Sundial Venues completed a customer service double by winning the “Best Venue Group Meeting Product” category of the M&IT Magazine Industry Awards. This award, decided by meeting planner votes, was announced on the same night that Sundial collected the top award from BDRC’s VenueVerdict customer survey, making a spectacular one-two for the owner-managed meeting venue specialists.

(TRAVPR.COM) UNITED KINGDOM - 2nd March 2010 - Sundial Venues completed a customer service double by winning the “Best Venue Group Meeting Product” category of the M&IT Magazine Industry Awards. This award, decided by meeting planner votes, was announced on the same night that Sundial collected the top award from BDRC’s VenueVerdict customer survey, making a spectacular one-two for the owner-managed meeting venue specialists.

This double achievement is unprecedented, and Sundial beat off stiff competition from the other finalists to win the gold award. Decided by the number of votes received from customers, Sundial, with its three properties, received more support than brands owning dozens of UK venues – the other finalists were Hilton, Marriott and De Vere Venues.

“If you were to look at the sizes of the four finalists we would have appeared very much the underdog,” admits Tim Chudley, Sundial’s Managing Director. “Our three-venue group was listed alongside household names known across the world as well as a UK chain with over forty venues, meaning they all had much a larger customer base from which to canvass support. However, we continue to prove that it is quality, not quantity that counts and this award recognises the hard work and dedication of the teams at our three venues”.

Sundial’s success in customer-decided awards is incredible, especially given its small size. It has regularly performed well in the M&IT Awards, winning the “Best Venue Group Meeting Product” Gold in 2005 and bronze in 2007 and 2008. Its Northamptonshire property, Highgate House, also has a string of gold and bronze awards in various categories to its name.

In addition to this, BDRC’s VenueVerdict Awards have consistently named Sundial as the top UK brand – its recent 2009 title following wins in 2006 and 2007 and a near-miss in 2008. In the same survey Sundial Group has twice been named ‘Best Value for Money’, and also this year had a larger proportion of its venue portfolio than any other brand achieve VenueVerdict’s Gold Standard for consistently excellent customer feedback.

Sundial Venues are located in Northamptonshire (Highgate House), Warwickshire (Woodside) and Surrey (Barnett Hill) and offer specialist meeting facilities within elegant country-house settings.

###