SO GOOD THAT WE COULDN’T IGNORE THEM!

The Meetings Star Award and the Conventa tradeshow together celebrate their 10th Anniversary. In the last decade, the Meetings Star Award has gained a special status among the event awards, while the award ceremony during the Conventa tradeshow has become a tradition that will this year be raised to an even higher level through a production of an autonomous event.

Based on 151 hidden guests’ ratings, which have been published in the Kongres Magazine, we have selected the winners of the MEETING STAR AWARD 2017.

  • 5 categories, 12 hidden guests
  • 465 evaluation criteria
  • 55 City Meeting Hotels evaluated
  • 44 Resort Meeting Hotels evaluated
  • 17 Spa Meeting Hotels evaluated
  • 16 Boutique Hotels evaluated
  • 19 Congress and Convention Centres evaluated

So, which hotels were most highly rated by the hidden congress guests sent out to the field by Kongres magazine throughout 2017?

The Meeting Star Award has been organised for the ten successive years and the principle remains the same – the winners are selected by hidden congress guests, who make an independent evaluation of the quality of the hotel, congress, restaurant and other services.

The Hidden Congress Guest is an experienced expert in the field of congress organisation with knowledge in hotel and restaurant management, who visits a randomly selected hotel or participates in one of the hotel’s or congress centre’s events, where he evaluates the performance of the hotel’s services using an evaluation sheet. 

TOP 10 SPA MEETING HOTELS 2017

X BIONIC HOTEL
Šamorin, Slovakia 4.82
This is unquestionably an impressive facility. The Congress Centre currently includes 12 congress halls, the largest of which can accommodate up to 600 participants and has the added benefit of a high ceiling. Event organisers will also love many of the external surfaces: zen-style atriums and delicately hidden corners to which in good weather you can migrate elements of an event. The centre has very quickly gained in popularity, a huge advantage being the proximity of Bratislava and vast free parking available. There are also numerous options for entertainment and recreation, a bowling centre, four different types of restaurants and two hotel bars being quite noteworthy.

LOISIUM WINE & SPA RESORT
Langenlois, Austria 4.75
Austrian Styria is a model example of a country which lives and breathes with wine tourism. The abundance of wineries, restaurants and vineyards looks like from a postcard. In this idyllic environment, a new hotel emerged, combining excellent hotel, centre of well-being, congress centre and wine-culture. Special experiences are wine tastings and seminars, which nicely round off your congress event. Smaller congress centre in the hotel for max. 120 people is superbly equipped and complemented by special venue in the wine cellar Loisium World of Wine, designed by Steven Holl. A magical place and excellent hotel spa will leave your guests speechless.

WELLNESS HOTEL SOTELIA
Podčetrtek, Slovenia 4.73
Hotel Sotelia was never shy about its ambitions to bring a genuine wellness experience to the meetings industry, something that other competitors did not yet know about. Its distinctive architectural design has many admirers and its many small details always draw the eye to them. In every respect this is a very good hotel with conference facilities for smaller events. Together with the rich tourist and sports offer Podčetrtek is ideal for carrying out various incentives and other incentive programmes. Today the hotel is no longer the newest on the market, but it is still fresh enough and different from the mainstream offer of Slovenia.

falkensteiner-jesolo

FALKENSTEINER HOTELA & SPA JESOLO
Jesolo, Italy 4.72
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).

spirit_hotel_sarvar

SPIRIT HOTEL
Sarvar, Hungary 4.52
The Spirit Hotel, which is currently the city’s “flagship”, certainly represents a new chapter in the rich history and culture of Sárvár’s spa tourism. It is elegant and spacious, which together makes for an impressive hotel. However, this does not mean that it is perfect, as anyone wishing to take advantage of everything the hotel has to offer will have to deal with a relatively high price for this region of Europe.

RADISSON BLU RESORT & SPA
Dubrovnik, Croatia 4.49
The overall result of the resort is extremely good. The congress centre is functional and cleverly designed with warm colours and daylight, offering all you need for a great incentive programme. The hotel follows the known standards of the Falkensteiner group and is an excellent choice for incentive and product launches and smaller conferences. It is important to avoid the high tourist season and go for less frequent dates, carefully planning the arrivals logistics. From what we saw and experienced we can only give a firm nod of approval.

