UEFA EURO 2008 Accommodation AgencyTM
UEFA EURO 2008 Accommodation AgencyTM
Kuoni Destination Management was the official accommodation agency for the recently held football championship Euro 2008. Besides having managed all hotel bookings for this major event in Switzerland and Austria, Kuoni Destination Management also provided tournament-related services such as transportation, social programmes, excursions and guides.
October 2005 marked the date when Kuoni Destination Management was named the official accommodation agency for the European football championship to be held in Switzerland and Austria. From 7th to 29th June 2008, 16 teams competed in 31 matches, played in the host cities Basel, Bern, Geneva, Zurich, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Vienna.
Preparation work begun 30 months prior to the tournament and provided the highly skilled and competent team of Kuoni Destination Management with ample work and challenges. Over 150’000 room nights were to be secured in close to 450 hotels in and around the host cities. Advantageous rates and conditions had to be negotiated. Hotel reservations for most of the football teams and their respective families, commercial affiliates, national supporters, broadcasters, the media, corporate hospitality, tour operators as well as some individual travellers had to be coordinated, managed and finalised. By day one of the tournament, a team of 19 full-time and 16 temporary staff were ready to provide on-site support and ensure that the contracted local service providers delivered all services as ordered.
In addition, Kuoni Destination Management’s offices in Zurich, Geneva, Vienna and Innsbruck arranged tournament-related services such as transportation, social programmes, excursions, guides and restaurants.
“Co-operation with Kuoni Destination Management as the UEFA EURO 2008TM Accommodation agency was the right decision for UEFA. The handling of accommodation for the tournament through one of the leading international agencies provided the tournament organisation, the UEFA EURO 2008TM guests and the hotel industry with a highly competent partner and service provider. The project team was professional, competent, very flexible, efficient and extremely service minded”, says Juergen Mueller, Head of Events, Euro 2008 SA.
Having successfully handled the accommodation and tournament-related services for the third largest sporting event in the world, Kuoni Destination Management can call on the expertise of its qualified professionals to provide comprehensive destination management services for other future events of this size and complexity. (gyk)
