Meetings Star Award 2015 – Best Hotels and Convention Centres

Based on 113 hidden guests’ ratings, which have been published in the Kongres Magazine, we selected the winners of the MEETING STAR AWARD 2015.

– 5 categories, 12 hidden guests

– 465 evaluation criteria

– 35 evaluated City Meeting Hotels

– 33 evaluated Resort Meeting Hotels

– 14 evaluated Spa Meeting Hotels

– 16 evaluated Boutique Hotels

– 15 evaluated Congress and Convention Centres

Congress guests are the most demanding and at the same time they have the highest purchasing power, and in tourism, this has been a well known truth for a long time. Generally, they spent a longer amount of time in the hotel, have greater levels of contact with personnel and avail themselves of more hotel services. As a rule, they expect a higher level of services and therefore they deserve the utmost attention.

The results for the year 2015 are known. On the upcoming pages you will find the results of the biggest regional testing of congress centres, hotels and destinations.

This award is being organised for the six time in a row, but the principle remains the same; the winners are selected by hidden congress guests. An expert examines and evaluates the quality of restaurant, hotel and other services as a hidden guest.

WHO IS THE HIDDEN CONGRESS GUEST?
An expert with several years of experience in the field of congress organisation, and with knowledge in hotel and restaurant management. For guaranteeing objectivity the following knowledge and competencies are required:

• – at least 15 years of experience in the field of congress and event organisation;
• – expertise in International meeting industry standards with specific knowledge of standards’ control (DIN – Deutsche Industrie Norm, ICCA – International Congress and Convention Association, IAPCO – International Association of Professional Congress Organisers, APEX – Accepted Practice Exchange, AIPC – International Association of Congress Centres, MPI – Meetings Professionals International);
• – familiarity with trends in the meeting industry on the regional and international market;
• – recognition of specific needs and wishes of meeting participants;
• – knowledge about key factors that influence the selection of a venues;
• – familiarity with all elements required for successfully holding a congress (technical requirements, catering services, extras, security, protocol etc.);

Furthermore, our evaluators have verified references in assuring the quality of their own work in the meeting industry and this allows them to give an impartial opinion on behalf of the client and ensures a maximal reliability of the method.

Our hidden guests are objective, fair, precise and reliable, well organised and pay attention to detail.

WHAT IS THE COURSE OF THE EVALUATION PROCESS?

The evaluator visits a randomly selected hotel or participates in one of the hotel’s or congress/convention centre’s events, where they evaluate the performance of the hotel’s services using an evaluation rubric.  At certain points of the evaluation rubric personal comments and pictures or video proof are added to the rating.

WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR COLLABORATION? 

The evaluation rubric includes over 456 measurable evaluation criteria, which are divided into the following categories:

1. First contact with the customer
2. General impression upon arrival at the hotel
3. Entry hall – lobby
4. Employees’ attitude
5. Reception
6. Hotel room
7. Hotel bed
8. Bathroom and restroom
9. Hotel breakfast
10. Hotel bar and restaurant
11. Congress halls
12. Extras
13. Sales procedures and communication

Each category is evaluated based on the percentage of compliance with the prerequisites and an average score – this way individual criteria can be improved.

Moreover, in the framework of the evaluation rubric a subjective assessment is offered, which can be used to improve performance in the following areas:

1. Architecture and aesthetics
2. Reputation and credibility
3. Communication
4. Price
5. Extras
6. Location
7. FLOP negative surprises
8. TOP surpluses

Read more:  KONGRES – Hidden Congress Guest 2015