Venues

3-Star Hotels for MICE in Monaco

Posted on September 19, 2014

Did you know that there are only two 3-star hotels for MICE in Monaco? During my stay I had the pleasure to stay at both of them and here I bring you the exclusive review for MICE as well as a surprise unique venue for special events.

Columbus Monte-Carlo

On my second night in Monaco I stayed at the Columbus Monte-Carlo hotel, a boutique hotel with 181 rooms, 4 conference rooms and one breakout room. It has a very cosy, modern and stylish atmosphere. The Columbus Hotel doesn’t belong to a hotel chain but belongs to the same company which also owns the Fairmont Monte-Carlo and other hotels around the world. The hotel can be completely privatised. During the hotel tour I’ve been told that a major international company privatised the hotel and used some of the rooms as show rooms. The sad truth for business travellers is that we barely spend time in the hotel so again I missed on using any of the facilities such as the gym or the swimming pool.

The hotel does not have an on-site restaurant, but they have good partnerships with local restaurants and possibility to bring external catering. The maximum capacity in the biggest room, Roseraie, for banquets is 100 and 140 delegates for cocktails.

The hotel is a bit outside the central tourist area, but anything in Monaco is really far away, and if you’re attending a conference at the Grimaldi Forum, the local bus will take you there in about 10 minutes. I had again a stunning sea view as well as over the Princess Grace Rosegarden and the Monaco hills. From my room I could also see the Héliport de Monaco and occasionally the helicopters arriving and departing. A bit of a James Bond feeling.

View over the Héliport de Monaco

View from my room

Car Collection of Prince Albert II

I have another tip for you. Just 5 minutes walking distance from the hotel is the iconic Car Collection of Prince Albert II. Prince Rainier of Monaco started this collection in the palace in the late 50^th as private and later on decided to open it to the public. This is also when the collection grew that it needed a larger space, which is the museum today. Prince Albert II continued the tradition and to date the collection is constantly evolving, cars are sold and added occasionally. Some cars are taken for international exhibitions and others are driven on major events. I was very impressed that all the cars are in a good shape.

While during daytime the museum is open to the public, in the evening the space can be privatised for events. It can accommodate up to 600 for banquet and 800 delegates seated. I’m not a car fanatic, but I spent over an hour in the museum, listening to all the stories of some of the iconic cars, by whom it was driven and on what occasions. Monaco has so much history and stories about the Prince’s Palace and the Grimaldi family and all the celebrities who host events there. You just want to pick up on all the details from stories associated with the venues, and believe me there are lots!

And of course there is a section dedicated to Grand Prix cars, on the walls you can see some retro adverts from 1929 and onwards. Today many associate Monaco with this event, so definitely worth to visit!

Since the cars are ordered in historical sequence, the final bit is about electric cars and innovative designs.

Type of events that can be held at the venue include ceremonies, gala dinners, product launches and awards.

Novotel Monte-Carlo

On the fourth and last night I stayed at the Novotel Monte Carlo. I arrived to the hotel after a full day of meetings in Monte Carlo and the check- in went quickly and smoothly and again, I barely could spend time in the room because I had another meeting scheduled and dinner.

Opened in 2007 (it was a radio station before), is a very modern hotel with 218 rooms with stunning views over the harbour (am I repeating myself too much?) It has its own restaurant and a bar as well as 12 meeting rooms. Again it’s slightly out of the main tourist zone, but nothing is too far in Monaco actually and you can walk to the Grimaldi Forum (about 20 minutes) or there are sometimes transfers organised.

The biggest room for events in theatre style can accommodate up to 200 delegates.

The hotel is a very business-like and corporate in comparison to all the other three I stayed at, even the breakfast is served only until 9.30am, I guess because of the business nature of the hotel. As a business traveller you don’t have too much time to spend in the room anyway.

As you can see on the photos, all the event spaces can greatly benefit from the daylight, very modern and stylish.

