Tag: EDGE venues

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EDGE Venues Autumn Business Intelligence Review

As EDGE Venues draws closer to completing its first full year, the team is in final preparations for the EDGE Autumn Business Intelligence Review which takes place on 1st November at East Midlands Conference Centre.

This is the third event of its kind organised by EDGE Venues, with the first Masterclass at the May Fair Hotel in April, and a Summer Party held at the offices in Stamford in July. The events were initially designed for properties who are EDGE Venues licensees, and for the first time, EDGE Venues is inviting Agents who use EDGE to this next event.

The Review’s agenda covers a variety of topics to help maximise the potential for both Agents and Venues who use EDGE. Topics include the launch of new feature developments including an RFP process and real-time availability, alongside future enhancements. Guest speakers have been invited to share their expert insight into trends, spend, and social media analysis.

Jacqui Kavanagh, Chief Executive Officer of EDGE Venues explains the value of these events: “We want to be a disruptor in the meetings and events industry. We listen to constraints and frustrations industry professionals face and work to overcome them. When the concept of EDGE Venues was originally conceived, it was based on the industry’s want and need for technology to ease their frustrations. It’s a bespoke meetings platform, built for the industry, by the industry. And it’s not just about the technology for us – it’s the engagement that we have a passion for. The engagement – between users of the site and our Licensees – is important to ensure we continue enhancing a platform which is fit for purpose.

“These events have proven a huge success so far, with more than 100 attendees each at our Spring and Summer events, and we’ve already seen a fantastic uptake for our Autumn Business Intelligent Review.”

Kirsten Ariano, Account Director MICE from Edwardian Hotels London has attended both previous events organised by EDGE Venues and shares the value they see in the events. “There are multiple industry events that I attend throughout the year, but the Business Intelligence Review organised by EDGE Venues is one of the most valuable. It’s always so informative, understanding industry trends and what more we can be doing to engage with Agents and Corporates to increase business at Edwardian Hotels London. I’m already looking forward to the Autumn event, especially with the Agency engagement.”

The EDGE Venues Autumn Business Intelligence Review is free to all EDGE Venues licensees and agents who use the platform. If you’re interested in finding out more about the event, or how to become an EDGE Venues Licensee or user, contact the team – info@edgevenues.com.  

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8 reasons why EDGE Venues wants to #MeetYouAtTheShow

EDGE Venues is planning to make a big impact at this year’s Meetings Show, on 26th and 27th June at Olympia London.

The Meetings Show marks six months since EDGEvenues.com, innovative meetings technology, launched. And the team behind it has loads to share with show visitors.

Whether you’re an agent, a corporate or a venue, here are eight reasons why you should meet us at the Show:

1. Our technology

During our years of experience in the meetings and events industry, we’ve listened. We’ve listened to bookers and venues on what they needed to improve the simplicity of venue-finding. And we spent the last 18 months developing a new meetings platform that allows fast searches, intelligent comparisons and easy bookings everyone involved in the booking process. Want to know more? Then we’ll #MeetYouAtTheShow and show you first-hand how easy EDGE is to use.

2. See venues on the big screen

We’re going big at The Meetings Show – so big we’ve got a 86 inch screen to show you how great venues look on EDGE. And if you’re from a venue, we’ll go through your page with easy steps to improve your profile to achieve a spot in our 100% Club – because improving your searchability helps bookers match your property with their needs!

3. Central hub of information

New features, articles, venue news, special offers, commission deals, fam trips – and much more – are uploaded to EDGE Venues on a daily basis. So, it’s easy to find out what your favourite venue is doing, or with what’s happening across the industry. You can access many of the updates and all of our members’ amazing special offers by following us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Not only that, these offers are shown by city and destination – so pick your location and see what offers we have available there.

4. Be part of our booker prize draw

The Meetings Show wouldn’t be doing its job if there wasn’t a prize draw thrown in for visitors. Our first prize draw is for bookers (don’t worry venues, we’ve a got a treat in store for you as well), and it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t draw on the influence of our MD, Jacqui’s, to offer something with a real Irish Experience.

Dublin Weekend Experience for 2 to include:

Return Flights to Dublin from the UK.  2 nights bed and breakfast with a fabulous dinner each evening for 2 – with golf and lots of other treats at the wonderful 5 Star Carton House Hotel – sponsored by Visit Ireland and Carton House Hotel.

Visit our stand to enter and meet with our Irish friends to hear all about what Dublin and Carton House have to offer your event. 

5. Understand how to compare and share venues in your searches

One our key features is venue comparison and share options. Let us take you through some simple searches to compare some of your favourite venues. Then save and share this comparison with your colleagues or clients with a personalisation and your own insights on the venues offered. Whether you’re in need of a specific meeting room layout, or a hotel with capacity for overnight accommodation, our search function lets you easily compare your options. What’s more, where a venue has a special offer or a ‘buy it now’, it will be visible in the search so that you can take immediate advantage.  

6. Capture our destination knowledge

EDGE Venues is more than just a UK hub of venues, we’re global! We have profiles of more than 125 destinations over 45 countries. We’ll tell you the average flight time, the currency, whether Visas are required and how you can get value for money whilst you’re out there.

So why don’t you come and test our knowledge and let us show you how easy it is to find a venue in your chosen destination?  

7. Venues opportunity to win a fantastic prize

We promised that venues would also have the chance to win one of our fabulous prizes… Fancy winning a 3-night stay in Glen Cottage including one dinner for two people at Michelin star pub restaurant – The Olive Branch wand why not drop into the office and meet the Trinity / EDGE team on route whilst enjoying the delights of the Historic town of Stamford.

