THE four-star Huntingdon Marriott has won the prestigious VenueVerdict Regional Award for Customer Satisfaction in the meetings industry for the East and Anglia region. The winners are determined based on performance in the market research company BDRC Ve

THE four-star Huntingdon Marriott has won the prestigious VenueVerdict Regional Award for Customer Satisfaction in the meetings industry for the East and Anglia region.

The winners are determined based on performance in the market research company BDRC VenueVerdict programme, the key business objective of which is to help individual meetings venues and groups grow their share of meetings business through high levels of personal recommendation and repeat business.

The organisers said: "BDRC's VenueVerdict delivers customer feedback through online interviews with event hosts immediately following the event. The surveys cover all the key touch-points in the customer journey, from the initial enquiry to the meeting and greeting on the day, right through to post-event invoicing.

"The annual awards provide a composite measure, calculated from four key performance indicators, based on all the feedback received throughout the calendar year 2008.

Assem Sweidan, general manager of the Huntingdon Marriott Hotel said: "We are absolutely delighted to have won this esteemed award, and the recognition must go to all the hotel associates who consistently deliver superior levels of service to all our guests."

Victoria Bateman, research manager at BDRC added: "The 2008 VenueVerdict results demonstrate industry wide year-on-year improvements in performance, which highlights the exceptional - but more crucially - consistent level of service that our winners had to provide.

"In recent times this sector has seen significant expansion of supply, with new hotel brands as well as a host of unique and unusual venues entering the market. With demand being squeezed by falling budgets and the greater availability of internal meeting space, and many venues finding it increasingly hard to maintain their rate, it is encouraging to see that these venues understand the importance of delivering a compelling customer experience to driving positive future business.