ITC Hotels may not be as well known India’s Oberoi group of hotels and The Taj group of hotels, but the ITC Royal Gardenia is definitely more purpose-built for MICE than other hotels in Bangalore.  The entire hotel and convention centre layout is well thought out both functionally and aesthetically.

The hotel’s convention centre has its own grand entrance and lobby so that hotel guests will not be disturbed if there is a major function going on.  Yet, function guests can still have direct access from the hotel lobby to the convention centre without going outdoors.  The ground floor convention centre lobby can be used for delegate registration or cocktail reception.  Otherwise, it can be utilized just for receiving guests and VIPs as the lobby on the second floor is large enough for registration or reception purpose, or even for exhibition.  And this is not even the pre-function area.

The main ballroom has a capacity of 210 guests in classroom style seating, and the ceiling height of about 6 metres is good enough for video projection without blockage.  The ballroom can be divided into three smaller rooms.  Outside the length-side of the ballroom is a cozy pre-function area.  What is interesting is that even the pre-function area can be partitioned into three private areas.  Hence, if there are three functions going on at the same time, delegates do not get mixed up during tea breaks.

Apart from this, the convention centre has a variety of smaller rooms for breakout sessions of between 15 to 50 guests, classroom style.  But two boardrooms have very thoughtful feature.  Apart from having standard feature of board tables for between 12 to 14 people, each boardroom is designed with a comfortable lounge seating area, so that guests can still have a private area to rest and relax before or after a long business discussion.

The rest of the hotel has a clean, modern design yet focused on being environmentally friendly, there are lots of vertically planted wall features, air wells and roof gardens that not only look good, but also functions to cool the air without air-conditioning and to brighten up the hotel interior using natural light.  In fact, ITC Royal Gardenia has been rated the World's largest & Asia's first LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Platinum Rated Hotel.

Apart from this, the hotel’s F&B outlets are also well known, in particular, the Kebabs & Kurries Indian restaurant, and the Highland Nectar whisky bar and ‘museum’.

ITC Gardenia gets MICEreview’s thumbs-up for holding MICE events.