Spotlight on The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead venues…

Great Fosters is one of those properties you have heard of and, if you are a local like me, have some of the best memories of weddings, parties and family celebrations that have taken place there over the years. What you need to know about Great Fosters is that it is also the perfect property for corporate events and I am going to tell you why!

Not only is Great Fosters a four-star luxury property with its own Michelin Star, it has some of the most stunning meeting and event spaces and grounds just made for those all-important team building activities but, before I go on, I need to start from the beginning, from the journey your delegate would take and that ultimately is how they get there.

Great Fosters is a short taxi ride from Egham Station and only 42 minutes on the train from London’s Waterloo – mid-week, there tends to train every 30 minutes and the journey a pleasant one via South Western Trains.

On arrival into the 50 acres of beautifully appointed, landscaped gardens, Great Fosters stands glorious in all seasons, your arrival sets the tone for what’s to come and it is indeed beautiful.

The property boasts 43 bedrooms (a mix of suites), all individually styled and each more beautiful than the next with the majority having beautiful four-poster beds. 

When it comes to meeting rooms, as mentioned above you have a range of choices and the property can take up to 120. You can find the capacity chart here.

Great Fosters is a fabulous choice for your offsites, conferences and retreats and their rates are super competitive.

 For more information, reach out to the team here.  

HuffPost is reportedly on the auction block | TechCrunch

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Late last night the Financial Times reported that HuffPost, arguably one of the crown jewels of Verizon Media Group’s remaining network of media properties (which includes TechCrunch), is up for sale. Verizon has been shedding media properties in a retreat from the strategy that it had begun to execute with the acquisition of AOL for […]
— Read on techcrunch.com/2019/10/19/huffpost-is-reportedly-on-the-auction-block/

LinkedIn gets physical, debuts Events hub for people to plan in-person networking events | TechCrunch

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LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social network for the working world with around 650 million users, is known best as a place where people connect with each other online either to build work connections, for recruitment, or for professional development. Now, the company is taking a step to bring its networking features into the physical world: the […]
— Read on techcrunch.com/2019/10/15/linkedin-gets-physical-debuts-new-events-hub-for-people-to-plan-in-person-networking-events/

Laurent at Cafe Royal

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My family and I were lucky enough to be one of the firsts to try the new brunch on offer at Laurent at Cafe Royal and what a treat.

Laurent is the grill restaurant and sushi bar by Chef Laurent Tourondel who is internationally renowned but best known in America where his restaurants in New York, Miami and Charlotte all share the same relaxed approach to casual fine dining that he has brought to London and for that, we are thankful!

We Londoners are a little obsessed with bottomless brunches and Laurent is way up there. I am not a fan of prosecco which is what the majority brunches include so when I find one offering champagne – it’s a yes from me.

You can choose from a Bloody Mary or Mimosa Brunch (£45) or a Veuve Clicquot Brunch (£65) which includes a choice from the extensive menu.  I went for Truffle Popovers Benedict which was outstanding and I keep eat with the best of them but I literally couldn’t finish it, it was huge.  Two others in my party went for the Avocado and Smoked Salmon which I am assured was delicious and the final choice, Pork Kimchi Fried Rice to which I had bloody food envy. It was gorgeous and something that I am obsessed with eating recently!!!

Live jazz with a three-piece band and some of the most attentive waitstaff ever made for a wonderful afternoon and I can’t wait to go back.

Whilst I was there for leisure, this is the perfect spot for a corporate meeting, whilst its location by Picadilly Circus is certainly a busy one when you are in the restaurant you feel a million miles away. It is the perfect spot and can be taken exclusively for private events.

Menu items from £17 – you don’t need to go bottomless.

Click here for more information

Eventprofslive – Venue Showcase with Leading Hotels of The World & Mortimer House

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We Event Managers are a busy lot so last night’s event was a dream.  We had presentations from six different properties in a property none of us had been to before so it was a double win!

Last nights event was held in conjunction with Leading Hotels of The World and held at Mortmier House. Leading Hotels have their London office in the stunning Mortimer House and what a fab members club it is.

Mortimer House is located right in the middle of London in Fitzrovia and just a short stroll from Tottenham Court Road Station.  It is a hub for those who wish to create, work and unwind and find a balance between the three.  Its classic design over a variety of meeting and event spaces is well worth a look whether it be to take on a membership or, hire one of their unique spaces for one of your events.  As well as the various meeting and event spaces, the ground floor of the building is home to Mortimer House Kitchen servicing Mediterranean cuisine to the public as well as their members…  You can find more details on Mortimer House here.

On arrival our guests where checked in an taken up to the sixth floor where champagne was waiting.  After a quick catch-up with new members and old, it was time to meet our hotels and listen to a brief presentation on each.  Leading Hotels have 375 uncommon properties in 75 countries (worldwide) each one more stunning and unique than the next and we were fortunate the hear from the following properties each of which were all gorgeous and would all make wonderful properties for your offsite retreats, conferences and events.

You can click on below property links to find out about each property.