Hope you enjoyed the post and got some more venue inspirations. Of course that’s not all and I have some more venues to show you in the next posts! If you have questions about the venues or would like to share your experience, please don’t hesitate to share it in the comment section below.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Read more posts about Monaco on The MICE Blog.

All photos: © The MICE Blog

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Venues

Four Seasons at Canary Wharf Welcomed Event Planners for UK Collection Summer Showcase

Posted on July 10, 2014

Four Seasons is one of my favourite hotel brands. I love the fact that they know how to communicate with the digital savvy traveller on social media and offer modern luxury, discrete in a way, expressed in their attentive customer service and high service and product quality.

When I was invited to attend the Four Seasons UK Collection Summer Showcase I eagerly reserved the date. I’m already familiar with Four Seasons at Park Lane where I was just two weeks ago for the monthly Event Marketing Association (EMA) event so was happy to get familiar with the second London property in Canary Wharf. They have only three in the UK, the third being in Hampshire.

The showcase started at noon with Italian lunch by Quadrato Restaurant and Bar. It was a buffet style lunch with appetizers, homemade pasta and light desserts, all except of the desserts freshly made in front of us.

One hour to eat and chat with fellow event planners and it was time to attend the first floral workshop by Jens Jakobsen from Floral Construction. Jens took us step by step how to make beautiful roses bouquet. Never before I thought of attending such workshop and I was amazed by the detail and dedication of Jens. Summer, being also a wedding season, is just the perfect time for such workshop. Now when writing this post I look at these beautiful flowers and I think it’s the best souvenir I ever had from an event! Also maybe because I made it?

Back to the exhibition hall, I finally made a tour to get familiar with the presenters. Local partners including London City Airport, AirPortr, GC Couture, Thames Clippers, Moleskine, excel, Jens Jakobsen, visit Greenwich and two other Four Seasons properties, London Park Lane and Hampshire. I chatted with hotel representatives and networked with other event planners before it was time to go to the second workshop, cake decoration by GC Couture. If you follow my social media you know that I’m an avid baker and indeed I always wanted to know the art of cake decoration. Thank you Four Seasons for fulfilling this wish 🙂 We learned the basics how to make roses and other eatable décor. The level of interest and concentration of the participants was so high no-one talked while working! Everyone did very well and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who learned new skills on the day!

Back from the workshop I took a short hotel tour before I had to leave to watch France vs. Germany World Cup match. Unfortunately I missed the cocktail class but sure it was as amazing as the two previous ones!

While I had high expectations, the event absolutely exceeded them and that was the most memorable venue showcase I had so far. Now, after getting familiar with Four Seasons at Park Lane and Canary Wharf I can’t wait to have the occasion to visit Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire.

All photos © The MICE Blog

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Venues

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Tour

Posted on May 26, 2014

Back in March I joined a fam trip to the south of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park organised by London & Partners. With a group of event planners and media we visited the Aquatics Centre, the Lee Valley VeloPark (what used to be the Velodrome) and concluded with an afternoon tea at Unity Kitchen with a presentation about events at the ArcelorMittal Orbit.

The tour took place one week before the official opening to public on 5th April. Within only 18 months after the Games the London Legacy Development Corporation led a complete transformation into a park with beautiful parklands, waterways and sport facilities to accommodate future events. South of Park was designed by James Corner Field Operations who also created the High Line in New York. Current development includes a new tree-lined promenade with 100 tees strung with unique globe lighting system, interactive water fountains and adventure playground, four themed walking trails featuring key highlights of the London 2012 Games, the Park’s biodiversity, family fun and arts and culture.

London Aquatics Centre

The Aquatics Centre was the second to open on 1st March after the successful opening of The Copper Box back in July 2013. Since its opening is has already had over 55,000 visitors. Designed by the famous architect Zaha Hadid it is not only a sporting venue but also offers a unique events space for private functions overlooking the competition and diving pools.

