Venues of Excellence announces four new members

As Venues of Excellence, formerly known as Conference Centres of Excellence, launched at The Meetings Show at Olympia yesterday (14th June 2016) on Stand No H700, the consortium announces that it has gained four new members in recent weeks.

Venues of Excellence Board Members at The Meetings Show 2016

The four new venues are The Lensbury four star hotel in Middlesex; Manchester Conference Centre in Manchester; Yarnfield Park in Staffordshire and Jurys Inn Hinckley Island in Leicestershire.

Before joining the consortium, venues have to meet stringent criteria in terms of quality, facilities, accommodation and customer care.

A previous member of the consortium, The Lensbury four star hotel and awarding winning conference centre at Teddington Lock, has made the strategic decision to re-join Venues of Excellence in recent weeks.

Ivor Turner, general manager of The Lensbury, explained: “Following a £14.5million investment in upgrading our facilities and training our staff to the highest standards, we feel the timing is right to re-join the consortium.We are delighted to be back in the Venues of Excellence family and look forward to participating in educational exchange, networking and sharing of good practice with other quality-driven venues to deliver exceptional conference services to our clients.”

Stuart Websdale, chairman of Venues of Excellence, said: “The rebranding to Venues of Excellence has been a strategic step to broaden our footprint within the wider hospitality and events sector.

“The quality and calibre of our new members is testament to our reputation and to the work we have done over the past 24 years in providing marketing support, networking and impressive lead generation to our members.”

The consortium’s goal is to grow membership to 50 members by 2020.

With the journey towards having broader representation and increasing value to members already underway, Stuart Websdale is confident that other quality-driven venues from within the wider industry will want to endorse their venue with a badge of excellence synonymous with the Venues of Excellence brand.

He said: “Many of our members are independent players with a shared quality ethos and vision. What we offer is sharing of good practice, idea exchange and benchmarking to drive quality and to deliver excellence to our end users. The strengths of the consortium are many, not the least of which are our emphasis on transparency of relationships and understanding of buyers’ needs."

Venues of Excellence is currently exhibiting at The Meetings Show with six partners: Cranfield Management Development Centre, Bedfordshire; Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel, Glasgow; CIM | Moor Hall, Berkshire; Henley Conferences, Oxfordshire; Missenden Abbey, Buckinghamshire, and one of its newest members, Jurys Inn Hinckley Island, Leicestershire.

Conference Centres of Excellence to rebrand to Venues of Excellence

The 30-strong marketing consortium of exceptional venues is taking this strategic step to broaden its footprint within the wider hospitality and events sector to maximise value for its members and clients.

Venues of Excellence will showcase at The Meetings Show (Stand Number H700) 14th-16th June 2016 at Olympia. 

Stuart Websdale, chairman of the consortium, explained: ”The Board has reviewed the positioning of the brand within the MICE sector and recognised that there are venues within the broader hospitality sector eager to  endorse their venue with a badge of excellence synonymous with the Conference Centres of Excellence brand.”

“Our goal is to expand the reach of our membership because we recognise the diverse range of venues delivering excellence goes beyond ‘conference centres’ only to include other quality-driven venues. On-going engagement with members and collaboration with industry peers has helped to crystallise our strategic direction. Our ultimate goal is to grow our membership to 50 members by 2020.”

The journey towards having broader representation and increasing value to members is already underway with several new venues recently joining the consortium. These include The Lensbury four star hotel at Teddington Lock, Manchester Conference Centre and Yarnfield Park in Staffordshire.

“Many of our members are independent players with a shared quality ethos and vision,” said Stuart Websdale. “What we offer is sharing of good practice, idea exchange and benchmarking to drive quality and to deliver excellence to our end users. For 24 years we have provided strong marketing support and networking opportunities for our members, as well as impressive lead generation via our central sales team. The strengths of the consortium are many, not the least of which are our emphasis on transparency of relationships and understanding of buyers’ needs. We view this re-branding as an opportunity for other quality, like-minded venues to come together under one umbrella to provide a targeted solution for discerning buyers.”

Before joining the consortium, venues have to meet stringent criteria in terms of quality, facilities, accommodation and customer care.

Visit the Conference Centres of Excellence website for more information about the consortium. 

