Group Booking Moves Online
A planner sends a request for proposal. A hotel sales manager reads it and prices the space. The planner repeats that exchange across a shortlist of properties.
Cvent Instant Book and Groups360 GroupSync Marketplace publish live rates and availability. Each closes a booking without a full proposal cycle.
Group bookings of 10 or more room nights grew 2.7 percent between February and April 2026. CoStar and Tourism Economics published that figure on June 1, 2026. CoStar reports the largest gains in secondary markets and links them to properties that host small and medium events.
How Each Platform Works
Cvent Instant Book lists a property's live rates and availability for meeting space and guest rooms on the Cvent Supplier Network. A planner picks the space, adds audio-visual and food and beverage packages, and pays. Simple meetings skip the RFP step.
Cvent reports nearly 340,000 venues and more than 150,000 planners on its network. The company also reports more than $20 billion in annual sourcing volume. Cvent publishes those figures.
Groups360 and Hyatt signed a definitive agreement on October 7, 2025. Hyatt properties worldwide join the GroupSync Marketplace. A direct connection to Hyatt's systems gives planners real-time group room and meeting space rates. The planner books guest rooms, event space, or both, plus food and beverage and audio-visual equipment, in one online transaction. The two companies set early 2026 for the launch.
Steve Enselein, Hyatt senior vice president of events, described the goal for planners. "We will equip planners with the instant insight and flexibility they need to tailor the ideal stay experience for each group," he said. Kemp Gallineau, Groups360 chief executive, said the Hyatt addition meets "the evolving needs of the group meeting and event market."
Complex Events Keep the RFP
Groups360 states that planners can still send a traditional RFP through GroupSync for larger or more complex events. Cvent positions instant booking for simple meetings. Cvent tells hotel teams that automated simple-meeting sales free staff for larger business.
The Cvent 2026 Global Planner Sourcing Report surveyed 1,650 planners across six regions. In that survey, 86 percent said they would more likely choose a hotel or venue for a simple meeting when the property offers online booking.
What a Planner Asks First
Instant booking changes the opening question. Rate and availability arrive before a sales manager enters the conversation. The remaining negotiation covers cancellation windows, attrition clauses, and deposits.
Planners who negotiate directly ask about the same terms. hotelhaggle.org collects negotiation and bidding tactics for hotel stays. negociarconhoteles.com covers that ground for Spanish-speaking planners and hotel teams.
Ask each property which inventory sits in an instant-booking channel. Ask which contract terms a platform booking fixes and which terms a signed agreement governs. Read the attrition clause before the deposit. An underfilled group block triggers it.
Supply Tightens Against Group Demand
CoStar and Tourism Economics lowered the 2026 supply growth forecast to 0.4 percent from 0.7 percent. The pipeline holds nearly 767,000 rooms. Nineteen percent of those rooms sit under construction, the lowest share in 12 years.
CoStar reports that total US hotel demand rose 2.0 percent from the start of 2026. RevPAR grew 4.0 percent year to date through April. CoStar raised its full-year 2026 RevPAR growth forecast to 2.8 percent. Occupancy moves to 62.8 percent from 62.3 percent in 2025.
Both platforms publish that inventory online.