Alison Price & Company recently catered at many exciting events, including a series of receptions and dinners for ‘Picasso' at the National Gallery, and for 'Garden and Cosmos' the Royal Paintings of Jodhpur' at The British Museum.  Coming this autumn is the stunning ‘Maharaja' at the V&A where they will be working on events with the lead sponsor. Also keeping them busy is the ‘Moctezuma' showcase at The British Museum, ‘ Beatles to Bowie' at the National Portrait Gallery and in the early part of 2010 the blockbuster ‘Van Gough' at The Royal Academy of Art.

Alison Price & Company have recently become listed at the following venues:

GP Associates was delighted to partner with our favourite UK short break specialist operator Kirker Holidays in hosting a party with some of the travel industry's most eminent travel agents. The venue was The Warehouse, a short stroll from Kirker HQ and normally a rehearsing venue for some of London 's finest orchestras. Tonight, the venue held some of London 's finest agents and drinkers!

Champagne was chilled, delicious canapes were forthcoming, conversation was flowing when the delightful Ted Wake took to the stage accompanied by Shirley to introduce our six hoteliers - Garrett Power from The Merrion, Dublin; our two Parisian hoteliers, Djenane Poidatz from Esprit Saint Germain and Hugues Mirandas from de Crillon; Thierry Dal Margo from Beau Rivage Palace in Lausanne; Virginie Diaz from The Regent Bordeaux and Lydia Rafea from The Regent Berlin.

Ted in his own indomitable style gave a short precis on why these hotels and destinations offer guests a wonderful short break experience, whether it be the warm hospitality of Dublin, the culture and romance of Paris, the scenic relaxing beauty of Lausanne, the wine tasting of Bordeaux or the history of Berlin.

Prizes drawn for weekend stays were greeted with rapturous applause and the party concluded for some, while others decided to partake of more convivial conversation in the less luxurious surroundings of the local pub, The White Hart!

 

 

Winners of luxury weekends on the evening were:

Royalty and leading lights from the worlds of politics and show business have passed through its doors. Then, the Hotel de Crillon hosted a GP Associates familiarisation trip for road show organisers....

We arrived at St Pancras International Station, new home of the Eurostar, and were met by Azis Rami, the Corporate Sales Manager for the train. He whisked us off to the lounge where we made the most of the complimentary drinks and the latest magazines before boarding the train for the short journey to Paris. Before we knew it, we had arrived at Gare du Nord where we were greeted by Willemar from the Booking Room chauffeur company, soon to be known to us as the ‘Silver French Fox'! We felt very spoilt - even our driver looked like something out of an Armani advert.

As we arrived at the Hotel de Crillon, the truth dawned upon me: I was meant to live in a palace!

 

With a chilled bottle of champagne and tray of chocolates on arrival in our junior suites – we settled in quickly, and were soon ready for our tour with the professional and friendly Rachel David, Director of Sales and Marketing.  We saw the salons hung with 18th century tapestries and lit with Baccarat chandeliers - all perfect for a road show lunch or cocktail party.  We learnt about the rich and varied history of the hotel, with former guests including George V, the Dalai Lama and Winston Churchill. Later, we enjoyed more Taittinger champagne whilst looking out over the Place de la Concorde and the Eiffel Tower and we all agreed that Paris had one of the most beautiful cityscapes in the world.

We dined at L'Obe, a newly opened brasserie, where we enjoyed delicious light food with accompanying wines. Then we headed around the corner of the hotel to the trendy Buddha Bar and Azis treated us to more drinks and cocktails. After midnight, I headed back to the hotel wanting to make the most of the Frette linen and sumptuous bed. I understand the girls carried on partying in one of the rooms....

The following day a few members of the group made breakfast in Les Ambassadeurs, the former ballroom and two star Michelin restaurant.

No one really wanted to leave the grandeur of the de Crillon and head back to our normal lives but we all agreed that it was a memorable 24 hours in Paris and we were all cut out for palace life.

GP guests included Barclays Capital, Calyon, BNP Paribas, Citibank, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse.

At 6am, bleary eyed, I arrived at London City Airport to 8 smiling faces, and bags of delicious pastries and fruit kindly given by the Mandarin Oriental, where our guests had wined, dined and stayed the night before. After a short flight, we landed at Geneva, and with Swiss efficiency were whisked through in record time, to be met by Thierry Dal Magro, our charming host from the Beau Rivage Palace, and Christina Marti of Bucher Travel.  This well-known DMC had arranged all our site visits and travel in Switzerland, and we had a lot packed in over the next 3 days!

 

En route to the Beau Rivage Palace, we saw the spectacular barn conversion of Porte des Iris - a fabulous venue for offsite dinners and launches overlooking the beautifully maintained vineyards, lawns and Iris Gardens. Half an hour later, we were in The Olympic Museum, just next door to the Beau Rivage, marvelling at the history and memorabilia of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games since inception.  It was full of inspiring ideas for those planning motivational and incentive activities around London 2012.

 

After a delicious lunch, which of course had to include chocolate (as did all our meals in Switzerland!), some of us went up into the historic town of Lausanne to check out the shops, whilst others soaked up the sun on the terrace of the Beau Rivage with a glass of champagne...

