EDGE Venues

12th October 2015

Cities With The Best Quality Of Living

According to the Mercer 2015 Quality of Living rankings, Vienna has the world’s best quality of living. Western European cities take seven places in the top ten, with Zurich, Munich, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva and Copenhagen appearing with Auckland, Vancouver and Sydney.

In the UK, London is the highest-ranking city, followed by Birmingham, Glasgow and Aberdeen. The lowest-ranking city Western Europe is Athens. Cities in Central and Eastern Europe have a wider range of quality-of-living standards and the highest-ranking cities are Prague, Budapest, and Ljubljana.

In North America, Canada tops the list with Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa followed by the United States with San Francisco, Boston and Honolulu. Singapore is the highest-ranking Asian city and Dubai is first in the Middle East and Africa rankings. Australian cities have some of the highest standards with Wellington and Melbourne in the top 20. Dubai ranks highest for quality of living across the Middle East and Africa region.

9th October 2015

Opening This Month : Only You Hotel &Amp; Lounge, Madrid

Opening this month : Only You Hotel & Lounge, Madrid

This 4-star boutique hotel is located in the centre of Madrid, on Calle Barquillo, close to Paseo de Recoletos and in the Chueca neighborhood. It is a former Palace, dating from 19th century, now with contemporary interiors in a blue and white theme. There are three meeting areas: a boardroom for 10 people and two larger rooms for 40 and 18 people in theatre style. The hotel has 70 bedroom, which includes 7 suites. The bar and lounge have music and are popular with locals.

8th October 2015

Mercure Danum Doncaster Centre Opened Last Week

On Tuesday 29th September 2015, the Mercure Danum Doncaster Center opened following extensive renovation and refurbishment of the Danum Hotel. The building dates from 1809 and is in Doncaster High Street. The design has been inspired by the history of Doncaster races, which is regarded as one of the finest racecourse in Europe. The hotel has commission bespoke designed artwork and wall features from a local artist.

The hotel has five meeting rooms, the largest is the Ballroom for 350 people in theatre-style. The four smaller meeting rooms have capacity for 100, 40, 15 and 10 in theater style. The hotel has 62 bedrooms, with a modern/traditional mix.

7th October 2015

Four Fast Facts From Hilton

We had a meeting with Hilton yesterday and here are a few things that you might not know about their hotels:

Hilton Brighton Metropole (pictured) completed a £3.75 million refurbishment in April 2015. This hotel is the largest residential conferencing hotel in the South East (outside of London)
Did you know Vista Rooftop Bar at The Trafalgar was voted one of the top 5 rooftop bars in London in 2015.
Doubletree by Hilton London Docklands Riverside has spent £12 million on refurbishment and the hotel rebranded from a Hilton to Doubletree by Hilton in June 2015
Hilton London Canary Wharf has refurbished all its meeting spaces this year. The area of Canary Wharf is named after the spices that were imported to the dock from the Canary Islands.

6th October 2015

News From Accor Hotels

We had a visit from Accor last month and they told us about their plans for the future and updated us on the latest new from their hotels. They have about 3,500 properties worldwide and are building/acquiring an additional 800 new hotels over the new two years. Most of this growth will be in Asia, but some will bein Europe and roughly 100 of these will be in the UK.

The 4-star Pullman Liverpool Hotel will open in January 2016. The hotel has great transport links and is located at Kings Dock on Liverpool’s waterfront and is connected to ACC Liverpool. It is a new build hotel with 216 bedrooms. The maximum capacity of the meeting space is 130 people theatre-style or 150 for a drinks reception.

The Mercure Sheffield and the Mercure Mercure Cardiff have just been refurbed

The Mercure Hyde Park is due to open in Oct 2015

A new MGallery in Leicester Square is currently being build at will openin 2016

The Novotel Canary Wharf is a new build, opening date to be confirmed

Accor has built The Trocadero in Piccadilly and is going to be made into an Ibis

The Novotel Madrid will be opening in November 2015 with 790 bedrooms and 21 meeting rooms.

