After months in the planning, Trinity Event Solutions is delighted to announce the official launch of EDGE Venues into the meetings and events space – providing a platform for a global venue sourcing solution to support agents, corporates and associations. This new, innovative and revolutionary digital platform has been created by the industry, for the industry.
With a global database of MICE specific hotels and venues, event planners and agencies will be able to use EDGE Venues, free of charge, to source the perfect venue for their next meeting or event.
Since the announcement of EDGE Venues earlier this summer, hotel groups, independents and venues have flocked to the site to update their data to with many achieving 100% of the available data fields to enhance their positioning on searches. Event planners, including agents and corporates can now search for venues within 125 destinations and 45 countries –a database that will continually grow as demand increases. The ‘compare’ feature is a key focal point for the website, allowing users to select a number of chosen properties and compare the features available to determine the most appropriate venue that meets their requirements. This is supported by a managed service to support both planners and venues.
Here’s what Julian Kettleborough, Commercial Director at Studio Venue Company had to say about signing up to EDGE Venues:
“We’re delighted to be launching thestudio on EDGE Venues and excited by the opportunity to promote our four-creative city centre event venues across an exciting new platform, which promises to deliver an excellent experience for venues, agents and their guests. The ability for users to tailor make their venue searches across a wide variety of criteria and for us to promote the personality and flexibility of our locations clinched it for us and we look forward to collaborating with the EDGE team and their users.”
EDGE Venues is a B2B platform packed with articles of inspiration and venue updates, news and offers. It will also provide a community voice where associations will be invited to share their insights into the industry.
Jacqui Kavanagh, Managing Director of Trinity Event Solutions and EDGE Venues had this to say on the launch:
“We’re really excited to be launching EDGE Venues into the marketplace. As event planners ourselves, we understand that every event is different. It’s with that in mind the search functionality for event specific data is very flexible with opportunities to see the benefits and USPs of the venue and how it will work for the event. The reaction from the industry in the lead up to the launch has been really encouraging and we can’t wait to see how we can develop this further to continue meeting the needs of venues, agencies and event planners.”
Want to know how you can get involved with EDGE
Venues? Contact the EDGE Team to find out more:
The Grosvenor hotel at London’s Victoria is to be re-branded under GLH Hotels’ Amba brand following its refurbishment, the 345-bedroom property, which is at the moment operating under the Guoman Hotels brand, is currently undergoing a redesign ahead of relaunching under the group’s four-star brand. The project is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2019.
The refurbishment will be phased, with the Grosvenor Arms restaurant and Tea Lounge already complete. The hotel’s bedrooms, meetings and events spaces, and additional food and beverage outlets will be fully refurbished throughout next year.
Amba Victoria will join two other hotels in the brands in Marble Arch and Charing Cross. For more information contact Amba Hotels
Positive response from venues as Trinity Event Solutions officially launches EDGE
After months in the planning, Trinity Event Solutions, following a soft launch 3 weeks ago, is delighted to announce the official launch of EDGE Venues into the meetings and events space – providing a platform for a global venue sourcing solution to support agents, corporates and associations. This new, innovative and revolutionary digital platform has been created by the industry, for the industry.
With a global database of MICE specific hotels and venues, event planners and agencies will be able to use EDGE Venues, free of charge, to source the perfect venue for their next meeting or event.
Since the announcement of EDGE Venues earlier this summer, hotel groups, independents and venues have flocked to the site to update their data to with many achieving 100% of the available data fields to enhance their positioning on searches. Event planners, including agents and corporates can now search for venues within 125 destinations and 45 countries – a database that will continually grow as demand increases. The ‘compare’ feature is a key focal point for the website, allowing users to select a number of chosen properties and compare the features available to determine the most appropriate venue that meets their requirements. This is supported by a managed service to support both planners and venues.
Here’s what Julian Kettleborough, Commercial Director at Studio Venue Company had to say about signing up to EDGE Venues: “We’re delighted to be launching thestudio on EDGE Venues and excited by the opportunity to promote our four-creative city centre event venues across an exciting new platform, which promises to deliver an excellent experience for venues, agents and their guests. The ability for users to tailor make their venue searches across a wide variety of criteria and for us to promote the personality and flexibility of our locations clinched it for us and we look forward to collaborating with the EDGE team and their users.”
