Conference Centres, Hotels and Unusual Venues
Copnference Centres
Conference centres either tend to be purpose built or specifically converted and upgraded and are focussed upon providing facilities for companies’ off site meetings, conferences and training courses. They tend to be very busy during the week and offer leisure breaks and weddings at weekends to fill their rooms.
They are designed for flexibility and are geared up to be able to turn rooms around quickly when required, and can quickly turn a conference room into a room for private dining. Whiteboards, screens, video projectors and flipcharts and are readily available on site and are often, but not always, included within the price.
Speed check-in desks and breakout rooms will be regularly requested and available.
Unless private dining is specifically requested dining is usually in the restaurant along with delegates from other companies. The bars are again public areas again unless private space is booked.
Conference centres vary enormously in quality and character and always have a good mix of conference rooms, syndicate rooms and bedrooms.
Hotels
Hotels invariably aim for a mix of residential and conference business and their bias tends to be towards bedrooms rather than meeting space. The mix varies considerably between properties but a conference requiring a relatively large number of breakout or syndicate rooms might not suit a venue’s business mix if it utilises all of their conference space but leaves them with a relatively large number of bedrooms to fill.
With few exceptions all are geared towards dealing with meetings and conferences and can offer similar facilities to a conference centre.
Country House Hotels
Will usually be a little more restricted in terms of meeting space and the amount of onsite accommodation. They tend to be properties with character that have been tastefully converted. They are very popular for Company Fun Days and incentives and smaller senior level meetings.
Stately Homes, Unusual and Exclusive Use Venues
They tend to be best suited for day meetings and events as few offer accommodation – although there are exceptions. What they do offer however is style and exclusivity as they are often only available on an exclusive use basis.
