CCE awards highlight outstanding performance of member venues and external providers
Conference Centres of Excellence has announced the winners
of its first-ever awards. Presented at the consortium’s recent annual
conference at the Wyboston Lakes Executive Centre, the awards recognise
excellence from within the CCE membership, and also in three categories for non-members - ‘best
supplier’, ‘best booking agency’, and ‘non-CCE venue most admired by members’.
Submissions were invited from all members of the consortium,
which is the UK’s leading group of specialist conference and training venues
and has thirty six members. The judging panel comprised industry experts Tony
Rogers, Anna Clover and Tim Chudley, and was chaired by CCE executive director
Anthony Lishman.
Awards involving member venues were as follows:
The Innovation Award was won by Warwick Conferences’ Scarman House for
its ‘comparetheconference.com’ campaign. The judges commented that the
initiative was both very creative and
specifically targeted, and “will benefit the whole of our industry by promoting
the conference centre concept”. Runner up was Conference Aston for its
‘aston.app’ initiative.
The Sustainability
Award was won by Prospero House. The panel described its actions as “taking sustainability and CSR policy
to the next level, with a big community aspect.”
The Best Non-Residential Venue Award went to Nottingham Conference Centre. Judges
complimented the venue on its “creative use of an old building”, the
focus of its SOPs and the quality of its customer feedback. Runner up was Maple House.
The Best Residential Venue Award went to The Møller Centre. Judges complimented the venue
on its regular customer focus groups, and the
excellence of its website. They also referred to the venue’s consistent
achievement of gold standard in the BDRC VenueVerdict awards. Runner up was
Scarman House.
Three other categories allowed CCE member venues to express
their opinions on third-party organisations which were themselves not part of
the consortium. In the case of ‘Best
Supplier’ and ‘Best Booking Agency’, the only requirement was that nominated companies
must have an ongoing relationship with one or more CCE members. In the case of
the ‘non-CCE venue most admired by members’, submissions were open to
interpretation, and could be for service, quality, innovation. The winners were as follows:
The Best Supplier
to Conferencing award went
to Berkmann Wine Cellars, which were described as “going above and beyond” and “adding value”. Runner-up was Wilson Vale.
The Best Conference Booking Agency was Trinity Conferences, which was
described as demonstrating “ the ability to be a strategic partner” and as “particularly
effective at engaging with the venue team so they have a good understanding of
how their business works.”
The ‘Non-Conference Centre of Excellence venue most admired
by members’ award was achieved
by the Kingston upon Thames venue Warren House, which was described as “a venue that has consistently
maintained exceptionally high standards of service” and which has “remained
true to the conference and training centre concept”. Runner up was Dillington House in Somerset.
A special award for
his ‘outstanding contribution
to Conference Centres of Excellence’ was presented to Barry Stonham OBE,
general manager of Wyboston Lakes. During his career in the conference sector,
Barry has been a board member and treasurer of Conference Centres of Excellence
and a board member and treasurer of IACC, the International Association of
Conference Centre. He has ensured the financial stability of both organisations
in difficult times, roles which have been undertaken voluntarily. Retiring at
the end of this year, he is a Fellow of The Institute of Hospitality.
“Our awards achieve a number of primary objectives, one of
which is to help enhance awareness of the role and purpose of dedicated venues
and their continuing commitment to progressive enhancement of their services,”
commented Anthony Lishman: “ They also help to strengthen still further the
competitiveness of member venues, which must be good for their customers – and
they also enable members to give a pat on the back to organisations that are impressing them.”
