Conference Guide UK

My visit to Berlin was fun and definitely a city people should visit whether for a City break or for business. There is so much you can do from Musical shows, visiting Galleries to a short stroll along the river visiting parts of the existing Berlin Wall on the way.

The duration of my stay in Berlin was in the East side, on the first night we stayed in a Guesthouse with apartments which was great as it was close to the main train station and easy walking distance to Restaurants. Having an apartment gave us more freedom to experience how true Berliners live which was good fun.

East Berlin is an interested place to visit especially as it consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The other side of Berlin is where the American, British and French had sectors of the country which became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city.

From 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989 East Berlin was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall which completely divided the City into two. The city is no longer divided; it is now a thriving, modern and exciting destination, welcoming all types of visitors.

Since World War II, the city has emerged and undergone the biggest construction project in Europe. Most of Berlin has been restored, rebuilt or rejuvenated and there is some wonderful architecture, both old and new. Many people come to Berlin for the excellent nightlife, while others prefer the tourism aspect offered by the city.

The following morning in Berlin we travelled by train to Wolfsburg, part of Germany where the car manufacture and Factory Volkswagen is. This is an interesting place which reminds me of Telly tubby land. The reason for visiting here is because my partner loves VW cars and it had been a dream of his to visit, so yes I tagged along too.

The whole stay and experience was very surreal but enjoyable, there are lot’s more things to see and do in the area which we didn’t get chance to do. There is the historical Wolfsburg Castle and a traditional brewery for German beer plus an artificial beach to chill out on if the weather is good and don’t forget Wolfsburg Football team, you may get a chance to either watch them at the stadium or at least see them train which is what I did.

We made a promise that if we went to Wolfsburg we would stay at the 5* Ritz Carlton Hotel for two nights stay, which I loved. The hotel is very welcoming; the staff remembered our name whenever we asked for anything a great personal service. The rooms themselves were lovely and spacious, a big king size bed and the bathroom to die for. It had heated floor which was heaven, separate bath and shower and the whole room it’s self is the size of a large living room.

The Leisure facilities in the hotel was excellent, an outdoor pool heated at 29°Celsius with stunning views of the docks, the canal and the historic VW factory. There is also Jacuzzis, two steam baths and two saunas to enjoy, but don’t be shocked as the Germans’ are very free and easy if you know what I mean. The Spa is a great opportunity to recharge your batteries after an exciting day in Autostadt or a long business meeting at the Hotel.

The Ritz Carlton has 9 meeting rooms, ranging from a small exclusive board meeting to product launches or exhibitions, all events that take place at the Hotel will defiantly have that memorable experience when visiting Wolfsburg.

After our lovely stay at the Hotel and visit to the Autostadt, we got the train back into Berlin and to be honest the train system over in Europe knocks spots of our trains system here. Traveling at 160 miles and hour felt like 30miles an hour and we were back in Berlin in no time.

We checked into our third hotel the Best Western Hotel city Ost which was also in East Berlin and was our hotel for the four days we had exploring the City. The hotel was in a great location with local bars and cafes in the area and also great for shopping. There is a U-ban station which took you straight into Alexandraplatts, where the Weltzeituhr (World Time Clock) and the TV tower are located.

While in Berlin we explored a lot of the city and managed to fit in a site visit at the Concorde Hotel Berlin, a stunning and very modern Hotel in a fantastic location. The afternoon tea is a definite must, great tea and cakes are scrumptious. Impressive conference facilities and the bedrooms were extremely spacious with fantastic views of the city.

Being tourists we visited the TV Tower enjoying the fantastic views of Berlin at 200 metres above the city, definitley worth a trip on a clear day. The Museum of Berlin and the Nuclear Bunker, a great Museum to see if you want to learn about the history of World War I and II and the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. If you’re interested in the Berlin Wall like I was, visit Eastside Gallery. A fantastic way to see over a Kilometer of the remaining wall with approximately 106 paintings by artists from all over the world who cover this memorial for freedom and make it the largest open air gallery in the world.

Another great way to see the city is a bike ride with Fat Tire Bike Tours which last about 5 hours and takes you all around the city, in the lovely parks and past major tourist spots, a great way to pass the time when you’re in Berlin for a few days.

Berlin is a fascinating city and one that I would visit again. Plenty to do and see and you are only a short train ride away from other major towns and cities if you want a change of scenery.

Let me know your opinions of the city?

