Best Sports Club / Sports Event Hospitality
Arsenal Football Club
Arsenal is a professional football club who continues to strive for a wider spectrum of fans at matches, by offering a broad range of ticket prices according to the match grade and location within the stadium, including seasonal memberships and hospitality packages.
Our challenge was to address the changing demands of the UK hospitality market with the shift from traditional corporate box hospitality to a more informal and social shared experience while continuing to deliver an exceptional matchday experience to fans.
Fourteen unused seasonal boxes were knocked through to create a new private members’ club in one luxurious lounge area. The space is designed around the glorious anticipation of the game we love, creating a sense of belonging and camaraderie for members.
The results of these changes are:
– Previously unused seasonal Executive Box covers are now utilised each matchday
– Increased sales on Box Level where covers were previously in decline
– Some members have switched to a multi-year contract midway through the season, guaranteeing their membership longer term
– Enhanced customer experience in an exclusive, informal and sociable space, measured by positive member testimonials
Ascot Racecourse
As one of the largest and most prestigious racecourses in the world, Ascot has been hosting some of the finest racing events, including Royal Ascot – the jewel in its crown – for more than 300 years. With five days of unparalleled racing, high fashion, Fine Dining and pageantry, the Royal Meeting is renowned the world over for its unforgettable atmosphere and unique setting.
Wanting to maintain its reputation as one of the best hospitality experiences in sport and respond to changes in consumer demand – while growing a key revenue stream for the racecourse in the process – Ascot worked alongside data-driven sports marketing agency Two Circles to launch a range of new dining products, including The Balmoral. Using industry-leading customer insight techniques, segmentation models and technology solutions to reinvent the Royal Meeting’s Fine Dining offering and grow the Fine Dining business through an ultra-targeted marketing strategy, Ascot has increased Fine Dining revenue for Royal Ascot by 6.9% on 2018. Royal Ascot was independently rated the best hospitality experience in sport in 2019, achieving an NPS (Net Promotor Score) of +40.
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – Paddock Club Hospitality
Red Bull Racing came into existence in late in 2004 with an ambition to challenge for Grand Prix victories and World Championship titles. 16 years on, the Team can boast 170 podium finishes, 60 fastest laps and 4 World Championships.
No sport excites the senses quite like Formula One. A world where big business collides with intense sporting competition and high-tech innovation meets high-end glamour. Nowhere brings these elements together in a more exciting way than our spectacular Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Hospitality Experience.
Across the course of the race calendar, F1 visits some incredible locations. From legendary circuits such as ultra-glamourous Monaco to Mexico City’s vibrant Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Every race location offers a unique, truly unforgettable cultural and sporting experience.
Our state-of-the-art Team Hospitality Suite features at more than 10 races with extensive planning and logistics involved to ensure that every guest’s experience meets the high expectations we pride ourselves on. This takes many months of meticulous preparation.
We have recently invested heavily in our private Team Suite to further improve the customer experience and offer a consistent look and feel throughout the season regardless of the destination we are in.
Emirates Old Trafford
In 2019, Emirates Old Trafford hosted a record year of international and domestic matches, with six ICC Cricket World Cup fixtures, an Ashes Test and Lancashire’s domestic campaign. The hospitality team recorded its most successful year to date, delivering over 14,000 hospitality covers.
Hospitality at The Championships, Wimbledon – Keith Prowse
Keith Prowse is the exclusive hospitality provider of The Championships, Wimbledon, and this contract was extended in 2019 for a further five-years by The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC).
Keith Prowse offer three distinct tiers of hospitality experience, from informal through to super-premium. Concierge service comes as standard in each, but by differentiating the style, space, mood, proximity to seat, seat location and privacy they all differ.
Rosewater Pavilion is an exclusive hideaway inside the grounds; the spacious restaurant allows guests to choose the experience they are most comfortable to entertain in, whether on the private balcony, sitting by the pianist in the large lounge bar, or at their private table.
The second temporary facility, The Lawn (formerly The Gatsby Club), is the most flexible hospitality option, offered in a beautifully bright and airy environment just moments from the Grounds. Inside, guests feast on menus designed and delivered by the Roux family, as well as a lively interactive environment in the garden.
Keith Prowse is committed to the continued innovation and development of the guest experience and prides itself on understanding the customer, their changing demographics and what they want to achieve from a memorable day out.
Rugby World Cup 2019 Official Hospitality Programme – Sports Travel & Hospitality Group (STH)
STH is proud to have delivered the hospitality programme for all Rugby World Cups since 2007. 2019 in Japan was by far our biggest challenge, with numerous factors contributing to uncertainty on how successful and well received the programme would be.
It is for this reason that RWC 2019 was STH’s greatest successes. Our outstanding teams based in Tokyo, London and New Zealand all contributed tirelessly to create, market, sell and deliver world-class hospitality experiences across all venues, which were attended by more 65,000 customers from around the world.
The RWC 2019 hospitality programme exceeded all targets and expectations for the business, but most notably played a huge role in bringing sports hospitality to Japan; a concept not as familiar to Japan as it has been to previous RWC hosts.
RWC 2019 instigated the opening of a new office for STH in Tokyo, which is now a vital cog in our ever-growing global business. Following the successful delivery of RWC 2019, our team moves straight on to the even larger task of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Hospitality Programme, with continued ambitions to cement STH’s place as the premium hospitality business not only in Japan, but in the world.
The Dugout at Brighton & Hove Albion – Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club
The Dugout @ The American Express Community Stadium
Listen to Potter talk tactics, speak to players, wear trainers – welcome to Brighton’s antidote to ‘bland, grey, corporate spaces’
During every Brighton home game since September 2019, 45 supporters have been as close as it gets to being next to head coach Graham Potter and his staff — and their opposite numbers.
The idea stemmed from complaints from some of the 3,000 members of the 1901 Club — named after the year of Brighton’s formation — which gives members access to the best seats in different parts of the stadium.
Russell Wood, Brighton’s head of commercial, revealed: “We pretty much took any negative feedback from the 1901 club and put it all into a package.
“You don’t like the dress code? Fine, there isn’t one. The seat isn’t bang on the halfway line? Well it is now. I want some food but I don’t want a full meal.”
The Dugout is an example of the changing face of football hospitality.
