What makes a hotel or venue a favourite among event planners? There are a lot of answers to that question, but a few things are for sure: these hotels know their clients, market continuously where they source, and know their space.
Our latest Top Hotels List reveals the hotels that come top of the pile. Keep reading to learn how these hotels stand out from the competition and impress event planners year after year.
1. Embrace innovation
The event industry moves fast. Hotels and venues that move with it are often top of mind when event professionals are sourcing. That’s because they are more likely to be able to meet new or evolving needs.
Melia Castilla, for example, grabbed first place in our Top Hotels List for their use of innovative technologies and ideas. Innovation and evolution happen in all areas of the business, including investing in green energy, bringing in state-of-the-art technology and automation, and finding creative ways to build strong client relationships.
A big part of moving fast for Melia Castilla is keeping their workforce happy and motivated with skillful, empathetic leadership. According to Marcos Mallado, Area Director of Sales, “Keeping the team motivated and successful is important to protect the working environment. It requires pragmatic and genuine leadership.
"The team needs to have easy access to data and information and feel that each member plays a relevant role. The working environment has to be friendly and open-minded, with a high focus on work-life balance.”
💡Top tip for hotels: Get to know what your clients want most, whether that’s cutting-edge tech or sustainability, and adapt. Do this with initial consultations, check-ins, and surveys, for example.
💡Top tip for event professionals: Look for hotels that prioritise innovation and creativity for a forward-thinking event experience. Use venue sourcing tools like the Cvent Supplier Network to review and find properties that meet your criteria.
2. Prioritise the customer experience
Planning is stressful. Things go wrong. Planners appreciate venues that they can rely on to help solve their challenges. Hotels and venues that put their customers front and centre create long-lasting, fruitful relationships with event professionals.
According to Marcos, customer centricity is vital to growing your meetings and events business. “[Melia Castilla] believes that the way you treat and operate your client events is the way you grow your client portfolio. It is the power of a strong meeting and event venue culture.”
Meliá Avenida América, for example, uses event diagramming technology to communicate quickly and help clients save time. It also provides planners with a great way to visualise their events. “We provide options such as virtual tours and the possibility for the client to create room layouts and 3D diagramming.”
Juan Martinez, Director of Sales and Distribution at Renaissance Brussels Hotel, has noticed significant changes in the newer generation of planners, which means a change in the way they relate to those clients: “The new generation of planners is connected but somehow also disconnected. They don’t want to pick up the phone.”
Instead, Martinez and his team now communicate with event planners via their preferred mode of communication. In this case, it’s WhatsApp.
💡Top tip for hotels: Focus on responding to RFPs in detail and include options, diagrams, and virtual tours to amp up the service before you’ve even started working together.
💡Top tip for event professionals: Select hotels committed to customer service. You’ll get a sense of this through RFP responses and the way they communicate with you from the start.
3. Demonstrate creativity
Flexibility and creativity lead to unique and memorable events. Hotels and venues that focus on creativity, whether in the meeting space, use of technology, or the amenities offered, differentiate themselves and are more likely to become a top choice among planners.
The Kempinski Hotel Corvinus, for example, leans on creativity to attract and wow event professionals and attendees. This includes having “the entire event floor turned into a ski slope for a high-end winter gear and sports company,” to thinking up new and exciting ideas for their F&B. It’s described by Edit Szalczer, Director of Sales, as a “modern art gallery to stay in”.
💡Top tip for hotels: Event planners appreciate out-of-the-box thinking, especially when it comes to problem solving. Use event diagramming tools, for example, to experiment with your meeting space and think up unique ways it could be used.
💡Top tip for event professionals: Look for hotels or venues that are open-minded and willing to try new things. Follow hashtags on social media like #CreativeHotels, #EventVenues, or #BoutiqueHotels to discover properties that aren’t afraid to get creative.
4. Build strong relationships
Long-term relationships between hotels and venues and event professionals are built through trust, transparency, and great service. These are the kind of relationships where both parties evolve and overcome obstacles together.
As a property or event professional, building these relationships takes time, but do it right and it could have a significant impact on the quality of your meetings and events.
According to AC Hotel Bella Sky / Bella Center Copenhagen, “Forming lasting relationships requires time, dedication, and open communication, demonstrating our flexibility, attention to detail, and attentiveness to their needs.”
💡Top tip for hotels: Assign a dedicated account manager to each event professional. Consistent communication, personalised service, and a deep understanding of their preferences and needs are essential to build trust and repeat business.
💡Top tip for event professionals: Provide properties with detailed information about event goals, attendee demographics, and specific needs as early as possible. Clear communication helps hotels prepare and deliver a seamless event experience.
5. Leverage technology for excellence
Technology and automation make the lives of hotel and event professionals easier – especially in the face of staff shortages. That’s because it enhances efficiency and service quality and on a personal level, reduces stress.
Use technology to automate tedious, routine tasks. This gives you more time to focus on the creative side of event creation or customer service. Scandic Berlin Potsdamer Platz achieved a 96% response rate and 28% conversion rate (the best conversion rate in the Cvent Top 50 Hotels) by using advertising on the Cvent Supplier Network.
Pascale Hesse, Director of Distribution Europe says, “Aggregated tools for incoming RFPs and tools to digitally send out offers, contracts, and signage of contracts helped us to improve our conversion and response times.”
💡Top tip for hotels: Adopt technology for every stage of the event cycle, from attracting planners and converting RFPs to managing event bookings and improving your events business.
💡Top tip for event professionals: Using hotels that employ advanced technology will make your life a lot easier. Filter on the Cvent Supplier Network to find hotels that use useful technologies such as Cvent Event Diagramming (event planners and hotels use this to collaborate in real-time on room diagrams) or Cvent Passkey (hotels and event planners use this to streamline room blocking and maximise upsell opportunities).
6. Highlight uniqueness
Increasingly, event planners are looking for hotels or venues that add a splash of colour to their events.
Every property is unique in some way, whether it’s location, amenities, or interior design. Hotels that recognise their uniqueness and emphasise it appropriately are the ones that stand out.
Marcos Mallado of Melia Castilla says the hotel’s unique layout helps them shape their MICE experiences: “The design of our hotel provides seamless and intuitive flows. This gives us a chance to theme our client experience from the hotel’s main entrance door to the meeting halls.”
For Scandic Berlin Potsdamer Platz, a commitment to sustainability is what makes them unique. The hotel is powered by green energy. In the coming year, they are working to build on this by achieving certification with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel. This certification reflects the ongoing dedication to minimising environmental impact and implementing sustainable practices across all areas of the hotel.
💡Top tip for hotels: Use online platforms like the Cvent Supplier Network to advertise what makes your property unique, whether it be your approach to sustainability, technology, or creativity.
💡Top tip for event professionals: Contact local Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs) and tourism boards, which often have lists of unique venues and can provide tailored suggestions based on your event needs. They may also offer incentives or packages to encourage events in lesser-known locations.
What makes a hotel the best of the best?
Every hotel is different. But the greatest ones, in addition to the points mentioned in this article, are efficient, great with communication, and committed to the evolution of the event experience.
Discover more about the Top Hotels of 2024 in our latest ebook: The Best of the Best Meeting Hotels in Europe.
