Event Management Plan for a Banquet at University College London

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CONFERENCE AND BANQUETING MANAGEMENT
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Executive Summary
The report focuses on the way in which the UK has been a thriving ground for conference
and banquet hosting event programs due to the growth of hospitality and hotel sector. The
report sheds light on the way in which the external factors have contributed to the growth of
conference and banquet hosting programs in the UK. This has been done with the help of
PESTLE analysis and has led to the identification of positive factors contributing to the
industry’s growth. The report has also focused on the event management plan and ways in
which food service system can be designed within a banquet program at off-site such as
University College London. The report also focuses on the various issues that are faced in
organizing such an event along with limitations faced in organizing such events. The report
has also focused on the ergonomics to be considered while planning such banquet events.
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
LO1: Task 1................................................................................................................................5
1.1 Growth of Conference and Banqueting Sector and its scope in the UK..........................5
1.2 Key factors behind market growth of UK’s Banqueting and Conference Hospitality
Industry...................................................................................................................................6
LO2: Task 2................................................................................................................................9
2.1 Assessment of key strategic and operational issues involved in effective management of
conference and banquet operations........................................................................................9
2.2 Importance of delivering quality services in conference and banqueting operations
along with quality review techniques used by Calcot Manor...............................................11
LO3: Task 3..............................................................................................................................12
3.1 Evaluation of the suitability of a range of food production systems and styles along
with food and beverage service styles..................................................................................12
3.2 Key Factors and Issues to be considered while planning an off-site banquet................15
3.3 Based on the proposed event analysis of key menu planning considerations along with
its limitations........................................................................................................................16
LO4: Task 4..............................................................................................................................17
4.1 Assessment of the Ergonomic considerations for the proposed hospitality event at The
University College London..................................................................................................17
Conclusion................................................................................................................................18
Reference List..........................................................................................................................19
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Introduction
The study focuses on the business expansion plan of Calcot Manor through the launching of
event program hosting plans. Calcot Manor is a leading city hotel which has the luxury of the
latest facilities and is considering the business plan to launch conference and banqueting
events(Calcot.co, 2019). It is done with the aim of increasing the revenue collection for the
hotel. The report has been framed from the perspective of a newly appointed assistant to the
Food and Beverage Manager of Calcot Manor. The responsibility of the newly appointed
assistant is to evaluate the potential for conference and banqueting sector to make revenue in
the UK along with an analysis of the key factors influencing its growth. The study also helps
in getting an idea of the food items delivered in a banquet program along with the various
risks involved in such events.
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LO1: Task 1
1.1 Growth of Conference and Banqueting Sector and its scope in the UK
Banqueting and Conference sectors are a division of hospitality business that provides spaces
for hosting various kinds of functions, meetings, and programs. Conference sector provides
the facility for hosting corporate and formal programs along with banquet facilities providing
hospitality support to family functions. This sector of hospitality has a great scope in the UK
hospitality sector since it is a developed nation and most of the industrialists holds
conferences and meetings within an official space. In accordance with Robinson et al. (2016),
on the other hand, due to multi-cultural and colorful society of the UK, there will be a
shortage of banqueting programs required for personal and family celebrations. The
conference and banqueting sector have been experiencing steady growth within the UK
hospitality sector as statistics show that this sector yielded 8.3% more revenue in the year
2013-2014 in comparison to 2010. In addition to this, the conference and banquet hosting
hospitality sector also provide a great employment opportunity as it employs over 1.6 million
staff members and individual as of now.
This accounts for a total revenue collection of 39.1 billion pounds out of which 19.9 billion
pounds was extracted from conferences and meeting. It has been observed that most of the
events were scheduled at conference centers and hotels accounted to host 61% of these
business events. Hence, the industry is growing and Calcot Manor will find it profitable to
invest in this sector(Wearegifted.co.uk, 2019). The UK has an approximate of 6,650
conference and banquet venues that have business alliances with all major hotels of the place.
This involves hotels such as Best Western, Hilton, and Marriott that gives these venues
banqueting and conference contracts. This resulted in almost around 9,001,053 meeting and
conference places in the UK. The industrial sector of the UK engaged in this conferencing
and banquet arrangement has increased over the years and it now accounts to over 46000
hotels. In the opinion of Lashley (2016), the great cultural diversity of people living in the
UK has made a great scope for banqueting programs. This has made a hospitality sector from
which city hotels such as Calcot Manor can earn huge revenue.
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1.2 Key factors behind market growth of UK’s Banqueting and Conference Hospitality
Industry
The key factors behind the market growth of UK’s Banqueting and Conference Hospitality
industry can be demonstrated in the following manner:
Political Factors
Conference and Banqueting hospitality services require a great deal of support from the hotel
industry and hence, it is directly linked to its development. Political factors such as Brexit
issue has received diverging opinions on the development of the hospitality sector and
options it will provide to the conference and banqueting hosting programs. The drop-in pound
value has resulted in the growth of hotel sectors of the UK that has given rise to profitable
business options such as conference hosting and banqueting by hoteliers. It has provided an
opportunity to avail cost-effective space for overseas businessmen to host a conference in the
UK (Ons.gov.uk, 2018).