EDGE Venues is a B2B platform packed with articles of inspiration and venue updates, news and offers. It will also provide a community voice where associations will be invited to share their insights into the industry.
Jacqui Kavanagh, Managing Director of Trinity Events Solutions and EDGE Venues had this to say on the launch: “We’re really excited to be launching EDGE Venues into the marketplace. As event planners ourselves, we understand that every event is different. It’s with that in mind the search functionality for event specific data is very flexible with opportunities to see the benefits and USPs of the venue and how it will work for the event. The reaction from the industry in the lead up to the launch has been really encouraging and we can’t wait to see how we can develop this further to continue meeting the needs of venues, agencies and event planners.”
Want to know how you can get involved with EDGE Venues? Contact the EDGE Team to find out more:
Planning permission for 59 bedroom world class boutique hotel in a historic Blythswood Square building in Glasgow has been given the go ahead.
The property comprises 5 to 7 Blythswood Square, the entrance to 5 Blythswood Square was remodelled by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for the Lady Artists’ Club in 1905. The B-listed properties were built in 1826 as townhouses but were last used as offices.
There is currently one hotel on the square, the Principal Blythswood Square Hotel.
Huntingdon Racecourse offers 175 acres of land which is perfect for site hire for a variety of events including: car shows, exhibitions, dog shows, and outdoor cinemas. It’s brand new conference suite, opening from 1st January 2019, offers space for up to 130 delegates in a Theatre style layout.
Huntingdon Racecourse is one of the country’s leading small tracks and stages 17 Jump fixtures each year. Voted ‘Best Small Racecourse’ in the South Midlands and East Anglia by the Racegoers Club, the track is home to the Grade 2 Peterborough Chase and is one of the leading conference and events venues in the region.
Huntingdon Racecourse offers 175 acres of land which is perfect for site hire for a variety of events including: car shows, exhibitions, dog shows, and outdoor cinemas. It’s brand new conference suite, opening from 1st January 2019, offers space for up to 130 delegates in a Theatre style layout.
Huntingdon Racecourse has much to offer!
Huntingdon Racecourse is one of the country’s leading small tracks and stages 17 Jump fixtures each year. Voted ‘Best Small Racecourse’ in the South Midlands and East Anglia by the Racegoers Club, the track is home to the Grade 2 Peterborough Chase and is one of the leading conference and events venues in the region.
Huntingdon Racecourse offers 175 acres of land which is perfect for site hire for a variety of events including: car shows, exhibitions, dog shows, and outdoor cinemas. It’s brand new conference suite, opening from 1st January 2019, offers space for up to 130 delegates in a Theatre style layout.
Career network site LinkedIn has announced the launch of LinkedIn Events, a new feature which will allow users to join and create professional events, invite connections and have conversations.
LinkedIn says it recognises the importance of face-to-face meetings in building professional relationships, and its new platform is intended to tap into that. The network conducted research which showed 80% of LinkedIn users consider professional networking to be important to new opportunities and success.
The feature will start with a pilot group of organisers in San Francisco and New York, but will be rolling out globally to all members within the next few months. All users are able to join and participate in events they’re invited to.
The new feature will allow you to:
Create and event
Whether on desktop or mobile, event organisers can create an event and provide all of the details for it – a description, date and time, and a unique hashtag so people can follow along.
Promote and event
Hosts can invite their connections and share the event with their network to encourage other people to join. Attendees can also invite people in their network that might be interested.
Manage an event
Organisers can easily track attendees and invitees, post updates, edit the details if the time or location changes, and follow-up after the event.
Have conversations with fellow attendees
All event attendees will be able to chat with each other in the event page feed before, during, and after the event to share their excitement, meet one another, share videos and photos from the event, and continue strengthening their relationships.
See who else is going
Attendees can take a look at the guest list and use our search filters to see who else is going, what industry they work in, and more.
“We have seen behavior where people are using the platform to organize meet-ups and they will add a bunch of folks to the comments and tag them and those folks will in turn invite more.”
The Hyatt Regency Bangkok has had a soft opening and will celebrate a grand opening in January 2019.
