Premier Inn, Travelodge & Best Western secure bigger presence; Business Travel Show, 4-5 February 2014, Earls Court 2, London.
With more than six months still to go until doors open, 80 exhibitors are already confirmed for the 2014 Business Travel Show. Centaur Exhibitions is also launching two new feature areas, investing heavily in the hosted buyer programme and planning a very special party to celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary next year.
The Business Travel Show is Europe’s only exhibition and conference for the corporate travel market, taking place on 4-5 February at Earls Court in London. Premier Inn, Travelodge, Best Western, BCD Travel, Hotelscene and Raileasy4business are among a host of exhibitors returning with an increased presence. Other exhibiting companies include Gatwick Airport, Concur, Egencia, Hilton, GetThere, Japan Airlines, Capita and Bridge Street Accommodation.
Jackie Usher, head of sales, Premier Inn, said: “As the UK’s largest budget hotel chain, Premier Inn is delighted to take a stand at the Business Travel Show in 2014. We recently announced exciting growth plans designed to appeal to the business customer, along with innovative developments in technology, including hub by Premier Inn and a new mobile app. In line with this, we have also redesigned and increased the size of the Premier Inn stand to ensure even more space for the hundreds of business travel professionals we welcome at the event.”
Andy Besent, Travelodge’s Sales Director said: “We received a fantastic response when we attended the Business Travel Show earlier this year, so we are definitely booking a place as a lead exhibitor for the 2014 show and we are going for a larger stand too.
Our corporate business is growing at great pace and this show provides the perfect platform to showcase to the business traveller world our new product offering and highlight the great value we offer in the market place. Also by February 2014 our £57 million refurbishment programme will have been implemented in over 60% of our UK hotels so more customers can experience our Travelodge Dreamer bed.”
Andy Besent said: “We received a fantastic response when we attended the Business Travel Show earlier this year, so we are definitely booking a place as a lead exhibitor for the 2014 show and we are going for a larger stand, too.”
Our corporate business is growing at great pace and this show provides the perfect platform to showcase to the business traveller world our new product offering and highlight the great value we offer in the market place. Also by February 2014 our £57 million refurbishment programme will have been implemented in over 60% of our UK hotels so more customers can experience our Travelodge Dreamer bed.”
This year’s event attracted 205 exhibitors (an increase of six per cent over 2012) and 6,148 visitors. Event director David Chapple is confident exhibitor numbers will, once again, exceed the 200 mark in 2014 and the show will continue to attract senior buyers from all over Europe.
“We are investing heavily in the Business Travel Show hosted buyer programme for the third consecutive year,” said David Chapple. “A new executive has been appointed who is tasked with bringing even more senior buyers to the show from France, Germany, Spain, Benelux and the Nordics and we are enhancing the hosted buyer conference, which debuted successfully in 2012.”
Buyers and suppliers will also benefit from two new feature areas for 2014 – the International Hotel Village and the CSR and Sustainability Business Travel Zone. These features complement the Business Travel Show Conference, Business Travel Technology Showcase, Airline Pavilion, ASAP Pavilion and ITM Village. The show is also co-located with Travel Technology Europe and Hospitality Technology Europe.
“Hotels are the second largest area of interest behind airlines for our hosted buyers who have also told us they are keen to meet more suppliers from around the world. The introduction of the International Hotel Village will showcase hotel groups with a global footprint as well as those who are market leaders in their country of origin,” explained David Chapple.
“The CSR and Sustainability Business Travel Zone is being launched in support of the GBTA initiative Project ICARUS,” he continued. “It will create wider awareness of the opportunities and benefits to buyers of sustainable development: how and what they can gain from interlinking the social, economic and environmental aspects of business travel procurement.”
The 20th Business Travel Show takes place on 4-5 February 2014.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
