Design Hotels' First Event for Meeting Planners Was a Lesson in Brand-Building

More marketing professionals are seeing the value of in-person brand experiences, as a recent Freeman study demonstrated, and a prime example of that took place in May. That was when Design Hotels launched an innovative meetings and events marketing strategy with an inaugural Co-LAB MICE Edition event at the Almyra hotel in Paphos, Cyprus. The four-day event was purely focused on the types of meetings and events experiences that planners can create at various Design Hotels, and was created to engage hoteliers and hosted planners in integrated brand experiences and one-on-one meetings. Instead of the typical large meetings industry trade show or conference such as IMEX, Meeting Professionals International, World Education Congress, or the Professional Convention Management Association's Convene, the meeting was designed to be both intimate and incredibly immersive for attendees. "The last couple of years have shown that larger travel trade fairs do not always provide the ideal surroundings for our clients to experience our brand in a memorable, emotional way, which is important for relationship building," said Henning A. Schaub, head of travel trade relations for Design Hotels. Schaub, who has been with the company for more than five years, formerly oversaw sales for the Western European market for the group. Design Hotels created the new position to redefine the way brand interacts with its clients, hotels,