Hire Space VS Cvent
An instant data-backed estimate vs the RFP process
Cvent is a powerful enterprise sourcing suite built around the RFP. RFPs are thorough but slow, and they wait on supplier replies. Hire Space estimates your brief in seconds and handles contracting and payment for you.
Build an RFP and wait, or estimate and choose
Cvent runs one of the largest sourcing marketplaces in the world. Its Supplier Network is comprehensive, enterprise-grade and heavy on hotels, and it is built around a single move: the RFP. You assemble a brief, send it to a capped set of suppliers and wait for their bids to come back over the following days. When they land you compare them, then contract with each supplier yourself. None of that is Cvent being slow. It is the shape of an RFP marketplace: pricing lives with the suppliers, so the answer arrives on their schedule, one proposal at a time, from whichever subset of the network you put on the list.
Hire Space replaces the front of that process with instant intelligence. Because we hold more than a decade of what suppliers actually charged for real briefs, we can price yours the moment you describe it. You get a data-backed estimate and a shortlist in about ten seconds, drawn from the whole market rather than a capped RFP list. It is an estimate rather than a bid, drawn from that history, and the supplier sets the final figure. But there is a real difference between starting from a realistic number and starting from a blank RFP: you know roughly where you stand straight away. Then we contract, pay and invoice as a single supplier, where Cvent connects you to suppliers but leaves the contracting and the AP relationship with each one to you.
From brief to booking
Two ways to source an event, pick the one that suits how you like to work.
| Hire Space Guided Technology searches and estimates; our team handles judgement | Cvent RFP Enterprise RFP sourcing, you run the process | |
|---|---|---|
| Brief | Describe your brief in plain language We do the legwork from there | Build a structured RFP Assemble requirements and select suppliers to send to |
| Price | Data-backed estimate in ~10 seconds Indicative, grounded in a decade of realised transaction data | Suppliers return bids Typically over several days, from the capped list you sent to |
| Shortlist | A priced, market-wide shortlist with alternatives Every option already carries an estimate, so you compare like for like straight away | Compare the proposals that come back Limited to the suppliers on your RFP, gathered one bid at a time |
| Decide | Choose your venue From a priced shortlist, straight away | Choose a supplier From the RFP bids |
| Contract | We contract, pay and invoice One contract, one AP relationship, one invoice | Contract with each supplier yourself A separate contract and AP relationship per supplier |
| Typically | < 20 mins brief to priced shortlist | Several days RFP out, then waiting on supplier bids |
The Hire Space price is an indicative, data-backed estimate to plan around. The venue then follows with a full quote to confirm the final figure.
Built for business events
The first thing that changes is the speed. Describe a brief and a realistic price comes back in about ten seconds, before an RFP has gone anywhere near a supplier. It works because we have spent more than a decade recording what suppliers actually charged for real events, so the figure is grounded rather than guessed. The supplier still confirms it, but you start from a solid number rather than a blank RFP and a few days of silence.
The second is range. An RFP can only reach the suppliers you can fit onto the list, and that list leans heavily on hotels and the network that has signed up. Our research covers the open market instead, so the answer can be any kind of venue in any city, including new openings that nobody has listed yet. Because the same research is built into Claude and ChatGPT, your team can run a venue brief from the tools they already work in.
The third is what happens after you choose. We take the contracting off your desk completely: one contract, one AP relationship and one invoice for every venue and supplier, rather than a separate agreement with each hotel. On larger or more complex programmes a named expert handles the negotiation and the trickier moving parts, so the technology delivers the shortlist and a real person delivers the result.
Where the RFP model hits its ceiling
Cvent is a comprehensive enterprise suite, but a few limits come with the RFP model itself. Hire Space is built without them.
Pricing lives with the suppliers
- You build the RFP, send it to a capped set of suppliers and wait days for bids
- Any real pricing arrives on the suppliers’ schedule, one proposal at a time
- You see only the subset of the network you put on the list
The relationships stay on your desk
- Cvent connects you to suppliers but you contract with each one yourself
- A separate contract, AP relationship and invoice per supplier
- Coverage is hotel-heavy, built around the network that has signed up
Estimate first, whole market, one supplier
- A data-backed estimate in ~10 seconds, before any RFP goes out
- Any venue type, anywhere, grounded in a decade of realised pricing
- One contract, one AP relationship, one invoice for everything
Head to head
Hire Space figures from realised bookings and Hire Space 360. Cvent is built around the RFP, so pricing comes from supplier bids rather than a standing estimate, and you contract with each supplier directly.
An honest decision framework
For very large, hotel-heavy programmes with mature internal sourcing teams who live in the RFP workflow and need its depth of supplier-side tooling, Cvent is powerful. Hire Space is for teams that want speed to a reliable estimate, coverage beyond hotels, and the contracting and payment handled for them.
- You want a data-backed estimate in seconds, not days waiting on RFP bids.
- You want any venue type, anywhere, not a hotel-heavy network.
- You want one contract, one AP relationship and one invoice for everything.
- You want the contracting and payment handled for you.
- You run very large, hotel-heavy programmes at enterprise scale.
- You have a mature internal sourcing team that lives in the RFP workflow.
- You need deep supplier-side tooling and bid management.
- You are happy to contract with each supplier yourself.
Frequently asked
Cvent is built around the RFP: you assemble a brief, send it to a capped set of suppliers and wait days for bids you then contract yourself. On Hire Space you describe your brief and get a data-backed estimate in about ten seconds, drawn from the whole market rather than a capped list, and we contract, pay and invoice as a single supplier.
Yes. That is the core difference. Instead of building an RFP and waiting on supplier bids, you describe your brief and get a data-backed estimate and a market-wide shortlist in about ten seconds. The supplier still confirms the final figure, but you start from a realistic number rather than a blank RFP.
Events where speed, coverage beyond hotels and a single contract matter. You get a data-backed estimate in seconds, any venue type anywhere instead of a hotel-heavy network, and one contract, one AP relationship and one invoice for everything.
Very large, hotel-heavy programmes run by mature internal sourcing teams that live in the RFP workflow and need deep supplier-side tooling. Cvent is a comprehensive, enterprise-grade suite for that way of working.
Yes. We contract, pay and invoice as a single supplier, so you get one contract, one AP relationship and one invoice for every venue and supplier. Cvent connects you to suppliers but leaves the contracting and the AP relationship with each one to you.
Yes. We are not limited to the suppliers on a capped RFP list or to a hotel-heavy network. Deep Research finds any venue type in any city worldwide, including new openings and spaces that have never been listed anywhere, and we set it up for you.
Build an RFP and wait days for bids you then contract yourself.
A data-backed estimate in seconds, the whole market, and one supplier handling contracts and payment.