Marriott launches European Convention Network

Posted on 10 March 2016

Marriott has announced the launch of its European Convention Network (ECN); a collection of 14 convention hotels with one dedicated contact person. The ECN aims to provide a streamlined, cost effective and comprehensive service for all meeting planners organizing regular annual or bi-annual meetings and events in Europe.

Each of the 14 venues are located in key gateway cities in Europe and belong to a number of Marriott brands including JW Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott Hotels, AC Hotels by Marriott and the Autograph Collection. Each venue has capacity for at least 150 delegates with the largest hotel, Marriott Rome Park, offering a capacity of 2,800 people. The network provides both consistency and variety across an the portfolio, with each hotel experienced in hosting large-scale meetings and events. All hotels selected have at least 350 rooms and at least 2,500 square meters of meetings space.

Pauline Bronkhorst, Head of the European Convention Network, said: “The launch of the European Convention Network brings together the scale of Marriott Europe’s meetings and events capabilities with a simplified and personal approach which puts the meeting and events planner at the heart of the process. Our customers have told us they want to save time when planning large annual or bi-annual events in different cities by having one account manager that works with them regularly and understands their business. They do not want to contact individual hotels and explain working practices but have one point of contact that values their business, knows who they are and how they source and contract their event. “

Modelled on the successful Marriott International Convention and Resort Network in the US, which celebrates its 25^th year in business this year, the ECN provides a personal approach to bookings, offering advice and a wide choice of options, as well as a new way of handling large rotating meetings to speed up and simplify the booking process. Following each event, the ECN conducts a critical review that summarises key learnings, aiming to enhance the process for the next event and acting as a conduit between the meeting planners, event managers and the general managers at the hotel.