I feel I need to address some items here regarding the food, as it very much came under my responsibility during the negotiation period with the hotel.
First and foremost, I want to try and get people to understand that the hotel did a fantastic job on the food. Given the demographics of our group they tried to facilitiate us in every best way possible, which included considerablly knocked down prices. When I ate there and had a 3 course meal (similiar to the buffets we had on offer) this was coming in at £27 per head, and the food was cooked to order. Trying to cater for 700+ people whilst not being sure of the up take was an incredibly calculated risk to the hotel, and as such, they tried the buffet approaching hoping that people would be interested.
It seems that the main focus was on the lite bite menu, which the hotel have already considered going forward for next year, and made several proposals already. This is something we will discuss and as always, try to ensure that what is on offer for everyone is suitable both price wise but in keeping with peoples tastes.
Regretably, year on year, we will never suit everyones tastes. It is not pracitical from an operational perpsective to have hundreds of dishes on offer, and financially, if the mark up is not correct on the food, the cost of operation i.e. having numerous chefs preparing food that is only making break even margin, is not cost effective to the hotel. At the end of the day, they are a business and want to try and capitalise on our captive audience. They acknowledge some things did not go to plan and will address this for next year. This is indeed why they encourage people to give them feedback.
With regards to breakfast, this was included in the price of the hotel room and the offering was superb. I will take feedback to the hotel regarding consistency, but for the significantly marked down price we got on the rooms to have breakfast included, I felt the offering was more than adequate. I think unfortunately there will always be a problem of cultural differences. A continental breakfast might be a nicer idea going forward, and also help the hotel keep their costs down however, I felt the offering was fair and infact is more than most conventions would offer. Again however, I will not stand firm that my decision is in any way final. I honestly and truely listen to what people have to say, and I will feed it back, but I do not see there being much of a substantial change to what they offered year on year. Our rates were incredibly competative and breakfast was almost a loss leader for the hotel.
Discussions have been had already regarding the possibility of an all inclusive package. Whilst this is in no way set in stone, nor is it something we have yet managed to discuss in detail, it is certainly an option we can consider. This would mean that for your con price, you would get ALL your meal times, including access to the BBQ, included. This would also eleviate the unfair advantage non vegitarians have as it would remain direct responsibility of the hotel to ensure they have plenty on offer for those wiht special dietry requirements.
The last important announcement I wish to make regarding one of the buffets, is that of the Chinese. Yes, we are aware there were several complaints raised about this one. Consistency was awful and the offering was poor. There is a genuine reason for this, to which the hotel is extrmely apologetic for. UNfortunately, the head chef actualyl collapsed in the kitchen and urgent medical treatment was required. There was no ambulance available due to a major event being declared in Leicester, so the decision was made that priority is given to the chef over the guests. One of our own team drove him to hospital where he was treated. The hotel as ever were incredibly reactive and brought another chef in at very short notice, but of course if you were impacted during this time frame, you would have seen a substantial dip in quality.
I still put my name on stake and defend the overall quality of the hotels food. I felt it was extremely good value for money and very tasty. IN comparison to years gone by at CF, it was a major jump in quality. I will be taking wiht me to my first meeting with the hotel (next week... argh!!!) details about the consistency and presentation, that I agree with did seem to vary, but on the whole, I will thank them for a job very well done. If you do have any feedback or suggestions however, please continue to populate them here. We do read everything.
Many thanks to all that came, and all that have and do leave constructive feedback. It is much appreciated!!!
Kind Regards,
Rizzorat
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Venue Liaison