 

The Sandoz Ballroom never fails to impress, and this evening was no exception as we did a tour of the meeting/function rooms at the hotel, followed by champagne and canapés on a suite terrace overlooking the gardens and lake.

 

The next day, dragged away from the shimmering blue Lake Geneva, we visited the wonderful medieval town of Gruyeres, wandered around and tried the local fayre in the form of Raclette and a fondue (this was just a snack...), then to Bern for lunch, and onwards to Zurich to stay at the Dolder Grand.

 

Lined up behind our next charming host, Daniel Szelenyi, the staff whisked each one of us off to our spectacular rooms.  Inside were too many toys to play with - the TV in the bathroom mirror being the favourite! Personalised Dolder Grand Aprons lay on each bed... we had a few minutes to enjoy the amazing view before charging downstairs again aprons in hand.

 

Claudio, one of the executive chefs at the hotel, then put us in teams Hell's Kitchen style, and we cooked our own dinner (with a little extra help).  This created a lot of laughs and some very delicious food, ending with chocolates again!  All that hard work deserves a reward, so we took ourselves off to the cocktail bar!

 

The next morning was spent trying out the State of Art Spa: jacuzzis on the terrace, pool, snow room... Back to reality, and Daniel gave us a guided tour of the very sophisticated meeting rooms, Michelin Star Restaurant, the style and views wowing us all.

 

Lunch in the elegant city of Zurich would not/could not be without chocolate, and we saved the best til last, with hot chocolates and chocolate cake at Srungli - Switzerland 's most famous chocolate maker!

 

Sadly then we were homeward bound - fat and happy!

  

On the trip were representatives from: Conference People, Grass Roots Group, HA Media, Image, Innovision, Phoenix Partners, Red Carpet Group, Reed & Mackay.

"I am putting my weekend stay at Hotel Esprit Saint-Germain way up into the top 10 hotel experiences I have had the pleasure of in my long career in the travel industry.......

......From the moment we walked through the doors of 22 Rue Saint-Sulpice we were given such a lovely warm welcome and were invited to relax in the lounge and enjoy a glass of champagne whilst we completed the check in registration....

Whilst enjoying a lovely chilled glass of champagne Francesca and Djenane came to introduce themselves to us which was lovely and within an instant we had formed a great rapport and I knew this was going to be a weekend to remember. Francesca then surprised us by announcing we had been upgraded to the Terrace Suite. How wonderful as we were blessed with sunshine the whole time we were there and we enjoyed two very long leisurely breakfasts on the terrace on the Saturday and Sunday mornings.

After spending a short time unpacking we decided to go and explore the neighbourhood and on our way out of the hotel stopped by reception to ask for some recommendations for dinner. We had some places in mind and wanted to know the hotels opinion. Within moments Djenane & Jennifer were making calls to check availability and also spent time looking up restaurants on the internet and telling us which places would suit us best having advised them what type of restaurant we were looking for. A few minutes later a reservation had been made for Le Balzar Brasserie not far from the hotel. It turned out to be perfect, delicious food and wine and great service and very friendly staff. It was exactly the type of place we wanted to experience that evening...

The hardest thing we had to do on the Sunday was check out as we had spent a couple of hours soaking up the morning sun as we took breakfast on our terrace which had become our home from home as had the whole hotel. I know this is the hotel's concept as they want their guests to truly feel they are ‘home from home'.

Now having experienced this first hand, I believe that Esprit Saint-Germain has got it absolutely right and offer a certain something (dare I say it: “je ne sais quoi” ) that other hotels simply do not offer. Whether it is the charming staff or the relaxed ambience or the complimentary open bar in the lounge for guests to enjoy throughout their stay or the delicious pastries at breakfast, or the comfort and luxuriousness of the guest rooms and bathrooms, I could go on as the list is endless…..  

So if any of you have any clients asking for a recommendation for a hotel in Paris or if you are thinking of a weekend away yourselves I can highly recommend staying at Esprit Saint-Germain. I know that some of you may have already enjoyed staying at Esprit Saint-Germain and I am sure you will agree with my comments and feedback.   

I can't wait to go back again…..

"As soon as we arrived at the Finca Cortesin, we knew we'd made the right decision, absolutely everything was beautiful ... including most of the reception staff! We were made to feel very welcome by all and promptly shown to our room. We'd booked an Executive Suite, it was almost half the price of the dingy little room where we usually stay but was at least twice the size and was totally amazing. The interior was very tasteful; we had a large sitting room, a separate good sized bedroom and a lovely bathroom. The high ceilings made the rooms feel bright, airy and very spacious indeed. The double doors in both the rooms lead onto an impressive private terrace with views across the stunning black swimming pool, down across the mountain and out to sea.

Downstairs the hotel has a fantastic gym, with an abundance of cardio equipment, free weights etc. There's also a lovely indoor swimming pool, steam room, sauna, ice cold plunge pool and a snow room.

I really cannot speak too highly about this hotel, it is so beautiful, the staff are friendly and very attentive, the rooms were absolutely gorgeous. I would be very happy to, and will be recommending it to everyone we know. We are already planning to go back for a long weekend with friends in late October and I cannot wait."