Author: Suzi Johnson

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Investors remain optimistic as more than 200 hotels under development in London

There are 210 new hotels in the development pipeline for London as investors remain optimistic about the capital’s market potential for growth post-Brexit.

That’s according to a new study by private wealth law firm Boodle Hatfield. Almost a quarter (48) of the hotels with planning permission or already under construction in London are located in Westminster, adding more than 6,800 new bedrooms. Luxury and boutique hotels account for 74% of the planned new hotels in Westminster.

These include: the former US Embassy in Mayfair, which is being developed into a 137-room, £1b Rosewood hotel; a Nobu hotel is being built in Marylebone that is part funded by Hollywood actor Robert De Niro; and the Londoner on Leicester Square, which will have 350 rooms and two cinemas.

A further 12 hotels are planned for the Heathrow area.

The UK’s hotel market is one of the few sectors of the UK economy to have benefited from the Brexit-related slump in sterling, the law firm said, because the decrease in value of the pound has made it cheaper for international tourists to visit the UK and has also encouraged more “staycations”.

Rajeev Joshi, partner at Boodle Hatfield, said: “Investor appetite in the London hotel market is holding up. But investors will want to know that this new supply of hotels can be soaked up by increasing demand.

“For tourism to continue to grow, the UK needs to ensure that post-Brexit, we do not start to be seen as a less convenient destination for tourists from the EU or from further afield. Greater investment in infrastructure will be a key part of this. Accelerating the delivery of projects such as the third runway at Heathrow and the Crossrail would help.”

Top 10 areas for hotels currently in development across London:

BoroughHotels with planning
permission		Hotels startedTotal
Westminster272148
Hillingdon
(Heathrow Airport)		8412
Brent4711
Tower Hamlets5510
Kensington &
Chelsea		549
Hammersmith &
Fulham		549
Hounslow549
Redbridge729
Camden639
Hackney718
Total7955134
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Former Brexit day sees steep decline in London hotel performance

STR have released preliminary performance figures suggesting that the Brexit day that never was saw a steep decline in occupancy and revenue per available room (revpar) rates across London hotels.

Occupancy and revpar fell by 11.2% and 11.7% respectively on 31 October, the Brexit deadline until the date for the UK’s departure from the EU was moved until 31 January 2020.

The performance of London hotel across the rest of the month showed a 1.9% drop in occupancy to 87.6%, while average daily rate increased by 1.7% to £162.07 and revpar was largely flat, down 0.3% to £141.97.

The supply of new rooms to the market was up by 1.6%, ahead of a 0.3% decrease in demand from guests.

STR will release the full results for October later this month.

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What does Bilbao offer for an event?

Bilbao, an industrial port city in northern Spain, is surrounded by green mountains. After years of financial uncertainty, Bilbao has once again become a dynamic city, full of amenities and focused on environmental and urban regeneration.

Bilbao International Airport is located just 10km from the city centre and has direct connections to the main Spanish & European cities. The city has more than 4,00 hotel rooms and in the region are 200 hotels providing in excess of 13,000 beds. The impressive Guggenheim Museum and the Euskalduna Palace, a conference and music centre, have become the icons of the new Bilbao, a city that is gradually regaining space and handing it back to the people.

Basque gastronomy makes Bilbao the best place to taste an entire galaxy of Michelin stars (it has 9 awards). There are also tempting pintxo bars, traditional taverns, grill houses and cider restaurants within the gastronomic capital.

BILBAO EXHIBITION CENTRE is one of the most modern trade-show complexes in the world in terms of design and amenities. It offers 150,000 m2 of exhibition space, 18,000 m2 congress centre, 41,500 m2 atrium and restaurants, 100,000 m2 outside space (gardens & paved areas) and 4,000 parking spaces.