David Vaughton is appointed to the mia board

David Vaughton, director of venues for EEF Venues, has been appointed to the Executive Board of the Meeting Industry Association (mia).

A Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and a serving board member of Conference Centres of Excellence (CEE), David has over 25 years’ experience within the hospitality sector. Over the last seven years, he has launched and consolidated the EEF Venues brand, with responsibility for the strategic direction and growth strategy for the group’s three AIM-gold accredited venues: Broadway House (Westminster), Woodland Grange (Leamington Spa) and Engineers’ House (Bristol).

Having already served twice on the mia Council, this latest commitment from David Vaughton underlines his on-going support for the association and its work. 

He said: “It is an honour to be part of the strategic thrust of the association and to join such talented and experienced industry professionals on the mia’s Executive Board to help raise awareness of this respected trade association and the work it does to raise industry standards.”

Mark Chambers, chairman of the mia and group managing director of the Eden Hotel Collection, said: “We welcome David Vaughton’s strong commercial focus and his insight into the challenges and opportunities within the sector. His first-hand experience of the impact AIM accreditation can have on a hospitality business makes him ideally placed to support our strategic objectives. “ 

Wilson Vale strengthens conference portfolio

Wilson Vale has gained a catering contract with Moor Hall Conference Centre, a Conference Centre of Excellence (CCE) in Cookham, Berkshire. The 80-bedroom residential venue is also home to the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Under an initial 18 month contract, the independent caterer is due to open the new service on 11th April when a team of eight catering staff will provide a breakfast, lunch, evening and hospitality service for up to 200 people at the venue.

Andrew Wilson, co-founder of Wilson Vale, said: ”The level of understanding and expertise we have within this niche sector is driving the growth of our venues portfolio. Our clients  know the impact that great food and service can have on a venue’s reputation and performance -  and how it can influence delegates’ perceptions and their decision to return. 

“We are thrilled that our unique style and proposition is so valued by clients like Moor Hall and see this as an exciting opportunity to work with a like-minded client at this very beautiful venue.”  

Moor Hall plays host to hundreds of events and conferences at its nine acre site near Maidenhead.

Conference Centres of Excellence Announces New Learning and Training Academy

Conference Centres of Excellence are delighted to introduce the launch of the first four training courses for their new Learning and Training Academy which was announced at their Annual Conference this year.

With their preferred training supplier Paje Consultancy, Conference Centres of Excellence have entered into a partnership to offer training courses bespoke to the hospitality industry which will be delivered by Paje Consultancy and their Associate Partners Rattray Milne and the Conference Doctors all of whom offer first class expertise in the industry.

The courses: ’Revenue Management Excellence for the Conference Market’ takes place in May, followed by ‘Conference and Event Enquiry Handling Excellence’ in June are open to both member venues and the wider hospitality audience who wish to excel in their business performance. 

Following later in the year are ‘The Insider’s Guide to Agencies and Sharpened Propositions’ in June and ‘How to get Excellent Results from Research and Telesales’ in September.

Stuart Websdale, Board Chair commented:   “We are always looking to further enhance our member benefits and partnering with Paje Consultancy complements our strategic ambition of promoting excellence in our venues, people and our systems.  Launching the Learning and Development Academy provides a great opportunity for industry best practice to be shared and promoted with our members and also venues looking for fine-tuned bespoke hospitality training courses.”  

Paje Consulting Manager Director Mandy Jennings comments; “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Conference Centres of Excellence.  Our training is bespoke and specialist for the conference, training and event market. Both the Paje team and associate partners have a breadth of hospitality experience, yet are all still involved in frontline sales, revenue and marketing so can give real life experience helping to make our training come alive to the delegates.”

A hat-trick for Woodland Grange

EEF Venues’ Woodland Grange conference centre in Leamington Spa has won three awards, underlining the quality of the venue and its team. 

For the fourth consecutive year the venue has received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Award. The accolade, which honours hospitality excellence, is given only to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveller reviews on TripAdvisor.

For the third year running, the venue has achieved a top rated status in the prestigious Laterooms.com ‘Simply The Guest Awards’ after receiving an average review score of over 80% across 30 or more genuine guest reviews left over the past twelve months on LateRooms.com, the UK’s leading hotel booking site.

