The Hilton Prague hotel has landed atop the 2018 top meeting hotels list by Cvent. The booming MICE business of the hotel proves that it’s on the right track, doing the right things.
We talked to Michael Specking, General Manager at Hilton Prague, to find out the secret sauce of their property’s successful MICE business. Read on to know what Hilton Prague does to grow its MICE business in such a competitive market.
Q: Hilton Prague has topped the Cvent’s top meeting hotels list, so you must know how to generate loyalty and repeat business. How do you nurture and own your relationships with planners to keep them coming back year after year?
A: We have a very efficient sales team in the hotel as well as within the Hilton Worldwide network whose main goal is to maintain and nurture our valuable relationships with all our customers. Moreover, we aim at improving our services event after event and exceeding our client’s expectations, which keeps them coming back.
Q: Speaking of service, respondents in Cvent’s 2018 EMEA Planner Sourcing Report (to be released in June) said the most difficult part of the planning process is negotiating with the venue. What can hotels like yours do to alleviate that?
A: Negotiation is always a hard process as you have to meet high quality of service, customer demands and at the same time keep the hotel operations profitable. We have to be customer-centric, and efficiently provide the best solutions for their requests. During the process, we are not just negotiators and salesmen, but we have to be counsellors and concentrate on the customer’s vision. Customer’s vision is our passion, and that is what we believe and execute at Hilton Prague at all the levels of our organisation on daily basis.
Q: Technology’s role at hotels has continued to grow in everything from guest rooms to booking experiences to presentation equipment. Can you describe one technology that you have implemented that has gotten really great feedback from planners and event attendees?
A: Video mapping is a great success with all our clients as it is a great tactic for enhancing the attendee experience. We make use of video mapping around the tables, and even on the 40m tall inside façade. Participants admire full immersion into the sound, light and projection, and feel energised for the rest of the event right from the beginning. It is a great addition to our portfolio of experiences and has created a profound impact on our events overall. The impact is such that the participants talk about their experiences for days even after they leave Prague.
Q: The Cvent Supplier Network offers properties access to a lot of data. Are there any metrics that you pay particular attention to?
A: Cvent is such a great platform, not only it facilitates enquiry management, but it also brings great stats on our efficiency, like conversion rate, lead-time, the share of the city demand, response time and other important indicators. It is fantastic to access all these figures so easily through Cvent. We keep a check on entire city’s data and segment it based on geographical markets, industries, size of events and many other parameters. We analyse them, combine the outcomes with our internal business reporting and then we plan our actions accordingly. All the data are valuable, but the most important is to make the most of it.
Q: What do you think makes your property and sales team so successful in attracting and winning MICE business?
A: We know who we want to be in the market. We want to be recognised as the best venue in Europe for big events because we have space and a great location, we have the people, we have the processes, and the most important, we have the passion. This is our vision.
The award-winning property of Hilton Prague is conveniently located, just 10-minutes away from the heart of charming Czech capital and 25-minutes away from the international airport. Set in a bright and contemporary design space, Hilton Prague’s 791 guestrooms and 5,000 square metres of flexible convention and banquet space host over 500 events of distinct types and sizes, catering for more than 70,000 delegates.
For more information on Hilton Prague or other meeting hotels in Europe, visit Cvent Supplier Network.
