Who are the forerunners of the regional meetings industry?

The Meetings Star is a system of evaluating quality that gives a clear-cut answer about the quality of destinations and meeting venues. It is based on the independent assessments of hidden congress guests, earning it credibility among the community of event organisers. The awards are earned through quality work and service. The assessors – hidden congress guests evaluate the quality of destinations based on the Meeting Experience Index, comprising 75 evaluation criteria. Hotels and venues are evaluated based on a visit by the hidden congress guest, who assesses a hotel’s services based on 654 evaluation criteria. The gala award ceremony for the best hotels, conference centres and most influential people in the meetings industry will take place on Wednesday, 21 February 2024, at 18:30 in Linhart Hall in Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana.

An award tailored for event organisers

The Meetings Star is a certificate of quality. Only the best service providers and venues can earn it. Moreover, the winners were assessed by our hidden congress guests and had to meet strict criteria and the demands of international event organisers. That matters more than the award ceremony itself, which we see as an encouragement to raise the quality of the meetings industry. Numerous positive responses have shown our awards accurately reflect the state of the meetings industry.

The certified venues and providers are among the leading on the market. When evaluating hotels and convention centres, hidden congress guests calculate the percentage of fulfilling criteria and the average grade, enabling the hotels to improve quality-wise over the years.

The evaluation is focused primarily on the region of New Europe. Nonetheless, to make the comparison with the best easier, our hidden guest assessors often evaluate destinations and venues beyond the frontiers of New Europe. We are tremendously proud that in all the years of our assessment, we have not received any complaints regarding the transparency and credibility of our work. We did receive several appraisals that our system is a reference point for international event organisers, though.

Categories of the competition

This year, 129 destinations and 277 hotels and convention centres will be awarded the certificate. At the gala award ceremony in Cankarjev dom, winners will be announced in three main categories:

Among 129 evaluated destinations from 33 countries, winners will be announced in four destination categories (XL, L, M and S destinations) and a regional category – Best in New Europe.

XL MEETING DESTINATIONS
Destinations that can host more than 2,000 event attendees / 39 evaluated destinations
The largest category comprises renowned European meeting destinations with superb meeting infrastructure and stellar air accessibility. Such destinations are major air crossroads.

L MEETING DESTINATIONS
Destinations that can host up to 2,000 event attendees / 31 evaluated destinations
The congress infrastructure and air accessibility of these destinations enable the organisation of events with up to 2,000 attendees.

M MEETING DESTINATIONS
Destinations that can host up to 1,200 event attendees / 29 evaluated destinations
The most heterogeneous category is dominated by regional hubs and large tourist towns.

S MEETING DESTINATIONS
Destinations that can host up to 600 event attendees / 30 evaluated destinations
The smallest category includes smaller tourist outposts where the meetings industry is a complementary sector in the low tourist seasons.

Among 277 certified hotels from 19 New Europe countries, winners will be announced in five categories (city, resort, spa, boutique hotels and congress centres). A dedicated category will award the best Slovenian hotels and convention centres.

CITY MEETING HOTELS
103 certified hotels in 2023/2024
Urban hotels are characterised by their location in the city centre. Their design most commonly includes conference capacities or large conference centres. Most certified hotels in this category have four or five stars.

RESORT MEETING HOTELS
65 certified hotels in 2023/2024
Resort meeting hotels boast a diverse and complex offer, including a sea of additional tourist services. They often boast conference centres. The Adriatic Coast is dotted with many resort hotels, similar to renowned Alpine tourist towns.

SPA MEETING HOTELS
27 certified hotels in 2023/2024
In our categorisation, spa meeting hotels are most unusual – not by chance. Our region boasts an astonishing number of such hotels. Spa hotels offer a diverse and authentic offering for meetings and events.

BOUTIQUE MEETING HOTELS
49 certified hotels in 2023/2024
Boutique hotels are defined as hotels with less than 50 hotel rooms. Still, their conference capacities are noticeably smaller compared to larger hotels. Most of them only have one or two meeting halls. They are ideal for incentive programs or smaller corporate events, though.

CONVENTION CENTRES
33 certified convention centres in 2023/2024
Size-wise, convention centres represent the quintessential strategic infrastructure for every illustrious meeting destination. On average, convention centres boast 18.7 meeting halls. Most (42.8%) feature from 11 to 15 meeting halls. The average size of meeting halls in regional convention centres is 3,167 square metres. In our comparison, 38% of convention centres have at least one hall that can accommodate between 1,000 and 2,000 event attendees. The average-sized hall can accommodate 2,484 attendees in a theatre setting, 2,589 attendees in a standing reception and 1,721 participants for banquets.

We have been selecting the most influential people in the regional meetings industry since 2014. The prestigious award will be awarded to one trailblazing influencer out of eight categories. The selection has gained acclaim within the international community of event organisers because all candidates are verified before the evaluation commences with the help of Kongres Magazine’s partner network. Only individuals who meet strict criteria make it on the list. The influencers are divided into comparable categories, which is another reason the project became a trustworthy source of information. Colleagues often say the shortlist represents a “Who is Who” selection of the regional meetings industry.

The two-phase selection will conclude with online voting. Our competition values an individual’s final score more than the number of votes.

All candidates are evaluated according to criteria on a scale from 1 to 5:

1. CREDIBILITY: Trustworthiness and credibility are crucial values in event organising. The candidate is recognised as a highly credible individual within the regional meetings industry.

2. CREATIVITY: The candidate showcased creativity and agility in their work. They executed innovative projects, even during the coronavirus crisis.

3. RESULTS: The candidate achieved financial or other multiplicative results that were above average compared to the regional average.

4. LEGACY: The candidate left a permanent mark by working for the common good of the meetings industry.

This year, 279 individuals from 24 countries were nominated. They continue to prove the regional meetings industry is agile and creative.

The main categories of influencers from which we choose the final winner are:

1. Destination Influencers
2. Meeting Architects (DMO, CVB)
3. Hotel and Venue Representatives
4. Meeting Service Providers (Catering providers)
5. Meeting Service Providers (Technology, Multimedia, Online platforms)
6. Meeting Innovators
7. Creative event agencies
8. Sustainability trailblazers