Hey venues! Buyers are losing faith in venues. Here’s how to win it back.
Not our words.
The latest Cvent and Northstar Meetings Industry Pulse Survey (EMEA, May 2026) carries good news and a warning for M&E venues. Confidence is back: 43% of planners are more optimistic than they’ve been in a year, and 70% expect to run more meetings than last year. But dig into how planners rate the venues they’re working with, and the picture turns uncomfortable.
Satisfaction has fallen on almost every measure. Value for money is now the lowest-rated service of all, at 2.96 out of 5. Sales support, food and beverage, tech and AV, on-site production and sustainability have all slipped year on year. In short: demand is returning, but trust in what venues deliver is going the other way.
That’s the market Impact: VenueLens is built for.
Stop describing. Start proving.
When every venue’s ratings are sliding, every venue’s brochure sounds the same. Buyers have heard the claims before, and the numbers say they no longer believe them. Impact: VenueLens turns what your venue actually delivers into decision-grade intelligence – benchmarked against comparable spaces, evidenced across Environmental, Social and Governance. It’s the difference between telling a buyer you’re sustainable, safe and good value, and showing them a scorecard that proves it against your peers.
Escape the race to the bottom
Cost pressure dominates this survey. More than a third of planners say they’ll switch to lower-cost venues when budgets tighten, and value for money is where they’re least satisfied. Compete on rate alone and you lose. Impact: VenueLens gives you a different currency: the Social Value Yield (SaVY) of your proposition, which and how many UN SDGs you align with in your event and how well your sustainability infrastructure is used on that specific event.. This reframes the conversation from “cheapest room” to “most value per pound” – and, just as importantly, it arms the planner with the evidence to justify choosing you to their own boardroom, at a time when only 17% expect revenue to grow. Help buyers make their internal case and you become the easy “yes.”
Get your proof in early
The biggest structural shift in the survey is timing. Planners are now sourcing seven to twelve months out, and Cvent is clear that buyers are shortlisting on performance, not just capacity and rate. Longer lead times mean more scrutiny, earlier. A pre-event Impact: VenueLens review means your evidence is ready to drop into the bid before the buyer even asks – while your competitors are still scrambling to answer ESG questions late on.
More than carbon
Look beyond emissions and the survey rewards it. Duty of care and emergency planning is a rising concern, and health and safety is the factor buyers are most satisfied with – proof they care. Those are Social and Governance strengths VenueLens evidences directly, turning “we’re safe and well-run” into a benchmarked, audited score.
Demand is back. Trust isn’t – yet. The venues that win the next cycle won’t be the ones with the best story. They’ll be the ones with the proof.
Prove your performance. Make it the reason you win the business. Talk to event:decision about Impact: VenueLens.