Situated right in the heart of Manchester the New Macdonald Town House Hotel previously owned by Folio Hotels has had an esteem makeover costing £3.5 million. What was once a slightly dated hotel has now become a boutique Grade II-listed Victorian Hotel with modern and elegant bedrooms and with 8 meetings rooms to accommodate up to 60 people, suitable for a small boardroom meeting. Where else in the city would you want to have your meeting!

The Macdonald Townhouse Hotel is situated in a great location, within easy access to train stations and fantastic if you’re off shopping and want a wonder around China Town or a trip to the Theatre. There is also a lovely restaurant where you could try out the food and check out the Manchester Wall of famous people.

The Hotel is impressive and worth a visit, with a new layout for the restaurant and lounge area and the spacious bedrooms with 3 different types from Classic to Suites. All rooms have contemporary décor in rich colours and modern facilities such as flat screen TV’s.

A very welcoming hotel with separate access for conferences, a Manchester city centre hotel that we will work with for future enquiries.

Our visit to Kings House Conference Centre in Manchester was really good to see. Very impressed by the size of the facilities and there was a variety of good sized rooms from a small boardroom for 10 people or a large auditorium for 650 people. Most of the rooms have natural daylight and air conditioning or natural ventilation, ideally suited for presentations, exams, exhibitions and other events.

The venue is located in the southern area of Manchester, close to Oxford Road and within a short walk from Oxford Road train station. There is ample of car parking, however this is pay and display or on road parking. Oxford Road is also a main bus route in and out of Manchester City Centre.

Kings House Conference Centre includes within their very generous day delegate package an LCD and screen and in the Auditorium a technician which helps bring down cost, the rates at the centre are very competitive for the type of facilities provided.

As the Kings House Conference Centre does not have accommodation, there are a number of hotels within close proximity including the Holiday Inn Express and the Palace Hotel.

We were very impressed with the Conference Centre and will be very happy in placing future business with them.

Akkeron Hotels Group Limited (“Akkeron” or “the Group”) have today announced that they have completed the purchase of Forestdale Hotels Limited (“Forestdale”), which owns 18 hotels across England. This business deal will make them one of the largest regional hotel operators in the UK, increasing the number of Akkeron’s hotels to 26.

The acquisition has been funded with a mixture of equity, delayed consideration and a new £32 million 18-year credit facility given by Lloyds
Banking Group.

Forestdale is a privately-owned collection of three star hotels spread across England; the group has an annual turnover of £30m and employs around 900 people. The individual hotels range in size from 34 to 145 bedrooms; they are situated in both attractive leisure destinations including Bath, the Cotswolds and the Forest, and key business destinations such as Bristol, Cambridge, Southampton and Winchester.

To improve the quality of their offerings to customers, Akkeron will invest in the Forestdale hotels and the Group will make significant investment in many of the hotels in particular to reposition them in their local markets. To ensure that the Group is well-placed to provide its customers with a first-class service, Akkeron will also make large investments in people, training and systems, Akkeron also intent to develop and expand the Forestdale brand.

The Flodigarry Country House Hotel is owned personally by Forestdale’s principal shareholder, Robin Collins. It is separate from Forestdale and will be retained by him.

Akkeron announced its first acquisition of hotel assets in December 2009, a group of eight hotels from Mulbourn Hotels Limited trading as Folio Hotels. The acquisition included The Caledonian Hotel, Oban; The Harte & Garter Hotel & Spa in Windsor; Makeney Hall, Belper, Derbyshire; The Richmond Gate Hotel and the Cedars Health and Leisure Club, Richmond-upon-Thames and The Yorkshire Hotel, Harrogate. To maintain a group of attractive, modern, and well managed hotels, over the past year Akkeron has continued to invest in these hotels.

Akkeron hopes to form further sustainable partnerships with banks, investors, landlords and other stakeholders, and wishes to continue to grow its business. Akkeron’s interest in hotels will continue to comprise a blend of freeholds, leases and management contracts.

Commenting on the acquisition, Akkeron Group’s Sales and Marketing Director, Nick Greaves, said: “This is a fantastic acquisition for Akkeron and a major step towards us becoming one of the largest regional hotel operators in England and providing further evidence of our strength in the market. These new hotels are all well located and with significant upside potential and so are an excellent fit for our growing business. With our experienced management team, strong balance sheet and developing track record we are very well placed to grow and develop the business further”.

Commenting on the acquisition, MD of Akkeron Hotels, Matthew Welbourn, said: “We are delighted to be acquiring this group of attractive, well located and popular hotels that will now form an important part of our portfolio. Whilst the trading outlook for regional hotel operators in the UK remains challenging, we continue to see exciting opportunities to acquire high quality hotel assets that will benefit from capital investment and the operational expertise that an operator of scale can provide, and we expect to make further announcements over the next year”.

