BusinessMeetings.com

A FUTURISTIC LEGACY

Introducing

Historical Summary

BusinessMeetings.com was an early Internet-based platform designed to serve as a global database for meeting and event venues. It was founded in 1999 by Pete Brady (Former BBC TV and Radio animator, Founder of Clearwater Communication) and Guy Millant (Former CEO Atari France), and operated from the United Kingdom under the registered company BusinessMeetings ASP Limited (Company No. 03811837).

The platform provided professional and non-professional meeting planners with a comprehensive, continuously updated directory of venues and suppliers worldwide. It featured tools such as meeting-room specifications, weather and visa data, and multimedia tours, and at its peak listed over 50,000 venues and service providers.

The site partnered with industry platforms such as HotelView Corporation (for hotel video tours) and MeetingBroker.com (for automated RFP and proposal exchanges).

Venues could list for free or choose premium “green” listings with enhanced data and media, while access for planners remained free of charge.

Legacy

Though the original UK entity ceased trading in 2010, its concept, technology, and entrepreneurial spirit survived through its acquisition and transformation. The reborn VERTU Business Meetings continues the mission of the original founders—to connect professional planners with quality venues—now within the luxury hospitality ecosystem of VERTU International.

  • BusinessMeetings ASP Limited incorporated in the United Kingdom by Pete Brady and Guy Millant.

  • Platform developed and publicly launched; partnerships announced with HotelView Corp. and MeetingBroker.com.

  • Database expands to over 50,000 meeting venues worldwide; site operates as an independent directory and planning resource.

  • UK corporate entity placed under compulsory strike-off and officially dissolved on 2 March 2010.

  • Gérald Lampaert acquires the BusinessMeetings.com domain and concept from Pete Brady. The platform is redeveloped and integrated within VERTU Hotels & Resorts as VERTU Business Meetings, focused on promoting VERTU’s meeting and event spaces to corporate planners.

  • Although primarily used by VERTU Hotels & Resorts, the system is managed and continually developed by VERTU Hospitality, more precisely by VERTU Interactive, the technology division of VERTU International, owned and chaired by Gérald Lampaert.

  • Founder Pete Brady later joined VERTU Hotels & Resorts as a non-executive member of its Advisory Board, continuing his association with the businessmeetings.com brand he helped originate.

Corporate Timeline