Online hotel-research and -booking engine Cvent has finalized an agreement with Choice Hotels to offer Instant Book functionality across the entire Choice portfolio, Cvent’s first such arrangement with a hotel company’s full roster of properties.
Instant Book streamlines room-block management for small and simple events, allowing planners to search properties to compare real-time availability and rates and then book room blocks at Choice Hotels properties, all without submitting a request for proposal. Embedding the Cvent tool into Choice Hotels’ booking platform also enables hoteliers to increase their visibility among Cvent's global network of event planners.
Further, all Choice properties are listed on the Cvent Supplier Network, a large venue-sourcing platform where planners can research and book meeting and event venues.
At this point, the minimum size and scope of a meeting that must be booked to allow planners to use Instant Book for guest-room blocks is not fully defined by Cvent or Choice. For association-event planners, one use of Instant Book with Choice properties might be to secure room blocks without an RFP for a convention or exhibition set at a larger hotel or at the convention center in the destination.
The new direct-booking integration between Cvent and Choice will be available by September among brands many planners are familiar with, including Radisson, Cambria, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Clarion, and Quality Inn. Radisson has more than 600 properties in the United States, while Comfort has about 1,100. Cambria, a brand launched in 2005, now has 72 properties around the country. Many Radisson and Cambria properties have multiple meeting rooms on property, while some Comfort Inns & Suites also have meeting space.