Lee Valley VeloPark

Previously the Velodrome, the newly rebranded Lee Valley VeloPark opened for public use on 31st March. It’s the first place in the world for track cycling, road racing, BMX or mountain biking in one place. This offers opportunities to host team building or incentives, exhibitions and gala dinner events.

ArcelorMittal Orbit

The Orbit is still one of the most controversial buildings. Some people love its design while others don’t understand it. I visited it back in 2012 during the London Olympics and indeed it has beautiful views over the Park and London. As event planners we always look for interesting and unique venues and The Orbit perfectly falls into this category. It was created by Sir Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond as an entry to a 2009 competition to design an iconic tower for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and when accepted it cost £22.3 million to build!

During the day The Orbit will be open to the public and when the last visitor leaves the building it will be transformed into a unique event space.

Visitors can experience breathtaking views of the Park as well as see over 20 miles across London from the two viewing platforms at 76 and 80 metres high, the highest offering 360 degree views across the city.

Photos below are back from 2012 when I visited The Orbit during the Olympic Games. This tour didn’t include a visit of The Orbit.

Unity Kitchen

Unity Kitchen is a social enterprise caterer with one branch in the Olympic Park. It’s a great place for corporate or leisure events. For corporate functions, such as the one we were part of, they provide event space with beamer and seating (we had theatre style) and catering including variety of sandwiches and pastries.

Here’s a list of upcoming events at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

22 June 2014: Hackney Half Marathon

28-29 June 2014: Holi Festival of Colours

7 July 2014: Tour de France

10 August 2014: Ride London

September- October 2015: Rugby World Cup matches

01 July 2017: IPC World Championships

01 August 2017: IAAF World Athletics Championships

All photos ©www.themiceblog.com

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Venues

Manchester’s Sustainable Venues

Posted on May 1, 2014

Did you know that Manchester is becoming one of the leading sustainable meeting destinations in Europe? My recent trip to Manchester was just about that and focused on sustainable event venues and city’s sustainability credentials.

Manchester Metropolitan University

The first venue to explore was Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). Academic venues are becoming more and more attractive for events and offer premium facilities for reasonable prices. If you would ask me two years ago what I think of an academic institution as an event venue I would be very sceptical but now I start changing my perceptions.

Over the past years MMU invested £350 million in its estate what increased the opportunities to attract conference and event business. In 2013 the Business School opened for external business and has already secured major international conferences such as the 8th International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations and The World Symposium on Sustainable Development. The Business School is very modern and spacious and can accommodate up to 250 delegates for dining and exhibitions and up to 60 in classrooms for workshops. There are also on-site catering facilities.

The second building I visited was the Benzie Building at Manchester School of Art. The biggest event space can accommodate up to 250 and they also have a roof terrace for up to 205 delegates. It almost felt like being in a museum. Two things particularly caught my attention. The first is the “Glockenspiel” sculpture which was designed by students and staff and measures energy consumption of the building throughout the day. The second piece was the concrete wallpaper pillars in the main event hall and the pattern on them. Isn’t it amazing?

The university has now the Silver Award for ECO campus and is working towards the Environmental Management Systems, ISO14001 for 2015.

Co-operative Group

Co-operative Group is UK’s largest mutual business and owned by nearly eight million members. It manages business in areas including food, travel, insurance etc. They are headquartered in Manchester and last year their building was declared the greenest building in the world. Though it’s not a venue I decided to have a closer look at its unique design.

The Old Trafford

Even though Manchester United is not performing well this season, they are still one of the favourite football clubs and football based tourism is one of Manchester’s main economic pillars. Unfortunately there were no matches on the day so we decided to book a tour of the legendary Old Trafford Stadium instead. The tour took us to all the main areas so I also got to see the hospitality VIP suite but unfortunately not the corporate boxes. The club is highly engaged and committed to support environmental and social issues on regional, national and international level. In 2012 they became the first football club in England to be awarded the ISO14001, The Carbon Trust Standard (for reducing carbon emissions) and the Sustainable Events Management Standards, the ISO20121.

