The revitalised Hotelympia returned with a bang this week, with exhibitors and visitors praising the raft of format changes implemented by show organisers, Fresh Montgomery.
Entrance tunnel
With a new look, a host of new attractions, new four-day format and a new spring date in the diary, delegates were quick to heap plaudits on the show. Singled out for particular praise was the new, giant main hall featuring a purpose built entrance tunnel with sensory elements provided by some of the UK’s leading interior design companies.
Show Makers and Central Aisle
Once inside, visitors were treated to a warm hospitality welcome from Hotelympia’s team of specially trained ambassadors – the Show Makers – recruited from leading catering college, Westminster Kingsway, and on hand throughout the four days to offer advice on show attractions.
The dedicated central aisle was used to full effect, showcasing the Salon Display works of art and Innovation Awards finalists. Changes to the layout and the introduction of the Show Makers were implemented to enhance the visitor journey and improve footfall across the show.
The transformation saw every exhibitor housed under one roof for the first time in recent years, resulting in the UK’s biggest-ever hotbed of hospitality activity.
Major draws
Major draws such as Tom Kerridge, Phil Howard, Tom Aikens and Sir Terence Conran, who lit up day one with his deferential acceptance of the Hotelympia Lifetime Achievement Award, provided truly magical moments, resulting in crowds that were, at times, ten-deep.
Onlookers were also spilling into the aisles and beyond during the unveiling of Hotelympia’s standard bearing Innovation Awards – the culmination of weeks of deliberation, which saw hundreds of new products whittled down to four main winners in the categories of Food & Drink, Catering Equipment, Design & Tabletop and Technology.
Brand new attractions such as the Buell Business Clinic helped hundreds of visitors with free practical business advice. In a show first, Hotelympia partnered with hospitality consultants and recruiters the Buell Group to offer specialist business mentoring across all four days of the show. The innovative feature covered topics across the board and proved popular with visitors looking to extend or improve their knowledge of the hospitality sector.
Craft Beer Takeover was buzzing with activity and brought together some of the UK’s best and most relevant small brewers in a forum where they could meet operators looking to take a slice of this burgeoning marketplace.
Changes to Salon Culinaire, brought about by feedback from a dedicated chef panel – many of which are ex-Salon competitors – including Chris Galvin, Steve Munkley, Simon Hulstone, Cyrus Todiwala, Nick Vadis and new Salon Culinaire chef director, James Tanner – were also singled out for praise.
Toby Wand, managing director at Fresh Montgomery commented: “Thank you to every single visitor and exhibitor for making the revitalised event one of the most successful Hotelympia’s ever. Whenever we seek to implement any changes or devise new attractions it is always done in consultation with, and for the wider benefit of, the industry-at-large. The overwhelming reaction to the new elements meant that for four days the show existed on a wave of positivity – proof if proof were needed that it takes more than a tube strike to keep the hospitality industry down.”
Hotelympia will return in 2016, while sister event, The Hospitality Show, returns to Birmingham’s NEC in January 2015 (19th-21st).
For further information, see www.hotelympia.com and follow on Twitter for everything Hotelympia www.twitter.com/hotelympia