Apex Hotels has broadcasted its support for the Edinburgh based international organisation, Homeless World Cup, beating homelessness through football.

The four star UK-based independent hotel operator, Apex, will donate hotel rooms in Dundee, Edinburgh and London to Homeless World Cup making a direct cost saving for the organisation.

The Homeless World Cup is a yearly world class, international football tournament encouraging uniting teams of people who are homeless and excluded to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and more than 30,000 homeless players to change their lives for the better, the impact of this changes 73% of players lives for the better by coming off drugs and alcohol, moving into education, jobs, training, meeting venues London and homes, some even reuniting with families.

The first tournament took place in Graz 2003 and united 18 national teams, 6 years down the line Melbourne 2008 united 56 nations, which included the first Women’s Cup. The 8th Rio 2010 Homeless World Cup took place at Copacabana Beach, Rio, Brazil from 19-26 September 2010.

Marketing Director of Apex Hotels, Lorna Lee, said: “The Homeless World Cup has been so successful in encouraging participants and giving them the confidence to change their lives for the better. It’s a living, breathing demonstration of the empowering effect of participation in sport and we’re really happy to support this.”

The Homeless World Cup supporters include Manchester United, Nike, Real Madrid, UN, UEFA, Ambassador Eric Cantona and international footballers Rio Ferdinand and Didier Drogba.

Additionally, Apex Hotels will put into practice a booking facility on www.homelessworldcup.org, this will allow supporters to make reservations at Apex Hotels through the Homeless World Cup website, earning the organization an 8 per cent commission on bookings.

The Royal Horticultural Halls and Conference Centre (RHH) is pleased to announce they have won two environmental accolades for green meetings facilities. The Grade II Listed venue now meets the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard and the BS 8901 specification for Sustainability Management System for Events, which they describe as a tremendous achievement.

The RHH has introduced a variety of policies to minimise waste and improve its environmental efficiency over the past three years, including waste management, energy recovery through the harvesting of waste and sourcing local produce whenever possible. The two standards set targets for planning and managing sustainable events of all types and sizes, and their guidelines relate to all aspects of the supply chain. Compliance with them contributes significantly to the RHH’s long-term strategy of having a positive impact on the community, business offering and environment.

Sales and events meeting venues London manager at The Halls, Sylvana Malachias said: “Given our listed status, this is a real accomplishment for us. We have long-recognised the importance of improving sustainable performance by increasing resource efficiency and reducing carbon emissions and waste. Historically, the events business has been perceived as wasteful, but these standards give the industry something to work towards and ultimately highlight the positive social impact of events.”

Added to the fact that all The RHH’s profits are used for charitable purposes – to further the Royal Horticultural Society’s goals – these accreditations give clients an additional incentive to book the Halls conference venues London.

Saturday night – 70’s Showcase party event at the Quay Hotel and spa in Conway, ‘Oh what a night!’

The Hotel is set in the fantastic and relaxing Conwy Estuary. The Quay Hotel has inspiring views of Conway Castle, the Estuary and Deganwy Quay Marina. It is within easy reach of Snowdonia National Park, the medieval town of Conwy and 5 miles away is the lovely seaside town of Llandudno.

Quays Hotel is in an easy location minutes from the A55 trunk road and a short journey from Llandudno Junction Train station making it easy to get to from Chester, Conference venues Manchester, Cardiff and Meeting venues London.

We checked into our room, which was a Classic bedroom that had a balcony with a view of Deganwy Quay Marina.
I was impressed with the rooms and thought they were rather spacious with lovely modern décor. The bathrooms were elegantly styled and roomy with a shower and bath for those who want to chill out.

Also if you’re up for chilling out there is also the chance to try the leisure facilities which are quite small but good. There’s a 15m Swimming pool with steam room and Sauna and a fully equipped gym or treat yourself to one of the many treatments in the Spa.

About 65 people met in the reception area of the Quay Hotel for the 70’s Showcase event. There were snowballs cocktail drinks, cheese straws, cheese and pickle hedgehogs (who remembers those!!) and Cocktail sausages. With Blue Nun and Mateus Rose wine along with other wine in constant flow, what more do you need for a 70’s themed evening!

The evening it’s self was definitely entertaining with Austin Powers look alike, a magician, fire breathers, stilt walkers and dancers and also a chance to dance into the early morning. A good night had by all who attended I am sure.

