Venues of Excellence commitment to quality reaps rewards

0
2241
Mandy Jennings, executive director at Venues of Excellence

Independent venue consortium, Venues of Excellence (VoE), has announced that 2019 was one of its most successful years of business to date.

The organisation, which is the UK’s largest sales and marketing consortium of specialist conference, meeting and training venues, revealed a number of exciting developments at its Annual Conference 2020 which was held at Imago Venues at Loughborough University with the headline being that 2019 was a bumper year of business.

This was reinforced by the consortium hitting its 2020 target of having 50 accredited venues under its name, a year earlier than planned, as well as welcoming 10 new members in those 12 months and enjoying a 93% retention customer retention rate.

The start of 2020 suggests the year ahead will be no different with a new year hat trick: the unveiling at the conference of prestigious venues Edgbaston Park in Birmingham located in the stunning grounds of the University of Birmingham; Hellidon Lakes, in the beautiful Northamptonshire countryside who offer excellence conference, leisure and golf facilities; and the renowned Edgbaston Cricket Club, home to international cricket, Warwickshire County Cricket Club and offering world-class, large scale conference and events facilities as the latest to join the ranks.

Mandy Jennings, executive director at Venues of Excellence, said: “We’re thrilled with how Venues for Excellence went from strength-to-strength in 2019 and are confident that our strategy of representing the very highest quality of venues across the UK is setting us apart and will continue to be a successful approach for us in the years ahead.

“We aren’t just a consortium, our venues are handpicked based on specific criteria and then an ongoing measurement of quality is rolled out including gathering customer feedback and our audit process. Our commitment to quality is clear and that means we are attracting more independent venues seeking to be part of a brand recognised for excellence, as they are then benefitting from being instantly identified as one of the best in the UK.

“We are proud to have awarded accreditation to now 53 venues, from Scotland to the South of England, representing more than 4,000 bedrooms and 1,000 meeting rooms in total.”

To reinforce its dedication to representing only the best venues across the UK, Venues for Excellence also announced five key quality pledges for 2020 to ensure its members uphold high standards in areas including customer satisfaction, employee wellbeing and supporting the environment. 

Previously, Venues of Excellence accreditation was awarded following an initial independent audit visit but from now, venues will also be asked to sign up to the five pledges once accredited and to abide by each pledge in order to maintain their VofE membership status.

Added Mandy: “Being a member of Venues of Excellence is a mark of quality and so, we’ve created these five pledges to ensure that quality is upheld not just now but in years to come.

“The five pledges ensure high standards of facilities; listening and acting on customer feedback; acting with honesty and integrity in business; focusing on employee wellbeing, development, retention and engagement; and demonstrating a commitment to sustainability and environmentally-friendly operations, too.

“We’re confident our venues will welcome the introduction of these pledges and look forward to seeing more of the fantastic work that’s already being done to raise the bar for our industry throughout our portfolio of accredited venues here in the UK.

“We’re so pleased to have been able to share our 2019 success, new venues and the introduction of our new pledges at our 2020 Annual Conference which is the highlight of our calendar.”

Venues of Excellence awards membership to high-quality conferences, meetings and training venues throughout the UK.

In return, members can access a range of services including sales and marketing support, discounted access to specialist industry training from the Learning and Development Academy, 12 member events, an annual conference and promotion at industry exhibitions.

For further enquiries, please visit www.venuesofexcellence.co.uk.

This post is sponsored by Venues of Excellence.

Molly Hookings
Author: Molly Hookings

Molly joined the editorial team in March 2019. She has several years’ experience working in broadcast and journalism, as well as marketing and PR. Past experience includes working for the BBC and independent publishing houses. If you have a story you think Molly might be interested in, please email: molly@eventindustrynews.com