Guide, published 11 November 2026
A hosted buyer program pays some or all travel for pre-qualified buyers, and the buyers agree to scheduled meetings with exhibitors. Each hosted buyer costs €1,500 to €4,000 before the first appointment. Run one if your exhibitors need buyers who do not attend on their own. If the buyers already registered, find them first.
Published by the Sena team. Want a place as a buyer? Apply on the website of the show you plan to attend.
Some of your buyers already hold a ticket. Sena finds them before the event, on WhatsApp.
Find the buyers on your listKey takeaways
The organizer invites pre-qualified buyers and pays some or all of their travel. The buyers commit to meetings with exhibitors.
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| Side | Terms |
|---|---|
| The buyer receives | A hotel for 2 or 3 nights, a badge, lunch, transfers, a round-trip flight or expenses, and pre-arranged appointments |
| The buyer owes | Attendance on two of the three days, and every requested or pre-arranged meeting with exhibitors |
Shows enforce the deal. Converve reports that IMEX asks for six to eight 30-minute meetings per day. Business Travel Show Europe can charge up to £500 for two or more missed appointments.
Flights, hotel and hospitality cost €1,500 to €4,000 for each buyer before the first appointment starts, Converve reports.
€250
per meeting, for a €3,000 buyer with 12 appointments.
€375
per meeting, if a third of those meetings collapse.
Source: Converve worked example, read 11 November 2026.
Attendance drives the real cost. At FOST London 2026, 589 of 1,589 ticket holders never collected a badge. Read our data on event no-shows before you plan the schedule.
Pay for travel only when the buyers have no other reason to attend. Otherwise, the money buys people who planned to attend anyway.
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| Your situation | Our call |
|---|---|
| Your exhibitors need buyers who do not attend on their own | A hosted program fits |
| Buyers travel far, and your show is their main route to suppliers | A hosted program fits |
| Your registration list already holds buyers, and nobody has found them | Find them first |
| You have no budget for travel | Find them first |
Your registration list holds buyers, and the form rarely shows who they are.
At Les Entrepreneurs Haute-Garonne 2026, 41 of 128 profiled attendees said they sought a service or solution. Their goal appeared only when someone asked.
Ask each registrant one question before the event: what do you want to find here? The State of Event Attendee Intent 2026 shows what attendees answered at seven events.
Sena is a WhatsApp agent that talks with each of your attendees before and during the event, and it learns who came to buy.
Sena does not book travel, vet buyers or run a meeting schedule. If your exhibitors need flown-in buyers, keep your hosted program. Sena costs from €3,000 per event.
A hosted buyer is a pre-qualified buyer whose travel an event organizer pays in part or in full. In return, the buyer attends scheduled meetings with exhibitors.
The organizer pays some or all of the travel. Converve puts each hosted buyer at €1,500 to €4,000 before the first appointment.
Apply on the website of the show you want to attend. Each show sets its own rules and qualifies each buyer before it accepts them.
Each show sets its own number. Converve reports that IMEX asks for six to eight 30-minute meetings per day. Some shows charge a penalty for missed appointments.
No. Sena does not book travel, vet buyers or run a meeting schedule. Sena finds out what your registered attendees want to buy, and it points them to the right sponsors.
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