Katharine Jordan, Author at EDGE Venues

5th October 20182nd December 2018

The Changing Role of Venues

Photo of Louise Goalen — by Louise Goalen,
HBAA Chair

Working within the MICE industry for over 20 years, we have really seen the role of venues change when it comes to event planning and the relationships they hold with agencies and clients.

Traditionally the venue would provide a conference space, catering and accommodation based on the needs of the client. However, as event agencies look for new and exciting ways to help bring their message to life and create memorable experiences for their delegates, venues are stepping up and becoming important parts of the overall planning process.

HBAA Forum success

A recent and fantastic example of this new way of working can be taken from the HBAA’s Annual Forum, held recently at the Crowne Plaza in Stratford-upon-Avon. While the venue provided a great blank canvas for our event, it meant we had to be extra creative on how to bring our festival theme to life, which was really important in creating an experience for our members.

While the HBAA events committee managed the agenda, registrations and the overall logistics of the event, they worked really closely with the team at the venue who supported us every step of the way and went above and beyond to help create our chosen festival theme.

The venue team embraced our vision in the planning stages, doing everything from sourcing local florist suppliers for our table centrepieces and creating a bespoke outside bar to enhance our theme to providing impressive bell tents for welcome and registration. Responding to our request for street food carts for the dinner, the venue knew this wasn’t its area of expertise, but instead of saying ‘no’ to the idea, venue staff went the extra mile and brought in external caterers to make our vision a reality.

In previous experiences, venues have been limited in flexibility in this type of offering, being relatively strict on catering and inflexible on many client requests that were not in line with their traditional room offering. The extent the venue team went to was a great experience for the HBAA and provided us with a real collaborative and flexible way of working.

In summary…

It’s good to witness venues going over and above their traditional role and starting to work as an extension of the events team. In my opinion this is a huge step forward in the industry and something we should and will start seeing more of in the future.

For more information, please visit www.hbaa.org.uk

4th October 2018

Hyatt Place London City/East To Open In 2020

Hyatt Place London City/East will be a 280-room hotel located on Whitechapel Road in Aldgate and is set to open in 2020. Hyatt Place London City/East will be the third Hyatt Place hotel in Greater London, joining Hyatt Place London Heathrow Airport and Hyatt Place West London/Hayes.

The hotel will feature a ninth-floor lounge and terrace providing scenic views across London, a flexible meeting room concept, further lobby area, inner courtyard, gym, and a grab-and-go food market.

4th October 2018

London’S Newest Five-Star Hotel – The Rubens At The Palace

One of the most historic and luxurious hotels in London, The Rubens at the Palace hotel overlooking the Royal Mews of Buckingham Palace in London’s Victoria, has now been classified a five-star hotel by the distinguished AA hotel rating-scheme after the completion of a multi-million-pound refurbishment earlier this year.

The hotel’s advancements, including two elegant new restaurants, The English Grill and the Curry Room, two vibrant bars, The Leopard Bar, offering a choice of over 200 whiskies an 30 Champagnes complete with music from a live jazz and swing band and the vibrant New York Bar. Fully renovated accommodation and public areas, have been recognised via an independent AA assessment resulting in an upgrade to five-star status.

3rd October 2018

Crowne Plaza Geneva

The Crowne Plaza Geneva hotel is located at Geneva Airport. This very modern and elegant 4 star hotel can boast that they have the largest standard room inventory of any 4 star hotel in Switzerland with 309 newly renovated rooms.

The former Ramada hotel which was last renovated in 2014 added 2 additional floors, the 7th and 8th floor. The 8th floor offers Club Lounge guests floor to ceiling windows and views out over the city.

The hotel is close to the Palexpo Conference and Exhibition centre making it a good choice for delegates and leisure guests. 15 minutes and you can reach the town centre, tourist attractions and luxury shops that Geneva has to offer.

2nd October 2018

Extension Planned For Leeds Bradford Airport

A multi-million pound 3 storey extension to the terminal building has been announced for Leeds-Bradford airport. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2019 and will accommodate baggage reclaim, customs, immigration and international arrivals process.