Manchester Central

Other sustainable venue which unfortunately I didn’t visit but also has strong sustainability credentials and regarded as one of the most sustainable venues in the UK is the Manchester Central. It offers halls and conference suites for exhibitions with possibility to accommodate up to 9,000 delegates theatre style. It has been accredited for ISO 20121 in 2013. Green initiatives for this year include undertaking free event sustainability reports for clients and launching of a new smart meeting system which will give the venue real time 24/7 information on energy consumption in the building.

How important are sustainability and sustainable venues for you?

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Venues

Renaissance Manchester City Centre Hotel – for business, leisure and events

Posted on April 25, 2014

Before travelling to Manchester for the first time, I knew that the city prides itself for the two football clubs and the universities. Little I knew that Manchester is becoming one of the leading sustainable meeting destinations in Europe. So over Easter I decided to head up north and discover more about it.

I have a lot to share with you from this short but busy trip, so I will do it over two posts, firstly telling you about my fantastic stay at the Renaissance Manchester City Centre Hotel and secondly presenting you some of the sustainable venues.

What makes Manchester so attractive for business, among others, is its location- it’s very central, just between London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Newcastle. During my stay I had the pleasure to stay at the Renaissance Manchester City Centre Hotel which is part of the Marriott group. The hotel is conveniently located in the city centre, about 15 min walk from the Manchester Piccadilly train station where I arrived from London, and within a short walking distance from the shopping district, bars and restaurants. The property has 203 bedrooms and 11 meeting rooms, the largest of which caters for over 350 delegates.

After checking-in I headed to my first meeting at the Manchester Metropolitan University also just walking distance from the hotel and enjoyed seeing more from city’s architecture.

My second meeting was back at the Renaissance. It has excellent meeting and conference facilities and regularly hosts events for associations, media and press conferences, Christmas parties and other corporate and private events.

On the day there were no events (Just before Good Friday), so I had the chance to see most of the conference facilities.

Bernini Suite

Medici Ballroom (which can be also split into two rooms)

Michelangelo Suite 2

Galileo Suite

Da Vinci Lounge

All the rooms are multifunctional and can be set up in theatre style, boardroom, U-shape, classroom, cabaret style, buffet reception, dinner and dance floor. You can find the detailed floor plan capacity here.

Back in the room, it was time to relax a bit before going for dinner. My room on the 10^th floor had a very nice view over Manchester. Last year the hotel has undergone a £2.5 million bedroom and lobby refurbishment and my room was one of the fully renovated rooms. I liked the fact that the iron and ironing board were in the room. It is so convenient! Once I had a very frustrating experience staying in a (4*) business hotel where I had to pick it up from the reception.

When I travel I like to leave space for spontaneity, and therefore I asked the hotel concierge for some recommendations for dinner. He recommended me a place called the Dough Pizza Kitchen, saying it’s the best Pizza place in town. I did a reservation there and wasn’t disappointed. The pizza was very delicious and the service very friendly (what made us to return there on the second night as well). For after dinner drinks and entertainment he recommended us a Jazz bar called Matt & Phreds, where live music is played every night. The waiter at Dough noticed that we weren’t locals, so he also recommended us the same bar, which is actually just few minutes’ walk from the restaurant. So we went there and enjoyed live Jazz music and good atmosphere. That was a perfect way to finish a long and busy day.

The breakfast at the hotel on the second day was very good. It included a variety of cereals, cheese, English breakfast and hot and cold beverages but you can also ask for additional hot dishes such as porridge or omelette from the Chef.

I had a perfect stay in Manchester, combining business meetings and leisure. After all “you spend your life working. You should discover the world as you go”. Renaissance team really helped to make this trip pleasant and memorable and I hope to visit again.

Disclaimer: Marketing Manchester, the agency charged with promoting the City on a national and international stage assisted me with organising the trip. A big thank you to the Renaissance Manchester City Centre Hotel for hosting me during my trip and for the impeccable hospitality. All opinions expressed above are mine. For prices, packages and availability please contact the hotel directly.

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