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Meetings Star Award and Meetings Star Certificate in the MICE industry

The Meetings Star Award is an annual competition recognizing the best destinations, hotels, meeting venues, and individuals in the MICE industry. This award has become a benchmark and the "Michelin Guide" of the meetings sector. The Meeting Stars Award ceremony is a highlight of the Conventa Trade Show programme, and this year it saw the attendance of 500 dignitaries and key stakeholders from the meetings industry. Hotels and venues can also apply for Meetings Star Certificates. Poland is gaining increasing recognition in this area...

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The best hotels, event professionals and destinations in New Europe

The Meetings Star Awards are presented in the following categories and subcategories:

BEST MEETING HOTELS

  • The 10 Best City Meeting Hotels
  • The 10 Best Resort Meeting Hotels
  • The 10 Best Spa Meeting Hotels
  • The 10 Best Boutique Meeting Hotels
  • The 10 Best Convention Centres

BEST MEETING DESTINATIONS

  • Top 10 XL Meeting Destinations
  • Top 10 L Meeting Destinations
  • Top 10 M Meeting Destinations
  • Top 10 S Meeting Destinations

BEST MEETING PROFESSIONALS

  • Dreamcatchers
  • Sustainability Dreamcatchers
  • Top event agencies
  • Top meeting innovators
  • Top meeting services
  • Top Meeting Services: Catering providers
  • Top Hotel and Venue Representatives
  • Top Meeting Agencies (DMC, PCO)
  • Top Meeting Architects (DMO, CVB)

We are proud that at the last edition of the Meetings Star Award Aneta Ksiazek, head of the Poland Convention Bureau, received special awards. She clinched The Most Influential People in New Europe accolades in two esteemed categories: Top Meeting Architects and Dreamcatcher of the Year 2023/2024 (overall winner). Find out more.

I am pleased to see an increasing number of Polish event professionals, MICE destinations, and congress centres being awarded and recognized in the Meetings Star Award programme. Our goal is to showcase the valuable assets Poland has to offer to international event planners. As we say, Poland. More than you expected - said Aneta Ksiazek.

In this edition of the competition, Andrzej Hulewicz, Vice President of Mazurkas DMC Poland, was also awarded, triumphing in the Top Meetings Agencies category.

The Meetings Star Award recognized the ICE Kraków Congress Centre. In the last two years, the venue won first prize in the category of best congress centre; this time it placed second among 40 such venues across Europe.

Additionally, the competition nominated the Gdańsk Convention Bureau and Kraków Convention Bureau (in the Destination category) as well as the International Congress Centre in Katowice, which ranked 7th in the category evaluating the best congress centres.

Thanks to the partnership between Kongres Magazine and the Poland Convention Bureau, Polish hotels and congress centers can join the Meetings Star Certificate programme on special terms. Applications are open until July 31, 2024.

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What is the Meetings Star Certificate?

The Meetings Star Certificate is a credential that demonstrates the compliance of congress, conference, or incentive capacities and services with the Meetings Star rating and certification system. It assesses measurable criteria that are key to meeting planners' satisfaction. Meetings Star is trusted due to its 17-year tradition of rating congress hotels and convention centers, during which 692 hotels and 44 convention centers have been evaluated by hidden congress guests.

Because of its unbiased and transparent methodology, the system has a high reputation among meeting planners. Out of 573 evaluated hotels and venues in 2023, the certificate was awarded to 48.69% of them (279).

Meetings Star is proof and a guarantee of the provider's quality. Additionally, it allows for clear positioning on the international market and allows providers to continuously improve in quality and increase the satisfaction of congress clients.

“The hidden congress guest methodology ensures that meeting hotels and convention centres are evaluated objectively. The cornerstone of our methodology was to offer information that is analysable on-site based on a set of criteria and a visit by the hidden congress guest. The Meetings Star Award has become a reference point and a sort of Michelin guide for the meetings industry. I believe our project fosters the development of the entire meetings industry.” Gorazd Čad - Founder of Meetings Star.

Hotels and venues can be submitted in five categories:

  • City Meeting Hotels
  • Resort Meeting Hotels
  • Spa Meeting Hotels
  • Boutique Meeting Hotels
  • Convention Centres

Each category is assessed through a share of the assessment criteria and average score which help to ensure improvements in the quality of individual criteria.

  • RATINGS FOR HOTELS - The hotel assessment matrix contains 654 measurable assessment criteria.
  • RATINGS FOR CONGRESS CENTRES - The assessment matrix for congress centres contains 386 measurable assessment criteria.

The preparation of certification is based on existing standards and recommendations from the area of business tourism, such as those published by DIN (Deutsche Industrie Norm), ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association), IAPCO (International Association of Professional Congress Organisers), APEX (Accepted Practice Exchange), AIPC (International Association of Congress Centres), MPI (Meetings Professionals International) and other professional associations operating in the area of congress activities.

There is added value in cooperating with the Meetings Star organiser, Kongres Magazine publisher, and the Conventa Trade Show organiser. Participating hotels and venues will be rewarded with a free promotional package on Kongres Magazine’s website.

Categories of Meetings Star Certificates

Certificates are classified into three categories according to the number of points achieved in the hidden guest evaluation:

  • 3 STARS final score from 4.81 to 5.00
  • 2 STARS final score from 4.61 to 4.80
  • 1 STAR final score from 4.41 to 4.60

ICE Kraków Congress Centre received a gold quality certificate in the Convention Centers category, achieving a score of 4.91 on a five-point scale.

Recently the first Polish hotel,  Aries Hotel & Spa Wisla, has been certified in the Resort Meeting Hotels category receiving 4.93 points.

Poland stands out as a leader in New Europe, ranking 17th globally according to the ICCA Business Analytics Country and City Ranking 2023. The Meetings Star Award and Meetings Star Certificate further confirm the high quality of services offered in our country. Therefore, we aim to encourage more Polish hotels and venues to participate and gain visibility among other destinations, venues and hotels in New Europe - said Jaroslaw Marciuk, Chief Marketing Specialist at Poland Convention Bureau.

The hotels and congres centres from Poladndcan join the programme Meetings Star Certificate here.

Find out more:

#Eventprofs #PolandCVB #EventprofsPL #venues #hotels

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