John Dowling, General Manager, DoubleTree by Hilton, Bristol City Centre
A rising tide of business visitors to Bristol and increased confidence from locally-based firms has benefitted one of the city’s leading four-star hotels.
It’s resulted in conference bookings at DoubleTree by Hilton, Bristol City Centre rising 20 per cent year-on-year during July and August alone.
Attributed to a focus on the attention to detail to customers’ needs and fact that the venue opened a brand new £650,000 conference and meeting centre, bosses at the Redcliffe Way-based hotel are looking forward to a robust Autumn and busy run up to the festivities.
The growing hordes of business people visiting the city and resolute attitude of home-grown talent has, according to GM John Dowling, helped place the West Country capital right on the map, and says the venue’s success is down to a combined number of internal and external factors.
John said: “It’s great that during what is normally a relatively quiet time of the year has ended up being a busy period for us here. Looking ahead bookings are strong for the rest of the year.
“There are numerous reasons for our on-going success aided by a growing appetite for corporates to have access to top-end facilities.
“Attention to detail has been key for us internally this year as well as investment in new facilities and this has paid off in terms of the response from customers and repeat business.
“Having a brand name that people are familiar with has also helped attract more people to the city who are familiar with the Hilton name.
“Our proximity to Temple Meads has been a big factor for those looking for somewhere to hold a meeting or conference and to have a name like DoubleTree, one that is known and trusted across the world, has without doubt helped push bookings.”
Away from the hotel Dowling believes increased business around Temple Meads and the Temple Quarter has pulled in more trade to the city and is expecting work on the new Redcliffe Quarter to help cement the city’s reputation.
Development work at Bristol Airport and the increase in flights to new destinations has also had an influence on conference levels.
John added: “Even post-Brexit business confidence helped boost trade. The conference and meetings market is critically important to the success of the hospitality industry and our investment has helped position Bristol as a destination for business events.
“We’re now looking forward to a busy Autumn as business patterns settle down after the summer holidays plus a hectic run up to Christmas.”
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