Conveniently located on Sukhumvit road with direct access to BTS skytrain Nana Station, the hotel offers full facilities and amenities such as a fitness centre, swimming pool, outdoor spaces and Regency Club Lounge to provide energising experiences for guests visiting Bangkok, whether for business or leisure.
For meeting and event planners, the hotel will offer an array of function and meetings spaces totalling 1,359 sqm, with natural lighting and the latest AV technology featuring in all meeting rooms. The biggest space is on the fifth floor, where a pillarless ballroom has been designed to accommodate up to 1,000 guests. The room can also be divided into four separate venues.
Providing comfort and communal space for working or socialising, the event lounge, featuring a cluster seating area for four-to-eight persons, is ideal for small meetings.
Located on the 6th floor, their outdoor freeform pool is surrounded by lush vegetation with an outdoor whirlpool, shade/no shade pool chairs, a pool bar, lockers, sauna and steam room.
The 277 sq m. (2,981 sq ft.) lounge on the 27th floor offers stunning views of the city through its floor-to-ceiling glass windows, with 66 comfortable seats both indoor and outdoor. Boardroom space for 12, with exclusive F&B offerings through the on-site kitchen, is also available.
The indoor and outdoor spaces of the hotel include a U-shaped bar and an all-day dining concept, including a multi-purpose venue and tapas bar on the 29th floor.
I recently attended a trip with Global DMC Partners Connections (GDMCP) to experience what the historic city of Warsaw has to offer for meeting and event planners…
Warsaw day 1 – our arrival
After an early start for the flight to Warsaw where we were met by Global DMC Partnersrepresentatives who transferred us to our hotel for the event. Chopin Airport (named after the country’s famous composer) is only a 25 minute journey to/from the city centre and there are several low cost public transport options.
Our first stopover was the Sheraton Warsaw. This hotel is in the south of the city in a quite upmarket area but only a couple of minutes from shops, bars and restaurants. It’s about a 20 minute walk to the old town (along the main shopping streets), and 15 minutes to the business district.
This large 5* hotel had a complete refurbishment last year and to a very high standard. There are 350 bedrooms & suites and even the standard ‘Classic’ rooms that we were staying in were really spacious with a large lounge area. It has a large conference centre with 12 meeting spaces over two floors (Ground & 1st Floors) and ranging in size. The Grand Ballroom holding 600 in theatre layout and 360 cabaret. It’s worth noting however that most of the rooms, including the Ballroom do not have natural light – a key consideration for some meeting planners.
There is a large central area for registrations, networking and refreshment breaks and there are three primary restaurants – the Olive is the main restaurant with buffet service for breakfast and lunch. As well as a Tex-Mex and an Asian restaurant, there is a small 4th restaurant located in the ‘Chef’s Kitchen’ which can be reserved for small groups.
Experiencing Warsaw itself
Once we’d arrived and checked in we realised we were starving so a few of us went for lunch at a nearby restaurant. The food was interesting (minestrone soup with a poached egg in the middle) but it was very good quality, well presented and cheap! Less than £10 each for a good quality lunch in a very nice restaurant.
Everything in Warsaw was cheap. The cost of living index for Warsaw shows general costs including restaurants are about half the price of those in London, so great value. Several delegates found time for shopping and reported some great bargains.
Later that day after exploring a little of the city we met with our hosts, for drinks before leaving for an informal buffet dinner at the Warsaw Marriott Hotel.
5* Warsaw Marriott Hotel
The 5* Marriott was one of the first ‘skyscrapers’ in Warsaw and has the highest sky bar in the city on the 40th floor. It was built in 1989 (Poland’s year of independence) as a symbol of transformation. It’s situated in the business district next to the central train station and opposite a landmark building – the Palace of Culture and Science. The hotel has 21 meeting rooms with the Grand Ballroom being the largest space which can accommodate up to 700 theatre style.
Warsaw Day 2
Having declined the opportunity to join the optional morning walk at 0630 (!), we gathered for the morning session for an interesting presentation on global sales and economy.
The Emcee for the weekend was Sam McNeil from SongDivision. As well as being a great speaker, he & his team write ‘instahits’ (songs written in about 5 minutes based on answering a few questions about yourself) and provide various musical based entertainment. This is great idea for team building or general/meeting conference interaction. The rest of the morning was the 1-1 appointments with individual DMCs who gave me an overview of their destinations and how they could assist us on future enquiries.
