Annual conference goes smoothly despite Danube flood alert
A global pulp and paper manufacturer had been planning for several months to hold its annual conference in Bratislava. The client was using the five-star Hotel Kempinski located on the Danube embankment, so ENJOY SLOVAKIA DMC recommended holding a gala dinner on a former riverboat which has been converted into a waterside club and venue space.
As Bratislava conference date neared there was heavy rainfall upstream, leading to flooding in Germany, and the waters of the Danube and its tributaries around Bratislava approached record levels, prompting the customer to conduct a brief site inspection just a week prior to the event. By then, Bratislava was preparing for the river’s level to peak, and the city was on high alert, with some nearby villages and fields flooded and anti-flood barriers being erected along the embankment in the capital. The Danube reached a level of 10.34 meters on Thursday, June 6. The barriers ultimately worked well and the city was spared serious damage.
Nevertheless, leaving nothing to chance, upon agreement with the client we altered the gala-dinner venue to a converted industrial space, where on June 11 we organized a successful evening event with VIP catering and music, which continued until midnight…