EDGE Venues

22nd January 2015

Doing Business Better And Doing Better Business Together

The Kick Off Meeting prior to the HBAA’s Annual Dinner last week was a fabulous start to the year. Jacqui Kavanagh of Trinity Event Solutions is the HBAA Chair for 2015 and her mantra for the year is ‘doing better business and doing better business together’. She will be working alongside Venue Vice Chair, Hayley Stokes of Principal Hayley, who highlighted two words: embrace and engage; to use the HBAA’s new code of Practice to raise our industry’s professionalism and encourage all members to be involved in the broad range of HBAA meetings and events on offer. Each committee shared their headline objectives for 2015 and the association is looking forward to taking these forward throughout the year.

In the evening, the annual dinner was held at Chelsea Football Club, attended by more than 400 agents and venues. Thank you to the very generous HBAA members who donated such fabulous prizes for our on line charity auction in aid of The Who Cares? Trust; and thank you to everyone who placed a bid. We raised over £12,500!

Congratulations to SilverDoor’s Business Partnerships Director, Stuart Winstone, who was presented with the prestigious Tim Gasson Award.

22nd January 2015

Macdonald Hotels Educational Visits

George Harriman-Hardy, Conference Administrator, attended the Macdonald Hotels educational and visited the following venues:

The MacDonald Berystede Hotel and Spa is the largest of the MacDonald properties. The hotel boasts a separate hall from the rest of the venue which can hold up 260 delegates in a dinner/dance layout. The venue also has numerous other spaces that can hold anything from a small boardroom to 120 delegates for a dinner. One of the key features of the hotel is the state of the art spa facilities, which consist of a thermal spa with six spa treatment rooms, an 18-metre swimming pool, rock and infra-red saunas and an outdoor hydropool. The area consist of large amounts of space, and a short distance from popular attractions such as Legoland, Thorpe Park, Windsor Castle and Wentworth Golf Course, perfect for team building.

MacDonald Complete Angler, Marlow

The Complete Angler hotel is situated in the town of Marlow next to the river Thames. The beautiful location of this venue makes it its unique selling point with two boardrooms, a restaurant and a large amount of the bedrooms are all situated looking over the river which provides a wonderful tranquil atmosphere. With regards to meeting space there are a few rooms which are situated in the main building and overlook the river. There are also two newly refurbished boardrooms that have the new smart boards and comfortable 24 hour chairs. The venue is also host to a restaurant owned by Atul Kochhar- the first Indian chef to receive the Michelin star.

MacDonald Hotel, Windsor

The MacDonald Windsor is the newest addition to the MacDonald portfolio. The property is very well designed with interior that is very welcoming and while also maintaining a somewhat homely atmosphere. The hotel is very eco-friendly while not compromising on luxury. The unique feature of this hotel is that they make their own honey and have 12,000 bee’s situated on the roof of the hotel that pollinate the royal gardens. There is also the changing of the guard every day outside the front of the property which has become a huge attraction.

Mercedes Benz World

Mercedes Benz World is a large and incredibly flexible venue that can accommodate a variety of bookings. The venue consists of several board rooms that are all appointed with the latest technology. There are rooms able to hold up to 70 for a dinner. For larger bookings, the hotel can rely upon their exhibition floor and The Brooklands Hall – both of which can hold 200+ for a dinner. The Mercedes Benz World really shines in the additional packages and experiences they offer for the clients, with a multitude of driving packages to make an event truly unique with friendly and professional instructors.

20th January 2015

London Stadium – Allianz Park

Allianz Park is London’s newest stadium which is located in the heart of North London amongst 26 acres of land. It boasts a total of 22 function suites with capacities ranging from small meeting spaces all the way up to 2000 reception. In addition to the function suites there is also an artificial grass pitch which is used all year long by Saracens RFU and has been used by a number of NFL teams also. Allianz Park is dedicated to living up to its name as “a green oasis in London” and this is shown by the fact that they are the first BREEAM Excellent stadium in the United Kingdom and also won the most sustainable stadium award in 2014.

15th January 2015

Hilton Implements New Guarantee And Cancellation Policy

From the 1st of January Hilton will implement a new guarantee and cancellation policy guidelines for individual reservations.

The new guidelines will allow penalty free cancellations and will require, guests to guarantee, at a minimum, their reservations and cancel by 11:59 p.m. local hotel time, the day prior to arrival.

The cancellation policy will apply to all hotels and guests, including, HHonors Diamond and Gold members. This change will bring consistency to existing policies that vary across properties and markets and will reduce confusion for guests.

Under the new cancellation guidelines, late cancellation will result in a charge of one night’s room fee and applicable taxes, place. If the reservation required a deposit, then the guest will forfeit the complete deposit. Corporate (CNR) and Local Negotiated Rate (LNR) plans will not be changed due to the new guidelines.

12th January 2015

Re-Qualification Of Hilton Madrid Airport

Since 2009 the North Tower of Hilton Madrid Airport has been classed as a four-star establishment and following a recent re-qualification the part of the hotel which is located in the South tower has also gained four-star status.

12th January 2015

Award Winning Hotels In Lisbon

The Altis Grand Hotel has won with the Best Hotel Renovation / Refurbishment – Country Winner 2014 by the International Hotel Awards following refurbishment which was completed in 2014. All of the 300 bedrooms, 20 meeting rooms and public areas were renovated and a new spa was created. The property still reflects its heritage, but it is also decorated with contemporary artworks by Portuguese artists.

The Inspira Santa Marta Hotel has been voted “Green Hotel of the Year” by the European Hospitality Awards, in the ecology and sustainability segment. This 4-star, boutique hotel is located in the city centre and has 89 bedrooms and two meeting rooms, with a capacity of 90 and 60 in theatre style.

9th January 2015

York Hotel Refurbishment

The Park Inn by Radisson York City Centre still feels very new after a renovation in 2012 which focussed on the reception area and bar. Starting in January 2015, 90 of the bedrooms are due to be refurbished and are due to be completed by March 2015. The venue also has an interesting space that is known as the Conference Café which was previously used to store surplus chairs, this area has been cleverly converted in to a small breakout/café area for delegates to use during their breaks from their conference or meeting.

9th January 2015

Northampton Property Refurbishment Complete

The Park inn by Radisson Northampton has recently finished an 18 month long refurbishment which included the renovation of the bar, restaurant and reception area- which now boasts individual check in desks, something that will eventually become standard in all Park Inn by Radisson venues. Both the Ballroom and top two levels of bedrooms are due to be refurbished in early 2015.

8th January 2015

Gleneagles Arena To Open In Spring

After a fantastic year for Scotland, which saw the Commonwealth Games hosted in Glasgow, The Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and more than 1,000 events as part of Homecoming, the country is continuing to invest in its C&I infastructure. The Gleneagles Hotel will open 2,500sqm event space – The Gleneagles Arena.

Due to open in Spring the space will have capacity for between 500 – 2000 guests and a new combined reception and retail area will also be created with 650 viewing seats and complimentary parking for 500.

12th December 2014

Istanbul Hotel Refurbishment

The Marmara Taksim hotel in Istanbul has recently returned to The Hosmark Hotel group and has just completed another phase of its $28 million refurbishment, which has included the renovation of their twelve meeting rooms and two ballrooms. Half of the hotels 376 bedrooms have been completed, and the remaining rooms are due to be finished by June 2015.