Woodland Grange has also received an Award of Excellence from Booking.com in honour of the venue team’s  8.5 rating consistently achieved over the last three years.

Ian Chaplin, general manager of Woodland Grange, said: "At Woodland Grange we aspire to world class customer service so we feel very proud to get this positive feedback and recognition directly from our customers. I am particularly delighted for our team who work tirelessly to make every customer’s journey with us memorable and enjoyable.

“Benchmarks such as these latest awards strengthen our reputation as a quality player with consistently high standards.”

Warwick Conferences achieves VenueVerdict Gold Standard

Warwick Conferences is celebrating their venue Scarman achieving the BDRC Continental VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation.

The VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation is given to those venues recording a twelve-month Net Promoter Score of +70 from 40 or more business event hosts responses in 2015 and is testament to the team’s dedication to providing a first-rate meeting experience to every customer. 

Richard Harrison, Head of Conference Centres at Warwick Conferences, says: “We are delighted to receive the prestigious VenueVerdict Gold Standard from BDRC Continental. The staff at Scarman always go the extra mile to understand and implement the details valued by our customers and it is fantastic that this is being recognised. There really is no better testimony than positive customer feedback so we are thrilled to receive this accolade.” 

James Bland, Director of the Hotels and Hospitality team at BDRC Continental, says: “Warwick Conferences should be very proud of their venue Scarman. Net Promoter Scores can range from -100 to +100 so to achieve and sustain a score of +70 requires consistently excellent customer service. It’s a very discerning measure and that’s why only 39 venues have achieved it this time around.”

‘Best UK Management Training Centre’ – M&IT Gold award for Møller Centre

The Møller Centre won the prestigious Gold award for ‘Best UK Management Training Centre’ at the Meetings & Incentive Travel (M&IT) Industry Awards 2016.

The awards recognise excellent customer service and are the meetings and events industry’s only independently verified and audited awards. It’s the fifth occasion in the last six years that the Møller Centre has won the ‘Best UK Management Training Centre’ top award at the ceremony attended by over 1200 professionals from the global hospitality industry.

Accepting the award from BBC journalist Kate Silverton, Stefan Mitham, Head of Sales at the Møller Centre, explained:

“We are thrilled with this award. The customer is at the heart of our business and so for customers to vote for us in such numbers makes us very proud. Thank you to all the clients who voted for us, we are delighted that you believe in us and the world-class quality we offer as ‘Best UK Management Training Centre’.

To win Gold in five out of the last six years is no mean feat and one we are very proud of. The hard part now is ensuring we maintain Gold for next year. On behalf of everyone at the Møller Centre thank you very much.”

Stefan Mitham, Head of Sales, Stuart Websdale, General Manager and Anne Zenz, Reception Manager from the Møller Centre attended the awards with key clients: Carol Primett, Events Manager at Anglian Water, Jaspar Robertson, Senior Business Development Director at Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education, and Pete Marsh, Director of Pete Marsh Consulting.

Organised by Meetings & Incentive Travel magazine, the awards event was held on Tuesday 3 March at Battersea Evolution, London.

Woodland Grange takes silver at the National Apprenticeships4England Awards

EEF Venues’ Woodland Grange conference centre in Leamington Grange, Warwickshire has been awarded silver under the ‘25-100 Employer Awards’ category at the Apprenticeship4England Awards 2016 for the team’s outstanding work with apprentices and for the provision of training to staff.

Matthew Parsons, executive chef, (Mentor of the Year in the National Apprenticeship Awards 2015 and Apprenticeship Ambassador with The Apprenticeship Ambassador Network) and Ailish Griffin, originally an apprentice but now a commis chef at Woodland Grange, attended the award ceremony at the Emirates Stadium in London on Thursday 25th February. They were presented with their award by Sharon Walpole, CEO of Walpole Publications Ltd.

This national awards programme showcases and rewards outstanding examples of quality, best practice, innovation and excellence in apprenticeship delivery.

Working closely with Stratford-upon-Avon College, eleven apprentices have been trained at Woodland Grange over the last nine years, all of whom have gone on to take up positions within the hospitality sector, with five taking up permanent positions at Woodland Grange.

Ian Chaplin, general manager at Woodland Grange, said: “We are grateful to Stratford-upon-Avon College for putting us forward for this award and we are delighted to receive this national recognition because we genuinely celebrate young talent and value what they bring to the business.  

