06/2018

The Barbican is refurbishing and upgrading Cinemas 2 and 3 to enable them to also be used for conferencing - complete with registration, food and beverage spaces.

Cinemas 2 and 3, which opened in 2012, show the best international new releases, major curated seasons, international film festivals and talks with filmmakers.  To ensure they meet the demands of the Barbican’s business event focused clientele, the cinemas are undergoing upgrades and refurbishment.   

The registration, food and beverage areas are being created from additional spaces within the venue, adding value and maximising the use of space.  

The new facilities will open in Summer 2018, providing domestic and international event organisers with two new venue options in the heart of the City of London.

Once the work is complete:

• Cinema 2 will have a capacity of 150.
• Cinema 3 will have a capacity of 150.
• Both spaces will offer the latest in HD projection and AV facilities as well as full catering services.

“We are constantly looking for new ways to make the best use of the Barbican’s myriad facilities and spaces,” comments Lee Dobson, Head of Event Management at Barbican Business Events, “Recently this has involved pop-up event spaces such as the use of our back-stage areas as well as ongoing projects to make the most of the spaces we already have.  As part of our desire to bring our arts and commercial offering ever closer together, this refurbishment provides standalone space for smaller events of up to 150, whilst expanding the many spaces we have available for large scale corporate and association events looking to make use of the whole building.”

The new spaces will be showcased at The Meetings Show this week on Stand I502 before opening in the Summer.

During the eight years since Imago Venues took over The Link Hotel from its previous owners, the 94-bedroom hotel has seen a 400% increase in turnover.

Historic negative feedback and poor reviews under the previous management have been completely turned around. The Link now has a reputation as one of Loughborough’s leading hotels, with a focus on great customer service and an average rating of 4 stars on Tripadvisor. It has just been awarded Tripadvisor’s Hall Of Fame award; an accolade given to hotels who have achieved a Certificate Of Excellence for the last five years running.  It is also increasingly popular for business meetings, whether it be over a coffee, lunch or as part of a larger conference or event. 

• In 2009 The Link turned over just £400,000
• In 2017 The Link turned over more than £2,000,000
• £2m investment has been put into the property over the last eight years
• Occupancy rates now run at 73.8% compared to a low of 14.5% in 2009

Sam Chaplin, Hotel Manager at The Link Hotel, comments: “It is easy to attribute our success to the financial investment we have made.  However, in truth it is down to the hard work and determination of our team.  For the first 2 years our investment was minimal, yet we still significantly grew the business and improved its reputation.  The aesthetic improvements came later as we responded to client needs and the hotel’s growing popularity.  As with all the Imago Venues portfolio, the team here at The Link put our customers first and ensure we have the best possible staff on hand to meet their needs. That is what has ultimately led to our overwhelming success.” 

In addition to its 94 bedrooms, The Link Hotel also provides conferencing and meeting facilities for up to 200 people, as well as holding a license to host weddings.

A regular guest, Mr S. Fry recently commented on his experiences at the hotel: “I am always greeted in an extremely welcoming manner, the staff know my name and greet me as a friend. I have never yet, or think I ever will, have cause to complain about any member of staff or the standard of accommodation. I am so impressed by my experiences at The Link Hotel. If you have an employee of the month scheme, I would like to put forward the entire team at The Link Hotel for their outstanding eye to detail when it comes to customer service and satisfaction.”

The impact of Brexit on recruitment in the UK hospitality and events industry is increasing but its influence on business in the sector generally has apparently reduced in the last 12 months.

These are the key findings of the second annual Brexit survey carried out by the HBAA, the leading association for the events and hospitality industry among its members.

Major impact on recruitment

A year ago, on the first anniversary of the referendum, only 2.3 per cent of respondents said that Brexit had had a major impact on recruitment. 12 months later that figure has risen to 9.6 per cent. Those saying that it has had little effect have increased from 17.4 per cent to 23.1 per cent while the proportion of members seeing no impact on recruitment has correspondingly gone down from 80.3 per cent to 67.3 per cent.

When asked which positions are proving challenging to fill, 90.6 per cent say entry level posts, 62.5 per cent are having difficulty with middle level roles and 56.2 per cent report problems filling senior positions. However as yet 86.3 per cent of organisations have not changed their recruitment policy since the Referendum vote.

