During negotiations, Clarion secured over 40,000 hotel


nights on reserve that are the best rates you can find anywhere. Further, stipulated within the contract is that there can only be minimal price increases of those hotel nights for the duration of the five-year contract. “Of course, we're never going to have control over the whole city,” adds Stuart. “It's impossible to assume that. But from the 40,000 hotel nights we have control over, the average rate across those hotel nights was about €200 whereas in London it was around £320. Tis represents a significant saving for all, however when you consider some of our larger exhibitors take in excess of 200 rooms, the cost saving is substantial. Outside of this booking platform, like any other trade show


in any other city, attendees are left to their own devices. Tere will be hotels at capacity that may dial up their rates, but there will be availability. Mobile World Congress brings 120,000 people to the city and next year’s ICE will be bringing around half that number. As well as lower costs, the new venue has given Clarion the opportunity to be a bit more specific on how it sectorises the show. “It's a bit of a beast,” quips Stuart. “We have five halls for 2025. Hall One will be the home of iGB Affiliate that will be


opening on the second day of ICE. We really wanted it to be open across the entire three days, but due to operational challenges that's not possible next year, but it will be for 2026. Te ExCeL's layout meant you had to put your backpack on,


grab your walking stick and walk miles a day. Whilst that might still be the case for some attendees (most definitely for the poor souls at G3 who have clients across the industry spectrum), but if attendees have a specific interest there is less trekking back and forth to do. If you are solely interested in online gaming and technology, you are going to be in Hall Two. Land-based? Hall Tree. Sports betting, payments, esports, marketing technology - all the kind of growth tech areas - Halls Four and Five. “Te way the event and venue has been designed is going to allow a perfect penetration to all these spaces,” explains Stuart. “Tis is a development that's been driven from customer feedback. Tere will be parts of that design that perhaps we will want to tweak as we go through. We're already exploring what it looks like into Halls Six, Seven and Eight.” On top of this, there’s a gargantuan “Hall Zero” being built


just across the way from the venue, but let’s park that for another day.


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