Messe Duesseldorf North America

UFI Operations Focus Meeting Participants Vote for Messe Düsseldorf as Winner of 2008 UFl Operations Award

For the first time the selection of the UFI Operations Award was made by the participants at the UFI Operations Focus Meeting Gathered recently in Cologne the three finalists Amsterdam RAI, Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, and Messe Frankfurt GmbH made their presentations highlighting original and creative concepts on the theme Travel Accommodation.  And the winner is Messe Düsseldorf GmbH for their entry on the topic FairFairs Initiative,  fair hotel conditions for exhibitors during trade fairs.  The winning entry was based on a problem about hotel conditions during major trade fairs which were getting increasingly negative media coverage.  It was known that in certain cases discontent about the hotel situation had led certain leading trade fairs to move to different venues.  Messe Düsseldorf's objective when the Program was started in 2004 was to guarantee fair hotel conditions for exhibitors at major trade fairs in the Düsseldorf region.  Measures taken included the creation of a trademark: "FairFairs Hotel". A booking portal allows exhibitors to make direct bookings without paying any extra agency fees.  Hotels carrying this FairFairs logo agreed to provide clear pricing for a range of accommodations giving them priority reservation options.  A special cancellation policy, extra services, and professional payment terms made accommodations in these hotels particularly attractive for exhibitors.  Today 180 hotels providing 16,000 rooms participate in the program.  The FairFairs hotel initiative has shown itself to be an excellent approach to consolidating Düsseldorf as a preferred destination for exhibitors.