The hotel needed to have two main meeting rooms with capacity for 400 in banqueting-style, one with space for back projection for the plenary sessions and one to be used for private breakfasts and lunches.  In addition, 30 break-out rooms of different sizes were required.  The meeting and accommodation needed to be in one hotel, as the attendees were all of the same level in the company and the client would not split the group.

The majority attendees were in Europe and wanted a flight and transfer of fewer than four hours, as they needed to work for half a day on a Thursday before departing from the office.  They travelled home on Sunday, before returning to the office on Monday morning.

The Company

International law firm with offices world wide.

The Challenge

In addition to the brief, the company had a restriction of 20 members of staff per flight, so a major international hub airport was required as all 400 attendees had to arrive and depart on the same day.  The preferred location was a city-centre, in a city that the company had offices.  It also had to have interesting options for an off-site dinner.  The conference included some cultural/social activities and as the event took place in October/November, and the client wanted a warm climate, if possible.

The company had previously held this conference at a 5* hotel in Barcelona and was looking for an alternative destination, but also wanted to reduce the budget.  They had a short-list of alternative destinations and a venue in each of these was proposed, but Trinity also included three additional destinations as ‘wild cards’. We knew these met the event criteria, but were not in destinations where the client had an office.  The ‘wild card’ destinations and hotels could all offer something different, that the client hadn’t previously considered.

The Solution

After short-listing destinations and venues, detailed proposals were prepared and considered at length.  Trinity accompanied the client on site visits.  Vienna was selected, which was one of the ‘wild-cards’ and not a destination that the client had previously considered.  The Hilton Vienna hotel was chosen for the conference and accommodation.  There were suitable restaurants within walking distance for a dine-around, and a gala dinner was held at the Hofburg Palace, with transport by tram.

Successes

The client not only made the required cost savings, but also achieved the event’s objectives and the attendees enjoyed the destination.

The same process was repeated the following year and the client chose Lisbon.  The conference was held at the Corinthia Hotel and the Beato Convent was used for the gala dinner.  In both cases, Trinity’s destination and venue knowledge meant that we proposed locations that suited the client but had not, until then, been considered.  They offered excellent value for money, delivered something different to attendees and exceeded the client's expectations.