Venue Updata: March

INNSiDE by Meliá, part of the Meliá Hotels International group, has introduced a bespoke meetings package at its Manchester, Liverpool, and Newcastle locations.

The bespoke Meetings Made More package is designed for businesses and business travellers looking for convenience, comfort, and flexibility. Starting from £139 per person, the 24-hour package includes the use of the meeting spaces and an overnight stay - allowing guests to tune in with the local culture and make the most of the hotel’s amenities.]

The package also incorporates a dining experience, with delegate lunch and refreshments, a three-course evening meal and breakfast included in the price. Individuals booking the Meetings Made More package for ten guests or more can also benefit by earning double Meliá Reward points on their Residential Meeting.

A multi-million pound investment in the refurbishment and restoration of the Grade I-listed Hensol Castle has been completed with the addition of 23 design-led bedrooms, which round off the corporate offering at this historical venue.

The 17th-century castle in south Wales already has six multifunctional conference rooms that can be hired exclusively by the corporate market. The addition of bedrooms means that delegates can now work and stay overnight on site.

The bedrooms, which include standard rooms, junior suites, suites and one master suite, have been designed in keeping with the heritage of the castle. All bedrooms and ensuites are larger than average in size and boast a free-standing bath and separate walk-in shower.  Some have dressing rooms and separate lounges, while many have uninterrupted views across the castle parkland and serpentine lake.

Stephanie Metson, marketing manager, said: “Hensol Castle is already popular with the corporate and incentive travel market because it can be hired exclusively, offers complete privacy as it’s located in 650 acres of parkland, provides state-of-the-art multimedia technology and space for more than 320 delegates theatre style.

Lime Venue Portfolio has built on its portfolio of venues, with the addition of football club Nottingham Forest, and its stadium, The City Ground, equipped with meetings and events spaces.

Nottingham Forest FC commercial sales manager Simon Fotheringham said: “We’re really proud of the meetings and events business we have at The City Ground, it offers a great mixture of Nottingham’s heritage and that of football. We have big plans for the club both on and off the pitch and we’re really delighted that our meetings and events facility is already striving for Premier League standards! It’s a great facility, a brilliant location for meetings big or small, and for someone looking to talk about the city of Nottingham.”

Nottingham Forest joins other leading stadiums already within the Lime Venue Portfolio, including; Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane; Villa Park, home of Aston Villa; Watford FC’s Vicarage Road; the Cardiff City Stadium; Twickenham; the Kia Oval and Edgbaston, all homes to elite level football, rugby and cricket respectively.

The Birmingham-based venue is the first in the UK to adopt WaitTime, an artificial intelligence solution that provides real-time measurement of venue capacity and crowd density.

The NEC said the software provides robust crowd data and business intelligence information. With a majority of ‘Venue Protect’ Covid-19 safety measures still in place, WaitTime’s technology also alerts the NEC to capacity issues across the site. The data can then be used to trigger operational responses and inform the teams on real-time capacity levels.

Another benefit of the investment is the venue’s Wi-Fi upgrade, utilising technology developed by Cisco. The move has seen 1,800 Wi-Fi access points installed to eliminate all black spots in all public spaces.

Ian Taylor, managing director for NEC Group Conventions and Exhibitions said: “Our new Wi-Fi solution teamed with WaitTime’s crowd and business intelligence is revolutionary. The NEC Group is a data-led business and it is investments like this that help to keep us at the cutting edge of live event innovation.”

Cheval Collection, the serviced apartment specialist with properties across London and Edinburgh has announced the launch of a new urban lifestyle accommodation brand MY Locanda, which will open in Glasgow in 2024.

MY Locanda Glasgow will have ground floor communal areas, ideal for both co-living and co-working including high-speed Wi-Fi, food, drinks and essentials as well as dedicated spaces for business meetings and calls.

Guests will be able to choose from a range of apartments including 104 studio apartments, 62 one-bedroom apartments, and two one-bedroom suites with panoramic views over Glasgow. Both guests and local residents can enjoy a coffee shop, yoga sessions, fitness studio and pop-up entertainment.

Red Bull Racing has unveiled the first of its new event spaces, the Red Bull Ring Boardroom, created in response to the Team’s growing calendar of corporate event bookings for 2022 and beyond.

The addition of the new space forms part of a recent multi-million-pound investment project at the Red Bull Racing site, which has also included the addition of a private entrance road with dedicated security, as well as an additional 100 onsite parking spaces.

The new facility can host 20 guests boardroom style, with space for an additional 20 seated attendees around the room.

Director of events and hospitality, Nick Kenton, said: “We have been delighted with how quickly the meetings and events sector has bounced back after the past two years. By introducing the new Red Bull Ring Boardroom we’ve been able to double the space available for boardroom style events, fulfil the massive demand we’re getting, and offer even more organisers access to the exciting world of F1.”

The MK-7 venue centres around an auditorium that houses the Team’s collection of race cars dating back to 2005. Named in tribute to its Buckinghamshire home, MK-7 offers a setting for brand activations, receptions, dinners, conferences and intimate meetings, and the recent investment in the site marks the Team’s increasing commitment to the conference and events sector.

The St. Regis London is expected to welcome its first guests in 2023, offering a highly personalised guest experience on the corner of Bond Street and Conduit Street that will blend the brand’s modern glamour with the best of British style and service.

The St. Regis London will honour the building’s heritage by retaining the iconic Polo Bar, originally designed for the Phipps family of America, avid polo players and creators of the Westbury Hotel in New York and London, and where guests will be able to enjoy a local twist on the Bloody Mary, St. Regis’ signature cocktail.

Plans call for an extensive 90‐million‐pound redevelopment and transformation of the former Westbury Mayfair Hotel, with the addition of an eighth floor. The hotel, which is expected to open with 196 elegant rooms and suites, will be designed by Peter Newman‐Earp of Morrison Design with interiors by Richmond International. Furthermore, the property is set to receive an extension to the rear of the hotel, creating enhanced public areas, along with renovations to the façade of the building and the drop‐off area outside of the main entrance. Design plans include a signature restaurant, speakeasy jazz bar, fitness centre and spa.

Following the relaunch of its conference and events proposition last year, Butlin’s has strengthened its position as a British venue for conference events by achieving AIM Accreditation from the Meetings Industry Association (mia) at all three resorts and becoming a member of beam, formerly the HBAA.

All three Butlin’s Resorts in Bognor Regis, Minehead and Skegness, have achieved AIM Accreditation from the UK’s nationally recognised standard for service providers in the business events industry after a panel of independent industry assessors scrutinised the venue against a robust checklist of criteria. The process includes legal compliance, accessibility and quality checks of the facilities as well as customer service proposition and experience, ethical codes of conduct and best practice standards.

Nick Tipper, head of Butlin’s conferences and events said, “It’s a fantastic testament to the dedication and experience of the events management and resort team members that Butlin’s has secured national AIM accreditation. By aligning ourselves with respected industry associations such as the mia and beam, we are taking another step in developing our conferences and events proposition by demonstrating our commitment to working with the UK business events industry as we recover from the pandemic.”

With a brand new venue, Studio 36, available at all three resorts, Butlin’s is strongly positioned to provide post‐pandemic solutions for corporate events of any size and objective.

Studio 36 is a fully flexible, state‐of‐the‐art venue designed to provide bespoke solutions for all client event needs. A perfectly customisable space for event organisers, the pillarless space can host up to 1,600 delegates in a variety of seating arrangements including theatre, cabaret and gala dinners.