Comtev vs Navan Events
Navan Events, launched in June 2026 in the US, UK and Europe, adds venue sourcing, attendee travel and event reporting to Navan's corporate travel and expense platform, with an AI assistant that guides planners through sourcing and negotiation and a meetings and events team for full service. Comtev is a standalone AI for event teams that keeps one living event document, sources and negotiates venues, vendors and attendee travel, chases stakeholders for decisions and holds bookings behind an approval gate, at £250 per event. If your company already runs travel and expenses on Navan, Navan Events is the path of least resistance. If you want event planning that works without a travel contract and goes beyond venue and travel into vendors, decisions and automation, Comtev.
What each one actually does
| Feature | Comtev | Navan Events |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI that does the legwork for an in-house event team: one living event document, agents that source and negotiate, stakeholder chasing, and a budget the team controls. | Meetings and events module inside Navan's travel and expense platform: venue sourcing, attendee travel and financial reporting in one place. |
| Who it is for | UK in-house event teams, with or without a travel platform. | Companies already on Navan for travel and expenses, mainly enterprise and mid-market. |
| Venue sourcing | Ranked venue shortlist from one brief, with capacity fit, decision axes and watch-outs. You pick; Comtev does the back-and-forth. | AI-assisted venue sourcing with negotiation guidance; full-service sourcing and contract negotiation from Navan's events team. |
| Vendor sourcing and negotiation | Reaches caterers, AV, transport and other suppliers over WhatsApp, SMS, email and voice call, in their language, negotiates for better rates and normalises quotes to all-in cost. | Not the focus; events team support for full-service programmes. |
| Travel for attendees | Flights priced per named attendee from live fares, hotel room blocks compared and awarded. Nothing is charged until the named approver says yes. | Strongest here: attendee travel booked inside the same platform as the company's business travel, with policy and expense capture. |
| Stakeholder sign-off | Stakeholder register plus tracked asks (approval, question, content, date hold) sent over Slack and email. Comtev nudges, switches channel, re-addresses to a delegate and escalates. | Not offered. |
| Approvals before spend | Bookings, cancellations and outbound messages wait for a named approver with a spending ceiling. Decide in the app, on Slack, by push or by email. | Travel policy and approvals from the travel platform. |
| Living event document and automation | The Event Document: what the event is and what still needs a decision. Items from the venue, vendor and travel boards land on it. Preview, try a scenario, circulate, put into the budget. Automate: plain-sentence flows (when a guest replies, when a quote arrives, when a budget threshold is crossed) with approval before any step spends money. | Reporting dashboards; no event-scoped automation. |
| Pricing | £250 per event, every planning tool included. Enterprise for year-round teams. No commission from venues or suppliers. | Part of a Navan platform relationship; no public per-event price. |
Checked 2 September 2026. Claims about other products come from their own pages, linked under Sources below. Tell us if something has changed.
Where Navan Events wins
If the company already travels on Navan, attendee flights and hotels for an event sit next to every other trip, inside the same policies, approvals and expense capture, and finance sees it in the reports they already read. That is a real advantage, and the on-site management from Navan's events team is something a software product cannot offer.
Where Comtev wins
Standalone, and wider than venue plus travel. Comtev prices flights and room blocks for named attendees too, but it also sources and negotiates the caterer and the AV, keeps the living Event Document of what is decided and what is not, chases the stakeholders who owe a decision, and runs the automations between a guest reply and a budget line. It is bought by the team for £250 per event, not by procurement as part of a travel contract.
Questions buyers ask
Do I need Navan to use Comtev?
No. Comtev prices and books attendee flights and hotels itself, behind an approval gate, and does not require a travel platform.
Is Navan Events available in the UK?
Yes. Navan said at launch in June 2026 that Navan Events is available in the US, UK and European markets.
Which is better for a team offsite, Comtev or Navan Events?
For a company already on Navan that mainly needs a venue and travel with policy control, Navan Events. For a team that needs vendors sourced and negotiated, stakeholder sign-off chased and one living document of the plan, Comtev.
Does Comtev replace our event team?
No. Comtev works for the team. It does the legwork (sourcing, negotiating, pricing travel, chasing stakeholders for decisions) and the team keeps every call. Nothing is booked or spent until a named person approves it.
See the legwork done on your next event.
Bring a real brief. We will show you the shortlist, the quotes, the travel and the Event Document, and you keep every decision. £250 per event, in pounds.