2011 Christmas Party Hotlist from christmasvenues.com

LONDON, November 16, 2011 -

- With Christmas nearly upon us the venue finding website christmasvenues.com
is sharing its Hot List for Christmas 2011.    

- Take That Elite at De Vere Whites

With listings of over 5,000 Christmas events nationwide hosted at venues
ranging from restaurants, local independent hotels, trendy bars and clubs,
party boats, large hotel groups, comedy clubs, dedicated Christmas space,
sporting venues and historic buildings, christmasvenues.com has its finger
on the pulse of what’s hot and what’s not in the Christmas party market for
2011.    

Whether it’s a private residential booking for a family in a rural hotel
with a cosy fire for the Christmas holiday or a lively party for 1,000
employees, christmasvenues.com has analysed Christmas party requests data
from October 2010 - October 2011 to identify five main themes across the
industry.

1. Christmas party budgets have been cascaded down to departmental
level resulting in a rise in smaller departmental parties.  This is
particularly true of large companies and public sector groups.   This partly
may be to get under the radar in a time of austerity.  Bosses see the
importance of rewarding their employees hard work but they don’t want to be
seen to be hosting a big, flashy event and a series of departmental events
achieves this.

2. Once again the big trend for 2011 is towards shared party nights
such as the festive party nights at De Vere Venues Whites.  This is very
popular with smaller groups who can get much more for their money and a
great atmosphere if they join a shared party night.

Festive Party Nights at De Vere Whites

3. Themes are big for Christmas and New Year 2012.  Venues trying to
stand out and bring something more exciting to their guests are running
themed parties and tribute nights with Michael Jackson, James Bond nights or
bands like Take That 5 Live at the Ramside Hall Hotel & Golf Club, Glasgow
heading the popularity list.

4. Residential bookings are also on the rise.  Groups of friends and
extended family members are coming together to share the Christmas holiday
without the stress and hard work of hosting it at home.  They can enjoy the
long lunches, the cosy fire and a rejuvenating country walk and some hotels
even let guests borrow their dogs for the full country experience!

5. Unsurprisingly price is a key factor in the venue choice and this is
especially true for event bookers who are planning and researching their
venue early in the year.   As we get closer to Christmas this priority
changes and the date becomes the most important factor as this is something
that is very hard to change the closer we get to Christmas.

Christmasvenues.com has seen an increase in party enquiries and bookings 25%
enquiries and 35% page views increases from October 2010 to October 2011.
Analysis of the booking graph makes interesting reading for anyone planning
their marketing programme for 2012 Christmas and New Year packages.   It
clearly shows that May is the time that people start researching their
Christmas party venue and this dramatically increases from the end of July,
perhaps when many event bookers are back from their summer holiday.
Requests peak in September and then, as expected, start to decline in
November as most people have planned and booked their event by then.  The
statistics also show that there is a sharp spike in requests for New Year’s
Eve in the run up to the date itself.

Simon Gray, christmasvenues.com says, “The economy may have been fairly
stagnant or in recession for four years but companies are looking to
acknowledge employees’ hard work through a tough year and looking for
opportunities on the right scale and the right occasion. Venues have
responded by being more creative and value for money to secure those
important bookings and it looks as though they have done a successful job.  
“Last year we saw a significant drop in enquiries for Christmas but more
worryingly the conversion rate was much lower against previous years. This
year however we have been monitoring stats each month as we noted September
2010 to be the peak month of activity on the site last year for both
enquiries to venues for party bookings and availability and since June 2011
this trend has continued and have seen a constant increase in site activity
which is some 60% higher for Sept 2011 than 2010.”

Simon continues, “Since the end of August to September we have seen
enquiries increase by some 55% so whilst it appears to still be a recession
corporates are active right now and in many cases our venues are already
booked with just a few dates remaining for December. Because many companies
in recent years have cancelled the Christmas party budget it certainly seems
that the office party is back on the menu.

We have been very proactive this year in ensuring venues are promoting all
of their packages and we have seen a rise in large companies having smaller
departmental parties and taking advantage of shared parties on reduced
budgets which have been the most popular enquiring for nights such as
tribute nights, James Bond themes, murder mystery and particularly comedy
nights so it’s seems clear that corporate are wanting to let their hair
down. We have also seen many opting for trendy bars and clubs for this
year’s office party, low head costs and usually a themed evening such as
comedy or a tribute act has made them a very popular party destination.”

Christmasvenues.com is part of Chooseyourevent.co.uk, which is the leading
event, venue and activity directory providing a wide range of suppliers and
venues for corporate events, team building, hospitality, Christmas parties,
gift experiences and more!  

For more information or to arrange an interview with Ben or Simon Gray of
www.chooseyourevent.co.uk contact Milly Hutchinson on +44(0)7810-204071.

Web: christmasvenues.com
Tel: (+44)(0)-1460-259056
Email: info@christmasvenues.com

.