Once the new building is completed, works will then commence on re-modelling the existing terminal building to provide a new security central search area, enhanced check-in facilities, and a simplification of the customer journey through the existing departure lounge, which will also include new retail and Food & Beverage offers.

This work is expected to be complete for summer 2020.

2nd October 2018

Point A Hotels Set To Open In Edinburgh And Kensington

Budget-boutique brand Point A Hotels are due to open two new properties in 2019 in Edinburgh and London’s Kensington.

Point A Edinburgh will be located close to Haymarket Station when it opens in June, with 149 bedrooms. Point A London Kensington, opening July, will feature 103 bedrooms in a new building with a retained late-Victorian façade on West Cromwell Road near Earl’s Court station.

the new properties will join the six Point A hotels in London – in Shoreditch, Liverpool Street, King’s Cross St Pancras, Paddington, Westminster and Canary Wharf – and one in Glasgow.

1st October 2018

Village Hotels Newest Space Bclub

With access to power sockets, Wi-Fi, screens in the booths and refreshments it is a more relaxed version of the traditional meeting space.

Flexible payment options are available including day passes, monthly membership or booked by the hour.

Village hotels have created a new working space in some of their hotels. This is a state of the art shared working space with a variety of seated areas to suit any meeting requirement. Clients can host small meetings, interviews or business catch ups in a professional setting.

With access to power sockets, Wi-Fi, screens in the booths and refreshments it is a more relaxed version of the traditional meeting space.

Flexible payment options are available including day passes, monthly membership or booked by the hour.

With access to power sockets, Wi-Fi, screens in the booths and refreshments it is a more relaxed version of the traditional meeting space.

Flexible payment options are available including day passes, monthly membership or booked by the hour.

1st October 2018

2020 Opening For Radisson Red Liverpool

Radisson Hospitality have announced the signing of the Radisson RED Liverpool in the UK.

Set to pop up in one of the UK’s leading cities, the Radisson RED Liverpool will allow guests to walk in the footsteps of legends. Liverpool truly is a vibrant center of music, art and sporting excellence – exactly what you’d expect from the home of The Beatles and many other famous artists.

The 202 bedroom hotel is due to open in 2020, it’s a careful compilation of old and new – bringing modern design and the ageless millennial mindset to an historic building that features Renaissance-style spires and turrets. The hotel will offer a restaurant and bar, a gym and a creative meetings & events space.

27th September 2018

Brand New For October 18 – National Memorial Arboretum

Brand New for October 18 – National Memorial Arboretum

Opening October 2018, Aspects at the National Memorial Arboretum is a new contemporary facility set within a nationally significant site, providing a remarkable location for conferencing and events.

This new £8m event space provides inspirational views across the spectacular Arboretum and Armed Forces Memorial, with seven flexible spaces for 12-500 delegates along with a generous dedicated lobby.

The National Memorial Arboretum is easily accessible from all parts of the country, with connections to major motorway networks and nearby railway links to the West Coast Mail Line and Cross City Line. Aspects provides the perfect space for conferences and events, and the stunning backdrop of the Arboretum sets it apart from its competitors.

With 150-acres of maturing woodland, punctuated with 350 memorials representing heroism, tenacity, dedication and teamwork, there is no better place to hold and event that matters.

27th September 2018

Hotel Nhow Marseille Opens

nhow Marseille, located on the Corniche waterfront,features 150 rooms – 99 of which have a balcony or large terrace. The hotel marks the groups first French property and has 14 meeting rooms – 7 of which have sea views – with capacity for up to 421 people and a 322-seat auditorium.

The Sky-Bar on the third floor features a chandelier made up of 4000 steel sardines, whilst the Tunnel Bar, on the ground floor is between the freshwater of the Roucas Blanc spring in the original part of the building and the salt water of the sea.

The Hotel provides Mediterranean cuisine in the on- site restaurant and offers signature treatments in the phytomer spa, and a swimming pool at the sea’s edge.