ABPCO’s Conference Cloud campaign continues to gain momentum as sixteen Glasgow-based hotels sign up in support of its recent initiative to include delegate accommodation, with significant interest expressed from numerous other Glasgow hotels. The hotels are among the first to support the campaign’s latest drive to encourage accommodation providers to offer free Wi-Fi to conference delegates in their bedrooms. This takes the total number of Conference Cloud venues to more than 200.
The Conference Cloud campaign, now in its second year, aims to encourage conference venues across the UK to provide Wi-Fi free of charge to conference delegates. In September this year, ABPCO announced that the campaign was to be extended to include delegate accommodation.
ABPCO Chair Jennifer Jenkins commented: “We are very pleased that the importance of the Conference Cloud campaign has been cemented by a number of hotels coming on board. We have long felt that delegates should have free access to Wi-Fi for their entire conference experience and this should naturally include their hotel.
“Free Wi-Fi has rapidly become a necessity as opposed to a luxury. The Conference Cloud campaign has grown rapidly and will only continue to gather pace as an increasing number of delegates begin to, quite rightly, expect free Wi-Fi from their conference venue. “
Over the past seven years business tourism has generated £971 million to Glasgow’s economic impact. Conference delegates now account for one in five hotel beds sold in Glasgow, underscoring the importance of conventions to the local economy.
Scott Taylor, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, commented: “Wi-Fi is becoming a hygiene factor for the industry and is being viewed in exactly the same terms as heat, lighting and air-conditioning.
“The number of Glasgow hotels signing up to ABPCO’s Conference Cloud campaign shows that the city’s hoteliers are determined to deliver real benefits to what is a hugely important client base.
“I am delighted that Glasgow hotels are playing their part in this digital revolution, reinforcing Glasgow’s reputation as one of the UK and Europe’s most progressive business tourism cities today.”
For more information on the Conference Cloud campaign or to sign up visit: www.abpco.org/the-conference-cloud/