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Incentive Travel Update is published 5 or 6 times a year and is an information source circulated FREE to 15,000 selected organisers and others interested in keeping abreast of developments in the incentive travel sector.
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The Society of Event Organisers (SEO) which publishes this newsletter has moved to individual free membership, which can be taken up by organisers, convention bureaux, tourist boards, venues, suppliers and agencies in the sector.
All will receive all the SEO’s free newsletters, which can be unsubscribed at any time, as well as a 20% reduction on all qualifications, tutorials and conferences presented by the SEO. Supplier members, venues and agencies receive a 20% reduction on advertising rates.
To sign up for free membership go to www.seoevent.co.uk
The opening of a new luxury hotel in Turkey in the depths of a serious world recession has raised questions of taste.
The new £1 billion 560 bedroom Marden Palace Hotel opened this month on the Antalya coast of Turkey, the property of Russian property billionaire Tehman Ismailov. It boasts a man-made beach, an 8000 capacity football stadium, 2400 fish in an aquarium sunk into the main swimming pool, 23,000 square metres of Italian marble, 10,000 square metres of gold leaf and a rate per night from a few hundred pounds to more than £1,000.
The question, say editorial staff at Caterer and Hotelkeeper magazine, is whether in the current economic climate this could be seen as "a rather over-the-top tasteless snub to the suffering of the rest of us"
And for our money would this mean it is more, or less attractive to companies looking for a suitable incentive?
For serious golfers one attractive incentive will be to play the Royal and Ancient Golf Club's course at St Andrews and stay in the town's only centrally located five star venue, the Old Course Hotel, which has stunning views over the famous course and the beautiful coastline and borders the 17th Road Hole.
This offers 109 rooms and 35 suites, many with golf views, and with bathrooms and spa baths designed and supplied by Kohler, the owners. There are four meetings rooms for 50/50/200/300 all divisible into two, one for 50 and three boardrooms for 16/20/24. All can be used for private dining. In addition there is an award winning 13,616 square foot Kohler Waters Spa with a 20 metre pool including a waterfall, a Thermal Suite with a Hydrotherapy pool, deep and cold plunge pool, steam room and sauna, exercise studio, rooftop deck with hot tub for eight people and 11 treatment rooms offering dozens of different pamperings.
Food and beverage offerings include a fine dining Roadhole Grill restaurant with three AA Rosettes which presents, from a sample meal enjoyed there, interesting combinations and pairings of flavours such as rabbit with crayfish, salmon with lobster, scallops with pork ribs and squid, wood pigeon with ham, and chicken with foie gras and veal sweetbreads. Dinner here will cost around £50 plus drinks, and there is a seven course tasting menu for £65, with selected wine for £45. Some simpler fare is offered at the Sands Grill with steaks the speciality and ranging from a six ounce hanger at £16, a ten ounce rib eye at £19, an eight ounce fillet at £29 and a thirty two ounce porterhouse for £50, presumably for sharing. There are fourteen choices of vegetables at £2.50.
Informal dining can be had in the Jigger Inn, such as an eight ounce rib eye with chips, mushroom and tomato for £16.20, or haggis, neeps and tatties with a 25ml nip of the hotel's own whisky for £9.85. For serious fans of the Scottish water of life the Road Hole Bar offers a choice from more than 200 distilleries. And those, like us, for whom breakfast is the best meal of the day can enjoy a huge range of treats including some seriously good smoked salmon, exotic fruits, honeycomb and haggis, as well as eggs and fish cooked to order and some excellent coffee.
The Old Course Hotel also has its own heathland championship course, The Dukes, located a few miles away and overlooking St Andrews, and offering a range of individual and corporate membership opportunities. And for those who want to touch some of the magic of "The Home of Golf" without playing the full game we can recommend the Himalayas, a challengingly mountainous 18 hole putting green located on the edge of the famous course and just behind the hotel, and charging just £2 a round, putters and balls included.
