Client Spotlight: Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve
Client Spotlight: Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve
AUGUST 21, 2020
In this Client Spotlight, we sit down with Kayleigh Wild, Event Sales Manager at Port Lympne Hotel and Reserve & Howletts Wild Animal Park, a long-standing client of CEP’s, to discuss how the award-winning wedding venue creates unforgettable experiences for its guests.
Enriching the guest experience
In 2019 Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve was host to over 50 weddings, with an additional 50 private and corporate events and even a selection of “guided proposals”.
Team Building Days for Corporates
As Kayleigh was detailing all of the event services which they offer, there was one in particular which really caught our attention - the corporate ‘Team Building Days’. Goodbye ‘80s flip charts and ‘Trust Falls’ - in these workshops, teams are handed power tools and materials, and put to work building items to enrich the animals’ lives at the Reserve.
The workshops are led by, “Team Building experts who have 25 years combined experience in the animal enrichment field and their solutions are informed by practitioner-based research.”
Together the teams and their leaders create items such as:
🍌 Puzzle feeders for gorillas
🍌 Platforms for tigers
🍌 Dig boxes for meerkats
🍌 Hanging feeders for rhinos
🍌 Climbing frames for monkeys
This hands-on experience fosters teamwork, creativity and also ticks the box for corporate responsibility for participating companies as Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve is first and foremost a charitable organisation.
Weddings & Guided Proposals for Private Clients
When it came to discussing the wedding packages offered by the venue, Kayleigh was clearly impassioned as she walked us through the tailored experience she and her team build for their wedding bookings:
“We build really good relationships from the beginning with the couples - we bring them in and show them around, and you get a real feel for who they are and they get a feel for who we are. And then it’s planning with them! Answering every phone call, every email, just always being there for them to contact,” she explained.
Kayleigh continued, saying that they offer unlimited planning appointments for couples to explore the venue and plan with the events team, photographers are given tours ahead of the big day and the couple are invited to menu tastings with the Executive Chef. These menu tastings are a completely bespoke experience, the couple has a call the day before with the Executive Chef to gage which food they’re looking to have at their wedding, and then together they’ll do the menu tasting with them.
“Our menus aren’t set anymore, they’re based on samples,” Kayleigh said. “For where some couples will want a roast dinner at their wedding meal, others will want lobster and burger - they are so different, each couple is unique. And we make them feel like every step of their wedding journey is new and they’re made to feel special.”
The extensive grounds of the Hotel mansion lends itself to multiple options for the location of the ceremony, wedding breakfast and reception from the landscaped gardens and luxury treehouse to the picturesque Moroccan courtyard and statement mansion rooms. Couples can even opt for an outdoor ceremony at Bear Lodge, “with a backdrop of stunning views over our spectacle bear habitat and the Kent coast,” Kayleigh shared.
Incorporating the Park
It’s easy to imagine how an engaged couple could be seduced to book their wedding at the luxurious setting of Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve - but Kayleigh explained that the experience they create for their wedding guests goes beyond landscaped gardens and the Grade-2 listed mansion. The Reserve itself is incorporated into the wedding day to create a wild animal park wedding:
“Most of our wedding parties go on our safari after the ceremony and before the wedding breakfast,” Kayleigh said. “We recently had a party of 28 guests which we divided into four groups which in turn all went to enjoy separate animal encounters.”
No surprise then to learn that Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve was the Kent Weddings Award Winner 2017/2018/2019 and 2020.
How have you repositioned in light of the pandemic?
The award-winning wedding venue has had to adjust its offering in line with government guidelines during COVID-19. Weddings are currently restricted to 30 guests; including the couple, photographer, registrar and any musicians (which can’t include projective music inside, such as saxophonists and singers, unless they are geared with PPC). Seating plans have to consider ‘social bubbles’ and guests (excluding the couple) are required to wear face masks.
What makes Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve stand apart during this time is their sensitive and accommodating approach, offering couples alternative dates at no charge or moving the date to 2021 completely - and keeping the day of the week originally booked.
However it’s not just the venue and events which COVID-19 has affected - the Reserve itself has had to take precautions, by rotating the Keepers in bubbles, temporarily stopping show feeds and limiting contact with the gorillas and giraffes which are susceptible to the disease.
Looking to the future
Of course this pandemic won’t last forever, and Kayleigh is looking to the future. “I predict that 2021/22 trends will see BIG weddings,” Kayleigh said. “Couples will want to go all out, with lots of entertainment from Fire Artists to Aerial Artists!”
The venue is no stranger to entertainment and interactive experiences, having previously worked with us at Corporate Entertainment Professionals, to delight guests with Cheeky Chimps and Stilt Walkers in their corporate marquee, Strolling Champagne Tables at their wedding open days and even our Giant T-Rex Dinosaur and Velociraptor Puppet for outreach marketing at Westwood Cross Shopping Centre.
“All of our guests are equally important to us,” Kayleigh concluded. “We enhance all their experiences from weddings and corporate events to hotel day guests and zoo admissions - because ultimately, they contribute to our efforts in the Reserve and our conservation projects overseas.”
If you would like to speak to our Creative Team for assistance with planning your event or creating a bespoke experience at your venue with our flexible booking dates, please feel free to book a free Creative Consultation or give us a call here and we’d be happy to help.
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