Great Hotels of the World host great networking events

# tags: Hotels

Great Hotels of the World (GHOTW) hosted a networking ‘Meet-up’ event on Wednesday 3rd November, taking the opportunity of many delegates being in London to attend World Travel Market 2021.

The venue selected was ‘The Humble Grape’ St. Bride’s Church in Fleet Street, home to some 400 artisan wines and sustainably sourced ingredients.

The event was part of GHOTW’s strategy to drive engagement between GHOTW members and MICE clients. Their London based team and three of their key member hotels met with 30 agencies for a workshop, wine tasting and Chef’s Tasting Menu in London - followed by another workshop and networking lunch in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Events Agencies in the Midlands.

This comes off the back of hosting a recent FAM trip for MICE organisers to Lisbon & Cascais, which not only showcased the business, golf, leisure and hospitality potential of the properties viewed, but also the infrastructure, connectivity, innovation and of course landscape and buzz of the region.

Craig McGee, Founder & CEO of Panoptic Events, who attended the FAM trip commented “Great Hotels of the World really does live up to its name; we saw Lisbon from the perspective of the hotel owners and the trip opened my eyes to some phenomenal properties for the MICE sector and clients. Just a few highlights included the beautiful views of the lake at the Onyria Quinta da Marinha Hotel and the legendary history of the Hotel Palacio Estoril, complimented by some very cool activities, which brought the destination and properties fully into focus for my company.”

During the networking evening in London, invited guests had the opportunity to speak with GHOTW partners, each promoting their flexible and adaptable meeting/event spaces, incentive options and superior hospitality facilities to an eminent buyer crowd. Hotel member representatives in attendance were from Portugal and Spain - Onyria Quinta da Marinha Hotel, NAU Hotels & Resorts and ILUNION Alcora Hotel Seville – whilst GHOTW unveiled new hotels in the collection.

GHOTW organised a pre-dinner ‘wine tasting’ session, offering 3 premium and delectable wines analysed by one of the Humble Grape’s experts, before guests were invited to sit down for the ‘Chef’s Tasting Menu’; a sumptuous 3-course meal with yet more wine. This gave plenty more scope to discover more about the hotels and for the hotels to understand more about what planners are looking for and the current state of the market.

The evening was capped-off by a prize draw in which several lucky guests celebrated with hotel stays in each of the hotels present on the night. Event Point International was delighted to be the exclusive press platform in attendance.

Maria Yacoub, Global Sales Director - GHOTW, mentioned: “We believe face to face networking events can't be replaced, hence we looked forward to do it just after WTM, as some of the hotels were already here attending this important trade show. It was a good opportunity to show our clients that we are ready for their events, with new hotels in the portfolio, exciting destinations and showcasing several amazing independent hotels who joined us. They brought with them positive news on their renovated products and how they guarantee more sustainable and unique events which are the demands from buyers.”

The evening was an informative and fun way to learn about some of the GHOTW portfolio of amazing hotels, their locations and potential for meetings, events and incentives.