Christmas is coming ....

We've almost finished our Christmas season and we're delighted to have been involved in a number of different types of events.

In the Nice Work (a Diligence sister company) diary this month we have a couple of shopping/wine and dine trips to Northern France. Channel hopping will always be popular here in the south east, with a number of companies using it as a vehicle for client entertaining and staff rewarding. Our favoured destinations are Northern France, using Montreuil-sur-Mer and Le Touquet as a base, and Bruges.

We've also got Christmas Quizzes, Race Nights, Casino Nights - and even a night of Snail racing for one Kent-based client.

So, if you’re looking for something different to reward or entertain your staff or clients, you should talk to Diligence. We’ve got the ideas, we’ve got the experience; and we’ve got a pricing structure to suit all budgets.

We can help you devise a special incentive scheme for your clients or customers, providing guidance on setting your objectives and measurement criteria as well as sourcing the rewards to fit within your budget, whether these are gift or experience based.

Diligence can manage the communications and keep you informed through effective reporting of what items have been used, how many and at what value.

For experienced based rewards, we can offer a range from Party events to special overseas conference and incentive trips.

Our free venue-finding service will help find the right place for you to celebrate your event for staff and customers. We actively manage the arrangements both prior to the event and on the night, to ensure that your function meets all your objectives.

For more information, click here to visit http://www.diligencegroup.co.uk/

Slovenia - an undiscovered jewel?

The opening up of new low-cost flight routes to Eastern Europe and the Balkan states now offers the business and leisure traveller a host of new destinations to choose from.

Slovenia is a relatively new country - but with a rich history. A recent visit to Ljubljana for a site visit has convinced us that here is a great place for conferences, incentive groups or simply as a short-break destination.

EasyJet flies to LJ on a regular basis and the city offers all the friendliness of a small town and at the same time everything that a capital should offer. Apart from the remains of the Romans, it boasts a medieval castle and numerous old city centre Baroque buildings with uneven roofs and richly decorated façades and portals. The mosaic of Ljubljana is completed by picturesque bridges across the Ljubljanica river and the vast Tivoli park, which extends to the very city centre.

Ljubljana is a city of culture, which, among other things, boasts one of the oldest philharmonic halls in the world. Every year it hosts more than 10,000 cultural events ranging from concerts, theatre performances and fine art exhibitions, to avant-garde events.

One of the delights of strolling through the city on an evening is the almost complete absence of hordes of British youths taking advantage of the low flight costs and cheap drink. In fact, eating, drinking and staying in Ljubljana is still much lower than almost all other European capitals - and that is despite its membership of the Euro.

Away from the capital, one must-visit place for your itinerary is Bled with its stunning lake and castle. A walk around the lake is a pleasnt way to spend an hour - and if you're feeling energetic then you can take a rowing boat to the island in the lake and visit the pretty chapel.

Hotel accommodation in Slovenia is comfortable and there are some great deals available on conference venues.

If you'd like more information on Ljubljana or Slovenia then contact Nice Work today.

Frankfurt - one big traffic jam?

To Frankfurt for a trade fair. No matter when you visit this city - or for what event - the place always seems gridlocked!

To be fair most of the major European capital cities suffer from congestion but there's something about this place that really seems to grate! Apart from the odd place around the old part of the city, Frankfurt just seems to reek of Finance and Business - there's none of the Joi de Vie of, say, Paris or Barcelona. It's just business, business, business.

The problem is that whilst everybody seems intent on rushing from one place to another for that next meeting - they can't because the flippin' place has ground to a halt! Shuttle buses from the main Exhibition site in the city to the hotel district were taking up to an hour to cover a distance of no more than a couple of miles.

Frustrating!

However, our stay was brightened by the service we recieved from our hotel hosts for the couple of days we were there. We stayed at the NH Frankfurt City hotel (left) and also enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the newly refurbished Frankfurt Rhein-Main hotel (below) just outside the city. NH are rapidly becoming one of our favourite hotel groups - but to be honest we've had few opportunities to use them - but we have managed at last to match a group with them and we'll be using their Arnhem hotel in November.

We've now stayed with NH in Germany, Holland and the UK - and it's difficult to fault them. If you'd like any information on their services for conferences, meetings or incentive groups, we'd be delighted to tell you more.

But if it's Frankfurt you're looking for - best make your stay as long as you can to cope with that flippin' traffic!