We will write full report on the hotels when they open, so come back to The Word, for more information in due course.

5th October 2015

The Crowne Plaza Aberdeen Airport Has Opened

The new 4-star Crowne Plaza Aberdeen Airport, has opened. It is located next to the group’s recently opened 193-bed Holiday Inn Express at the Airport.

There is a dedicated conference centre with its own seperate entrance to the main hotel. It contains 10 meeting and events rooms, all on the ground floor with natural daylight and open our onto a spacious lobby that has bar and tea and coffee facilities. The largest meeting room has capacity for 80 people in theatre style.

2nd October 2015

Radisson Red For Glasgow

Carlson Rezidor is proposing a new build Radisson Red branded hotel on a site near the SECC in Glasgow. Subject to planning consent, the 4-star 176-bed Radisson Red Hotel Glasgow will open in 2017. This is a new brand, which will have flexible meeting space with concrete floors, white magnetic walls, ceiling rings, lots of power and can be adapted for lots of uses. All the hotels are contemporary and will have around 150 bedrooms with a bar, deli and fitness facilities

1st October 2015

Madinat Jumeirah To Launch New Event Space In October 2015

Madinat Jumeirah, the Arabian Resort of Dubai, will offer the largest hotel event space in the United Arab Emirates when the Fort Island expansion is completed in October 2015. Covering more than 1,750 square meters of outdoor space, it is now possible to build large marquees.

The area has tripled in size and will now be able to host banquets, parties, exhibitions, product launches, music concerts, weddings, sports events and festivals for up to 1,400 people. The capacities at Fort Island have increased from 425 people to 1400 people in a cocktail set-up and from 250 people to 1100 people in a banquet style set-up in rounds of 10.

The venue will feature an attractive and sustainable landscape, while preserving the fort’s traditional look and feel. Located in the heart of the resort and surrounded by Madinat Jumeirah’s characteristic waterways, the venue has views of the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah. The venue was originally commissioned in recognition of the history, culture and character of old Dubai and was inspired by the Al Fahdi fort located in the oldest existing part of the Dubai creek.

Fort Island will be connected to the resort by four bridges and guests can also access the venue by the traditional wooden abra boats when staying in one of Madinat Jumeirah’s three hotels.

An integral part of the existing Madinat Jumeirah’s Conference Centre, the new island will increase the centre’s overall capacity to 9,000 people over 10,000 square meters. The Conference Centre is home to international events such as Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), the World Economic Forum and is the proud sponsor of Art Dubai.

30th September 2015

Venue And Event Security – Download Venuefinders White Paper Now

Venue and Event Security - download venuefinder.com's white paper now — Venue and Event Security – download venuefinder.com's white paper now

Venuefinder.com has published a white paper on Venue and Event Security, which of course is vital to the event industry. As the threat level in the UK from international terrorism is severe, security and safety at events have never been so important.

You can download this white paper, which covers a wide array of issues, with advice from ExCeL’s Chief Operating Officer Brian Cole, Showsec Director Simon Battersby, Tactical Support Group, Director Dave Boswell and the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NACTSO).

The topics covered include:

Three Simple Steps to Securing your Venue

Talking Venue Security with ExCeL, Chief Operating Officer, Brian Cole

Outdoor Event Safety & Security A case study: Pickering Traction Engine Rally

Talking Event Security with Showsec Director Simon Battersby

A case study: Camp Bestival

Opinion: Are you in control of your accreditation security? By Peder Berg, Managing Director of Event Advantage Solutions (EAS)

29th September 2015

The Trump Turnberry Resort Closes For Refurbishment

Yesterday, the Trump Turnberry Resort in Scotland closed for a major renovation. The hotel will reopen on 1st June 2016 and the planned budget is £200 million to upgrade and update all bedrooms, public areas and meeting rooms. It will become a Luxury Collection property. The hotel was built as the first Golf Resort in the World in 1906 and has hosted four British Open Championships one the Ailsa Golf-course.