John Carson, managing director of training and meeting venue, Ashorne Hill and previous chair of Venues of Excellence has retired.

The industry veteran boasts an 18-year career which started in the Royal Navy and lead to managing the transformation of Ashorne Hill’s business model from in-house training centre to an award-winning venue.

Event planners must be flexible with venues on service-level agreements (SLAs) according to the trade association for the UK meetings, events and accommodation industry, HBAA.

The organisation is calling for revisions of existing SLAs due to nationwide staff shortages and a huge rise in enquiries and bookings, but confirmations remain low.

Businesses expect to make 25% more revenue when able to communicate with clients face-to-face, according to research from global hospitality group Accor.

The research also indicated that face-to-face meetings were preferred over virtual, with 30% of respondents finding it difficult to gauge body language and nonverbal cues during virtual meetings.

Make Venues has opened a new 238sqm of meeting, training and conference space at its Broadway House property in Westminster, London.

The expansion builds upon investment in the facility, which also includes the instillation of hybrid meeting technology across Make Venues’ portfolio.

A survey by SaaS company SAP Concur found that 99% of UK business travellers are willing to travel for business again in the next 12 months and 65% actively want to.

The study, which questioned 500 UK business travellers and 100 UK travel managers, also warned of the dangers that would occur if business travel did not start up again within the next year.

Italy is officially opening for the events industry over the summer, according to The Italian Tourism Board (ENIT). Representatives from the nation’s events sector joined Conference News editor Martin Fullard for a webinar on 9 June 2021.

The webinar, which was hosted by ENIT and IBTM, highlighted Italy’s conference and meetings potential, as well as what event organisers can do to contribute to the recovery of the sector.

You know how it goes. You finally get some headspace to complete that report that’s been hanging over you all week. You are poised over the first paragraph when the phone goes. It is an enthusiastic sales person who is convinced their venue is the solution to a problem you don’t think you have. No wonder association buyers avoid cold callers like the rest of use give chuggers the swerve. But that does not mean that venue operators should abandon all hope.