According to research by Cvent, the hot meetings market is slowing down due to consolidation and rising costs, as well as commission change policies. Cvent’s latest Group Business Outlook report indicates a decrease in future group booking via the Cvent platform as compared to previous years. In fact, there are fewer group bookings for six of the next eight quarters. The Outlook uses data from the Cvent Supplier Network, which saw $16 billion in unique RFPs sourced in 2018. Based on this large volume of sourced business, the data can provide a good indication of the pace of group business in the U.S. The report shows that awarded group business is expected to increase only in Q3 and Q4 of 2019, by 1.5% and 0.8%, respectively. Looking further ahead, 2020 bookings are down as much as 3%.

Q2 of 2019 could be suffering because Easter comes later this year, while uncertainty surrounding Brexit, trade wars, and budgeting may be hurting bookings overall.
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