Following a record year for tourism in the West Midlands, Conference Aston, Birmingham’s leading residential events venue, has reported a solid performance in its last financial year.
A bumper summer saw growth across conference, meeting and event bookings, leading to a 5% increase in total revenue compared to the previous year. Confirming 2024/2025 as the venue’s most successful year on record.
Key highlights:
- Financial growth: Annual revenue achieved a year-on-year increase of 5%
- Record year: 2024/2025 recorded the venue’s highest annual turnover
- Occupancy trends: Hotel occupancy for the year saw a positive uptick of 4%, reinforcing a stable overnight business segment
- Meetings & events:
- Day meetings and day delegate bookings increased, highlighting a shift in demand toward flexible, non-residential events
- Resident meetings were the strongest performing sector, indicating consistent demand for overnight corporate stays with growth in residential graduate programmes, apprenticeships and executive learning and development performing ahead of 23/24
- Repeat business: Repeat clients accounted for 65% of total business take-up, underlining strong customer loyalty and satisfaction
- Record summer activity: June marked the busiest month on record in the venue’s history, with strong follow through in July.
- Other successes and performance increases:
- 11% increase in meeting delegates
- 28% increase in residential meetings
- 8% increase in hotel business and leisure guests
The West Midlands region is celebrating a record year for tourism, welcoming over 101 million visitors. The majority were day visitors, with more than 89 million people exploring the region, a trend that worked particularly well for Conference Aston, which saw a significant increase in day meetings and delegate bookings.
Nominations and awards in sustainable, ethical and responsible tourism have also seen the venue host key local and regional bodies for their conferences, including Sustainability West Midlands.
Samantha Brown, Head of Conference Aston, said: “It’s an exciting time for business and leisure tourism in Birmingham, off the back of a record year for Tourism across the West Midlands, we are delighted with the venue’s performance and are committed to building on that momentum.
“By focusing on the customer experience to create long term partnerships, coupled with the demand for premium event and conference spaces growing, we have exciting plans for the year ahead as we continue to innovate, expand, and solidify Conference Aston as a leading force in Birmingham’s hotel and hospitality sector.
“The strong growth in residential conferences, day meetings and the volume of repeat business is a clear vote of confidence from our clients.”