- Industry Insight
AI can find a venue, but can it really know a venue?
08th October 2026
If you’ve had the pleasure of attending any industry event in the past 12 months, you’ve most likely sat through an abundance of on-stage talks and presentations about ‘AI innovation’, ‘AI automation’ and ‘AI workflows’ (the list goes on). I had this very experience at #CHSManchester only last week, and it struck me that I needed to dive into the implications of this new technology in the venue find space.
For an industry previously characterised by its focus on human connection, live experiences and relationship building, AI has introduced a very different pace of change. From live meeting-room availability and instant venue information to chatbots that can answer FAQs in seconds, technology is already reshaping the way clients research and compare options. This matters because the right venue shapes the budget, delegate experience, and overall success of an event – AI can speed up the first stage of discovery, but how are we making sure that the final recommendation has been made with human rationale, judgement, context and accountability.
This got me thinking:
How can an agency possibly demonstrate its value in the venue find space when technology is closing in at pace?
But you’ll be glad to hear that the future does, in fact, look bright, because there’s one thing that separates our expert team from AI tools: our experience.
An AI tool can pull together everything that’s been written about a venue online. What it can’t do is tell you what that venue is actually like to work with. It can’t tell you if one is known for pushing clients aside when a bigger piece of business comes along.
It doesn’t know that a particular hotel’s room allocation includes a few broom cupboards amongst the premium rooms (and you definitely don’t want your CEO ending up there!).
It doesn’t know that a venue has such a high staff turnover that service standards have suffered.
Seasoned venue finders have experienced thousands of hotels and venues first-hand. In my 20+ years in the industry, I’ve had the pleasure of attending FAM trips all over the world, where venues put their very best foot forward and showcase experiences you could never find on a website.
I’ve been privy to experiences only available to those in the know: a hidden speakeasy, a head chef who personally introduces themselves to guests, or those small touches that elevate a stay from good to unforgettable.
There’s a bank of first-hand venue experiences stored in my mind: how a place made me feel, how I was welcomed, how I was wowed. This level of knowledge, gained through personal experience, is incomparable.
I will always remember an overseas site visit I attended with a client where the venue team went above and beyond. It stands out as one of those truly memorable experiences that stays with you. Three years later, I’m still talking about it. We know who consistently delivers moments like that, and who doesn’t.
The takeaway is that collaboration is key. Technology is already being used to make us faster, smarter and more efficient in a fast-paced environment and will continue to do so. This isn’t something to fear or dismiss, it’s something to embrace. But the value of a venue find partner is in knowing when to trust the data, when to challenge it, and when your experience tells you there is more to the story.
After all, the events industry is, and always will be, a people industry.
One of my favourite phrases is, “People buy people”, and it couldn’t be truer. AI should be viewed as an early-stage tool to improve exploration and accuracy, an enhancement to what we already do, not a replacement.
AI might be free, but so is our venue finding service!
Get in touch with Kristy today for a free non-obligation quote!