“Investing in training and development at all levels of the business plays a key role in our strategic objectives. It continues to impact positively on our performance and on our reputation for customer service excellence.” 

The news comes in advance of National Apprenticeship Week starting on 14th March. #NAW2016

Bryan Anderson, Apprenticeship Team Leader at Stratford-upon-Avon College, said, “I’m very proud of our relationship with Woodland Grange. They are an exceptional apprenticeship provider and offer outstanding training. During their apprenticeship reviews with the College, learners have often commented on the support they receive from Woodland Grange, the high expectations that are set and the time devoted to them by the staff to help them not only meet but exceed their own personal expectations.”

Eynsham Hall welcomes David Cameron to unveil “New Look” Boutique Country Hotel in Oxfordshire

Today marked the first Experience Oxfordshire networking event of 2016. Held at Eynsham Hall, there were over 150 local business and organisations in attendance as well as the Rt Hon David Cameron, Prime Minister and MP for Witney.

The informal event offered Experience Oxfordshire partners a chance to meet other business from across the visitor economy sector and network as well as well as an opportunity to catch up with the Experience Oxfordshire team. The event was also the grand unveiling of Eynsham Hall's £2.5million refurbishment to the local industry.

After speaking to the invited audience Mr Cameron did a walk around taking the opportunity to speak with many of Experience Oxfordshire's Partners and local businesses and also presenting B4's Richard and Colin Rosser a celebratory certificate on behalf of Experience Oxfordshire congratulating them on their 10 years in business.

The event is part of a series of annual events and programme's that Experience Oxfordshire runs for their partners.

On the event David Cameron MP said:
"It has been a pleasure to attend today's event here at the stunning, newly refurbished Eynsham Hall and to speak with local businesses. I am passionate about the tourism sector -- as shown by the drive I have given to the government's plans, including the excellent "Great" campaign -- and I am extremely proud to see the sector doing so well here in Oxfordshire".
"I was delighted to hear of Experience Oxfordshire's plans for the future and to see true public and private sector collaboration. I would urge any business with an interest in the visitor economy to get involved with Experience Oxfordshire and the great things they are doing. I will watch how this further develops with much interest and my support for the sector remains strong"

Hayley Beer-Gamage, Chief Executive of Experience Oxfordshire added;
"This has been a fantastic start to the year to have both the Prime Minister in attendance, showing how collaboration is key to success. At Experience Oxfordshire we are delighted to see so many of our Partners and Ambassador's here today to celebrate with Eynsham Hall and make exciting plans for the year ahead. We are an ambitious organisation who are looking to engage and grow the visitor economy across Oxfordshire and we are delighted to be receiving so much support. We have only touched on some of the exciting plans for the year ahead today and there is much more to come!"

Shaun Bowles, the General Manager of Eynsham Hall who welcomed everyone to the event said:
"This was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the work recently completed at Eynsham Hall, especially the new main hall bedrooms which are a real credit to the hotel. It's also incredibly warming to receive such strong support from Experience Oxfordshire and fellow members"

Richard Rosser, Chief Executive of B4 said;
"We are tremendously proud to receive this award from Experience Oxfordshire and the Prime Minister to mark the 10th anniversary of B4 magazine. On the behalf of the team I'm delighted to receive this honour and recognition of our work."

imago makes new business development appointment

imago has appointed Natasha Hughes to the role of Business Development Manager as it seeks to take advantage of sales opportunities in the market.

Natasha, who was included on the miaList in 2014 and is a graduate of Loughborough University, previously worked at Customer Relations Manager at Burleigh Court where she managed conference clients and hotel guests and was a duty manager responsible for the day to day operations at the four star hotel and conference centre.

In her new role, Natasha will be responsible for building relationships with existing and new clients and winning business for imago’s portfolio of venues – Burleigh Court, Holywell Park, The Link Hotel and Loughborough University Campus.

Natasha commented: “Over the past few years I have become passionate about hospitality and customer service and its ability to completely change a customer's journey and perspective alongside improving business reputation, sales and revenue. My previous role means I have built strong relationships with imago’s client base which will be of great benefit when retaining clients and understanding their event requirements and how our venues can best meet their needs. 

