News

Fried Mansion Hotel expands

The 23-room, 4-star Fried Mansion Hotel opened in Simontornya, a silent southern Transdanubian town, in 2005. The Hunters' Lodge along with the Wine Shop opened 2 years ago, and the hotel was recently expanded with a conference room for 60 persons.
Owners of the hotel just won funding from the South Transdanubia Operational Programme for the construction of a new wing, where 27 rooms and a multifunctional room for 200 persons will be built. The inauguration is expected by December 2010.

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Boscolo Conference Center to Open at Budapest's New York Palace Hotel

Boscolo Hotels is opening a conference center at Budapest’s 5-Star New York Palace Hotel. The Boscolo Conference Center wing, opening at the end of this year, will have a sleek Italian design and several atrium piazzas serving as a skating ring in winter and a lake garden café in summer. The conference center will be on three levels with a spacious lobby and reception on the ground floor, four conference rooms on the first floor and three more event rooms and a business center on the second floor. All rooms will have built-in sound systems, projectors and screens. In total, the Boscolo Conference Center will feature seven event rooms accommodating from 20 to 600 attendees.

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Association congresses immune to cancellation scourge

There were no association events cancelled in 2009, it has been reported by 120 association executives responding to an ICCA/IMEX survey. The leading international congress and convention association teamed with the Frankfurt-based meetings show to produce a 40 percent response rate from the survey.
The executives said that by a ‘clear majority’ their 2009 conventions achieved or expected to achieve increased or static delegate attendances. But times are getting tougher, even for the association sector. Far more are planning to select better value destinations, to renegotiate existing contracts and seek budget cuts in all operational areas.
ICCA CEO Martin Sirk commented: "We've consistently claimed that international association meetings are the most resilient and recession-proof sector in our industry, and these results provide great evidence to support this view.”
IMEX Marketing Director Carina Bauer added: "International associations regard their meetings as an absolutely critical part of their organisations' strategies, and it's clear they're going to continue to invest strongly in meetings, which is good news for all of us."
Even so, 70 percent of those surveyed reported suffering some negative impact.

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Hotel President to open in October

The newest exclusive boutique hotel in Budapest, the Hotel President, will open on 1 October in Hold Street, facing the Hungarian National Bank and the US Embassy. The 110-room hotel features a presidential suite, which meets NATO criteria, with bullet-proof windows and a heliport on the roof.
The hotel also offers 3 conference rooms, a wellness centre with pool, two saunas, jacuzzi and massage. The two-storey restaurant is open to the public as well as residents. The hotel, owned by Shalom Szálloda Co. and operated by President Hotels Group, expects its main guest profile to be business travellers, diplomats and demanding leisure guests. Information: www.hotelpresident.hu

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La Contessa to open event centre

La Contess Mansion Hotel, the latest 4-star hotel in Szilvásvárad, will open an event hall by next spring. The 200-person capacity meeting hall will feature high-tech equipment; catering can also be ordered.

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Szeged event hall celebrates first birthday

The IH Event Hall in Szeged celebrated its first anniversary on 3 September, and the birthday will also be marked with a concert by Dominic Miller on 26 September. During the first year 80,000 people visited the 390 events staged at the IH. More than half of the events have been corporate meetings and conventions after conference organisers soon realised the potential of this venue. The longest event was the 7-day Rogers conference and the education week for dermatologists. The most popular months were October and March, although on the basis of pre-bookings the rest of 2009 will remain busy. 

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Hungexpo aims at conference market

Gábor Ganczer, new CEO of the Hungexpo Budapest Fair Centre, is planning to put more emphasis on conferences at the site, previously known for its exhibition spaces. Pavilion G, inaugurated a year ago, is excellent for hosting large events up to 7000 persons and the Hungexpo’s technical background was also upgraded to meet event organisers’ demands. Just in the last semester, three major international events the EFFTEX Fishing World Conference and Exhibition, the ICT Proposer’s Day and the Epilepsy World Conference have been held here, and Hungexpo is about to strengthen its position in the conference market. 

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September