Business hotels, Convention centres, Conference centres. What are the differences?

A conference or convention centre to all intents and purposes is a full-service venue that specialises in hosting meetings as its first order of business. In industry speak convention centres are typically designed primarily for large groups, large association meetings, trade shows, and other large events. Conference centres are typically designed to accommodate meetings in the 20 to 200 pax range.

Roughly 50 percent of all meetings held at conference centres are for groups of 35 people or less so their target market is fundamentally the same as the business hotels and slightly different to the larger convention centres..

How is a conference or convention centre different from a business hotel?

They may look alike and offer many of the same services, but the design of the property is often the fundamental difference, particularly in when comparing a purpose built convention centre to an established hotel that is brought up to date in the meetings department. The biggest impact we notice ourselves is when it comes to the organisation of meals for large groups. The basic set up of a hotel is not usually geared towards a hundred people or more all needing to be eating and back to a meeting within the hour. Eating quickly is a normal expectation of a convention centre. Of course some hotels do manage to achieve this but they are an exception as oppose to the rule. Conference Coordinator Spain realise that every event has to be treated individually and that also applies to the hotels and conference centers that we call upon.

Is it easier to book a meeting at the last minute at a conference centre than a hotel?

Very often this will be the case as the centres are set up more for speed and often simply have more meeting rooms or spaces available. Again it really depends on the individual group. It is always advisable to reserve hotels well in advance, for many companies it is now common practice to reserve their hotel a year or even two years in advance.

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