The conference facilities at the hotel can accommodate a maximum of 240 people theatre style which is in the Castle Suite where the 70’s night was held. The room has natural daylight with views of Conway Castle. The room can be split into two which is great for a drinks reception on one side and, perhaps, the all important AGM meeting on the other.

The Castle suite also has an outdoor balcony area which would be great in the summer for that special occasion. Along with the Castle suite are two extra conference rooms which can be used as small breakout spaces.

Having experienced the food at the Hotel, Welsh rarebit was excellent and I could not fault the breakfast with a great selection of food on offer. There is also an opportunity in summer to experience the “alfresco” dining. However, as there were blistery winds during my visit and it is November I wasn’t about to give it a try.

Overall, a great experience and a fun night. The Quay Hotel is one venue that I will most certainly recommend for future enquiries and one that I am sure to be visiting again.

Rockliffe Hall in County Durham opened in November 2009 is five minutes from Durham and Tees Valley Airport and Darlington Railway Station. It is a two hour train journey to conference venues Edinburgh and two and a half hours to meeting venues London. The historic city of Durham is on the doorstep, as are Leeds, Newcastle, York and the Yorkshire Dales.

The venue now has plenty to offer including 61 spacious guestrooms and suites, a gourmet restaurant, two bars, 12 meeting and event rooms, a 50,000 square foot spa and wellness centre and a 20 metre indoor swimming pool. They are thrilled to announce its success at the recent Condé Nast Johansens Annual Awards for Excellence by winning the Most Excellent MICE Award for venues and hotels that accommodate groups of fewer than 100 rooms. This follows having been awarded the Gold Award for Business Tourism in the North East Business Tourism Awards and 5* Status by the AA.

Managing director of Rockliffe Hall, Nick Holmes said: “This really is a hat-trick and the icing on the cake for our team, all of whom work so hard to offer the best in hospitality, for both out business and leisure guests. Meetings, incentives, conferences and events are key drivers in our business, and we are delighted that this hard work has been recognised by Condé Nast Johansens. Rockliffe Hall celebrated its first birthday on 23rd November and this is a very successful conclusion to our opening year.”

The new most excellent MICE Awards recognise a passion for ensuring that every event achieves the highest possible success as well as hotels and venues that demonstrate excellence throughout the customer’s event experience. The Awards focus on the level of service provided to MICE organisers and the standard of hotels and venues.

The winners of the 2011 Most Excellent MICE Awards and related categories in association with Corinthia Hotels were broadcasted at the Condé Nast Johansens Annual Awards for Excellence held on Monday 8th November 2010 in London. The awards were presented by director of Industry Relations EMEA at HelmsBriscoe, Shawn Pisani.

We had an invitation to visit the Crowne Plaza Chester for Dinner and a quick showround. What a spacious hotel and rather deceiving from the outside.

We parked up and entered the hotel where we were greeted by the Hotel Sales Manager and the Business Development Manager. We started our tour of the building with a quick drink at the bar and then made our way to the Conference rooms where we were shown Burton, Farndon and Roodee Rooms. All three rooms had a designated area for teas and coffees and all were located close to each other. A nice little trio of rooms, kept seperate from the other conference areas so can be as private as you require!
The next room we were shown was the hotel’s main room, the Kings Suite, which holds 600 theatre style. Great for Banquets, Dinners, Exhibitions and Road shows this room can be divided into two sections and can offer an array of different options for your event as it also has a built in stage and glitter ball! All the Conference rooms at the hotel are located on the ground floor and in total the hotel has 11 meeting rooms conference venues Manchester.

After looking at the Conference Rooms we moved on to see some bedrooms meeting venues london. The hotel has 160 rooms in total and 51 of which are Club rooms with full access into the Club Lounge where you can chill out away from the public areas with a complimentary drink and some canapés. The hotel also has a new Crown Plaza concept which include items like bottled water in all the rooms, Mattress toppers and an aromatherapy spray to ensure a restful nights sleep.

The Bedrooms are very spacious and modern and either have a red or green colour scheme with a work desk. Handy for those who are travelling and still need to carry on working.

Most of the rooms have spectacular views of the Welsh hills and Chester Racecourse, a link of which is also incorporated into the name of the Restaurant – Silks, that has beautiful etchings of horses and jockeys on the glass wall.

Dinner in the restaurant was fantastic with very generous portions. The king prawns with garlic butter along with the main course (which wasn’t exactly what I ordered but still enjoyable) and dessert were all delicious. A great selection of food on the menu which was high quality and the service was excellent.

If the food and service is this good in the restaurant I would be only too happy to look at using the venue for my clients in the future!