The 2012 VenueVerdict Awards have been announced, recognising the leading providers of meeting hospitality across groups of different sizes. IET Venues, etc.venues, and QHotels lead the way in the three different brand categories, based upon the total number of UK venues a group operates.
The VenueVerdict Awards are drawn entirely from independent customer feedback collected by market research company BDRC Continental. For 2012, the final standings were determined by over 27,500 individual event host reviews.
IET Venues wins 3-5 venue category
In the competition for groups of 3-5 venues, IET Venues again claimed top spot and recorded the highest score for non-residential events of all groups across the programme.
Etc. venues heads mid-sized category
Another non-residential group claimed the prize for mid-sized groups of 6-19 venues, with London and Birmingham-based etc.venues also collecting the Gold Standard Brand Award for the highest number of individual properties (six) collecting Gold Standard Accreditations.
Q Hotels triumphs for large groups
QHotels (21 UK hotels) retained the top award for large groups, introduced in 2011 to recognise the different operational challenges that big, geographically diverse groups of venues face.
Best value for Money
Lastly, Sundial Venues (Surrey, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire) was named “Best Value for Money Venue Group” and registered the highest scores for residential events.
Individual venue awards
The individual venue awards brought some new winners. Lord’s cricket ground, the spiritual home of English cricket, got a hat trick by netting the accolade for top sporting venue for the third year running. The top-scoring UK hotel was the Novotel Cardiff and the top-scoring specialist meeting venue was The Hatton, etc.venues’ Farringdon centre, which also collected the coveted No.1 Venue award for 2012 with the highest score of the three category winners.
James Bland, Client Services Director at BDRC Continental and head of the Customer Experience Management team praised the winners for their continuing excellent performance.
“It needs real consistency to deliver brilliant meeting experiences the whole year round, yet these three groups have topped their respective leagues now for two years in a row. Each of them should be incredibly proud of the service their teams provide”.
It is not just about the winning though, as Bland explained.
“It’s great to win these awards, but it is also right to acknowledge each and every venue that participates in this benchmark. To allow independent scrutiny and comparison of your service level demonstrates a genuine commitment to the client experience.”
About BDRC Continental
BDRC Continental is the UK’s largest independent market research agency. Established in 1991, the company has built an unrivalled reputation as a full service consultancy with specialist expertise across a number of sectors including business to business, financial services, hotels, meetings & hospitality, media & advertising, internet & telecoms, Government & not for profit, culture & leisure and tourism, travel & transport.
For more information click here