Reply #12: Been to 4 now.

[MGKrebs]

The way I understand it, at meetup.com there is something called a meetup+ member (perhaps they have to pay to be a member). Those folks get to nominate venues for meetings for their group. Then, when you or I go to meetup.com and find the group we are interested in, there will be a place for you to vote on the nominated venues. The winner gets the meetup.

Someone told me that they way meetup does it is that they contact the nominated venues and make a deal with them. They basically solicit bids from these establishments to host the event. The restaurant gets the business, meetup gets a fee. I suspect sometimes that the venues that would make a good meeting place don't submit a good bid, so they don't get on the final list. Ours was in a loud restaurant tonite.

I think it's a pretty good business idea. Kudos to them. It's a legitimate service they are providing, and everybody wins.