Cvent releases top 50 list for meetings and events in the United States

McLean-based Cvent has revealed its 2014 list of the top 50 cities for meetings and events in the United States. Arlington and Alexandria were the only Virginia cities on the list, ranking Nos. 36 and 46, respectively.

The top 10 cities were Chicago (No.1); Orlando, Fla. (No. 2); Las Vegas (No. 3); Atlanta (No. 4); San Diego (No. 5); New York (No. 6); Dallas (No. 7); Washington, D.C. (No. 8); New Orleans, La. (No. 9) and Nashville, Tenn. (No. 10).

Arlington dropped two places from last year, while Alexandria’s ranking fell by five slots.  To compile the list, Cvent evaluated more than 5,000 U.S. cities on the Cvent Supplier Network, a database of venue information. Activity was tracked from July 2013 to June 2014 based on:

• Unique request for proposals received.
• Total room nights.
• Awarded request for proposals.
• Awarded room nights.
• Percentage of qualified meeting venues.
• Number of profile views.

In Maryland, Baltimore placed No. 28, down from No. 25 in 2013, while National Harbor fell 9 points to No. 35.

Among other neighboring states, Kentucky landed Louisville on the list for the first time, snatching the No. 45 slot. Charlotte, the only city in North Carolina on this year’s list, fell one spot from last year to No. 34.

This is the third year the cloud-based event management platform has compiled the list. Cvent has more than 1,450 employees and more than 12,650 customers around the world.