For events requiring unique venues options available in Bilbao include:

Bilbao
Brand new! A minimalist space with an area of 400 m2 that offers breath taking views of Bilbao.
A 24th floor (111 m above ground level) with 1,000 m2 of open-plan floor that offers spectacular views of the city.
An old coffee factory converted into a multi-functional space ideal for hosting all kinds of events. It offers 400 m², high ceilings, large windows, natural light and a terrace on the riverfront.
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Bringing Agents and Venues together for EDGE Venues Marketing Summit

On Friday 1st November, EDGE Venues brought together Agents and Venues who use the global venue sourcing platform for a Marketing Summit, helping users and licensees maximise the site’s potential.

The event attracted more than 100 delegates to the De Vere East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham and is the third Marketing Masterclass that EDGE Venues has run since its December 2018 launch. This was the first time Agents who use the platform, and Venues who are licensed, came together to learn about the latest developments of the site, industry trends and how they can maximise the benefits available to them.

Aimee Richardson from Allianz Park, home of the Saracens, attended the EDGE Venues Marketing Summit commented: “It was a wonderfully insightful morning at the EDGE Venues Marketing Summit in Nottingham! With discussions covering relevant industry trends, real-time developments and a true collaborative meeting with lots of wonderful agencies and venues in one room discussing the future of the MICE industry! It’s events such as this, with the collaborative approach, that demonstrates the passion and value the team at EDGE provide.”

To enhance its service offering, and increase the exposure of the platform, EDGE Venues has recently appointed digital marketing agency, Anicca Digital. As part of the educational process, Anicca was invited to the Marketing Summit to share insight into the benefits of paid social advertising and what this would mean to EDGE Venues. Ann Stanley, Managing Director commented on the recent appointment: “We are thrilled to welcome EDGE Venues to the Anicca Digital family, and look forward to delivering their paid digital media services over the coming months as part of their exciting growth plans. EDGE Venues, with its cutting-edge technology and global vision, is a perfect addition to our existing events sector client portfolio, and we are eager to be a part of their future journey.”

Jacqui Kavanagh, CEO of EDGE Venues was delighted by the response of the Marketing Summit: “We had a fantastic turnout for our Marketing Summit with more than 100 attendees. The event keeps on growing and demonstrates how the industry wants to work together for the benefit of corporate clients. After nearly a year of continued development, we’re now able to invest further with our marketing strategy and the appointment of Anicca Digital, alongside our existing strategy partners, will support with our overall growth strategy.”

On 1st December EDGE Venues will celebrate its one-year anniversary with plans to release further developments to the platform in the coming months.

The next EDGE Venues Marketing Summit will be held on 17th January 2020 in London.

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Park Plaza sees increased revenue thanks to strong UK growth

Park Plaza hotels (PPHE) has reported a 6% increase in like-for-like revenue in the nine months to 30 September 2019, driven by strong growth in the UK.

Total revenue reached £276.3m, with occupancy of 80.6% and revenue per available room (revpar) of £102.

Boris Ivesha, president and chief executive of PPHE, said: ”We are pleased to report a solid performance during the quarter, with continued revenue growth and an increase in group revpar of 4.3%, as we benefited from the recent completion of several major repositioning projects and maturing properties across our portfolio and strong trading in the United Kingdom.

“Following several years of investment and disruption to operations, all hotels across our UK and NL portfolio are now open and contributing to the group’s performance. Strong trading at Park Plaza Victoria Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Holmes Hotel London demonstrate our investment programme continuing to bear fruit, and we look forward to trading continuing to mature across other recently repositioned hotels in the coming months.

“We expect to invest approximately £300 million on our development pipeline, which includes exciting projects such as art’otel London Hoxton and an art’otel at Hudson Yards in New York City.

“Based on our results to September and our outlook for the remainder of the financial year, the Board anticipates the full year results will be in line with its previous expectations.”

The group reported it is making progress at the Art’otel London Hoxton development, with the demolition of the existing structure on the site having commenced.

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Global Destination Sustainability Index releases 2019 results

The Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) has published its 2019 rankings, which revealed Glasgow as one of the top five cities for its commitment to sustainable business tourism.

The GDS Index was launched in 2016 and promotes responsible business tourism best practice. Its data analyses 60 cities based on four key criteria:

  • Environmental strategy and infrastructure
  • Social sustainability performance
  • The strategy of the host city’s convention bureau
  • Industry supply chain support

The full list can be viewed below:

Glasgow aims to become the UK’s first carbon neutral city by 2030. The Scottish Government has set a net zero emissions target for Scotland by 2045.