Economic Factors
The growth of the global economy has led to the recovery of financial losses by the hotel
industry of the UK. Moreover, due to sterling effect, American visitors and businessmen have
contributed greatly to boost the revenue collection of conferencing and banqueting industry.
Businessmen and individuals visiting business events and conferences spend approximately
39.1 billion euro on an annual basis (Bha.org.uk, 2018). This event organizing industry
employs greater than 530,000 employees that accounts twice as that of employed by its
telecommunication industry. Hence, it boosted the market scope of this specific hospitality
industry. [Refer to Appendix 1]
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Figure 1: Growth of Hotel and hospitality sector in the UK
(Source: https://aryxe.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/graphs-02-900x598.png)
Socio-Cultural Factors
The social and cultural horizons have expanded bridging the gap between individuals. This
has led to 52% of international holidaymakers visiting the UK and hence, it has increased the
scope of banqueting programs. In addition to this, there is a rich cultural heritage and
antiquities in the UK that has influenced the decisions of corporate bodies to host business
meetings in such regions of the UK.
Technological Factors
Technological measures such as the promotion of sporting events, business conferences,
debates, and banqueting have increased the exposure of such programs to the people. In
accordance with Jones (2017), it has helped in globalizing the concept of conference hosting
and banqueting leading to its development.
Environmental Factors
UK Government has taken legal measures such as incorporation of Clean Air Act (CAA),
Clean Water Act (CWA), Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and Resource Conservation and
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Recovery Act (RCRA) to protect the environment and adapted to sustainable
tourism(Bha.org.uk, 2018). It has made the corporate world to appoint the UK and look at it
as one of the favorite destinations to host conferences.
Legal Factors
The UK provides options of easy license to hoteliers and hospitality industry that have paved
the path for easy development of the conferencing and banqueting facilities. However, the
hotel industry must follow the appropriate guidelines for opening such a business venture.
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LO2: Task 2
2.1 Assessment of key strategic and operational issues involved in effective management
of conference and banquet operations
There are various strategic and operational issues that are faced by a city hotel such as Calcot
Manor in effectively managing conference and banquet operations. Majority of the issues are
regarding the fact that it is difficult to satisfy both internal and external stakeholders and
maintain a win-win situation for both the parties. The major operational and strategic issues
faced by the hotel industry in successfully hosting conference and banquet functions can be
stated as:
Operational Issues
 The hotel management department often finds it difficult ad face issues in maintaining
the standards of the food delivered to the client party. It is due to lack of operational
efficiency in the food preparation and catering department of the hotel staffs and
employees engaged in that specific role(Intranet.ecu.edu.au, 2017). Hence, there must
be a high sense of safety and hygiene for the food to be prepared and must be aligned
with a healthy diet chart. It will satisfy the corporate staffs along with the fact that the
food must be in accordance to wish of the family hosting banquet program.
 The conference and banquet functions are held on an international basis in which
people from different culture and tradition participates. This results in customers of a
city hotel, Calcot Manor having different religious inclinations and the hoteliers have
to take care of the different religious sentiments (Intranet.ecu.edu.au, 2017). This
might be an issue for Calcot Manor as managing such a diverse culture can become
difficult at times.
 It is very important for the HR team of the Hotel Calcot Manor to look after the
employees and staff members of the hotel. The efficiency and effectiveness of the
employees of the Hotel need to be maintained as the quality of the hospitality service
depends on their effort. They need to be provided with flexible working hours that at
times become difficult for operational team managing conference and banquet events.
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Strategic Issues
 The strategic issues faced by Calcot Manor involve recruiting the appropriate staff
members and employees to be engaged in the hospitality service section of banquet
and conference events.
 In addition to this, availing of right resources and preventing wastage following a lean
production strategy often become issues for hotels hosting conferences and banquet
parties
 Strategic issues also involve chalking out the appropriate training program to make
the staff members efficient in providing hospitality services to its clients
(Researchgate.net, 2016).
 Strategic issues involve managing the promotional events effectively and to attract
both international and national corporate managers to select Calcot Manor as their
destination for hosting conferences.
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2.2 Importance of delivering quality services in conference and banqueting operations
along with quality review techniques used by Calcot Manor
It is important to deliver quality hospitality services in conference and banquet operations to
clients of Calcot due to the fact that it increases brand image of the hotel. The hotel will be
launching the event and hence, is essential to capture and penetrate the target market of the
UK within the estimated break-even point. In addition to this, a quality service also helps in
spreading the brand equity and brand value through word-of-mouth strategy. The quality
review techniques that are used by Calcot Manor to examine the quality of service involves
tracking of the performance of the staff members and ratings given by the client visiting the
hotel for a conference or banquet event. The feedback was given by the customer act as an
assessment tool and is processed through cloud computing and Big Data analytics to analysis
the improvement in hospitality services (Researchgate.net, 2016). Budget allocated for
organizing the banquet or conferences are reviewed with management accounting tool so that
optimized allocation of resources was done. Food and drink, entertainment program review
during banquet events along with decoration, transport, and table plan review are done
through feedbacks provided by the client.
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