How Venues Can Leverage AI to Transform Event Operations

IBTM World 2025 was a real eye opener and a key topic was how venues can leverage AI. Venues sit at the heart of the event world, yet many teams feel the strain of rising expectations, shrinking resources, and increasing operational complexity.

Talent is hard to retain. Data lives in too many places (especially in peoples heads). RFP volume grows, but qualification and personalization remain slow and manual. And the tools that promise efficiency often fail to deliver seamless interactions.

AI is not a cure-all, but used well, it can remove friction and give venue teams space to focus on what they do best: creating meaningful experiences. The shift is already underway, and the venues that embrace it early will gain a clear competitive advantage.

In this article we want to share how AI can support venues today, where it adds the most value, and what needs to happen before the real benefits can take hold.

The Core Challenge: Fragmented Data Slows Everything Down

Most venue pain points start in the same place. Information is spread across different systems, spreadsheets, inboxes, and departments. Many of our customers had exactly this problem when they reached out. And this fragmention results in:

• slow response times

• generic proposals

• repeated manual work

• limited insights for sales and operations

• lower personalization

• higher employee burnout

Teams spend hours searching for the simplest details. And the lack of unified KPIs makes it harder to prioritize the right inquiries or measure performance across revenue and events teams.

AI can fix many of these problems, but only if the foundation is solid. Clean, structured, consolidated data is the first step. Without it, automation struggles, personalization breaks, and AI outputs lose accuracy.

AI Can Transform Proposal Personalization

One of the biggest opportunities for venues is proposal quality. Today, many proposals feel repetitive, generic, or rushed because teams are under constant time pressure.

AI changes this by centralizing information and either generating a tailored summary or proposals at speed. We do believe that having the human in the loop to discuss proposal is key. Events is, after all, a people business.

AI can:

• pull contextual details from past events

• suggest layouts and pricing based on patterns

• insert relevant case studies or formats

• adapt tone and style to different audiences

• predict confirmation likelihood

This frees staff from repetitive copying and pasting and gives them more time to focus on creative engagement with clients.

Purpose-Driven Venue Sourcing Is the Future

Venue sourcing is shifting. Many Event Planners are tired of keyword searches that return irrelevant results. They want venues aligned with experience, expertise, and purpose.

AI enables this shift through:

• Clustering event types by format

• Matching event goals with venue strengths

• Connecting requirements to real-world delivery

• Highlighting venues with experience in similar events

• Improving precision in both search and shortlist

This list is very important if you are a venue owner. Event Planners will be talking to GPTs/LLMs for recommendations and searches. Having a readable JSON LTD scheme and optimized SEO is critical.

This leads to better matches, faster decisions, and improved conversion rates for venues that understand their own data. It also reinforces a simple truth: the future of venue sourcing is not about size or keywords. It is about fit.

AI Removes Manual Work and Reduces Burnout

Venues face real talent challenges. Many staff members carry the weight of repetitive tasks. AI can relieve that pressure by automating:

• RFP qualification

• Data enty

• Communication routing

• Confirmations

• Pricing updates

• Pre-filled checklists and templates

The goal is not to replace human connection. It is to support it.
When AI handles the repetitive work, staff can focus on conversations, creativity, and client relationships.

This is especially relevant for younger teams who expect digital-first workflows and faster tools.

Better Experiences Come From Better Data

Hotels and event venues serve business travelers, meeting planners, and large groups that expect tailored experiences. Fragmented data makes personalization hard. AI fixes that by connecting scattered information and surfacing insights that teams can act on.

This influences:

• room block planning

• meeting room allocation

• catering suggestions

• AV recommendations

• upselling strategies

• guest experience flows

Better data creates better service. And better service drives repeat business.

What needs to happen before AI can deliver real value?

AI adoption in venues is still young. Many experiments exist, but few teams see lasting results because the basics are not in place. To unlock the full potential of AI, venues need to:

Consolidate data across systems
Connect sales, banqueting, CRM, revenue management, and operations.

Structure and clean the data
Remove duplicates. Standardize names. Align formats.

Align KPIs across departments
Sales and events should measure success the same way.

Automate repetitive workflows first
Start with high-frequency tasks that drain the most time.

Train AI on venue-specific context
Layouts, capacities, pricing rules, packages, tone of voice.

This groundwork is essential.
Without it, AI becomes noisy or generic. With it, AI becomes a strategic asset.

How Rookoo fits into your venue/event future

At Rookoo, we see these challenges daily.
Our digital colleagues already help venues:

• qualify incoming RFPs

• collect structured event data

• improve proposal accuracy

• log CRM details automatically

• reduce operational friction

• connect planners and venues with clarity

And as we continue to build agentic, predictive systems, the goal stays the same:
Free teams from admin so they can focus on what creates value.Bring structure to fragmented workflows. Make every conversation count.

After being at IBTM we feel that a shift and focus is happening within the event and venue industry. AI is going to change a lot.

We will say it over and over again: AI will not replace human connection in events. It will enhance it by giving people the time and insights needed to deliver exceptional experiences.

Venues that embrace AI early will move faster, operate smarter, and build deeper relationships with planners.

The opportunity is clear: Consolidate data. Automate the repetitive. Personalize the essential. And let humans do what they do best.