Event tech
Visit Media broadens its European platform
VISITING MEDIA CEO JASCHA KAYKAS-WOLFF EXPLAINS HIS VISION FOR AN EVENT TECH COMPANY ON THE ACQUISIITON TRAIL
V isiting Media, which
markets itself as a leader in immersive sales enablement for the hospitality industry, recently brought Spain-based Spazious & FirstView into its fold, uniting complementary platforms for selling spaces and planning events.
The acquisitions expand Visiting Media’ s international footprint and technical capabilities in 3D event layout, CEO Jascha Kaykas-Wolff told CMW.
“ The new portfolio now combines immersive visual selling, 3D event diagramming, digital asset management, and advanced eventspace workflows, including interactive space layouts, operational workflows, and instant booking capabilities,” Kaykas-Wolff noted.
The Spazious and FirstView technology has focused on digitising and optimising the way hotels and
Jascha Kaykas-Wolff
resorts are marketed and sold online and their offering includes a meetings and events booking engine for direct web sales, as well as a 2D and 3D diagramming solution that enables hotels to design and configure setups within an interactive environment.
With Visiting Media based in New York, and Spazious which is HQ-ed in Florida but with operations across Spain, Europe, and Latin America, Kaykas-Wolff said the combined company was now positioning to serve global hotel groups, venues, and destinations at scale.
“ Spazious and FirstView accelerate our platform strategy in a way that directly supports our long-term vision,” said Kaykas-Wolff.
Spazious and FirstView’ s leadership team, now includes co-founders Antonio Batanero Girbau and Borja De Francisco, who remain actively involved in the business.
For customers of both companies, all existing contracts, services, and support will continue.
Of course, hotels today can bolt together Matterport, a proposal system, and some links to create passable virtual sales journeys, so what are the specific moments in the sales workflow where the Visiting Media platform does something that can’ t be reproduced with off the shelf tools?
Kaykas-Wolff said his company’ s founder started with a handful of event venues in Oregon and began investing in technicians to scale globally, moving to over 20,000 customers. Now, Visiting Media distinguishes itself from typical event sales software like Cvent or iVvy by focusing on immersive sales enablement rather than just logistics and administrative management, he explained. While competitors often focus on the‘ back-office’ of event planning( bookings, invoices, and registrations), Visiting Media’ s platform is designed to increase sales conversion through high-end visual storytelling unlike generic tools.
Visiting Media’ s TrueTour and SalesHub platforms allow sales teams to combine various types of immersive media with traditional collateral in a single, shareable link. Properties can be showcased using aerial CGI models, 3D furniture staging, and drone footage to help planners visualise a space before it is even built or set up.
Visiting Media claims these immersive visuals can provide an average 17x increase in ROI for property owners by facilitating faster buying decisions meaning less time spent on admin and more on active selling.
Visiting Media COO Chad Chimner said the hardest part of the recent merger was not the technology,“ it’ s the person in Madrid wondering if their role changes. The customer in Chicago wondering if their experience stays the same … So we’ re leading with people before systems. We’ re starting with listening, not org charts”.
He added:“ The thing I ' m most excited about isn ' t the platform or the markets. It ' s the combined human potential. Three teams who share a core belief that selling hospitality should feel as compelling as the experiences themselves.” n
ISSUE 142 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 53