The Old Course Hotel. Tel; 01334 474371, Fax; 01334 477668, email; reservations@oldcoursehotel.co.uk visit; www.oldcoursehotel.co.uk
Note. The Golf Development Group have a website with information about golf at St Andrews. Visit www.standrewsgolf.org
Those looking to take over a venue for a corporate event now have two new choices in Southern Scotland.
Auchen Castle Hotel near Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway offers 25 bedrooms, comprising 15 traditional style in the main building, four with four poster beds and all with showers and baths, and 10 contemporary style bedrooms in a separate and adjacent lodge, all with showers. For meetings the castle building offers one room for 30, one for 50, plus the dining room can take 150, or 80 in half of it. Outside are 40 acres of grounds with a formal Italian garden, woods with red squirrels and a lochen (small lake) stocked with rainbow trout which guests can fish and have their catch cooked by the chef. Other activities possible on-site are falconry, archery, clay pigeon shooting, and mini highland games, with golf, hill walking, mountain biking and hot air balloon rides available in the area. For retail therapy there is a huge Moffat Woolen Mill shop selling all things Scottish.
Castle Venlaw Hotel overlooking Peebles in the Scottish Borders offers 12 traditional bedrooms, all with baths and showers and including four with four-poster beds. There is a meetings room for up to 50 and 12 acres of woodlands outside, and it is located 22 miles from Edinburgh.
Both properties are operated by new company PAG Hotels, and on a recent visit by Incentive Travel Update displayed a welcoming home from home feel that would make them attractive for incentives, corporate hospitality and team building. The cuisine experienced reflected the passion of the company's French founder for fine dining, and wine and whisky tastings are a distinct possibility.
Auchen Castle Hotel; Tel;01683 300407, Fax; 01683 300727, email; reception@auchencastle.com visit www.auchencastle.com
Castle Venlaw Hotel; Tel;01721 720384, Fax;01721 724006,email;stay@venlaw.co.uk visit; www.venlaw.co.uk
Those still able to run lavish entertainment events, with money no real object could consider a banquet at The Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
Built as King George 1V's pleasure palace in fashionable Regency times the Pavilion offers some of the magic to corporate groups with the stunning Banqueting Room, featuring the famous nine metre high one-ton dragon chandelier, as its centrepiece, and holding up to 90 for a dinner and 200 for a reception. Other options for events are the fascinating Great Kitchen, designed and built ahead of its time, and several smaller but perfectly formed rooms for around 50.
Tel; 01273 292813/5, email: pavilionfunctions@brighton-hove.gov.uk, Visit: www.royalpavilion.org.uk
Further north, at Leith, Edinburgh is the Royal Yacht Britannia, which offers groups the chance to be piped aboard along a red carpet and through a special entrance.
Champagne receptions can now take place on the new Royal Deck, opened this year, followed by a banquet on the deck or in the spectacular State Dining Room. Other spaces available are the Boardroom and the Wardroom and total maximum capacities are 176 for a banquet and 380 for a reception. After dinner entertainments such as jazz or swing bands and firework displays are also possible.
Tel: 0131 555 8800, email events@tryb.co.uk Visit:www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk
Recently opened is the Ramada Resort- Aquaworld Budapest, a four-star superior spa and conference property offering 309 rooms, suites and apartments and a conference centre for nearly 1000.
Adjacent is one of the biggest indoor water theme parks in Europe, Aquaworld Budapest, with 17 pools, 11 slides and a surf pool, unique in Hungary.
www.ramadaresortbudapest.hu
A number of typographical errors were made in the piece entitled AFFORDABLE LUXURY in our first issue of Incentive Travel Update, March 2009
1. The golf course next to the Intercontinental La Torre hotel in Murcia is a Nicklaus Design
2. The website for the Hotel Termes Montbrio near Tarragona is www.RocBlancHotels.com
3. It is Starwood Hotels that will open the new W Hotel on the waterfront in Barcelona in October.
Apologies to all
Colin M Brown
Captain 2009-2010
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
Fife
Scotland
KY16 9JD
28 May 2009
Dear Mr Brown
I am writing to let you know about an incident in which I was involved at your Royal and Ancient Golf Club recently.