Discovering Warsaw’s history
After lunch we had a choice of activities and I joined the ‘Communist Warsaw’ tour run by a great guide from the Adventure Warsaw company. The tour was very enlightening about life in Warsaw under communist rule and included a visit to a museum showing what the workers homes were like in the 50-80’s.
After a much needed shower, we departed for dinner at Lazienki Park. This beautiful park houses the former summer residence of the Polish royal family until the early 19th century. Unlike the centre of Warsaw, which was devastated by bombing during WWII, these buildings thankfully suffered little impact. After a 10 minute walk through the park (reminiscent of Hampton Court Palace), we were treated to a short piano concert featuring works by Chopin in a beautiful and intimate theatre. This was followed by dinner in the orangery which leads out onto terraces overlooking the park and gardens. It is an elegant and impressive location for a large group private dinner.
Lazienki Park
Our final day
After further appointments with the DMCs, I went on the ‘Warsaw in a Nutshell’ tour which took us to the Old Town, an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most of Warsaw was completely flattened during the war and during the 1950’s and into 1960’s, the centre of Warsaw was completely rebuilt to look the same as it had done pre-war. So, the lovely ‘medieval’ market square with it’s old street and houses is in fact only 50 or so years old.
Warsaw in a nutshell – walking tour
It is a city with over 100 museums and commemorative statues and sculptures are on almost every corner, much of it linked to events during the war, including a large museum in the vicinity of the former Jewish ghetto.
The tour then took us to Praga on the east side of the Vistula River. This is traditionally the rougher part of Warsaw but is now slowly becoming gentrified and has an arty feel to it. The banks of the river have been turned into beaches so we spent the last part of our tour having a drink on the beach whilst watching a regular Saturday massive salsa class – pretty impressive given the heat!
Our final Gala Dinner took place at the Palace of Culture and Science, which is in the business district and only 5-10 minutes by coach from the Sheraton. This enormous building was one of the first built by the communists (1955) and is therefore a divisive building. Since independence there have been calls for it to be destroyed, but this now looks unlikely. The Palace was built for ‘the workers’ as a centre of culture, as such it houses museums and exhibitions, a theatre, cinema, swimming pool as well as bars and shops.
Palace of Culture and Science
The dinner was held in a large hall which looked like it could take approx 150 in cabaret layout. The food was good although service was slow. There was plenty of space for a stage (the SongDivison crew were providing the music) and for dancing.
In summary
Warsaw is a compact city and all the large hotels are within a short taxi ride of each other. The Old Town is worth a look if any clients have an hour or so to spare when in the city. I wouldn’t call it a beautiful city as, except for the old town, the architecture is pretty bland and reminiscent of many Germany cities having been rebuilt at the same time. However, it does have a relaxed and safe feel to it with everyone we met being very friendly, plus there are some hidden gems in this city such as Lazienki Park.
Costs are very low throughout the city making it a good value option for anyone considering this as a destination for an event, although DMC services would probably be required to assist with some of the more unusual venues.
The Standard will debut its first property outside of the US next year. Situated in a prime location for tourists and commuters directly opposite King’s Cross and St. Pancras Station, the hotel will be housed in the historic Camden Town Annex.
The hotel will house 226 rooms, with some including outdoor terraces and bathtubs overlooking St. Pancras Station. The destination rooftop restaurant will be accessible by an exterior lift which will give visitors stunning views over London.
DoubleTree by Hilton Kensington to relaunch as part of the Curio Collection
The DoubleTree by Hilton London – Kensington is set to relaunch under Hilton’s Curio brand in early 2019. After a multimillion-pound refurbishment the property will be renamed 100 Queen’s Gate Hotel London, Curio Collection by Hilton.
The brand first launched in the UK with the rebrand of the Trafalgar St. James London last year and the UK’s second Curio, the Lincoln Plaza London, is due to open in January, and the group also are set to launch the London Gantry in Stratford under its Curio Collection in 2020.
The hotel will have two restaurants – a brasserie offering French fusion cuisine, and Botanica, an atrium offering afternoon tea, cocktails and private dining and feature a total of 228 guestrooms and suites.
