CWT M&E makes small meetings easy with new global direct booking platform
Minneapolis - CWT Meetings & Events, the global M&E division of CWT, the B2B4E travel management platform, has launched CWT easy meetings, a direct-booking platform for small meetings. The platform gives meeting organizers access to over 250,000 meeting rooms in hotels (both independent and chain) as well as unique venues & event spaces in more than 90 countries.
A convenient one-stop-shop, CWT easy meetings enables meeting planners to source and book venues, AV equipment and food & beverage packages in minutes. It also provides companies with greater visibility and control over their small meetings so they can better manage costs, compliance, and employee safety and security.
"Before the pandemic, many of our clients spent up to 70% of their meetings and events budget on small meetings," said Chris Bowen, Senior VP & Managing Director CWT Meetings & Events. "As the desire for real engagement grows and face-to-face business meetings gradually resume, we expect this figure to increase due to restrictions on group sizes and safe distancing requirements. Surprisingly however, most organizations still don't have any standardized processes or solutions to manage small meetings, the way they do for large events or transient business travel."
"With CWT easy meetings, we're making the search and booking process simple and efficient for meeting organizers, eliminating the need for them to manually search for open and available venues. At the same time, we're helping companies consolidate crucial information about their meetings spend and activities that will enable better cost control and risk management."
The standard version of the platform, which is ideal for one-off meetings, is free for any meeting organizer to use and allows planners to easily search, compare and instantly book meetings. It is globally accessible via a website that is desktop, tablet and mobile-enabled, and is available in eight languages. Payments can be made using a credit card, virtual card, or lodge card, and bookings can be easily modified or cancelled through the platform.
CWT M&E will also be offering a customizable option for large companies looking to automate their meeting booking processes, while consolidating spend in one centralized hub. The look and feel of the platform can be tailored to match their own corporate branding. Organizations can upload pre-negotiated rates and unique venues that can only be accessed by their employees. Preferred venues and partners can be highlighted within the tool and made to appear at the top of the search results. Payment modes can also be configured so that users don't have to enter this information every time they book. In terms of reporting and business intelligence, personalized dashboards and reports give full visibility of bookings made by the organization's employees using the platform, and provide the ability to track bookings, cancellations, volumes and spend by supplier, user or meeting location.
Following a successful European customer pilot, CWT easy meetings, powered by MeetingPackage, is now available worldwide.
CWT Meetings & Events (M&E) is an award-winning global corporate events management service. Representing all industry sectors, CWT M&E delivers comprehensive live, virtual and hybrid event solutions for thousands of customers every year. Ranging from end to end productions of some of the world's largest and complex global conferences, through to intimate national teambuilding experiences.
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Founded in 2014, MeetingPackage is a meeting space booking platform designed for Meeting Planners and Meeting Venues. The company integrates with venues' existing PMS, S&C and back-office solutions while delivering products to all customer facing channels. Products include a Venue & Sales Management platform, an online Booking Engine for venues own channels and a Meetings & Events specific Distribution Network.
About CWT
CWT is a Business-to-Business-for-Employees (B2B4E) travel management platform. Companies and governments rely on us to keep their people connected – anywhere, anytime, anyhow – and, across six continents, we provide their employees with innovative technology and an efficient, safe, and secure travel experience.
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