What venuedirectory.com does

venuedirectory.com (legally Berry Marketing Services Ltd, Company No. 2783633) is a UK-headquartered, private B2B SaaS marketplace operating since 1993 from Bournemouth, Dorset. The company operates a dual-sided venue marketplace connecting hotels, conference centres, conference venues, and unique event spaces (378,845 venues across 310 cities in 179 countries) with corporate meeting planners and event agencies who search, compare, and book meeting rooms and event spaces. The platform has facilitated close to half a billion pounds in confirmed bookings and reaches 37,000 weekly users.

The technology stack is an in-house CMS powering venuedirectory.com alongside a portfolio of SaaS platforms including GRATIS (RFP/venue sourcing tool), MyEventsChannel.com (venue partner management portal), SmallMeetings.co.uk (small meetings specialist), MyEventsPortal.co.uk, and enCloud. Core features include venue search and comparison, real-time availability, RFP and enquiry management, an Instant Book widget for sub-30-delegate meetings, Competitive Sets benchmarking (against 8-10 competitors with quarterly data updates), and Enquiry Insights RFP analytics. The Instant Book product supports nine third-party PMS/DMS integrations (Amadeus, Event Temple, Events500, Guestline, iVvy, MeetingPackage with Oracle conduit, Rendezvous, and Hivr.ai). The platform operates within the Cvent ecosystem per shared GDPR sub-processor documentation and joint customer references.

The commercial model is a six-tier recurring subscription stack billed primarily annually with 12-month minimum terms: base venue listing subscription, Enhanced Listing (prerequisite for premium products), Promoted Listings and Spotlight Listings (priority advertising), Instant Book, Competitive Sets, and Enquiry Insights, supplemented by transactional commission on bookings (Venue Directory does not process payments; venues collect directly). Customers include enterprise hotel groups (BWH Hotels GB, Clermont Hotels, Village Hotels, Leonardo Hotels), corporate travel management firms (Gray Dawes Group), and event agencies (arrangeMY, Calders Conferences). Go-to-market combines self-serve PLG for venue discovery, direct sales for premium product subscriptions, and community-led industry partnerships with MIA, HBAA and beam, and Green Key.

Name

venuedirectory.com

Legal name

Berry Marketing Services Ltd

Website

https://venuedirectory.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

venuedirectory.com is a UK-based B2B SaaS marketplace connecting 378,845 meeting and event venues across 310 cities with corporate planners and event agencies, offering subscription tools for venue listing, RFP management, direct booking, competitive benchmarking, and enquiry analytics.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Meeting and Event Venue Marketplace

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Facilities Support Management Services (8744)

akta.pro primary industry

Venue Sourcing & Site Coordination (HSACAAAD)

Keywords

• Venue sourcing marketplace
• Meeting booking platform
• RFP management software
• Event venue directory
• Hospitality SaaS analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

Bournemouth

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Venue Partner Subscriptions: Hotels, conference centres, and event venues pay subscription fees (Partner Fees) for listing on the platform, with tiered options including Enhanced Listing Subscription as a prerequisite for premium products. Minimum contract term of 12 months with annual rolling renewal.
2. Promoted Listings & Spotlight Listings: Venue partners can purchase promoted listing positions (8 available positions in top 2 positions on every page of destination search results) and spotlight listings (position 8 on every page). Minimum duration of 1 month starting on the 1st of the calendar month.
3. Instant Book: Subscription product (minimum 12 months) enabling venues to accept direct online bookings. Venue Directory facilitates the listing and widget but does not process payments — all payment collection is handled directly by the venue partner.
4. Competitive Sets (CompSet): Competitive intelligence subscription product with a minimum 12-month term. Provides venues with benchmarking analytics against 8-10 competitors with quarterly data aggregation and graphical dashboards.
5. Enquiry Insights: RFP analytics subscription product allowing venues to analyze their request for proposals at a granular level for both positive and negative outcomes. Only available for electronic enquiries that have been converted to bookings.
6. Booking Commission: Platform facilitates venue bookings and enquiries, with commission or partnership fees applied on bookings confirmed through the platform. 75% of received enquiries confirm at fully listed venues.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