HOTEL BALNEA SUPERIOR
Dolenjske Toplice, Slovenia 4.48
A full-blooded wellness experience awaits that will not disappoint your congress guests. The architecture of the hotel and the interior spaces are very sound and the quality craftsmanship and materials used catch the eye, with the only drawback being that the hotel is generally very busy and so your conference guests will have to mix with the standard health guests. This aside, the spa is where you can be a little removed from the everyday pressures of the world and enjoy the peace and intimacy of your event. A very authentic and very genuine boutique congress experience.

RIMSKE TERME
Rimske Terme, Slovenia 4.48
Following a period of turbulence, the Spa management is now working to restore its previous lustre and it can be confidently claimed that so far they are making good progress. The hotel is undergoing its ‘spring’ and is reaching out especially to those souls who want a different experience and a disconnection from the everyday world. With their offer they are trying to move towards a high quality facility, whilst at the same time taking into account the local traditions. The main disadvantage lies in the offer of the town, which is still not alert to what kind of a pearl its Roman Spa is. With a special offer, exquisite cuisine and its pleasing architecture, the Roman Spa is a competitor to Slovenia’s more experienced thermal providers and is worthy of serious consideration.

THERMANA CONGRESS CENTRE
Laško, Slovenia  4.33
It’s a little more than two years since the opening of the congress centre and hotel, for which we can safely say that it is already one of the region’s more pleasing options. Thermana offers a lot for a moderate amount, which is very important in today’s economic climate. It is also striking how much Laško can offer to congress guests beyond its traditional beer specialty: everything from one of the best Slovenian cuisine restaurants to exceptional cultural and historical heritage, along with the option of organising green meetings.Given all of the above, Thermana’s congress offer became an instant hit and caused a mini earthquake on the Slovenian market. Event organisation with the added extra wellness pampering is very appealing, and for the time being any reference we can make to the new congress offer can only be with our full respect.

hotel_livada_prestige

WELLNESS HOTEL LIVADA PRESTIGE
Moravci, Slovenia 4.31
The complex is very fresh and modern, and also very much in tune with what a positive congress tourism product should be. It is complemented by a rich experiential offer around its thermal pools and pampering options. Congress guests will receive individual treatments and culinary experiences, leaving the only real topic of discussion about its placement in the five-star category, as some details ordinarily expected at this level are for the moment not in place.

losinj_croatia

VITALITY HOTEL PUNTA 
Veli Lošinj, Croatia  4.29
A natural environment that has the calming effect of the sea on one side and pine trees on the other, not to mention the professional service, friendly staff, solid cuisine, reasonable prices and interesting additional offer. Due to its positioning as a ‘Vitality hotel’ Punta doesn’t instantly attract the attention of congress guests, but it is without doubt a very suitable choice for organising business and motivational events for groups of up to 60 guests.

grand, hotel, primus, ptuj, slovenia

GRAND HOTEL PRIMUS
Ptuj, Slovenia 4.29
Grand Hotel Primus has a prime position on a spacious green area surrounded on one side by the swimming pool complex and on the other by a park and a golf course, ensuring that all of its rooms have a great view. Often for an event more than just a well-equipped hall is needed, as what happens during breaks, at lunch, and at the evening event is also important, and in the Grand Hotel Primus the offer is so rich that you can easily fill a day, two or even more for your participants with a top quality programme. The Grand Hotel Primus is a reassuringly solid hotel in every way, especially with its authentic story.

The HIDDEN CONGRESS GUEST section is not paid for. The selection of hotels, which are
evaluated by the hidden congress guest, is left to the editorial board. The hidden guest
visits the hotels without prior notice.

The hotels are rated by the HIDDEN CONGRESS GUEST, who are professional people with years of experience in the meetings industry and the extra knowledge of hospitality management. The evaluation matrix consists of more than 450 measurable evaluation criteria that are divided into different categories, such as first contact with the customer, general impression upon arrival, behaviour of employees, as well as many others. Each category is assessed by the proportion of conditionality and an average rating, which in itself allows for the improvement of the quality of the individual criteria.

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