THERE was a time when the hotel conference room would be in the basement. Get in the lift and press the last button before the car park. Invariably you found a greasy room with an urn of stewed tea, basic plastic seats, a whiteboard and windows offering a view of some fine brickwork.
Things are changing. Hotels have realised that people do not just want a flip chart and a plate of digestive biscuits. They want a friendly environment, good catering (Costa coffee and Starbucks frequently have a franchise in hotels now) and high-tech facilities or at least the ability for delegates to use their own. In effect, hotels are finding that they must provide a package.
With 30 people being the average size of a conference, there is no doubt about their value to hotels in bed nights, food and beverages — but facilities have been wanting.
“Hotels have had to wake up to conference business” says Kerry Baggott, editor of Conference & Incentive Travel, magazine. “Margins are tight and hoteliers have had to be proactive in making their conference space different and more inviting, investing in the latest technology and providing good snacks as well as formal dining.”
Natural light, ergonomic chairs, air conditioning that works, space and entertainment, all seem a priority now for hotels as well as delegates. Colin Harris, director of Distinguished Destinations, a conference organiser, says: “In the past 18 months we have seen a big difference, with facilities much improved. “A couple of years ago you had to pay a premium for dial-up internet, now you usually have complimentary broadband wi-fi. Hotels are better placed to give conferences a complete package of leisure and work and every hotel now seems to have a spa.”
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Better travel links still mean London remains the focus of conferences with business starting right at the airport. The SAS Radisson hotel at Stansted has 26 conference rooms, which some rivals consider to be overkill.
Radisson says: “We found that while other London airports were served with aged meeting rooms, Stansted didn’t have many at all. When you consider the burgeoning amount of through traffic from Europe with new destinations all the time, we knew this would generate business. We also have good train links to London and the regions.”
Conferences in London have proved to be expensive in comparison with the provinces with meeting rooms and bedrooms generally less spacious . To compensate, many hotels have had to upgrade their services. The Metropolitan on Park Lane has invested millions on refurbishment with special attention given to its conference facilities. The improvements include meeting rooms with their own washrooms, plasma screens, Bose sound systems and even a kitchenette. They are also bullish about central London.
Richard Meiklejohn, marketing co-ordinator of the Metropolitan and Como Hotels Group, says: “It might be cheaper to have a seminar in the provinces but when you add the £60-��70 train ticket and delays, you may as well have chosen London.
“Then what will you do in the evening? Would you rather take in a show, go to the Met Bar or our restaurant Nobu, or go to the bar of the country house hotel and watch sheep through the windows?” Nevertheless many companies are now opting for the country house conference. Bovey Castle and Cliveden are examples where country pursuits (shooting, fishing and riding) are married with the latest technology in a private, isolated atmosphere. Four Seasons has just opened its first country retreat in Hampshire.
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Susan Bousen, director of sales at the new hotel, says: “We were specifically looking for the conference market, to be close to London but not in it. London can take the energy away from a conference.”
Organisers tend to want something a bit different and hotels in the leisure industry give them that difference. The Malmaison hotels have steadily seduced leisure guests into coming back for business. Malmaison Birmingham is probably the most conference-orientated in the group, with six bespoke rooms. Furthermore each hotel has a designated consultant to help from the planning stage to the wrap-up.
Robert Cook, chief executive of Malmaison and Hotel Du Vin, says: “Conferences are absolutely vital and rather than process people as they do in the bigger hotels, we have tried to add the quirkiness for which we are known. We have wi-fi and broadband but also iPod stations in the rooms because we know conference is about playtime as well.”
Malmaison will even get their mixologist to create a cocktail especially for your conference. It beats stewed tea.