venuedirectory.com operates a global online marketplace and SaaS platform connecting meeting and event planners with venues (hotels, conference centres, unique spaces) across 310 cities and 179 countries, with 378,845 listed venues. The company monetizes by selling subscription listings and ancillary SaaS modules (Promoted Listings, Competitive Sets, Enquiry Insights, Instant Book, GRATIS) to venue partners, while planners source and book venues through the directory and RFP workflow at no cost.

Product overview

Venue Directory operates as a platform-plus-modules architecture built around its core venuedirectory.com marketplace. The primary platform is a global venue directory and booking marketplace (venuedirectory.com) enabling meeting planners to find and book venues across 378,845 venues in 310 cities. Supporting this core platform are multiple SaaS products: GRATIS serves as the RFP/venue sourcing tool for agents and corporate planners; MyEventsChannel is the venue partner management system; Instant Book enables direct real-time bookings; Competitive Sets provides competitive intelligence analytics; Enquiry Insights offers RFP performance analytics; and Promoted Listings provides advertising placement. Additional platforms in the collection include SmallMeetings.co.uk, MyEventsPortal.co.uk, and enCloud. The company also maintains supplier directory services for event vendors including AV, catering, exhibition, decoration, lighting, and merchandise categories.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• GRATIS: Venue sourcing and RFP platform software provided as SaaS to venue partners and event planners.
• MyEventsChannel
• SmallMeetings.co.uk
• enCloud

Products and services

• venuedirectory.com Global Venue Marketplace Global online venue directory and booking marketplace listing 378,845 venues (meeting rooms, conference centres, hotels, unique spaces) across 310 cities in 179 countries. Allows meeting and event planners to search, compare, and book venues online.
• GRATIS Venue Sourcing & RFP Platform Standalone venue sourcing and RFP (Request for Proposal) software platform enabling event planners and agencies to search venues, send enquiries, manage proposals, and produce professional documentation, with features including activity to-do lists, cloning, and reconciliation.
• Instant Book Widget-based direct booking product enabling venues to accept real-time online bookings for small meetings (under 30 delegates). Includes calendar/diary management, pricing controls, and configurable cancellation policies; integrates with third-party PMS/DMS systems.
• Competitive Sets (CompSet) Competitive intelligence subscription tool providing venue performance analytics including response times, RFP values, conversion rates, and benchmarking against 8-10 selected competitors with quarterly data updates and graphical dashboards.
• Enquiry Insights RFP analytics subscription product enabling venues to analyze response time performance, pricing competitiveness, position assessment, and outcome analytics for electronic enquiries converted to bookings.
• Promoted Listings Priority ranking advertising product featuring subscribed venues in top positions (Promoted Listing in top 2 positions; Spotlight Listing at position 8) on every page of destination search results across venuedirectory.com, GRATIS, and MyEventsPortal.com.
• MyEventsChannel Venue partner management platform enabling venues to manage profiles, availability, pricing, Instant Book diary, and bookings on venuedirectory.com; also serves as the central venue partner portal.

