Exchange Solutions News for 04 December 2024

We're thrilled to share that our product team is hard at work, crafting significant improvements that we're certain you will love. Curious to know what we have in store for you in the next window? Keep reading to get a sneak peek of the exciting enhancements that await you!

Starting with the Cvent Supplier Network's new and enhanced experience...

Introducing the Latest Response Notifications

We are excited to introduce the new Latest Responses feature, designed to provide you with a dedicated section on the All RFPs page for viewing notifications of the most recent proposal updates. This enhancement is particularly beneficial if you receive multiple proposals for your RFPs on different days, as it allows you to easily identify the latest proposal without having to sift through emails or notifications.

Here are the key features and benefits:

1. Timely and Organized Notifications: You will receive notifications for proposal updates received within the last three days. This ensures that you know the latest responses and can act accordingly.

2. Improved Efficiency: You no longer need to search for the most recent proposals by consolidating all the latest responses in one section. This feature saves time and enhances overall efficiency.

3. Seamless User Experience: The Latest Responses feature displays information chronologically, providing a seamless user experience. You can quickly view the proposals and take necessary actions without any hassle.
   
   Overall, this new feature is designed to streamline the proposal management process and enhance your productivity.

Next up: Internal Notes for RFP Process

This release introduces a new feature that allows you to add and access detailed internal notes within the RFP Form's "Other Information" section, supporting a smoother RFP process.

Feature Highlights:

1. Internal Notes Functionality: You can now record and view internal notes for each supplier in the "Other Information" section of the RFP Form. This allows for the capture of essential information that is important to the planning process.

2. Internal-Only Visibility: These notes are strictly for internal use and will not be shared with suppliers, maintaining confidentiality while enhancing collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the planning team.

This update will help you create more comprehensive RFPs by leveraging past supplier data and ensuring critical internal knowledge is accessible across the team.

What else? Introducing: Browse Instantly Bookable Venues from the RFP Form

Overview

When you begin your venue sourcing journey in the RFP form, we will now check your event requirements to see if you are a good candidate for Instant Book. If qualified, you will see a banner encouraging you to try Instant Book and the option to browse live availability at instantly bookable venues. This feature helps you save time by allowing you to browse available Instant Book venues that match your requirements before investing extensive time in completing the full RFP form for your simpler or smaller meetings.

Key Features

Once you have filled out your Event Requirements in the RFP form, we will assess whether your event matches the Instant Book based on our qualification criteria. A small banner will be displayed if the event qualifies, encouraging you to explore the Instant Book option.

If you want to try Instant Book, click the "Enter location" link. This will trigger a pop-up containing an autocomplete box where you can enter your desired event location. You can then click "Continue," at which point we will check to see if the Cvent Supplier Network has at least one Instant Book-enabled venue in that location.

If the desired location has instantly bookable properties, we will launch a CSN search results page in a new tab. The criteria for this search will be pre-populated with your event requirements from the RFP form. Additionally, by default, the results will be filtered to show only those Instant Book enabled venues.

You may proceed with Instant Book by clicking the banner for an eligible venue, adjusting your event criteria, and rerunning the search if needed. If you change your mind about Instant Book, you can close the CSN search tab and return to the RFP form where you left off.

Benefits
The most common path to instantly booking a venue is through the Cvent Supplier Network search experience. However, we know many of you start your sourcing journey by filling out the RFP form rather than jumping right into Search.

By offering the Instant Book option earlier in this sourcing journey, you can save time and skip the full RFP form by instantly reserving meeting space and guest rooms for your for your simpler or smaller meetings.

Last but not least, Instant Book Booking Management

Overview

With our new MeetingPackage integration, you can now easily modify or cancel your booking or message the event venue directly.

Key Features and Benefits

If a venue is integrated with MeetingPackage, a new 'Manage booking' button will appear on the booking confirmation page. This button provides access to MeetingPackage's booking management tool, where planners can cancel their booking or message the venue regarding modifications.

Previously, the Cvent instant booking workflow ended after a booking was made. If you needed to change or cancel your booking for any reason, you had to call the hotel manually. Now, we have extended this capability to allow you to manage your booking further.

You are accustomed to being able to cancel an online transaction. With this release, we increase your confidence and continue to streamline the instant booking experience.

Visit our Community with questions

Questions about anything we’ve rolled out this window? As always, get questions answered in the Community via the Open Forum. Also, plan to attend our next quarterly Product News webinar on November 20, when the product team will be on the call to share updates and answer questions!