Around the world in venues - July

Firin, a modern Turkish restaurant, has opened at the brand new Holiday Inn Manchester Airport, an IHG Hotel & Resort, in Terminal 2.

The Turkish word firin translates as oven. The star is pide (pee-deh), a flatbread which is worked by hand to give a boat-like shape. Firin offers toppings for its pide, from diced beef, tomato and pepper to mushroom and goat’s cheese. The menu also includes authentic Ottoman dishes and sharing plates such as lentil soup and Choban salad, as well as grilled Ottoman classics including chicken shish, lamb tandir and chargrilled Mediterranean prawns and calamari.

Plans to launch a rooftop bar Glow on the top floor of the hotel are underway, set to open later this year. With views of the city skyline, and planes taking off and landing, the one-of-a-kind venue will also be available for private function hire.

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport offers 280 contemporary, spacious bedrooms featuring floor to ceiling windows, all with free Wi-Fi across six floors, as well as three meetings and events spaces with dedicated welcome desk and pre-function lounge.

Bedruthan Hotel & Spa, a scandi-inspired hotel beloved for creative hospitality on the cliffs of Mawgan Porth, Cornwall has launched two new corporate booking offers and team building packages for summer 2023.

Local and visiting businesses will receive 10 per cent off if deposit is placed in July, while events booked for July and August will receive 15 per cent off.  Meetings booked in July will receive a complimentary group activity, ranging from embroidery with the Create Cornwall team to a restorative yoga class.

Bedruthan Hotel has venues for meetings & events of up to 170 people - spaces available include: 

• The Venue, which offers an open clifftop conference space hosting up to 170 people, to accommodate either a large-scale summit or with the option to rearrange the space into multiple smaller suites, with a dedicated entrance and private bar.  
• For a more intimate affair, The Garden Room offers the ideal spot for inspired team meetings.  
• Atlantic View is perched just above Bedruthan’s planted roofline and holds up to 48 people.

Emirates Old Trafford has announced the up-and-coming launch of its new hotel extension and event space later this year, which will complete the £75 million redevelopment over the past 15 years into a world class multi-purpose venue, based in Manchester.

The latest new development at Emirates Old Trafford will be the extension of the venue’s on-site hotel, which first opened its doors in September 2017. The four star Hilton Garden Inn will expand its capacity to 250 luxury bedrooms and see the addition of a new and dynamic event space, cementing its place as an all-round destination for events.

The investment will see the new and extended hotel integrate closer with the existing event spaces, opening further options for organisers and creating an event destination in its own right.

The venue already includes The Point, an award-winning event space – which is column-free and has a capacity of up to 1,200 - with seven-metre windows allowing for unimpeded panoramic views of the pitch. Together, the venue will now offer even more options for planners looking at multi-day events, large-scale conferences, experiential events, exhibitions, gala dinners and awards, incentives, and team building.

The Venues Collection has announced that all its UK conference & training venues have achieved the ‘silver’ level in the Green Tourism ‘Green Meetings’ Standard - the world's largest sustainable certification programme.

The Standard uses a strict three-pillar sustainability criteria which focuses on people, places and planet and is examined by an independent assessor. Each of the people, places and planet goals were assessed by five different factors including focuses on areas such as food, health & wellbeing, carbon, waste and water consumption.

Jo Austin, sales director of The Venues Collection and mia board member, said: “Sustainability runs through everything we do and we are totally dedicated to ensuring that our venues, and therefore the events that we host, are as sustainable as possible. Our clients work with us as a trusted partner who can help them to create more sustainable events. Impartial accreditation reassures organisers and helps them to know that they can rely on our venues.”

Kerrin MacPhie, chief executive of the Meetings Industry Association, said: “Achieving the silver Green Meetings standard across all six venues is a great achievement that clearly demonstrates The Venues Collection’s sustainable values. These high standards provide vital reassurance to buyers that the organisation is genuinely invested in sustainable operations and practices, as further made evident by its striving for gold.”

The five-star Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars is located directly outside Blackfriars station, a few minutes away from Bank and is a short stroll from St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tate Modern and South Bank. The Grade II-listed five-star hotel is steeped in regal history, residing on the former grounds of Henry VIII's Bridewell Palace.

BMA House, the historic London venue known for its sustainability initiatives, and the home of the British Medical Association, has unveiled a range of evening event packages for corporate events and large parties.

