At Holiday Inn, we go out of our way to give you a personalised, flexible service when booking meeting rooms or business accommodation at any Holiday Inn hotel in the UK.

We want to make your life a lot easier so we've asked Andrea Marsh, Holiday Inn Regional Conference Manager to give DeskDemon members exclusive tips and guidance for planning the perfect meeting with Holiday Inn.

A: The standard questions that all Hotel Conference organisers will ask you are the desired dates for the event, the number of people, budgets, accommodation needs, equipment required and what type of event it is etc. We need to ask these questions so we can start to understand what the objectives are and what the client needs to achieve for it to be a "successful event". We can then start thinking about ways of helping the client even further.

What the Holiday Inn Meetings Hosts, specifically, will want to know is what the most important aspect is for the client. For example, if the most important part of the meeting is to ensure that all the attendees arrived on time, our dedicated Holiday Inn Meetings Host could advise the suitable transport links for the time of day and if required, negotiate rates for bedroom stays.

Or if it is to ensure VIPs are well looked after, we can upgrade them into our Executive bedrooms (if available) or add a little something extra for them in their standard bedroom - like a bunch of flowers, their favourite chocolates, fruit, a guide for a local are... the list goes on.

If we know the standard requirements and the most important aspects for the event, we can make sure we are giving the client what they want, and NOT what we're "willing" to provide. At Holiday Inn hotels, we pride on making meetings work for the client and exceeding exceptions every time!

A: At Holiday Inn we pride ourselves on being flexible, so even with an informal brief, the Holiday Inn Meetings Host can give the client ideas from reception drinks, canapés, entertainment and so on, and where possible suggesting local suppliers to increase the "wow" factor of the event.

Plus, we also have a free four page customised website which clients can set up with information of the event, links to book accommodation, post event photos etc. A very unique tool, which is ideal if the attendees want one space for all event details.

A: We recommended that clients always know who there point of contact is at the hotel and also provide a contact for their company. By doing this, we can ensure that we are talking to the right contact on the day and client has one main point of contact to discuss any queries.

A: If possible always view the venue before booking. If this is not possible, ask about virtual tours, photos and perhaps testimonial, as these are also very good ways of getting to know your venue.