How Seaside Event & Non Profit Management Ditched Cvent and Never Looked Back

Background

Seaside Event & Non Profit Management is a full-service firm specializing in nonprofit management, hotel site selection, contract negotiation, and event planning. At the helm is Barbara Ozenbaugh, a seasoned independent planner who wears every hat in the business, from first client conversation to final contract signature.

As a one-person shop, Barbara sources between 5 and 10 events per year, often managing multiple hotel searches across multiple cities simultaneously. Her clients trust her to cut through the noise, find the right properties, and present options in a way that makes decision-making easy. Every tool she uses either earns its place in her workflow or gets cut.

For years, one platform had been collecting rent without fully earning it.

The Challenge: Paying Enterprise Prices for Features She'd Never Use

Before Hopskip, Barbara's go-to sourcing platform was Cvent. And while Cvent is a well-known name in the industry, it was never quite the right fit for a solo operator focused exclusively on hotel sourcing.

The core issue was simple: Cvent is built for enterprise event teams managing registration, attendee management, marketing, onsite logistics, and more. Barbara didn't need any of that. She needed to source hotels, send RFPs, and present polished proposals to her clients. She was paying for a sprawling platform and using a fraction of it.

For a small, one-person business where every dollar of overhead matters, that mismatch was hard to justify. The cost was steep, the complexity was unnecessary, and the process of preparing client-facing reports was still largely manual. Something had to change.

"For a small, one-person shop, Cvent was very expensive, and it had features I didn't need since I only do hotel sourcing."

- Barbara Ozenbaugh, Seaside Event & Non Profit Management

The Solution: The Right Tool for the Right Job

Barbara first connected with Hopskip through persistent (and clearly persuasive) outreach from the Hopskip team. As she puts it: "Continuous follow up by Luke, and they made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

She onboarded during the COVID era, a time when the events industry was at a standstill and many planners were reassessing their tools and workflows. It turned out to be the perfect moment to start fresh with a platform built specifically for what she actually does.

The transition was immediate. With her very first round of hotel sourcing on Hopskip, Barbara saw results. The platform's database gave her fast access to hotels across multiple cities, and the ability to send RFPs and collect standardized proposals in one centralized place replaced the fragmented, manual process she had been managing on her own.

But the feature that truly won Barbara over was the reporting. Hopskip's downloadable proposal reports gave her a clean, professional way to present hotel options to her clients at the click of a button. No more building comparison documents by hand. No more formatting slides or reformatting spreadsheets. Just a polished, apples-to-apples comparison ready to share the moment proposals came in.

For a one-person business competing against larger agencies, that kind of output quality is a serious differentiator.

The Results

1 to 2 Hours Saved Per RFP, Plus Hours of Frustration Eliminated

From her very first sourcing cycle on Hopskip, Barbara reclaimed time she hadn't had before. Each RFP now takes 1 to 2 fewer hours to complete, and beyond the measurable time savings, she's freed from the frustration of cobbling together research, outreach, and reporting across disconnected tools and spreadsheets.

For a solo operator managing multiple client engagements simultaneously, those hours add up quickly. Time saved on one RFP is time that can go toward the next client, the next proposal, or simply delivering a better experience to the clients she already has.

Client-Ready Reports at the Click of a Button

The proposal comparison reports Barbara generates through Hopskip have become one of her most valued client deliverables. Rather than spending hours manually building a document that walks clients through their hotel options, she can produce a professional, standardized comparison in seconds, giving clients exactly what they need to evaluate properties side by side and make confident decisions.

It's a small feature with an outsized impact. Clients see a polished, easy-to-read comparison. Barbara spends less time producing it. Everyone wins.

The Capacity to Source Across Multiple Cities Simultaneously

With a faster, more organized sourcing workflow, Barbara can now manage complex, multi-city sourcing requests with confidence. Clients who need hotel options across several markets at once get thorough, well-organized recommendations without the turnaround time that kind of research used to demand. For a solo operator, that kind of capability was previously out of reach.

Why Seaside Event & Non Profit Management Chose Hopskip Over Cvent

The decision came down to fit. Cvent is a powerful platform, but its power is designed for enterprise teams managing the full event lifecycle. For an independent planner whose work begins and ends with hotel sourcing, it was the wrong tool at the wrong price.

Hopskip is purpose-built for exactly what Barbara does. The platform's sourcing-first focus means every feature is relevant, the interface is intuitive without a steep learning curve, and the pricing reflects what a one-person shop can actually sustain. Add in the customer service, which Barbara highlights repeatedly as a standout differentiator, and the decision was easy.

"Come for the sourcing, stay for the amazing customer service!"‍

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Barbara's story is one that independent planners across the industry will recognize. If you're paying for a platform designed for a team ten times your size, using features built for workflows ten times more complex than yours, there's a better option.

Hopskip gives independent planners and boutique firms everything they need to source hotels professionally, present proposals confidently, and deliver results their clients will remember.

Ready to Ditch the Chaos?

See what Hopskip can do for your event sourcing process. Start for free today or book a demo and discover why teams like Meeting Encore are never going back to Excel.