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Topping out

There has never been a better time for consumers to barter for goods and services. But what about the businesses at the top end, are they slashing their prices or holding firm? Vikki Carley and Sarah O’Donnell check out the five-star hotel offers.

As the saying goes: ‘It is all about quality, not quantity’. Or is it? One would think it has been a particularly difficult year for hotels at the top-end of the meetings market because of the recession. They have to work that bit harder to attract clients wishing to hold events in lavish surroundings, as companies step down the star scale.
Declining demand from large corporates has been a particular blow to these top-end hotels, as they are keen not to be perceived as spending large amounts of money on a costly event for staff when business is suffering.
The Maybourne Group has three hotels in London; The Berkeley, The Connaught and Claridge’s, which are all marketed as luxury hotels, with collateral that boasts “exquisite innovation, timeless glamour and understated elegance”. Maybourne Group’s director of events, Eugene Leonard, says: “We are working three to four times as hard to get corporate events, private dinners and weddings business.”
The three hotels claim never to have had to advertise before, their marketing previously reliant on the awareness of the brand and most business coming through reputation. Although the group reports steady levels of business, Leonard says: “There is no room to lose business and we are working harder than ever.” This drive includes employing a dedicated marketing team.
The Group says it is adverse to cutting costs. “We have seen the last year as an opportunity to pioneer new standards in the private events industry and implement clever ways of offering value for money,” says Leonard, whose team are fighting the five-star corner fiercely.
This includes looking at ways of offering the highest level of service combined with a unique experience, and having professional event teams on site seven days a week to ensure expectations are well surpassed, says Leonard.
“Luxury spa facilities are increasingly becoming a point of differentiation within the London five-star hotel arena and our hotels are able to offer this, which is definitely a selling point in their ability to attract business,” adds Leonard.
The Maybourne Group says that compared to September last year, it saw slow growth in autumn conference and meeting bookings. It hopes to see healthier business levels and believes its private events calendar pick up in 2010. This autumn, for the first time in the Connaught’s 112-year history, purpose built private entertainment facilities are on offer.

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