Hotel Plaza Athénée – New York
La Réserve  – Genève
Majestic Hotel & SPA – Barcelona
Okura  – Amsterdam
The Lowry – Manchester
Waldhaus Flims Alpine Grand Hotel & Spa – Switzerland

We learnt that The Lowry is the place to stay in Manchester (which we will be seeing on Friday), that the Hotel Plaza Athénée is refurbed every six months, that the Majestic Hotel & Sap in Barcelona is in the best location in Barcelona and that the Waldhaus Flims property is basically like a fairy-tale, it was out of this world gorgeous.

After our presentations, we had some pretty perfect bowl food and canapes.  A truffle ravioli, my all-time favourite arancini balls and the ever popular mini burgers finished off our evening wonderfully and we all had a great night.

A huge thanks to Leading Hotels of the World (Mickael) for allowing us the opportunity to see so many wonderful properties in one evening and to Mortimer House for their fabulous hospitality.  It really was a great Tuesday.

If you would like further information on any of the properties please reach out to us and we can put you in touch!

Eventprofslive – The Goring

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Iconic and fabulous is how I would describe The Goring and it’s hard to believe when you exit the tube station at Victoria in just a five minute stroll you stumble upon it…  Not that I have anything against Victoria but you really do feel like you are a million miles away.

The Goring was the location of last week’s networking event and not to be outdone by England’s wonderful result in the World Cup that same night, it was a great night.

Our event started with champagne on arrival in The Drawing Room where we met a new member (welcome Victoria) and had a fab catch-up. Splitting into two small groups we then had a site visit of all the fab meeting and event spaces and, the bedrooms.

In regards meeting and event spaces, The Goring can accommodate 4 to 100 in any of their private rooms.  The Garden Room is the largest of their private event spaces and features its own conservatory, leading out onto The Goring’s gardens.  The Drawing Room has the most stunning woven wallpaper designed by Fromental and can host up to 12 for an event.  The Goring has a further two event spaces The Silver Room and The Boardroom both equally as stunning. You can read more on the meeting and event  spaces here.

Up next on the site visit was to see the bedrooms.  There are 69 in total with five different categories, each one individually designed and radiating the best in English design. The most luxurious being The Most Splendid Garden Rooms, overlooking The Goring’s private garden and with Gainsborough silk-lined walls, crisp Italian linen and lovingly crafted bespoke furniture, the Most Splendid Garden Rooms offer a touch of glamour.

After our site visit it was back to our private dining room for some pretty stunning canapes, more catching up and then our own private dinner.  The Goring has a Michelin Star and it’s Dining Room is one of the most admired London restaurants for fine dining.  The food was AMAZING and our group loved it.

Thank you so much to Sarah of Pineapple and Chiara from The Goring for hosting out group and showing us all of the wonderful meeting and event spaces The Goring has to offer.  It is truly stunning and we know a lot of our members can’t wait to use the private dining rooms for some pretty special corporate dinners.  Please reach out to Sarah for any further information. ​

Eventprofslive FAM – Sopwell House

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We all agreed that Sopwell House is one of those hotels that you have heard great things about but for some reason you have never actually seen it and when we did, we were a little cross with ourselves…

Located in the stunning Hertfordshire countryside on 12 hectares of picturesque grounds, Sopwell house has 128 rooms and suites and over 300 years of history and… it is only 20 minutes from St Pancras international or, less than one hour from Heathrow by car.
We had a lovely group for our FAM with one new member joining us who was (quite rightly) a little nervous about her very first event with us but I am proud to say, loved it! Ha ha

We started our event by checking into our gorgeous rooms and then meeting Dina (Sopwell House’s wonderful Key Account Manager) in the relaxed lobby for a quick chat before commencing our site visit.
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Sopwell House has 18 meeting and event spaces, all with that important natural daylight and each one furnished to a high spec. We loved the private access to the main meeting rooms with a purpose build registration desk that would be very impressive on welcoming your groups to your event. You can see full capacity charts here.

One of the stops on our site visit was The Mews which is are something dreams are made of (for both leisure or corporate). The Mews are separate from the main hotel, located within secure gates and offer greater privacy. All of the suites have access to a hydro pool and communal gardens (designed by RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace Flower Show Gold award winner Ann-Marie Powell) as standard some feature fireplaces, four poster beds and their own double ended romantic baths! There are 16 in total and would be perfect to take all of them for your board level meetings. Totally private and very high-end. We were fortunate to have our own private waiter within the stunning gardens where we sipped on champagne and some lovely canapes whilst on our site visit, we felt like proper celebrities.

After our site visit, it was off for an interactive BBQ on the terrace which was a great and would also be a great idea for your delegates, something different rather than the normal private dinner, in a meeting room (not that the meeting rooms weren’t lovely).

After dinner, we had a few wines in the main hotel bar, with more gossiping and then off to bed ready for a early start at the spa. Partnering with my favourite (Clairns) and ESPA (also one of my favourite spa brands), the spa offers a fitness centre, indoor pool and an abundance of treatments that you could add-on to your guest experience.

We loved Sopwell House, it is very well priced for events and the located to London makes it perfect for away days and conferences. For more information you can reach out to Dina here and for more information on Eventprofslive, you can email us here.

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