When in Rome....
Sarah had an amazing time at The Meetings Space forum in Rome last week, which was hosted at the decadent Rome Cavalieri, continue reading to hear about Sarah’s experience…
‘This was my first time in Rome so I chose the earlier outbound flight time to allow myself a few extra hours to explore the famous hotel and local area - I checked into my gorgeous room, which was very spacious with an elegant Roman theme complete with a small terrace overlooking the historic city.
The Cavalieri has a total of 370 beautiful bedrooms and 28 meeting rooms, which can hold a mixture of capacities and layouts. The largest meeting space is called the Salone dei Cavalieri, which has a max capacity of 2,100 in theatre – this was where all of the meetings were hosted! A very impressive part of the hotel was the large Garden Terrace that looked over the relaxing pool area.
Once I’d unpacked and had a chance to settle in a little bit I decided to use the extra time I had to explore! The hotel is located outside of the city centre of Rome in a quiet residential area with a couple of traditional Italian restaurants and Gelato shops, which gave you a feel for local life. Once I had finished exploring I went back to my hotel room to relax before the forum began.
That evening, we had our first networking evening which took place on the 9th Floor Terrace of the hotel - there were lots of stalls on the terrace for us to browse, such as jewellery making, designer scarves and also pizza dough tossing (which I wasn’t very good at!). It was a great way to break the ice and get to know everyone before the meetings started the following day.
The next day it was time for the meetings to begin! On the first day I had 15 meetings that were all 20 minutes each. My meetings were with a complete mixture of hotels, resorts, DMC’s and Convention Bureaus from many different locations. After the first lot of meetings had concluded we all had a couple of hours to relax before the activities began.
I decided to do the walking tour around Rome as it gave me the opportunity to see some of the most famous landmarks - the tour took about 2 hours, during which time we saw the Spanish steps, the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon, which is the one of the oldest and best preserved Temples in Rome. I couldn’t believe how well preserved the city is - it was like taking a step back in time! There was a historic building on nearly every street corner!
Once the activity had come to a close we went back to the hotel to wind down for an hour or so before it was time to head to the offsite dinner! The dinner was held at the Church Palace Hotel, which is located around 20 minutes away from the Rome Cavalieri. The dinner was held outside under the Roman sky, after dinner a band named Indienation began to play. They did a great mixture of songs from George Ezra to Ed Sheeran, which created a lively atmosphere for more networking!
The following day, it was time for the last 10 meetings to take place! Over the two days, I met with our sales manager from Pestana Hotel Group, which have hotels all over Europe, including the famous Pestana Palace in Lisbon, which would be an amazing venue to host an incentive or conference! Pestana Palace is also a Leading Hotel of the World! I also met DMCs from Washington DC and Malta. My favourite meeting was with Europe Hotel Private Collection, as I had never heard of the brand before so I found it very interesting to hear all about it! They have 10 hotels, which are all very different – some are boutique and others are industrial themed.
After the meetings it was time for our farewell lunch before we departed for the airport to return home!
Overall, I had such an amazing time in Rome! It was great to experience a small part of the city, whilst having the opportunity to meet other event professionals and hoteliers! I definitely like to go back to visit the rest of the city!’