Quantifiable outcome

• 378,845 unique meeting spaces listed across 310 cities in 179 countries
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Meetings Industry Association (MIA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe MIA is the leading trade association representing the UK's business meetings and events sector for over three decades. Venue Directory is partnered with MIA, which provides the industry with resources, training, networking, and AIM Secure accreditation — the UK's only recognised quality standard for the meetings industry.
• HBAA and beamcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHBAA and beam is the trade association for the Meetings, Events, and Accommodation Industry underpinned by pillars of Resilience, Innovation, Ethics, and Quality. Venue Directory is a valued long-term supplier associate to HBAA and beam, and many of their members choose to work with Venue Directory's products and services. HBAA and beam members collectively contribute to the £70bn business tourism spend in the UK economy.
• Green KeyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGreen Key is a voluntary eco-label for hotels, hostels, campsites, holiday parks, conference centres, attractions, and restaurants. Managed by the Foundation for Environmental Education and endorsed by the World Tourism Organisation. Venue Directory partners with Green Key to promote sustainable venues to event planners.
• Children in NeedminorOthersBBC's charity supporting children in the UK. Venue Directory participates in annual fundraising activities, particularly in November.
• Save the ChildrenminorOthersSave the Children was established in 1919 to improve children's lives through education, health care, and economic opportunities. Venue Directory participates in Christmas Jumper Day fundraising activities.
• Red Nose Comic ReliefminorOthersCharity tackling homelessness, hunger, domestic abuse, and mental health stigma through entertainment. Venue Directory participates in Red Nose Day fundraising activities.
• Macmillan Cancer SupportminorOthersCharity offering support to people affected by cancer and their families. Venue Directory participates in Macmillan coffee mornings as a fundraising activity.
• CentrePointminorOthersCharity supporting homeless and vulnerable young people to build safe futures. CentrePoint aims to eliminate youth homelessness by 2037. Venue Directory supports this cause.
• Meeting NeedsminorOthersRegistered charity founded by leading figures in the UK conference and events industry. Raises funds for causes relevant to the events industry with a fully volunteer board and 17+ years of uniting event professionals.
• CventcoreTechnology or IntegrationVenue Directory is owned/operated under Cvent as indicated by references to Cvent in product terms, GDPR documentation, and sub-processor lists. Cvent provides event management technology and the platform operates as part of the Cvent ecosystem, including sharing sub-processor information via Cvent's GDPR documentation.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Cvent: Largest event management technology platform with venue sourcing, RFP management, and event registration. Directly comparable as a venue sourcing marketplace and appears to have operational ties to venuedirectory.com per GDPR documentation.
• Eventbrite: Large-scale event ticketing and discovery platform with venue booking capabilities for organisers. Overlaps at the venue discovery and booking layer though skewed toward consumer events rather than B2B MICE.
• Bizzabo: Event experience platform with registration, venue sourcing, and onsite technology. Comparable as an event tech platform serving enterprise meeting planners, though broader than pure venue sourcing.
• Aventri (Stova): Event management software platform with venue sourcing, registration, and onsite solutions. Comparable as an end-to-end event management platform overlapping with Venue Directory on the sourcing side.

Direct peers

• Hire Space: UK-based venue marketplace connecting event organisers with unique and corporate venues for hire. Closest direct competitor to venuedirectory.com in the UK MICE market with overlapping value proposition on venue search and booking.
• Meetingselect: European venue sourcing and meeting management platform used by corporate buyers to source and book meeting venues. Directly overlaps with Venue Directory's GRATIS RFP tool and venue marketplace offering.
• MeetingPackage: Sales and distribution platform for meeting and event spaces with booking engine, channel manager, and marketplace. Direct competitor in the venue booking and distribution layer and existing integration partner.

Emerging players

• Event Temple: Cloud-based venue and event management software for hotels and venues. Already integrated with venuedirectory.com via PMS/DMS integration, making it both a tech partner and a partial substitute for venue partners' own systems.
• iVvy: Cloud-based venue and event management software popular in Australia and expanding globally. Integrated with Venue Directory for availability sync; competes on the venue-side management software layer.
• Priava: Cloud-based venue and event management software for venues, hotels, and conference centres. Comparable as venue-side management software that competes with Venue Directory's MyEventsChannel and Instant Book offerings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/venuedirectory
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/venuedirectory
• Facebookfacebook.com/venuedirectory
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/venuedirectory-com
• Instagraminstagram.com/venuedirectory
• Pinterestpinterest.co.uk/venuedirectory

Compliance10 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about venuedirectory.com