, 80 percent of responding planners want a response within four days.

Budget Flexibility: More than You Might Think

The Cvent survey found that the top concern for 61 percent of planners with their 2025 meetings is negotiating rising costs and staying on budget. Nonetheless, a huge percentage of respondents would still be willing to increase a meeting’s budget to get their first-choice hotel over their preferred dates—and many would do so by a significant amount:

• 37 percent said they would raise their event budget by between 11 and 20 percent to use their most-preferred property.
• Another 54 percent said they would raise their budget by between one and ten percent to use their most-preferred property.

With that said, perhaps the most interesting survey question was this: What level of savings would make you willing to switch to a second-choice hotel over a first-choice hotel for a given meeting?

• If a property offered savings of between six and ten percent, 43 percent of respondents would consider switching.
• If a property offered savings of between 11 and 20 percent, another 37 percent of respondents would consider switching.

Factors for Choosing Special-Event Venues

After total cost, respondents say that attendee feedback/satisfaction is the most important factor in determining the success of an event. So, it’s not surprising that fully half are looking to use at least one special-event venue during a meeting.

The types of venues most often considered for special events right now:

• Restaurants: 37 percent
• Art galleries: 26 percent
• Stadiums/Arenas: 26 percent
• Colleges/Universities: 25 percent
• Theaters: 25 percent
• Vineyards/Wineries: 24 percent
• Bars/Nightclubs: 22 percent
• Golf courses/Country clubs: 22 percent
• Aquariums/Zoos: 18 percent
• Museums: 17 percent
• Breweries: 16 percent

The full version of Cvent’s 2025 Planner Sourcing Report can be found here.

This article was originally published in our sister publication, MeetingsNet.

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