Emma Boynton, Head of Sales and Marketing at imago, said: “We are delighted that Natasha has joined our business development team. She is already well known amongst our client base and will be a great asset to our team as we look to increase sales across imago’s portfolio of venues.”

imago unifies Loughborough University’s conference and events venues under one brand which offers high quality meeting spaces, venues and accommodation along with excellent sports and leisure facilities. imago manages Burleigh Court, Holywell Park, Loughborough University’s conference and events facilities and The Link Hotel.

imago to present research into face to face communication at CHASE

imago, the conference and events arm of Loughborough University, is once again exhibiting at the leading third sector exhibition where it will be presenting its findings into the value of face to face communication.

The 24th Charities and Associations Event - CHASE 2016 - will take place on 16 and 17 February at the Business Design Centre, London, where imago will also be showcasing why its portfolio of venues are ideally suited for events organised by charities and associations.

The research – Does the future have room for face-to-face communication - measured the value of meeting face to face amongst a sample of more than 750 event organisers, delegates, graduate and undergraduate students. imago will be discussing the results to see if its findings match the thoughts and requirements of meeting planners in the third sector.

Emma Boynton, head of sales and marketing at imago comments: “CHASE brings together senior decision makers from one of our target markets and is an ideal platform for us to discuss the importance of face to face communication. It will also allow us to gain further insight into what is important for event organisers in this area in relation to the value of meetings.”

Key findings from the research included:

• 96.6% of meetings attendees cited small face to face meetings of fewer than 10 participants as their favoured form of communication.
• Group interaction and discussion is considered the top benefit of face to face communications by 78.4% of delegates and 69.4% of students.
• On a scale of 0 to 100, delegates ranked engagement during face to face meetings at an average of 85%, with students at 73%.
• An interactive format as a tool to retain information was most favoured by both delegates (81%) and students (72.1%).

Emma adds: “As well as presenting our research, the exhibition provides us with the opportunity to showcase our venue offering and how our experience in organising meetings and events can benefit them and their members. It was highly successful for us last year which is why we have chosen to return, and we are even more delighted to be part of its education programme.” 

The research was undertaken by Loughborough University and imago.  The Right Solution provided methodology, analysis and validation of the research which was conducted using a mixture of focus groups, online and face to face questionnaires.

imago unifies Loughborough University’s conference and events venues under one brand offering high quality meeting spaces, venues and accommodation along with excellent sports and leisure facilities. Its venues and services have achieved industry wide recognition, including achieving AIM Gold, the highest level of venue accreditation - and are widely acknowledged as some of the best academic facilities for meetings and events in the country. For more information visit www.welcometoimago.com or call 01509 633030.

imago is on Stand 30 at CHASE. Does the future have room for face to face communication will be presented on Tuesday 16 February (10.45am).

EEF Venues takes the title for the third consecutive year

For the third year running, EEF Venues has been named ‘No 1 Small Group’ and ‘Best Value for Money Group’ in BDRC Continental’s VenueVerdict Awards 2015 – the only industry awards programme based entirely on the voice of the customer.

In addition, Engineers’ House, EEF Venue’s Bristol venue, has been named ‘No 1 Overall Venue’ and ‘No 1 Conference Centre’ for the second year running.

This year's results are based on 20,003 individual responses throughout 2015 from event planners across a pool of over 375 participating venues nationwide.

EEF Venues was ranked in top place within key people-related areas of the customer journey such as understanding client priorities, friendliness & helpfulness of staff, flexibility & responsiveness and meeting & greeting performance. Other areas also scored top marks such as technical facilities, Wi-Fi speed & connectivity and meeting room size, comfort and temperature.

David Vaughton, director of venues for EEF Venues, said: "People skills and engagement are vitally important issues for customers on their journey with us because that is what they remember so to have gained this important accolade three years in a row shows the consistency of our standards and satisfaction levels. 

“Achieving world class customer service is an integral part of our business model and it continues to reap sustainable business benefits such as trust, loyalty, repeat business, increased revenue and recognition such as this. We couldn’t ask for a better start to the year."

The results underline a recent report by the Institute of Customer Service on 2016 trends which highlight that focusing on the customer experience impacts positively on business outcomes.

