Sleep adds new focus on F&B
Sleep, Europe’s leading hotel design and development event, has announced that it will become Sleep + Eat this year, recognising the growing interdependence of restaurants, bars and hotels in creating the full hospitality design experience.
The event will also be relocating to the open-plan environment of the National Hall in Olympia, and is set to take place on Tuesday 20 – Wednesday 21 November 2018. The decision on Sleep’s evolution comes after extensive research amongst exhibitors, visitors and the many other stakeholders who have contributed to the event in recent years.
“Sleep has been phenomenally successful with year-on-year growth in visitor numbers and an increasingly global profile while retaining all the values that make it so special – it’s boutique, experimental and experiential, a conceptual playground on the one hand and the place that people come to do business on the other,” comments Mark Gordon, Brand Director of Sleep + Eat.
“Sleep + Eat will allow us to build logically and thoughtfully on this legacy and the move to Olympia means we will have more space to do so. It will ensure that new ideas and first-time exhibitors, together with respected industry names and established design-led suppliers, will continue to fuel the event and that we can give space to our community of hoteliers, restaurateurs, owners and other industry professionals to see design excellence in all its forms.”
As in previous years, the event will comprise an international exhibition, a conference bringing together visionaries and commentators to debate emerging issues and Sleep Set – concept room installations which this year will be joined by Eat Set. There will also be the pop-up Sleeper Bar, designed afresh each year as the event’s social hub.
Last year, Sleep welcomed over 4,800 visitors from across the UK and Europe as well as the Middle East and the USA, a 20% increase over 2016. More than 100 of last year’s exhibitors have also committed to exhibiting again in 2018.
