In 2018, the Meetings Star awards, together with Conventa, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. During this time it has gained a special status, and the awarding of prizes at Conventa has become a traditional event. This year it will be raised to an even higher level with an independent event in Grand hotel Union, Ljubljana.
More important than the competition, however, is the starting point from where, through the announcing and awarding of the best, we are contributing to ensuring high quality products and services. Meeting planners also have the same expectations. We are pleased that numerous organisers have confirmed to us that the recipients of plaques are at the top in their field and, therefore, the awards are an actual reflection of the situation in the market. In the future we will further extend our evaluations to new destinations and providers.
The top ten in the various categories will receive special plaques at the awards at the Grand Hotel Union on 23 January 2018. All the best-rated hotels and venues, together with a detailed description of the methodology used, are presented below.
The Best Meeting Destinations 2017
Congress travelogues or Meetologies have become a firm reference point for event organisers in deciding and choosing destinations. This particularly results from the logic and benefits that they bring to participants.
On the initiative of individual destinations that are part of the MTLG project, we have prepared a new categorisation of destinations. The objective of the upgrade categorisation is to provide meeting planners with as much information as possible about the capacities of destinations, which, since 2009, we have been evaluating using the Meetologue methodology. All destinations have been evaluated on the basis of field trips and research, in order to get as close as possible to the real situation.
The new categorisation includes a combination of criteria, with a points sum of indices that is the basis for classifying destinations in four destination classes.
XL MEETING DESTINATIONS
Destinations that can host over 2,000 congress participants
Winning destination 2017: VIENNA – score 4.77
Finalists 2017: Munich 4.68 / Berlin 4.64 / Zürich 4.62 / Edinburgh 4.62 / Barcelona 4.58 / Prague 4.55 / London 4.46 / Athens 4.41 / Glasgow 4.40 / Warsaw 4.39
L MEETING DESTINATIONS
Destinations that can host a maximum of 2,000 congress participants
Winning destination 2017: LJUBLJANA – score 4.33
Finalists 2017: Graz 4.32 / Zagreb 4.31 / Venice 4.30 / Talin 4.28 / Krakow 4.23 / Bratislava 4.20 / Innsbruck 4.16 / Salzburg 4.14 / Thessaloniki 4.10
M MEETING DESTINATIONS
Destinations that can host a maximum of 1,200 congress participants
Winning destination 2017: DUBROVNIK – score 4.27
Finalists 2017: Villach 4.06 / Klagenfurt 3.98 / Schladming 3.96 / Opatija 3.92 / Bled 3.91 / Rovinj 3.89 / Portorož 3.88 / Split 3.85 / Poreč 3.82
S MEETING DESTINATIONS
Destinations that can host a maximum of 600 congress participants
Winning destination 2017: KRANJSKA GORA – score 3.82
Finalists 2017: Bohinj 3.80 / Soče Valley 3.79 / Hvar 3.75 / Goriška Brda 3.74 / Mali Lošinj 3.73 / Laško 3.72 / Savinja Valley 3.71 / Podčetrtek 3.68 / Rogaška Slatina 3.67
Destinations in ‘New’ Europe compare with the most developed European destinations. Among them, according to our evalutions, Vienna is in first place with a score of 4.77.
We also compare and reward destinations in ‘New’ Europe. The ratings ladder of the best is:
“Ten years ago, when we started preparing the congress travelogues, we couldn’t possibly have foreseen that our methodology for evaluating destinations would have become such an important reference point for meeting planners. As of today, we have published 76 travelogues of various meeting destinations, all based on hard graft and solid field work. Our unflagging enthusiasm for this has demonstrated that we have been setting quality standards that are also being recognized by the wider international industry public through the Meetings Star Awards.”
The Best Meeting Hotels and Convention Centres
We evaluate hotels and convention centre which are recommended to us by our readers and which are focused on congress tourism. For the 2017 award we evaluated 25 new hotels and re-evaluated 12 hotels from last year. In total 151 evalutions by hidden guests were carried out, which enables a true high-quality comparison. We deliberately avoid the possibility that part of the evaluation is made-up of online surveys. We believe that, by using such a method, the information obtained would only reflect the opinion of those users who choose to participate. Therefore, we will continue to use the hidden guest methodology, which, in our opinion, ensures the best quality results, despite the fact that this method is time-consuming and demanding.
The absolute winners for 2017 are:
Best Meeting Hotel
Best Convention Centre
CITY MEETING HOTELS
- LUXURY: RITZ CARLTON, Budapest, Hungary / score 4.95
- PREMIUM: CROWNE PLAZA BELGRADE, Belgrade, Serbia / score 4.50
RESORT MEETING HOTELS
- LUXURY: HOTEL REGENT PORTO MONTENEGRO, Tivat, Montenegro / score 4.96
- PREMIUM: VALAMAR LACROMA, Dubrovnik, Croatia / score 4.50
HOTEL SPLENDID, Budva, Montenegro/ score 4.50
SPA MEETING HOTELS
- SPA: X BIONIC HOTEL, Samorin, Slovakia / score 4.82
BOUTIQUE MEETING HOTELS
- BOUTIQUE: AMAN SVETI ŠTEFAN, Sveti Štefan, Montenegro / score 4.92
CONVENTION CENTRES
- CONVENTION: AUSTRIA CENTER VIENNA, Vienna, Austria / score 4.91
Among Slovenian hotels, the following hotels placed highest on the rankings ladder:
A) LARGER SLOVENIAN MEETING HOTELS
1. Kempinski Palace, Portorož 4.89
2. Grand Hotel Union, Ljubljana 4.80
3. InterContinental, Ljubljana 4.78
4. Mind Hotel Slovenia 4.76
5. Wellness Hotel Sotelia, Podčetrtek 4.73
6. Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Ljubljana 4.48
6. Hotel Balnea Superior 4.48
7. Grand Hotel Bernardin, Portorož 4.47
7. Hotel Brdo, Brdo pri Kranju 4.47
8. Best Western Premier Hotel Lovec, Bled 4.45
9. Hotel Golf, Bled 4.46
10. Grand Hotel Toplice, Bled 4.43
11. Hotel Lev, Ljubljana 4.43
B) BOUTIQUE SLOVENIAN MEETING HOTELS
1. Hotel Plesnik, Logar valley 4.86
2. Hotel Cubo, Ljubljana 4.82
3. Hotel Vander, Ljubljana 4.76
4. Hotel Triglav, Bled 4.69
4. Kendov dvorec, Idrija 4.69
5. Hotel San Martin, Goriška Brda 4.28
C) CONVENTION CENTRES
1. Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana 4.85
2. Brdo Congress Centre, Brdo pri Kranju 4.84
3. Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre 4.81
4. Bled Festival Hall 4.19
Conventa Best Event Award
At a time when we have already seen and experienced almost everything imaginable, the organisation of unforgettable events is all but simple. In order to ensure that the best events in ‘New’ Europe, as well as their organisers, do not go unnoticed, Kongres magazine, in co-operation with Conventa, presents an award which, as part of the Meetings Star awards, will immortalise the best events in the meetings industry.