FEATURE: HOTEL, CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION
The region offers quality, variety, value for money and a joined-up approach to working that enables the industry and its customers to get the best out of their event. In the UK’s second city, a unique and
innovative scheme has been adopted to create the ideal customer experience. Team Birmingham employs joined-up thinking across a variety of local agencies, including the NEC Group, Birmingham City Council, Marketing Birmingham, West Midlands Police and the local Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), to form a truly holistic approach to bringing events to the city. This clever method of working ensures
conference, exhibition and hotel venues – plus other service providers in and around the city – are pulling in the same direction for the mutual benefit of the local economy. The relationship between event venues and the hotels that surround them is a vital element of the success of the conference and exhibitions sector. Within the 610-acre NEC site, among the
tranquil surroundings of the lake and woodland, are more than 1,600 hotel rooms that serve both the NEC – the UK’s largest and one of Europe’s busiest, exhibition venues and conference centres – and the LG Arena. More than 4,500 hotel beds are within walking
distance of the ICC and the NIA in Birmingham city centre. The NEC Group works with partners and
surrounding hotels to ensure availability during events and then puts the hotels directly in touch with the client to ensure that they are achieving the best rates. The group also operates an online booking
tool called My Visit, a one-stop shop that enables visitors to organise extras such as accommodation, restaurant reservations and transportation alongside event tickets. This complete package offered by the NEC
Group and its partners is one of the reasons why organisers bring business back again and again to the West Midlands. The NEC Group is proud of its long-standing
relationships with a number of clients; the staging of the annual congress of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) at the ICC being a prime example. Nick Waight, Managing Director of the ICC, explained: “It was the first event staged at the
city-centre venue when it opened its doors in 1991, attracting 1,800 delegates and filling only part of the centre’s impressive 8,000 capacity. These days the event occupies all of the ICC’s 10 halls and 10 executive meeting rooms, with the nearby NIA providing the exhibition space required. More than 8,000 delegates now attend every year and the event continues to grow and evolve. “Event organisers appreciate this flexibility and the plentiful opportunities to develop their event utilising the knowledge and experience of the ICC team.”
On the outskirts of the city the NEC boasts
182,000sqm of covered exhibition space through 20 interconnecting halls, seminar and hospitality suites, restaurants and breakout areas, which are capable of hosting exhibition events over a number of days for up to 150,000 visitors. Ranging from some of the biggest names in
consumer events – such as Crufts, BBC Gardeners World, and Clothes Show Live – to some of the world’s largest international trade exhibitions, including Spring Fair and Event UK, the NEC has built a reputation over the last 35 years as one of Europe’s leading exhibition centres.
In addition to the venues the group also
operates national ticketing agency The Ticket Factory and award-winning caterer Amadeus, which recently won the contract to provide catering at the Olympic Park North at the 2012 London Olympics. This success was followed by Amadeus winning a three-year catering contract for the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, the UK’s second biggest flower show after RHS Chelsea. The exhibitions, conference and hotels
marketplace within the UK is fiercely competitive. Kathryn James, Managing Director of the NEC, said: “The West Midlands is well placed to take on the offerings of some of the other regions and if it is to continue to stride ahead of the pack then the joined-up approach to staging events must be further reinforced. “By working together, the venues within the
exhibition, conference and hotels sector of the West Midlands will continue to provide this winning formula: some of the finest facilities in the world, with high levels of customer care, top quality services, the room to grow and develop, and the sort of value for money that will bring business back to the region time and time again.”
THE WEST MIDLANDS CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE Directory 2011/2012
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‘THE REGION OFFERS QUALITY, VARIETY, VALUE FOR MONEY AND A JOINED-UP APPROACH TO WORKING’
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