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.”
