A good meeting space is more than a room with a bunch of tables and chairs.
The hotels from the Design Hotels group always offer something extraordinary. Their tailor-made approach meets the changing standards in meetings and incentives perfectly.
When you look at Design Hotels’ website, you are drawn into a dreamworld of beautiful hotels, fantastic places and wonderful stories. “Design Hotels unites several individual hotels with an extraordinary look”, explains Ruby Davies, PR Manager for the Benelux. “However, it’s not just about architecture and design. We offer rooms, but also a unique connection with and access to the local community.”
Design Hotels has 282 members, independent hotels that are located all over the world, though mostly in Europe. About 100 of these present themselves as a MICE hotel. “They don’t organise congresses because they are to small for that. That’s why we aim at meetings and incentives.”
What does the ideal meeting room look like, according to you?
Ruby Davies: “The definition of the ideal meeting room has changed a lot in the past few years, but it’s safe to say it should have the very best technological facilities and acoustics. Standard formulas belong to the past; clients often ask us to fully customize our meeting rooms so it would fit their needs. The hotel lobby is often used as an informal meeting place for the group. All the hotel’s public spaces are integrated in the experience, particularly for brainstorms. In those cases clients prefer a more inspiring place to an actual meeting room.”
Which elements contribute to a meeting’s success?
There isn’t just one recipe for success, since it’s rather a combination of factors. But creativity and inspiration are often keywords when it comes to organising a successful meeting. Even more traditional companies are open to innovation and are moving away from the more familiar meeting formats. Many organisations are also looking for a link with the environment, the destination of their incentive trip.”
Could you give us an example of your personal approach?
One of our clients wanted to launch their new cosmetics line in a completely green environment, because green is their corporate colour. So we found a hotel for them that had green bathrooms and a green suite. If we don’t have what a client is looking for, we adapt the space until it matches their needs. I recently visited Hotel Lone in Croatia, a place in a magnificent setting, between the Adriatic Sea and a Mediterranean wood. It has everything you could possibly need and it’s very easy to adapt the spaces, make the conference rooms a bit larger or smaller, …
You have recently launched an inspiring media campaign: #originalexperiences
“That campaign summarizes what we’re about. The wonderful moments you experience when you’re travelling are the most important aspect of your trip. They will stay with you forever. This approach is in our DNA: creating memories that will last, that’s our business. #originalexperiences was also the launch of our partnership with Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), the industry’s largest loyalty programme.”
www.designhotels.com