I was in St Andrews to write about the incentive and corporate hospitality possibilities of the destination for the corporate market. Whilst walking on the designated pathway which runs alongside the first fairway I was suddenly struck, hard, on the side of the head by a golf ball driven off very badly by one of your players.
The point of impact was around three inches from the right eye and the same distance from the right temple.
This happened around 11 00am on Saturday May 23, and, concerned about possible serious injury I attended the Minor Injury Unit at St Andrews Memorial Hospital where I was told that golf ball injuries were common in St Andrews, checked over for signs of serious damage and given some written advice on what symptoms to look out for.
We are both aware that head injury symptoms can sometimes take weeks to develop. However to date the only damage is a sore spot and a negative memory of St Andrews and your club.
On reflection, Mr Brown, I now take the view that we have both had a very lucky escape. The outcome could have been, with a microscopic change in ball direction, so much worse. An eye could have been lost, or, with a hit in the temple, a life. And the victim could have been someone frail, or a child.
With the Corporate Manslaughter Act now starting to bite it raises the question of whether or not your club, and in fairness every other golf club is doing enough to protect members of the public, and players, from potentially tragic accidents caused by bad play. A simple and low cost netting barrier, through which the golf would still be seen could be all it needs. Clearly from my own experience the requirements that all players on your course have a handicap, and that of a shouted warning when one still mis-hits the ball are not enough.
Your prompt attention to this important matter, for all our sakes, would be appreciated
Yours Sincerely
Peter Cotterell
======================
Peter Cotterell
Society of Event Organisers
Dear Mr Cotterell
I am writing in reply to your recent letter to our Captain-elect, Colin Brown.
I was very sorry to hear about your unfortunate accident and hope that you have fully recovered with no lasting damage.
I have to tell you that the golf courses at St Andrews are not managed by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club but by St Andrews Links Trust. I have set out the Links Trust's contact details below as this is the appropriate body to which you should direct your remarks.
With kind regards
PETER DAWSON
Secretary
St Andrews Links Trust
Pilmour House
ST ANDREWS
Fife
KY16 9SF
Chateau des Vigiers is located near Bergerac in the Dordogne area of South West France and only 1 hour from Bordeaux. The Chateau is quite unique with wonderful architecture, a fabulous setting amongst 450 acres of gardens, vineyards and a spectacular 27 hole golf course. Our warm welcome, the luxurious comfort of our rooms, and the consistent high quality of our cuisine, make this the perfect environment for your Incentive trip. We have a total of 87 bedrooms and 7 meeting rooms. "The Relais", situated 200 metres from the Chateau, offers 40 bedrooms with its own Conference facilities, swimming pool, gymnasium, breakfast room and bar. This can be privatised for your exclusive use.
The area is perfect for sampling wonderful wines (not to mention our own wine estate) and tours and tastings can be organised. For something really different we can go hunting for truffles in the local truffle farms! With everything from rowing on the Dordogne River to private dinners at a traditional farmhouse, the area offers something very different and memorable.
CHATEAU DES VIGIERS
F-24240 MONESTIER
DORDOGNE
SOUTH WEST FRANCE
RESERVATIONS : +33 (0) 553 61 5000
Email us at bienvenue@vigiers.com
Visit our website at www.vigiers.com
The Society of Event Organisers (SEO) has moved to individual free membership, which can now be taken up by organisers, venues, convention bureaux, tourist boards, suppliers and agencies in the events sector.
