The Project – Hillgrove Hotel & Spa Monaghan

The Client is leading Co. Tyrone GAA who wanted to host a large Gala event to celebrate their 50 year anniversary. The event took place in November 2022 and a key consideration for the client was the total available space as their numbers were initially expected to be approximately 400-500. The initial contact was in February 2021 – during COVID when there was so much uncertainty.

The Solution

The Hillgrove Hotel & Spa ballroom boasts over 1000 square metres of space within it’s 3 interconnecting ballrooms, and is probably one of the biggest hotel spaces in Ulster. We also had the privilege of hosting it’s last Gala event in 2012.  There were other hotel’s in Armagh and Donegal in contention but the deciding factor was our experience when it came to hosting large gala balls and our word of mouth reputation. Several face to face meetings took place with the committee showing them how the space could work for them and offering solutions to certain aspects of their event

The Challenges

As the event grew closer it became apparent that their numbers were more likely to be 650. The question them became how we could make the overall space work best for their Gala event. They wanted the band set up in advance so that the flow of the night would work better. Normally the stage would be at the far end of the ballroom at the Van Gogh entrance but they didn’t want the guest sitting at the da’Vinci side to feel that they had the “cheap” seats. We decided to position the stage in the middle of the three rooms. And then had the band set up in the da’Vinci suite. In-house we had several operations meetings to discuss timings, staff numbers, bars and so on. We knew that it was going to be one of the biggest events we had done in more than 10 years and we wanted every aspect to be perfect. The client had a lot of décor that they wanted positioned around the hotel so we worked with them on this.

The Outcome

The client and their guests were delighted with every aspect of the event. The Hotel went above and beyond in every aspect of the night from set up staff,  to kitchen to bar staff and serving staff. The client sent the following email

Hi Sharon

we had a fantastic evening and the Hillgrove did not disappoint – everything was excellent including the food, venue and most notably the staff – please pass on our thanks and appreciation. In addition, we would like to thank you personally for all the help, support and guidance you provided from making the very first enquiry.