Web portal www.kongresniturizam.com was launched in 2006, as the first web portal specialized in meetings industry and business travel in the South-Eastern Europe. During the first 6 years of business, it has achieved successful and impressive results, recognized by the meetings industry and the event organizers, as a unique online space for both presentation and search for conference capabilities for event organization in the region.

During 2013, this specialized web portal underwent a serious programming and a visual redesign, which involved the whole team of professionals in the course of a few months.

On that occasion, we have the opportunity to talk to Mr Ivan Milic, the sales director of the company The Best Solutions, which operates though this portal.

When we see a person, what we first notice is a physical appearance. It is the same in business, the first impression which we get about one product or a service comes from its visual presentation or packaging. That is why we dedicated a lot of attention to the appearance of the portal, mainly presentations of destinations and our members, hotels, venues and agencies.

The accent is on the contents of presentations and a clear and neat presentation of all the information which may be important for someone who is looking for an adequate hotel, venue or agency.

There is no information, required by an organizer, which cannot be found in the presentation, let’s assume, of one hotel, and which cannot be noticed within a few seconds. Just to list a few, from meeting halls and accommodation capacities, photo gallery, tabular view of the meeting halls and its capacities including photos, free Wi-Fi if provided, coffee break rooms, natural light, possibility to drive a car into the hall. Hotel facilities are observed immediately, as well as the existing technical equipment in the meeting halls. It also provides direct contacts, the list of all satisfied clients and many other things.

On the other hand, presentations of destinations (Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania) give a very clear review of the information relevant for foreign organizers. The most important pieces of information giving the insight into facilities and potentials of one destination, provided for organization of all kinds events, have been singled out. This type of information includes direct flights to the destination, the biggest congress capacities in the country, number of hotels, ICCA list ranking, world celebrities originating from that country, and similar.

Optimization of the portal with the latest standards for internet explorers is something that goes without saying.

Event organizers come from various industries and professions. Each event has its own goal, the target group and the budget. The criteria for selection of venue and appropriate agency are different. Therefore, the starting point for searching does not have to be the same for everybody.

From that reason, we have developed the possibility of searching which ensures that each user of the portal can find necessary information in the easiest way for them. There is a classical search by venue or by type of service that is needed. For those whose starting criterion for choosing hotel or agency is a geographic location, there is a search by map. In case when the crucial information for event organization is whether there are direct flights from the starting location to the very destination, there is an innovative and a unique search by flights. It gives the information about the countries which have the direct flights to the SEE countries, with the information which airlines fly on those routes.

Talking about search by venue, I cannot but to mention the detailed search, which enables the organizers to find, with only one click, the hotel which meets all their requirements. At the same time, they can select the desired region and the surroundings, then, the required number of rooms and the conference hall capacities, type and categorization of the venue; they can choose the specific amenity and just click “search”. Within a few seconds, they will see the list of potentially suitable hotels. The time that they used to spend searching for the information in order to make such list, can be measured by days.

In preparation of a certain event, the organizers usually analyze great number of proposals. Some are taken from the websites, some from the received mails, telephone calls…

The criteria can be various, such as location, accommodation capacities, number and capacities of conference halls, facilities provided, etc. It is necessary to select those which are the most suitable in terms of the given criteria and to make a narrow selection. Such selection is usually presented to the chief or the management board, who ask for the arguments and reasons for such choice.

That can all finally turn to quite a mess of information and documentation.

From that reason we created, on the portal www.kongresniturizam.com , a type of online working space for event organizers. By simple registration and opening of the user account, the organizers are enabled, in organization of events, to add to their list all hotels or venues which is potentially suitable for them.

The next step which largely makes the job of organizer easier is the possibility of making comparison between all selected hotels/venues for that particular event. With only one click, you will see the tabular review of the selected hotels with comparative review of number of rooms, conference halls, their capacities, various facilities and other parameters. It is easy to observe the advantages of each of them, and to choose a hotel which meets the required criteria for that particular event in the best way possible.

The event planners can independently search the portal by all aforesaid methods, as well as create their own user account which will enable them to make comparisons between all selected venues.

That is the data base which comprises 250 hotels, venues and agencies from the region of the South Eastern Europe.

The other way is to contact our professional team, which gathers the professionals with a long-lasting experience and a good knowledge of the regional market, and who will help them in analysing of the information they need and getting the best proposal.

I need to mention that both types of services we offer for the event organizers are free of charge.

M.M.