To sign up for free membership simply go to www.seoevent.co.uk
The list of events for 2009 includes:
o Certificate in Conference Venue Marketing, August
o Tutorial – How to write a press release, October
o Tutorial – How to be much more creative, October
o Certificate in Conference Organisation, August and November/December
o Diploma in Conference Organisation, August
o Conference – Delegate Agenda, October
o Network Forums, July – November.
CERTIFICATE IN CONFERENCE ORGANISATION (CCO)
This is a four day course with a 1½ hour, 150 question examination. Non-residential London course dates are hosted at 16 Park Crescent, London W1. Fee is £1,080 + VAT or £864 plus VAT if two or more delegates attend from the same organisation, or if delegate is an SEO member (Free sign up at www.seoevent.co.uk).
o Putting together a conference programme covering objectives, delegate needs, layouts, food and beverage, speakers and audio-visual Monday 24 August 2009 (London), Friday 20 November 2009 (London).
o Sourcing, evaluating and negotiating with venues covering where to find the best venues, inspecting them and getting the best packages Tuesday 25 August 2009 (London), Friday 27 November 2009 (London).
o Conference Administration covering contracts, organisation, delegate and speaker care, trouble-shooting and evaluation Wednesday 26 August 2009 (London), Friday 4 December 2009 (London).
o Staging a conference for profit covering conception, budgeting, pricing, getting sponsorship and marketing. Examination Thursday 27 August 2009 (London), Friday 11 December 2009 (London).
The CCO can also be delivered as an in-house presentation anywhere. Call + 44 (0) 1767 316255 or e-mail to peter.cotterell@eou.org.uk
CERTIFICATE IN CONFERENCE VENUE MARKETING (CCVM)
This is a new four day non-residential course for marketing and sales staff working in conference venues, and those promoting conference venues. There is a 1½ hour written examination. The CCVM is being hosted at 16 Park Crescent, London W1 and fees are £1,200 plus VAT per delegate with a reduction to £960 plus VAT per delegate if two or more delegates attend from the same organisation or if delegate is an SEO member (Free sign-up at www.seoevent.co.uk). The outline programme (full programme on request) is:
Day One: Nature of the markets, branding, pricing, zero-cost marketing, advertising.
Day Two: Press relations, writing impressive press releases, finding the best stories, handling bad press,.
Day Three: Direct marketing, e-mail marketing, effective direct mailings, copywriting, telemarketing.
Day Four: Exhibitions, maximising the leads, special; events, show-rounds. Examination.
The CCVM takes place August 24 – 27 in 2009. It can also be presented on an in-house basis anywhere. Call + 44 (0) 1767 316255 or e-mail to peter.cotterell@eou.org.uk
Two new one-day tutorials are being run for 2009, How to write a press release and How to be much more creative. Also new is a one-day organisers networking and discussion presentation Delegate agenda. Call + 44 (0) 1767 316255 for details.
Visit www.seoevent.co.uk
In addition to the above the SEO presents in-house workshops on such subjects as exhibiting successfully, manning an exhibition stand, running a small exhibition, negotiating with suppliers, conference catering, legal aspects of running events, presenting persuasively and many more. Call + 44 (0) 1767 316255.for more information.
Visit: seoevent.co.uk
o Event Organisers Update (EOU) for those running UK based conferences and seminars. www.eou.org.uk
o International Event Organisers Update (IEOU) for those running events overseas www.eou.org.uk
o Association News (AN) for those who associate. www.associationnews.org.uk
o Charity Matters. www.ezinematters.com
o Marketing Matters www.ezinematters.com
A 150 word announcement costs from £72 in this section of Incentive Travel Update and reaches 15,000 UK and international incentive travel specialists. To download full details and a booking form visit www.eou.org.uk. A 20% discount is given to members of the SEO – Free sign up at www.seoevent.co.uk
Edited and distributed by:
Society of Event Organisers
29a Market Square, Biggleswade, Beds. SG18 8AQ
Tel: +44(0)1767 316255 Fax: +44(0)1767 316430
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