Convene, a hospitality company focused on designing and managing day-use meeting and event venues, has made several moves in the past few weeks to refine its brands and grow the company.
Following the acquisition of competitor etc.venues in early 2023, which added 13 locations to its portfolio in the U.K and three in New York City, Convene announced a new strategy in January, segmenting its portfolio into two distinct product lines: Convene is now the premium brand, and etc.venues is the value brand.
One of the biggest differences between the brands is size. Most Convene properties can host groups numbering in the hundreds (the largest single room in the portfolio accommodates up to 900 people) while etc.venues locations can host a maximum of 50 people. Also, the Convene brand is more design-forward and offers private dining that can be customized to each event, whereas etc.venues locations have shared dining areas serving a menu of the day. The company sees Convene as more suited to experiential events while etc.venues is more focused on small meetings and corporate training.
Four etc.venues locations are being upgraded to Convene standards this year: 810 Seventh Avenue in New York City will launch as Convene later this month; 155 Bishopsgate and 133 Houndsditch in London in April; and 360 Madison Avenue in New York City in late 2024.
Alex Adelman, vice president of managed services at Convene, describes Midtown Manhattan as one of the company’s top-performing markets, and in March a new Convene will open there. Venue 42 by Convene will occupy about 30,000 square feet on the fifth floor of the 5 Times Square building. The site will have nine meeting rooms for groups of up to 240 people.
This will be the company’s 40th location, including Convene and etc. venues locations as well as three SaksWorks venues, plus two properties with the “by Convene” label, which indicates locations in partnership with other organizations.
In other news, Convene is now partnering with LM Media Worldwide to drive business. LM Media provides hotel room-block sourcing services for groups. The New York, N.Y.-based company reports it negotiated and contracted over 400,000 hotel room nights in 2023.