The new packages include a range of options, from intimate dinners and receptions to large-scale cocktail parties, awards and galas. Each package is tailored to suit different tastes and budgets, including a specific charity dinner package.  The packages incorporate a variety of options for food and drink created by BMA House’s catering partner, Company of Cooks.

New items from the menus are:

• Starter – Spiced beetroot croquette, spinach chutney, cauliflower, yoghurt, batter scraps (vg)

• Main course - Pan-fried hake, saffron potato puree, braised fennel & green beans with sauce vierge

• Dessert - Blackcurrant panna cotta, coconut sorbet, berries, raspberry powder, meringue shards (vg)

Westminster Venue Collection has welcomed six new members to its portfolio, bringing the membership of the exclusive group of central London venues to 32.

The new members are:

• Abbey Road Studios
• Asia House
• Lumiere London’s The Embassy
• One Birdcage Walk
• Royal College of Music
• Great Scotland Yard

Driving the new member growth is a surge in enquiry activity for the Westminster Venue Collection, including a tripling of web-based opportunities since November.

“Westminster Venue Collection provides a vital link between buyers and suppliers, saving them time, whilst showcasing the best Westminster has to offer as a destination,” comments Barbara Wutte, WVC Chair.  “Membership growth ensures our offering continues to be relevant and diverse, meeting the needs for all organisers and all event types – whether it is an intimate gathering for a party or a congress for thousands.” 

Butlin’s has invested £10 million to make its Skegness resort a destination focusing on offering Conference and events planners unique facilities including making the state-of-the-art Studio 36 a permanent venue, available for private hire—the new-look fairground with four new rides—and building SKYPARK.

Butlin’s has unveiled a new look to the main fairground. Keeping to tradition, the fairground is accessed by a new entrance with a unique 22-metre-long immersive tunnel, with synchronised light and sound.

In total, there will be 12 rides on the main fairground to enjoy in 2023. Guests and delegates alike will be able to have unlimited goes on the four new rides coming to Skegness, which are:

• Eclipse - The first of its kind in the UK. Riders are seated back-to-back, with legs dangling below, as the two arms intertwine for a thrilling, gravity-driven experience.

• Orbiter - Reach new heights with a bird’s-eye view of the Skegness resort as thrill seekers are lifted to the top of the 15-metre tower. Experience a series of ‘bounce and drop’ sequences, with the tower lighting up as you plunge back down.

• Santa Fe Train - Inspired by Butlin’s archives, this classic train ride with four covered carriages offers a gentle and enjoyable journey for all ages.

• Super Swing - Tots through to teens will feel the rush as this larger-than-life swing swoops 27 degrees. This stomach-floating ride lights up as it accelerates and will be a new favourite.

The British Motor Museum has extended its South Wing following continued expansion in line with client demand.

Within only six months after an initial £70k investment, the conference centre has been developed further to offer South Wing 5. This spacious room seating up to 110 delegates boasts natural daylight and direct vehicular access making it an ideal space for conferences, product launches and exhibitions.

Sandals Dunn’s River opened on 24th May 2023 as the 17th resort in the Sandals Resorts portfolio.

A site originally handpicked by hotelier and Sandals Resorts International founder - the late Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart - when the first Sandals Dunn’s River debuted over 30 years ago, today’s Sandals Dunn’s River offers a new and transformed hotel experience.

Located on a stretch of white sand beach, featuring new culinary concepts and suite designs, the 260-room luxury all-inclusive resort offers a personal connection to its setting on Jamaica’s north coast.

Midway Crossing is slated to be the most consequential development Long Island has seen in decades with a proposed 9,300 sqm convention center, a 300-room connecting hotel and commercial space dedicated to luring Life Sciences that will further solidify Long Island as a leader in health, science and innovation.

The Midway Crossing Convention Centre is expected to pump more than US$4 billion into the local economy annually.

Situated on the Kohala Coast, The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort offers groups the spirit of aloha with oceanfront accommodations.

The resort has recently launched its new pop-up speakeasy event space for groups – hidden in an unassuming location in true speakeasy fashion.

Starting May 2023, groups can start booking this 482 sqm space that is able to fit approximately 200-300 attendees depending on the event layout.

Event planners are able to customize the speakeasy theme with casino-style tables and more.