HIDDEN GUEST – Tested in 2016

So, which hotels were most highly rated by the hidden congress guests sent out to the field by Kongres magazine throughout 2016? You can find the results of the biggest regional testing of congress centres and hotels undertaken for the purpose of acknowledging and awarding the best in the business.

CORINTHIA HOTEL BUDAPEST
The Hotel Corinthia has a character that has no match anywhere in the city. An elegant hotel building, top-notch service and excellent congress facilities place it at the very top of the regional congress hotel offers. It has the biggest selection of congress halls in Budapest, all of them 5 star,and includes 31 meeting rooms, the baroque-style Grand Ballroom and the special Executive Lounge is suitable for private congress organiser meetings. Luxury comfort, modern elegance and technology tie the offer together.

GRAND HOTEL KEMPINSKI HIGH TATRAS
The hotel is an attractive Slovak tourist icon, in a picturesque location, which makes everything look like a fairytale. It is a simple hotel which awakens the imagination, raises the heartbeat and is perfect for congress events of the highest order. It is an institution where guests can relax in the wellness center, indulge in culinary treats from the chefs, taste some excellent wine or fully focus on meetings and events with a view.

KEMPINSKI PALACE PORTOROŽ
The Kempinski Palace is simply an excellent congress hotel. With their experience in incentive travel, conferences and complicated corporate events, they have set new standards and assured the number one spot in the region. Since the last evaluation, the Palace hotel has had major improvements in terms of service quality, staff and cuisine. In addition to the standard, top-notch Kempinski service you would expect, the hotel has its unique style, which accentuates the legendary character and Habsburg elegance.

HOTEL GRAND BRETAGNE ATHENS
Hotel Grand Bretagne is in a world of its own and definitely falls into the top league of regional hotels. It is a hotel institution, which will never disappoint. The highest standards in comfort, cuisine and overall pleasure wrapped inside a package that still defines the standards of what quality should feel like in Athens. The initial concept of a personalized hotel soon became an oasis of peace and tranquility amid the rhythm of a wild metropolis. A big plus is the option of combining conference halls and hotel capacities with its subsidiary hotel, King George, and thus opening up possibilities for larger groups.

FALKENSTEINER HOTEL AND SPA JESOLO
A trendy hotel that perfectly complements the existing Falkensteiner offer and has a perfect location right beside the Venetian laguna in the middle of a very opulent region. It is distinguished by its first class interior and exterior design and characterized by a high level hotel service. For the green purists it has loads of modern continual solutions and sits among the new generations of hotels (zero CO2 Energy Management).

HILTON ATHENS
A hotel that is loved by guests like Aristotle Onassis, Frank Sinatra, Ingmar Bergman, Anthony Quinn and the Rolling Stones has made it the place to be. The area around the hotel is known among locals simply as the Hilton area. It impresses with its professional congress service and a modernistic design with Mediterranean touches, creating a visually perfect and pleasing image.

HOTEL PLESNIK
The hotel industry here has already almost a century old family tradition through the Plesnik family. It’s hard to find a place in Slovenia that is so closely linked with the families who live there. The individual attention to guests is embedded in the Plesnik family’s genetic code. Due to the tailor-made offer, high-quality service and most importantly because of the feeling that everything is possible, congress life in the valley is wishing to return. State Protocol finally entrusts them with the most demanding events.

HOTEL HEMERA PODGORICA
With its concept Hotel Hemera is a unique story, which brings great added value to Podgorica. It attracts a different type of guest and opens up the potential for further growth of the region. Hemera fixed itself on our mind, mostly because of its unusual combination of design and classical accommodation. It is attractive, modern and, most of all, different.

HOTEL LOFT BRATISLAVA
Hotel Loft is from a different hotel world, but a perfect match to the more traditional accommodation options in Bratislava. An authentic business hotel, top-notch hipster restaurant and a boutique conference centre give new dimensions and set standards for the existing congress scene in the city. It is suitable for smaller, more exclusive events, which can be spiced up by the special culinary offer in Fabrika restaurant.

HOTEL TERMAG JAHORINA
In Sarajevo and its surroundings the spirit of the 1984 Olympics is still present and there is no better way to experience it than up in the mountains. The Olympic rings, Vučko, and all of the infrastructure that is slowly decaying might just be the best backdrop for a top selfie. With Hotel Termag, Jahorina has acquired a fresh verve, as this is an excellent congress hotel. It has the right mixture of design, functionality and broad offer that allows for the organisation of corporate events – this hotel is definitely changing Sarajevo’s congress offer.

ATHEANAUM INTERCONTINENTAL ATHENS
Judged purely on size, you will have a tough time finding a hotel like this in Athens. It is a pure-blooded business/congress hotel, where they know how to treat a congress guest. The hotel can pride itself on the biggest congress centre in town, which has space for 2,000 participants in its 30 halls. The only complaint that I could levy was that the prices in the mini bar, hotel bar and restaurant exceeded the average expectations I had for Greece. Despite the quality of the hotel this can leave a bitter aftertaste.

RADISSON BLU PLAZA HOTEL
The hotel has brought a breath of fresh air to the Ljubljana offer and suits the business guest right down to the ground. Though the hotel doesn’t offer a wellness centre, gym or any other extras, the vicinity of the options in BTC makes up for it. As a congress guest the hotel won’t disappoint you, as it is an excellent compromise between an accessible location and a high quality hotel service, which is based on comfort and modern equipment.

RADISSON BLU CARLTON BRATISLAVA
The hotel impresses with its functionality and elegance, and with its own story and sophisticated details it is definitely a venue that combines the classic and timeless with contemporary functionality for a variety of purposes. Its congress centre is among the best in the city and even though it is very gradually starting to show signs of the need for some small updates, particularly the hotel rooms, the overall package is managing to keep up with contemporary requirements.

HOTEL GALLERIA SUBOTICA
The hotel is an intersesting crossover of content, which sets the pace for the congress industry of Subotica. It is an investment that has shown how to smartly enliven the city centre. It’s main assets show in the multifunctional offer, which looks very convincing as a package. It seems as a hotel, where you get a lot of space, quality services and priceless panonian hospitality for the paid expense. This hasn’t gone unnoticed as the famous New York Times has proclaimed the hotel the best 4**** hotel in Serbia in 2014.

HOTEL GOLTE
The hotel is perfect for an active congress experience. It is modern yet homely, but its character leaves no doubt that it is best suited to active participants or those who wish to withdraw from civilization for a while.

Hotels are rated by the HIDDEN CONGRESS GUEST. These are professional people who have many years of experience in the meetings industry and the additional knowledge of hospitality management. The evaluation matrix contains over 450 measurable criteria, which are divided into different categories, such as the first contact with the customer, the general impression upon arrival, the behaviour of employees and a host of others.

Each category is assessed by the share of conditionality and the average rating, which allows the improvement of the quality of the individual criteria.