8. Meet the team behind the magic

We’re a relatively small team here at EDGE Venues, but we’re a team who is passionate about making a difference to the meetings and events industry. We always want to put a face to a name, so stop by stand D500 and let us show just how passionate we are and how we can help you make a difference to your bookings.

Our final call out to Agents/Corporates – Find out why EDGE Venues should be your first point of call for all meeting and event bookings – come and see us on stand D500.

Our final call out to Venues – Find out why you can’t miss out on the opportunity to showcase your venue to its maximum potential which will increase number of enquiries into your property – come and see us on stand D500.

Register for The Meetings Show here.

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EDGE Venues reports more than 187,000 venues returned in searches in the site’s first four months

At the inaugural EDGE Venues Marketing Masterclass, held at the May Fair Hotel London on 12th April, EDGE Venues shared its first set of marketing analytics with over 160 licensees and non-licensees to demonstrate its early success. 

EDGE Venues was launched on 1 December 2018, providing agencies, corporates and event planners with a platform dedicated to the meetings and events industry. With more than 19,000 venues in 45 countries in 125 international destinations, EDGE Venues has exceeded expectations, and the results were shared at the Marketing Masterclass earlier this month.

The Masterclass, generously hosted by Edwardian London Hotels, saw guest speakers with experts in digital marketing and SEO (search engine optimisation) with Somebody Digital, and social media experts Capella Synergy, providing their expertise in analysis into the data behind EDGE. The event took guests through a deep dive into EDGE Venues Business Intelligence, providing insight into the user-trends behind the technology.

To date, the platform is used by over 190 agents and corporates and at the Marketing Masterclass, it was revealed that £7.7m of event revenue has been tracked in EDGE in its first four months with a further estimate of £7.5m direct bookings from agents and corporates and more than 1000 qualified and prospected enquiries.  

Jacqui Kavanagh, Managing Director for EDGE Venues had this to say on the success of the event: “We’re absolutely delighted by the turnout for our first EDGE Venues Marketing Masterclass. We opened this event up to both licensees and non-licensees of EDGE as an opportunity to showcase our success to date. The digital platform has been really well received by both bookers and the venues that are using it to maximise their exposure. We’ve seen more than 1,000 enquiries that have been directly trackable through EDGE, this doesn’t include those that have booked directly. We’ve taken all feedback on the site back to our developers and will continue to make enhancements – this includes our recent redesign of the homepage.”

Will Smith, Event Manager at the Flowerpot Hoxton and licensee of EDGE Venues said this about the Masterclass: “The EDGE Marketing Masterclass was an excellent afternoon. Being invited to such a prestigious event with industry experts made me feel incredibly valued as a customer. I came away from having learnt some excellent insights into the future of the events industry and having made some wonderful connections with industry peers. 

“I’ve been on the EDGE site for eight weeks and being able to communicate the agencies which utilise it means I’ve already confirmed my first booking. And it comfortably pays for my full year’s marketing package. As a small independent venue, I will never be able to compete with the large hotel chains for SEO or marketing budgets, but EDGE gives me every opportunity to win business when we are suitable for a clients’ needs. Our best clients are small agencies, so a platform built to give smaller agencies access to more information is a vital tool.”

Want to know how you can get involved with EDGE Venues? Contact the EDGE Team to find out more:

+44 (0) 1780 484051

enquiries@edgevenues.com

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Edwardian Hotels London first hotel group to enter EDGE Venues 100% club

Edwardian Hotels London is the first group of hotels to maximise their exposure to users of EDGE Venues, the new global venue sourcing solution for agents, corporates and associations.

By completing 100% of the data fields within the profiles of all its hotels, Edwardian has enhanced its positioning in venue searches for its 11 Radisson Blu Edwardian, Hotels in London and Manchester and its luxury May Fair Hotel in the heart of central London. This helps improve its opportunities to confirm business because EDGE Venues users can select multiple venues and compare their suitability for each event.

Jacqui Kavanagh, Managing Director of Trinity Event Solutions and EDGE Venues said: “Every event is different and that’s why we’ve built EDGE to have such a flexible search functionality. Users can compare the USPs and benefits of multiple venues in a single screen, to see which ones would work best for their event. The more information venues complete, the more likely they are to be matched for business they can support. Edwardian has recognised the strength of the search for driving conference, meetings and events business, and are taking full advantage of it.”

Kirsten Ariano, Account Director, Edwardian Hotels London had this to say about the digital platform: “It’s refreshing to work with a team which is dedicated to making sure we maximise our potential. We’ve worked with Trinity Event Solutions for many years, and they understand how the industry works and how, using technology, booking meetings can be made simpler. As soon as Trinity launched EDGE Venues, we knew the benefits it would bring and have been working with our properties to achieve a group place in the ‘100% Club’.”

Many independent venues have closely followed Edwardian Hotels with 100% profile completion, putting themselves in the running with big brands for meetings and events business.

Jacqui continues: “The feedback we’ve had in the first three months of EDGE Venues has been fantastic and we’re seeing more and more hotels push to get their data profile to 100%. To get a group of hotels on board such as the 12 Edwardian properties is a credit to the technology and usability of the booking platform. We’ve worked with key stakeholders within the industry to develop this technology and thrilled with its success even at this early stage.”

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A positive response from venues as Trinity Event Solutions officially launches EDGEvenues.com

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.

Edge Venues Home Page

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:

Jacqui Kavanagh

“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:

+44 (0) 1780 484051

enquiries@edgevenues.com