In the summer issue of Conference News, editorial director Martin Fullard said venues should have demonstrated greater flexibility during June’s rail strikes. After calling for venues to respond to his column, Warren Campbell, general manager at London venue 15Hatfields, sent in the following letter.
Dear editor,
Don’t tar us all with the same brush…
Here at 15Hatfield’s 14 events have been cancelled due to the recent national rail strikes, yet we have decided to take a pragmatic long-term view.
Any clients who signed a contract to host an event at our Southbank venue on the affected dates in June were offered a discretionary free of charge move, and we’ve taken the same view this week.
In addition to leading the way with our sustainability credentials, we’re always looking to innovate best practice, so this was the same fair, reasonable and transparent approach that we took during the pandemic.
At the end of the day, it is completely out of the client’s control that their event is being impacted by a national rail strike, so it feels only fair and reasonable of us to offer them a new date as a measure of goodwill. And it’s certainly an approach that has been warmly received and valued by our clients. Every affected client has praised us for our understanding and are now looking even more favourably at hosting future events with us, thanks to our stance.
Warren Campbell, general manager, 15Hatfields
Image: London Waterloo | Getty
