What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 18 June 2018

Welcome to another week and unless you have been hiding under a rock, you may have noticed a little event taking place, The World Cup 2018, in Russia.

It's a while since we bought you a guide to some of the hotels and venues that fall under a theme, but with football fever (at least until we knocked out of the tournament - fingers crossed we go all the way) we thought it a reasonably good idea!

So the Cloud 9 guide to Football Hotels begins...

We start with Hotel Football in Manchester, which was founded by two of the major names from Manchester United. Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs first came up with the idea of starting a hospitality company,  after travelling the world during their footballing careers and as they have experienced more restaurants and hotels than most, it has given them an innate understanding of what makes an outstanding establishment.

They have a range of meeting spaces available for up to 350 delegates, including a roof top terrace called Heaven, which can cater for parties of up to 200 guests and offers spectacular views of Old Trafford.

Just over the M62 in Liverpool is The Shankly Hotel, a tribute to the life and career of one of football's finest managers. The rooms and suites are as unique as Bill Shankly himself, offering comfortable, stylish and spacious accommodation as well as a spacious conference and events centre  known as Eden, which can hold up to 350 delegates.

A little further afield and you can discover a relatively new hotel from Cristiano Ronaldo who has teamed up with Portuguese hotel group Pestana for the first of four hotel collaborations, with the  memorabilia-filled Pestana CR7 Funchal. 

It's more of a lifestyle hotel than a MICE Hotel but guests can discover a personalised training programme and yoga mats in the rooms, along with Smart TV's and all of the latest luxury amenities. 

Over in Prague however, if you want to be right on top of the action (assuming you are a fan!) then you could try the Iris Hotel Eden, which is set in an eastern part of the Eden Arena,  a football stadium of famous Prague club Slavie Prague. The hotel has 150 guest rooms, and event space for up to 400 guests. 

The trend for Football Hotels seems to have started in Argentina, with the Hotel Boca in Buenos Aires,back in 2012, when Argentina’s most revered football club, Boca Juniors, had a hotel dedicated to them. It's probably a trend that will continue and for the MICE industry, if we have sports mad clients it can only be a good thing!

Fear not if your client is not into football at all, not only are there a range of hotels attached to golf, rugby, cricket and golf and after all, the World Cup only lasts four weeks.

Here in the events industry we can create a legacy with our events that lasts a lot longer!

Have a great week.