“It’s all about people”, said David Vaughton. “If you have passionate people who embody your values, it is bound to impact positively on return of investment and on the bottom line. That is why we place so much emphasis on growing talent through our apprentice and trainee management schemes to instil our values for succession planning.” 

Over the last two years EEF Venues achieved 19% consolidated growth and forecasts a further 5% year on year growth for 2016, with a projected annual turnover target close to £6 million for this financial year.

EEF Venue’s three venues have also scooped gold standard accreditation in the VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation 2015, with a combined Net Promoter Score of +86.8 from customers in comparison to a national average of just +55.1.

James Bland, director of the Hotels and Hospitality team at BDRC Continental, said: “Our role at BDRC Continental is to ensure impartial, unbiased calculation of results to ensure the VenueVerdict Awards and Accreditations are determined entirely by the customer feedback properties receive.  That means that Gold Standard Accreditations are genuine hallmarks of the service and product that meeting and event hosts can expect to experience.  

“To achieve the high standard required to achieve these Accreditations requires hard work and dedication, but above all an unwavering focus on the guest experience.  EEF Venues are to be congratulated for the consistently excellent standards they maintain.”

Conference Centres of Excellence introduces venues to the agency market

Conference Centres of Excellence is targeting the agency market to develop brand awareness of its independent venues.

Under the leadership of new Director of Sales Mandy Jennings, Conference Centre of Excellence is targeting agency business by providing a single point of contact for booking the group’s 26 UK venues. As more corporate buyers are working with mandated agencies and procurement procedures, the approach to agents is vital in order to influence decision makers who are looking for dedicated venues appropriate to training, specific meeting and conference requirements. 

The Conference Centres of Excellence sales team is extremely experienced in the training venues market, and can facilitate agents booking venues which will deliver results perfect for training and regional roadshows. By offering all inclusive packages tailored to specific event requirements, the venues add value to the delegate experience, with free Wi-Fi, syndicate rooms, onsite AV support and unlimited refreshments, whilst enabling agents and their clients to monitor costs.

The approach to the agency market is designed to raise the profile of the group’s highly accredited independent venues, many of which are multi-award winning and considered some of the best in the UK. 

“Understanding the agency market and being able to facilitate introductions on behalf of our members provides benefits for both venues and agents” said Mandy Jennings, Director of Sales for CCE Venues. “By providing agents with one point of contact for 26 high quality venues, we can provide a regional solution that offers flexibility but with the ongoing reassurance of excellent service and facilities which our quality promise provides.”

Conference Centres of Excellence has integrated the agency brand awareness into its marketing plans over the coming months as part of the membership benefits to venues, and will be showcasing its venues at the upcoming Meetings Show at London Olympia (7-9 July).

For more details please contact agents@cceonline.co.uk

To book at meeting with the CCE Sales Team at The Meetings Show visit: http://www.themeetingsshow.com/Content/Register-here

Quality Standards remain top of the list for CCE Venues

Conference Centres of Excellence is delighted once again to see member venues achieve a number of BDRC Continental’s VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditations at the end of Q1 2015.

The VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation is the top level accolade issued to venues, based on independent customer feedback including their ‘likelihood to recommend’ Net Promoter Score.

Our venues consistently demonstrate the high standards required to provide an outstanding event experience for customers, across a number of key areas including service, facilities, food and accommodation. For those who take part in the BDRC VenueVerdict programme, achieving these accreditations on a regular basis independently confirms the excellent ongoing service delivery.

Just under 21,000 individual pieces of feedback were collated to determine the VenueVerdict results, providing a completely independent assessment of experience. In choosing a venue where customer feedback and in particular the ‘likelihood to recommend’ has been measured in this way, customers can rest assured that they are in safe hands.

Seven Conference Centres of Excellence member venues have achieved the BDRC Continental VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation following ongoing assessment of customer feedback during the year from April 2014 to March 2015.

The Conference Centre of Excellence gold accredited venues are:

• Broadway House (EEF Venues), London

• Engineers House (EEF Venues), Bristol

• Scarman Training and Conference Centre (Warwick Conferences), Warwick

• The Møller Centre, Cambridge

• Nottingham Conference Centre, Nottingham

• The Beardmore Hotel and Conference Centre, Glasgow

• Woodland Grange (EEF Venues), Warwickshire

Amanda Stacey, Marketing Manager of Conference Centres of Excellence commented: 

“At a time when service delivery and customer experience are once again becoming a priority factor for event bookers, rather than low pricing and reduced rate packages, we’re delighted to see that our members are consistently being rewarded with the highest level of customer feedback. BDRC VenueVerdict is a well-recognised industry standard and our venues can rightly be proud of their achievements.”

