Travel Places Events, has been awarded the initial phase of the accommodation management contract for WorldSkills 2011, just a few months after the agency was launched.
Travel Places Events, Gerry Manser: “WorldSkills is probably the largest public sector event taking place in London between now and the Olympic Games. Winning such a prestigious piece of business so close to our launch truly demonstrates the credibility of our team’s experience and ability to deliver. We are delighted to be working together with the management team at WorldSkills to deliver the accommodation requirement for this prestigious and exciting event, and it provides the perfect platform for us to showcase our skills and indeed the city in the run up to 2012.”
WorldSkills provides a means for standards and education (in industrial trades and service sectors) to be exchanged in a competitive format. The four day event will see up to 3,500 competitors, staff, judges and experts gather at ExCel London. The event has already generated significant interest, and is expected to attract up to 150,000 members of the public as visitors.
WorldSkills London 2011 operations director, Ross Maloney: “It was vital the right team handle our accommodation requirements for this event and we have built up a great trust based relationship with Travel Places in the short time since they won the tender. The team is highly skilled, as demonstrated by their success at achieving our two key needs for negotiation – the right prices and the right attrition clauses. It is a demanding task, but Travel Places have clearly demonstrated they are both qualified for and committed to the event.”
Travel Places Events, operations manager, Mark Nevill: “An event of this scale and stature presents unique challenges. The brief required us to source up to 29,000 room nights for stays between one and 18 nights. Different types of competitor and visitor have different parameters in terms of location, access to the event and hotel standard. Just one example was the need for all 1,200 competitors plus the judges and adjudicants to be accommodated on-site (within the ExCel campus) in-case of travel disruptions, whilst support team members need to be within a few miles of the event.”