Juliet Price, Consultant Executive Director of the HBAA and a member of the Event Industry Board’s Talent Taskforce commented: “These results give a clear picture of the growing issue that the industry is facing and why the Talent Taskforce initiative to provide evidence to government and secure support in addressing the potential consequences is vital and urgent.”

Impact on business

Considering whether Brexit has had a noticeable impact on their business as a whole, 57.7 per cent now say it has had no impact, up from 47.7 per cent a year ago. The number saying that it has had a significant impact has gone down from 7.0 per cent to 5.8 per cent while those saying it has had a slight effect have declined from 45.3 per cent to 36.5 per cent. 20.2 per cent say that the Brexit impact has increased in the last year, 63.5 per cent report that it has been the same and 15.3 per cent have noticed less effect.

Louise Goalen, HBAA Chair says; “The consensus among members commenting on these trends is that the immediate impact two years ago was a rise in costs due to the significant drop in sterling, and a more cautious attitude among clients towards booking events. Over the last 12 months these challenges seem to have settled down slightly and businesses have adjusted. Now everyone is warily waiting to see what happens next. It will be fascinating to see what everyone thinks 12 months from now when we will have been out for three months!”

For more information about the HBAA, please see www.hbaa.org.uk

New research into the UK’s conference and meetings sector, entitled the ‘UK Conference and Meeting Survey 2018’ (UKCAMS), reveals an estimated £18.1 billion of direct expenditure generated by conference and meeting delegates in venues and in wider destination spend in 2017. While the overall number of conferences and meetings held in 2017 was lower than in 2016, the average size of events was up slightly on 2016.

The ‘UK Conference and Meeting Survey’, now in its 25^th consecutive year, has a specific focus on the value and volume of the market and the performance of meeting venues. It also highlights key market trends identified by venues. The results provide a definitive insight into the conference and meetings sector and are widely used to inform investment, advocacy and marketing activities.

The delegate spend calculations in the report are based on the latest Business Events Research conducted in 2017 by VisitBritain, replacing the historic data that had previously been used in UKCAMS estimates.

The research findings show that the overall number of conferences and meetings in 2017 was an estimated 1.29 million compared with the 2016 figure of 1.45 million, but was on a par with the average for the last decade (an average of 1.31 million per annum). Venues hosted an average of 373 conferences and meetings in 2017, down on 2016 (419 events) and 2015 (383 events). However, an increase in the average size of events (72 delegates per event in 2017 compared with 67 per event in 2016) in part mitigated against this downward trend. Levels of capital investment by venues remained strong with 82 per cent of venues reporting that they had invested in their property in 2017, with 15 per cent investing over £500,000.

Other key findings from the research include:

• in 2017, there was an estimated 92.8 milliion delegates accounting for approximately 147.4 million delegate days. These delegates generated an estimated £18.1 billion of direct expenditure in venues and the wider destination, down slightly on 2016 (£18.6 billion)
• The average duration of conferences and meetings was 1.6 days (unchanged from previous years), although almost two-thirds of events lasted only one day or less
• Conference and training centres (592 events), hotels (445 events) and academic venues (387 events) hosted higher than average numbers of events
• Two-fifths of events in 2017 (40 per cent) were organised by a professional conference organiser (PCO) or event management agency. This was up on 2016 and continues a trend of increasing use of third party organisers by event owners
• Just over a tenth (12 per cent) of venues hosted a significant proportion of international conferences – 11 per cent or more of their conferences. However, of those venues that do not target international conferences, a fifth are very interested in targeting this market in the future. Venues tended to target international conferences through trade shows and / or in partnership with a conference bureau.

Kerrin MacPhie, VisitBritain’s Head of Business Events, commented:’The ‘UK Conference and Meeting Survey 2018’ provides UK destinations and venues with important insights into the sector’s scale and latest trends, helping to inform their business planning and marketing activity. VisitBritain is committed to working with the sector to grow the UK’s share of international business events and this research is a valuable tool in helping achieve this.”

The 2018 UKCAMS research was sponsored by: VisitBritain, IMEX Group, venuedirectory.com, Visit Guildford for Business, Glasgow Convention Bureau, and Hiscox Event Insurance.

The research was carried out by Tony Rogers of Tony Rogers Conference & Event Services and Richard Smith of RJS Associates.

Copies of the full UKCAMS 2018 report are available priced £165 + VAT. Visit http://www.ukcams.org.uk to download an order form.