Join our team at Conference Centres of Excellence

We are looking for a Marketing Professional to cover a maternity contract commencing in June 2015, working from our Warwickshire office.

The ideal candidate will preferably have industry experience, plus marketing skills including digital and social media management, PR writing and client account management experience. 

As a marketing consortium for just over 30 Conference and Event venues across the UK, the marketing role is a varied and busy position providing marketing and membership services to a variety of independent venues, promoting brand awareness and generating business leads and enquiries.

For further information including salary details please contact Amanda Stacey, Marketing Manager

amandastacey@cceonline.co.uk

Conference Centres of Excellence outlines future vision for the group

Conference Centres of Excellence outlines its strategy for the group as members report continued confidence and growth in the market.

Starting with a handful of consortium members in the early 1990s, and officially launched in 1992 with 20 independent venues, the group is unique in providing marketing and sales support for quality venues across the UK. 

Following a period of consolidation, Conference Centres of Excellence has now unveiled a stronger vision for the consortium, with a focus on quality, marketing and sales for its members. Alan Robinson steps into the role of Chief Executive Officer, with the objective of guiding the consortium to ‘be the membership body of choice for the marketing of high quality, innovative, customer led conference centres in the UK.’ Alan joined Conference Centres of Excellence as Membership Director in May 2014, becoming Chief Executive Officer in February 2015. He had previously served on the board for seven years during his time at member venue Warwick Conferences. 

Conference Centres of Excellence is the only membership body within the industry that has a full sales service to support its marketing activities, and is very excited to also announce that it has secured the services of Mandy Jennings and her team at Paje Consultancy to direct its sales operation and represent all of the CCE Venues on a national basis. Mandy has a wealth of experience in the conference and meetings industry having previously been Sales Director for both Principal Hayley and De Vere Hotels & Venues Group.

Overall the board foresees the 2015/16 membership year as one of growth in all areas for the consortium, using the experience and commitment of the team to deliver the ongoing benefits and association with Excellence for all our members.

Commenting on his role and the future plans for the group, Alan Robinson said “Conference Centres of Excellence is principally a marketing consortium which helps to drive standards in the industry through sharing of best practice. It is a tremendous organisation which I am proud to be involved in, and I look forward to delivering our vision to all members.”

For more information about membership contact Alan Robinson on 0845 230 14 14 or info@cceonline.co.uk.

Warren House becomes latest Conference Centres of Excellence member venue

Warren House has joined Conference Centres of Excellence, the UK’s only sales and marketing consortium of dedicated meeting providers.

Recognised as one of the country’s finest meeting venues, Warren House is located inconspicuously on the borders of Richmond Park. Originally built in 1864 as a family home, from 1996 this elegant Victorian building became an award winning conference venue boasting truly unique facilities for business and pleasure set within 4 acres of private gardens. 

Retaining the distinct ambience of a family home, guests are drawn to Warren House for its very contemporary approach and the level of excellent service and personal attention. Whether travelling to Warren House by car, train or plane, it is ideally located in Kingston-Upon-Thames, combining the convenience of a London location (just 20 minutes from London Waterloo) with the tranquillity of a country house setting.

Warren House has 10 meeting/conference rooms (accommodating up to 120 delegates) and 46 individually appointed bedrooms. Warren House is also very well known for the ability to close out the outside world and can literally close the formidable gates making it a venue perfect for mergers, acquisitions and highly confidential events.

Having met stringent criteria in terms of facilities, accommodation and customer care, joining Conference Centres of Excellence enables Warren House to benefit from the group’s marketing activities, providing customers with a single route to booking one of our nationwide venues, with consistent quality standards.

Alan Robinson, Chief Executive Officer of Conference Centres of Excellence commented “We are delighted to have Warren House join our portfolio of venues, particularly at a time when quality and exceptional service delivery has really set our members apart from the wider conference market. Warren House is a truly exceptional venue and prides itself on delivering every event with individual attention to detail and excellent quality standards.”