It has also hosted 25 energy, sustainability and carbon reduction related conferences in the 2018 and 2019 financial year, which has increased the city’s economy by nearly £8m.

Glasgow’s ranking recognises the ‘People Make Glasgow Greener’ campaign, which launched by the Glasgow Convention Bureau in 2017.

The campaign identifies the city’s sustainable businesses and aims to simplify the process of organising a sustainable conference in Glasgow.

Aileen Crawford, head of conventions, Glasgow Convention Bureau, said: “Glasgow’s ambition is to be at the forefront on climate action and we are determined to become the UK’s first carbon neutral city by 2030 and a world-leading centre for sustainable policy and innovation.

“Glasgow is home to some of the world’s biggest energy companies and we’re internationally recognised as having one of the healthiest and most diverse energy industries globally; particularly in terms of low carbon industries, which has had a hugely positive impact on the volume of conferences that we’re attracting in these sectors.

Kathleen Warden, director of conferences sales, SEC, said: “This is fantastic news for the city, and we are proud to play a key role in helping to position Glasgow as the world’s 4th most sustainable conference destination. At the same time, being named a finalist for the GDS-Index’s Leadership in Sustainability Award is testament to our ambitious goals as a city.

Guy Bigwood, managing director, GDS-Index, said: “Glasgow as a meetings and events destination has made a significant jump in sustainability performance in 2019. We are delighted to see that a UK city has risen to number 4 in the Global rankings and has a strong strategy to develop even further. Glasgow is in the first division of pioneering cities that is defining what sustainability leadership stands for.”

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Experience the delights of Dublin

The Doyle Collection are offering a fantastic opportunity for Agents to experience the delights of Dublin. This is a mixed MICE agency FAM trip and they have two spaces available for next weekend.

The River Lee and The Croke Park have under gone huge renovations in the last year so well worth seeing.

Flights and transfers are also included.

See the agenda below and if you’re interested, contact Danielle Argent, Global Account Manager MICE for The Doyle Collection.

Friday 8th November

Arrive in Dublin for latest 12:00pm

Afternoon activity with Croke Park Stadium

Evening dinner at The Croke Park

Head into town for an evening event – TBC

Saturday 9th November

Breakfast at leisure

10:00 Coach pick up

Stop off at Guinness/Jameson distillery

Take train to Cork

14:00 – Check in to The River Lee in Cork

Cork foodie trail

Leisure time

Pre theatre drinks

Night at The Opera house – Swan Lake Ballet

Sunday 10th November

Breakfast at leisure

Departures

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Most competitive convention destination revealed by ICCA

Competitive Index 2019 for global cities hosting meetings and events ranks them by features such as infrastructure and costs.

Paris has retained the top spot in ICCA’s rankings of the most competitive destinations for international conventions. 

Barcelona has moved up one place from its 2018 ranking to second place, while Singapore has jumped three places from sixth to third. Washington has gone the other direction, dropping from second to seventh place.  

ICCA has worked with convention industry consulting firm GainingEdge on the second annual ‘Competitive Index’ of international convention destinations. This year’s edition extends the listing to the world’s top 103 cities – those which have hosted 82 or more international conventions over the past three years as reported by ICCA. 

This year’s report also includes a ‘fair share’ analysis of a destination’s business levels. 

“We think this analysis will help destinations to gain insights into where they are and whether they should be in market share building mode, or market share protection mode,” said GainingEdge CEO, Jon Sivertson. 

“If you are below fair share there are probably reasons for that. For instance, if your competitors have better financed bureaus, it provides you with a business case for increased resources. If you are above fair share, the message should be that you need to avoid a downside risk. You are only there because you are taking some of your competitors’ share, and if they get it back, you lose.”

