True story. One of our major corporates was holding a Brainstorming session for its senior executives in a large hotel in an offshore city. Come the morning-tea break, everyone made for the muffins and the bathrooms - leaving all their whiteboard notes in an empty room. Purely by accident, a visiting executive from another firm walked into the unlocked and unattended room.
Fortunately, the errant executive was (a) embarrassed at going into the wrong room (b) realised the compromising situation for all concerned, and rapidly retreated.
Imagine if the unwitting intruder had been less concerned with business scruples, or - worse - an industrial espionage agent?
That's why a major trend in the conference and events sector is "exclusive hire" of a venue. This offers not only privacy for the delegates to talk business in a secure setting but also offers a more collegial atmosphere for delegates to spend time together, formally and informally, to share ideas.
Shelley Eastwood, the Heritage Hotels group conference and incentive sales manager, says there has been a doubling of inquiries for exclusive hire of hotels in recent months.
"We are charting a big increase in conference groups wanting extra privacy and exclusivity for their delegates. We have seen a doubling of growth in this business at Heritage Queenstown, while Heritage Hanmer Springs and Rutherford Nelson are also seeing a sharp rise in event bookings of this nature too," she says.