Conference Centres of Excellence has been working with specialist venues in the meetings, training and events industry for nearly 25 years, and its 31 members include many of the country’s best known specialist venues, covering a geographical area extending from the south coast of England to Scotland. 

CCE Venues achieve multiple wins at biggest ever M&IT Awards

Conference Centres of Excellence member venues achieved significant success winning  a number of gold, silver and bronze awards at the prestigious annual Meetings & Incentive Travel Awards held this week, and celebrated in style with their industry colleagues and peers.

The Meetings & Incentive Travel Industry Awards event was held on March 3rd at Battersea Evolution in London, hosted by former England rugby star Matt Dawson and with more than 1,100 guests in attendance.

Conference Centres of Excellence were once again well represented with several member venues shortlisted as finalists, and a highlight of the evening was the group securing Bronze, Silver and Gold awards in the ‘Best UK Management Training Centre’ category. Gold winners of this category, Warwick Conferences also picked up the gold award for ‘Best Academic Venue’ and a silver award for the ‘Best UK Conference Centre’, enjoying prominent and well deserved customer endorsements for their venue.

 Imago, Burleigh Court also secured a silver award for ‘Best Academic Venue’ and bronze for ‘Best Conference and Banqueting Staff’ which follows a year of winning highly respected accolades and awards in the industry. The Møller Centre was also a multiple award winner on the evening, with silver awards for ‘Best UK Management Training Centre’ as well as ‘Best Conference and Banqueting Staff’, both awards coming despite being in the midst of a substantial redevelopment and refurbishment at the venue.

“These awards celebrate quality standards in all areas of the meetings and events industry, and as a membership organisation based on a commitment to excellence, we are delighted to have once again supported and sponsored these awards” commented Amanda Stacey, Marketing Manager at Conference Centres of Excellence. “To also have a number of our venues once again winning prestigious awards based on an independent customer vote is testament to the quality standards within our group.”

The event also raised more than £36,000 for event charity Meetings Industry Meeting Needs, with both an online auction prior to the awards, and a table raffle on the night of the event.

Gold Standard Accreditation demonstrates consistent quality standards for venues

Conference Centres of Excellence is delighted to see member venues once again achieve a number of BDRC Continental’s VenueVerdict accreditations and commendations at the end of Q4 2014, based on a customer’s ‘likelihood to recommend’ using feedback across a number of key areas.

These accreditations, particularly the top level Gold Standard Accreditation, demonstrate the high standards required by the membership group to provide consistently superior standards in service and facilities for all customers.

Just under 21,250 individual pieces of feedback were collated to determine the VenueVerdict results, providing a completely independent assessment of experience. In choosing a venue where customer feedback and in particular the ‘likelihood to recommend’ has been measured in this way, customers can rest assured that they are in safe hands.

Seven Conference Centres of Excellence member venues have achieved the BDRC Continental VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation following ongoing assessment of customer feedback during the year from January to December 2014. 

The Conference Centre of Excellence gold accredited venues are:

• Broadway House (EEF Venues), London

• Engineers House (EEF Venues), Bristol

• Farncombe Conference Centre, Cotswolds

• The Møller Centre, Cambridge

• Nottingham Conference Centre, Nottingham

• The Beardmore Hotel and Conference Centre, Glasgow

• Woodland Grange (EEF Venues), Warwickshire

Highly commended venues also include CCE members:

• Imago @ Burleigh Court, Leicestershire

• Scarman Training & Conference Centre, Warwickshire

• Stirling Court Hotel & Conference Centre, Stirling

• Wyboston Lakes, Bedfordshire

Commended venues include CCE members:

• Ashorne Hill, Warwickshire

• Eynsham Hall, Oxfordshire

Amanda Stacey, Marketing Manager of Conference Centres of Excellence commented: 

“Our members consistently strive to maintain the highest possible quality standards in the meetings, training and events industry, and there’s no better endorsement than that from independently monitored customer feedback. As a consortium which measures quality standards in terms of dedicated facilities, exceptional food, superior staff expertise, and overall event experience, we are delighted at the consistent quality standards our venues achieve year after year and congratulate those members in particular who achieve the gold standard accreditation.”