2014 feedback

[Pye]

Here are some of my thoughts/some general feedback about CFz 2014.

The Convention

Positives

- The atmosphere was brilliant.
- Staff were friendly and approachable and all teams had an excellent presence. Things felt organised and secure.
- The events were well run and I enjoyed everything that I attended.
- The nightclub was fantastic and I had a hell of a time whenever I was in there.
- The dealers den made good use of the space allocated for it.
- I LOVE the con shirt. I was disappointed with the one for 2013 so I'm very happy the design for this year was so wicked. Also the conbook/stickers/+ resident items were to a really high standard too. I can't wait to use the car sticker!
- There are a plethora of other things I could go on about - the whole convention, in general, was a lot of fun.

Negatives

- Some of the scheduling for events seemed off - there were a few odd clashes.
- Monday was a little dull - even though it's a wind-down day, it would have been more enjoyable if there was a bit more going on.

The Venue

Positives

- The staff were generally very friendly and helpful. They seemed glad that we were there.
- Breakfast was fantastic.
- It was really obvious that there was good communication between hotel staff and con staff.
- The pool and sauna were wonderful and I loved having access to those.
- Our discounted parking rate was much appreciated.

Negatives

I am going to type a fair bit here, please don't feel that I am making an effort to be negative, these are simply issues that I think need to be highlighted.

- I found the hotel to be dark and a little dingy. It isn't entirely realistic to compare the Hilton to The Hinckley (I appreciate that the con needed to expand and relocate, and that this was also the Hilton's first experience of us) but our previous hotel felt more pleasant overall. A few of my friends agreed that when we were shown photos of the hotel last year, they seemed to be of a completely different venue.
- It was a shame about the rain, but even if it was glorious sunshine, the outside spaces were lacking. Something I really enjoyed in 2013 was spending so much time outside - there isn't an opportunity to do this at the Hilton.
- The price of a glass of coke. Yes, we're paying Hilton prices. I understand why food from the lounge was pricey, it's because you were paying for quality. But that much for coke?
- I was disappointed with the food from Westminster. It was more affordable yes, but to be blunt it was greasy and stodgy. I ate it on two nights and couldn't go back again.
- Service in the lounge was poor. On more than one occasion the staff forgot about discounts. At one point my order was forgotten. When I was at the bar and the staff were preparing cocktails, one said to the other 'you can tell I don't know what I'm doing, can't you?' Yes, you could. Also orders were mixed up and incorrect orders were brought out to us. At times the staff were clearly rushed/stressed.
- As we didn't have exclusive use of the hotel, there were a few instances where things seemed uncomfortable between us and non-convention guests.

I am confident that the issues people have brought to light will be improved for next year - overall I had a great time.

[Raven Luni]

I have to concur about the staff forgetting about the discounts.  The bar service was a bit chaotic but I think most of that was due to managing different cards and getting signatures and stuff.

[aurora]

The price of a glass of coke. Yes, we're paying Hilton prices. I understand why food from the lounge was pricey, it's because you were paying for quality. But that much for coke?

Anticipating that fursuiting would be thirsty work I came prepared.

I took along 14 litres of soft drinks, 2 Pepsi, 2 x cherry Tango, 2 orange Tango and 1 7up. about £7.00 the lot.

[DarkFoxDK]

I also had issues with service in the lounge, which generally seemed rushed, undertrained, and inexperienced.

[Skipai]

Yes, Westminister food was okay but...  It wasn't hot enough, I'm sorry but luke warm food to being cold was not that impressive for me in all honesty.  Same thing happened when breakfast came to be used in that room as well.

I do think that with the lounge that it was learning on both sides, but mostly with the staff as I do think that having so many turn up at one time can be a bit overwhelming.  So agreed with the points there as well. 

[RizzoRattie]

Hi Pye,

thank you for your feedback, as always, it is very much appreciated, and goes towards us helping improve on things.  I will myself of course aim my responses back towards the Venue side of things:

• Were there any particular areas that you felt were poorly lit?  If you can give me some locations, this is something obviously I can speak to the hotel about and see if there are any ways we can consider improving this in future years.
• Unfortunately, the rain was a big downer, and did prevent people enjoying the outside space that there was.  We did hire in picnic benches but largely, they went unused.  The outside space in comparison to the Hinckley is lacking, and of course, its something we loved about the old venue, but sadly, it just does not have the function space we require to host our event anymore, and its regretably, outside space is something we have had to give up in favour of rooms and event space.  Hopefully next year the weather will be better, so that more people can venture outside around the lake
• The hotel were reactive on prices.  I did advise that coke was poorly priced, and this was changed to include a deal the following day.  However, their communication of this was not the best, and hence people were unaware.  This is something I fed back on a regular basis, so hopefully next year it will be less of a problem.  The hotel have a better feel and udnerstanding of our demographic group now, so will hopefully give a better price break that allows them to make their money through volume of sales instead of margin per item.
• I feel the feedback in the Westminster is going to be back and forth.  Personally I never once had a bad experience.  The wedges were cold, and this was fed back, and I have made suggestions already for the following year on how to improve this.  However, I think its down to personal tastes and expectations as to whether people enjoyed the food or not.  I felt the offering was correct for our demographics, but delivery was perhaps lacking
• The bar service was fed back every single day to the hotel.  This was down to I feel a lack of understanding of how our event flows, and the style of service being very different to that of usual corporate delegates.  It wasnt down to a lack of communication on our part, but I feel under prepared by the hotel.  However, I say that with no view of negativity, as I feel they did their very best with the resources at hand, but its something that very much needs addressing for next year.  One view of extending the bar into the Library, which is space that no one would have seen during CFz, is already under way
• We did not have exclusive use of the hotel, so unfortunately having guests cross over is unavoidable.  On the most part, this was not an issue at all, and other guests appeared to be having a great time.  Of course there are other high profile Hilton Honours guests that will always have a certain expectations of level of service, and our convention conflicts with this.  These guests did have exclusive use areas of the hotel where our convention did not spill into, so the hotel did make provisions for it, but it was inevitable there would be some negative cross over.  This is of course for the hotel to address.  It did sour the experience for some of our attendees but on the most part, was adequetly handled.

I feel likewise, given that this was the first year, there are plenty of ways to address the issues at hand.  I feel given the scale of the event and the size of the hotel, the ones mentioned are not huge, and for a first year, they have given us the best experience we could have hoped for, indeed far supassing my own expectations.  I am glad people had a good time, and I hope that next year, with experience under their belt, and even better experience overall will be delivered.

Sorry to be a bit wordy! wanted to cover all elements

[Pye]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply mate - much appreciated.

The areas that I felt were a little dark were mainly the floors with accommodation - the corridors themselves. The main corridors downstairs (mirrored areas) also seemed dimly it, though I do understand that this may be difficult to address due to the way the space is built.

And ditto! All of the points I have made are things that can be improved on.