Rationale and objectives
Experience Meetings is a new meeting and event concept to revitalise the positioning of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group’s brands in the important meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) arena, and to crucially differentiate the Radisson Blu offerings from those of its competitors.
The intiative is designed to provide meeting planners and delegates with the highest level of consistent product and service delivery, according to Sezgin.
It also forms part of Rezidor’s Route 2015 programme to improve the group’s profitability through revenue initiatives, cost savings, asset management activities and plans to further grow its fee-based hotel portfolio.
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Sezgin explains: “Over the past six months, we have really stepped up our game to fuel the revenue passion. Experience Meetings, created jointly by different departments at the corporate support office and selected hotels, is our new approach not only to attract more MICE business to our hotels but to exceed expectations of our clients, and make them return over and over again.
“Radisson Blu has always provided services and facilities that cater to the business persona and meetings delegate. We have now brought all these existing service elements under one umbrella and added unique and new elements,” he continues, adding that the group wanted to ‘breathe some life back into meetings’, hence the new Brain Box room.
The concept and investment
The operator has revised its Standards of Operations & Services, incorporating lots of ‘good ideas’, ‘useful tips’ and ‘wow factors’ according to Sezgin.
Specific brand guidelines and collateral have also been developed incorporating a new look and feel, including the redesign of meetings and events pages on radissonblu.com and the successful launch of regional F&B training for Brain Food across Carlson Rezidor’s portfolio of Radisson Blu Hotels and Resorts, which is ongoing.
Other new or updated tools introduced as part of the initiative include: The M&E Success Factors operational handbook; marketing and sales guidelines detailing the new look and feel, as well as key concept components; F&B manuals containing operations guidelines, standards and recommendations, as well as Carlson Rezidor’s Brain Food Kit, and other meetings and events implementation guidelines and visuals.
“As part of our company Route 2015 we’re aiming to achieve an incremental revenue of €120 million (US $154 million) by 2015. We aim for €30 million ($39 million) of this to come directly from sales, especially the MICE segment,” reveals Sezgin.
The programme
All of Carlson Rezidor’s Middle East hotels will take part in the initiative.
“They will be introduced to the full concept next week [October 24] at the official launch at the Radisson Royal Hotel [in Dubai], this will be their chance to experience the new concept first hand from the Brain Box room to the Brain Food,” he explains.
The Brain Food training has already begun, with a regional trainer appointed.
Furthermore,Sezgin says all of Radisson Blu’s chefs in the region have completed the Brain Food training: “We’re looking forward to seeing a successful launch of Experience Meetings across the region. Each individual hotel can add their own twist,” he adds.
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