Most competitive global destinations for conventions

CityScore
1Paris741.4
2Barcelona708.8
3Singapore706.8
4Tokyo694.1
5New York691.2
6Beijing672.2
7Washington DC668.2
8San Francisco664.6
9Boston661.3
10Chicago660.9
11Hong Kong653.4
12Kuala Lumpur647.7
13Berlin646.6
14Toronto642.8
15Amsterdam641.4
16London635.4
17Istanbul635
18Bangkok627.3
19Milan615.2
20Seoul604.3
21Madrid601.5
22Frankfurt600.4
23Shanghai600.2
24Vienna599.6
25 Chinese Taipei 596.1

(The full index covers 103 international cities)

The index compares the strength destinations by assessing features such as infrastructure (meeting venues, hotel stock and facility package, international accessibility and logistics), competitive factors (scientific community strengths, destination appeal and costs), as well as macro indicators (market size, economic strength, business environment, and social conditions).

You can download the full ICCA report here.

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Experts Eye: Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid

Looking for some inspiration of a venue in Madrid? Paula Calton, Business Development Director at Trinity Event Solutions, looks into what Santiago Bernabeu Stadium has to offer.

As Spanish record champions and 13 -time winner of the UEFA Champions League Real Madrid is one of the biggest and most successful football clubs.

The unconditional winning mentality and the excellence demanded are also reflected in its Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, and event planners can use it and enjoy that energy and atmosphere for Corporate events.

Two unique options for events in Madrid are the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and Real Madrid City. Offering over 20 meeting rooms, including accommodating between 2 and 80,000 people the Real Madrid venues are a perfect combination of innovation, exclusiveness, flexibility and imagination, which alongside their fantastic location and a delicious gastronomic offer, make them the ideal setting for all types of events.

Concerts, private matches & sport experiences, gala suppers on the pitch, team building activities or conferences/meetings, everything is possible in this singular space, which has national and international appeal. Events can also include a tour of the Bernabeu one of the most visited museums In Spain, providing fascinating information on the history of the club and its players.

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Make it Edinburgh launches new campaign

Edinburgh’s business tourism sector has launched a crowdfunding style appeal to extend the city’s digital campaign, ‘Make it Edinburgh’.  

The campaign aims to attract event and conference organisers before and after the new Brexit deadline, which is currently pending as 31 October 2019, or 31 January 2020 if an extension is granted. 

‘Make it Edinburgh’ also promotes the city’s following sectors: technology, life sciences, creative industries, food and drink, renewable energy and financial services.

Within the first twelve months, the campaign delivered an 87.6% increase in traffic to the Convention Edinburgh’s website, which is dedicated to promoting the city as a conference, meeting and event destination. As a result, the website generated 147 new business enquiries.  

The campaign was also funded by six flagship campaign partners: Marketing Edinburgh, Edinburgh Hotel Association, Edinburgh Airport, Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Tourism Action Group. The collective sum of £40,000 was then match funded by the VisitScotland Growth Fund.  

Amanda Ferguson, head of business tourism at Marketing Edinburgh, said: “In the midst of great political uncertainty, there’s never been a more crucial time for the city to come together. That was always our intention for the Make it Edinburgh campaign – to solidify our position throughout and after the Brexit deadline in March earlier this year. 

“Unfortunately, as that date has been extended, we need to continue our efforts to promote Edinburgh as a world leading destination to host conferences and business events. Strength in numbers will help us do this, hence the call for local businesses to pledge their support.”

Carina Contini of Contini Restaurants and Events, said: “With Brexit looming, it’s important that businesses in Edinburgh rally together, and the Make it Edinburgh campaign presents a great opportunity for us to take positive action. The business tourism market is a huge asset to the city and driver of business for us and we’re keen to see that continue.”

Neil Ellis, chair of the Edinburgh Hoteliers Association, said: “The benefits of conferences and business events for the city go beyond economic value. We’ve already seen a huge influx of investment from global hotel brands keen to tap into Edinburgh’s thriving market – Virgin Hotels, Yotel, InterContinental, putting us on the map as the number one hotspot for hotel investment in the UK. 

“This is an allure for meeting and event planners, but it also benefits local residents; first-class meeting facilities and co-working spaces for business and great restaurants, bars and spas for leisure.”