Live Events, Venue Finding and Official Hospitality Packages

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As a busy British sporting summer season draws to a close, we caught up with hospitality legends Elle and Emma about their favourite events this season and the incredible service they deliver to ensure all of our clients have the best time possible.

The team deliver an incredibly high standard of service and event management to our hospitality clients and their work is at the core of delivering a successful hospitality season for AOK Cavendish.

This summer season we managed over 5,000 guests at 20+ different sport, music and cultural events.

Meet the event managers powering the successful delivery of our hospitality bookings

In a year where Wimbledon was the busiest and most successful for AOK Cavendish ever, Elle and Emma were never bored as demand for hospitality across all events rose and kept them busy liaising with both clients and suppliers.

After our competent sales team complete a hospitality booking, Elle and Emma and the team take over and ensure our clients know where they are going, how they are getting there and making sure they have the right food on their plates.

What is included in your ops service to clients?One of our most popular outputs is the bespoke ticket letters pulling together all necessary information after a client has submitted their booking, we make sure they know what to expect on the day and we like to make their lives as easy as possible.

As part of our Wimbledon service, we offer a popular gifting add on, where clients can choose personalised gifts to be presented to their guests either at the event or posted pre- or post-event as a token of appreciation and as an opportunity to holistically brand their booking.

Within our service we accommodate any questions our clients have about attending the event they booked, how they get there, what their dietaries are and how to rebook the event for next year. Nothing we deem is a stupid question! After completion we ask for feedback on our service and the hospitality facilities they attended which we pass on to our suppliers to ensure a high level of service every time. In addition, we send out our hospitality brochures to inform and inspire our clients for their next planned activities and to promote the full range of services AOK Events have to offer.

What kind of challenges do you face in your jobs?One of the main challenges is to work with suppliers on their various ticketing policies and releases and to then successfully manage our clients’ expectations and to complete the logistics of posted, couriered or electronically transmitted tickets in time for the event. In this digital ticket world, we are receiving tickets later than ever so it is important we communicate to clients in advance not to worry if they receive tickets 2-3 days before an event which is starting to become the norm. Within ticketing another challenge is to make sure all guest names are correct on bookings of larger groups as there are often last minute changes to the groups that are attending.

Main piece of advice for booking hospitality?Our main piece of advice is to book your hospitality early and to think about how you are getting there. On bookings for larger groups, the AOK Creative team are available to manage and book transfers, accommodations and on-site event management as well.

Emma: Silverstone GP, I got to go for the first time, and it was great working on cricket at the Oval this year

Elle: I really enjoyed working on Club Wembley events this year, as they are a super friendly and organised supplier and it is a great hospitality facility.

Wimbledon is definitely at the top of our list. There is a wide variety of hospitality options and an unforgettable experience of the best sportsmanship on show.

Wembley has had a great year of concerts with Ed Sheeran and Coldplay coming up to name a few. The cricket particularly at Lord’s and The Oval as England have been playing well is a great day out with all day hospitality packages to spend quality time with clients.

Hospitality trends?We have seen a surge in demand for Silverstone and international Grand Prix bookings this year, it is probably linked to the popularity of the Netflix documentary show ‘Drive to Survive’.

One of our clients going to Silverstone booked hospitality in the Paddock Club with helicopter transfers and when seeing that another company booked a branded suite in the facility, they immediately requested the same for next year. We expect more Grand Prix hospitality bookings to come, and we work with our motorsport hospitality suppliers on providing the best hospitality at international GPs as well.

Popular events next year Wimbledon which goes on sale shortly and several clients have requested to rebook. The Ashes with England playing Australia in the cricket will be one of the biggest summer events when it goes on sale later this year along with the likes of 6 Nations, Polo in the Park, French Open Tennis, Ryder Cup and Rugby World Cup!   

What feedback do you get from clients?We love getting good feedback and it makes the long days and last-minute calls to suppliers all worth it. We aim to make our clients lives as simple as possible and strive to offer a high level of support at every event. Our service is key in leaving our clients happy and increasing their rebooking values for future events and it therefore makes the sales team’s jobs much easier as well.

Did you get to go to any events yourselves this year?

Yes, we both went to see England play at Wembley in Club Wembley hospitality. Elle went to Wimbledon to check out the new Treehouse facility and was invited to watch Queen and Adam Lambert from a private box at the O2.

Emma was invited to Royal Ascot this year and worked at Silverstone GP as well as joining a team outing to see England v India cricket in hospitality at Lord’s in July.

We have a busier than expected end to the summer season at the Hundred cricket events and a few Coldplay concerts. Then in autumn, we have the rugby Autumn Internationals, Premier League, Champions League and International Football as well as some indoor concerts,horse racing and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to name a few! There is also a Rugby League World Cup and we have a few clients off to Qatar for the World Cup.   

And of course we are already planning ahead for next year, training another member into our team to make sure the next British sporting summer is even better than this years!