Convene Establishes Parent Company to Accommodate Acquisitions

Hospitality coworking firm Convene is reorganizing nearly two years after the acquisition of another event space provider with further growth in mind.

Convene’s executives have established Convene Hospitality Group (CHG) to manage its main operations, its hospitality brand etc.venues, and any potential acquisitions, according to CEO and co-founder Ryan Simonetti, who will serve as president and CEO of CHG.

“I think we started to see the opportunity, not too dissimilar from what some of the hotel brands and large restaurant groups like Major Food Group have seen, where we could start to create brands, product offerings and experiences around the specific needs and uses of our clients,” Simonetti told Commercial Observer. “Over the last couple of years, as we were integrating the two businesses together, we saw an opportunity not only to scale the two brands, but potentially look to launch new brands and even acquire others.”

While Simonetti did not name any firms CHG may be looking to acquire, he sees the potential to branch out from offering working environments to also provide spaces for lifestyle and other kinds of private events. Opportunities are increasing as hospitality, office and residential begin to blend across the industry, Simonetti said.

“We have the conviction that over the next five to 10 years, both within the meeting and event industry as well as some adjacencies, multi-branded group companies will emerge that get the benefit of economies of scale, a reduced cost of capital and the benefits of distribution,” Simonetti said. “We now do business with 98 percent of the Fortune 100, and more than half of our business is large, global multinationals.”

Convene and etc.venues are on track to accommodate 1.2 million to 1.3 million attendees to its spaces this year – not including its workplace members – while generating about 350,000 room nights in hotel demand, Simonetti added.

“It would be interesting for us to insert ourselves into mixed-use projects, a rooms-only or boutique hotel product, which would create a lot of value outside of just our four walls,” Simonetti said.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.