Dateline Monday 23rd March 2026

Happy SPRING Monday morning I hope you are fit and well and that you had a terrific weekend. To be honest I missed chatting to you last week, but I think the decision taken of reducing the Monday morning e mail to twice a month is a good idea. One of my regular readers sent a lovely e mail THANK YOU Yvonne saying only twice a month is simply not good enough, sorry Yvonne.

Spring came into its own last week, we are having a few nice sunny, warm days although we must not be lulled into a false sense of weather security as the forecast for later this week isn’t great.

I was in Budapest last week on a site inspection with Katinka, Imola, Janka and the team at Cosmos DMC Budapest the awesome DMC we at MM and Company represent, it has been a while since I was last in Budapest so it was time for a refresher, I reckoned that it was my 18th trip to this amazing city, my site inspection was perfectly timed as Cosmos DMC Budapest had just successfully delivered a conference of some 220 delegates it is always great to visit a DMC once they have successfully delivered an event confirmed by one of our UK clients. I was there in Budapest on 15^th March last Sunday it was Hungarian National Day lots of stuff going on in the city and the weather was terrific

Sadly, the war in both Iran and Ukraine seems to have no end in sight, week four into the Iran campaign and very disappointingly four years into the Ukraine unjust war being waged by Russia.

Iran seems to be quite resilient at the moment sadly scoring two direct hits on Israel injuring over 100 civilians some severely but luckily killing no one, so who said “miracles are a thing of the past” I think miracles are happening on a daily basis 

This meningitis outbreak is rather worrying seems that the NHS is getting it sorted with vaccination hubs springing up in the outbreak areas, whilst there is a lot wrong with the NHS there is also a lot right with it, well done to all concerned. I had meningitis when I was a teenager (yes I can remember that far back) 

If you have been observing Ramadan, I hope you had a wonderful Eid over the past weekend, Eid Mubarak.

Talking of celebrations may I also wish the Persian community a very happy Nowruz the Persian New Year's day which coincides with the spring equinox which marks the first day of a new year on the Iranian calendars; it usually coincides with a date between 19 March and 22 March on the Gregorian calendar.

CONGRATULATIONS

CONGRATULATIONS to Liverpool and Arsenal both through to the Quarter Finals of the Champions League 25/26

CONGRATUALTIONS to Manchester City they beat Arsenal 2 – 0 to win The Carabao Cup at Wembley on Sunday

And that’s the view from my MM and Company desk for this week

As there will not be a Monday morning e mail next Monday

Two finally things first

The Jewish festival of Passover is being celebrated starting on Wednesday evening 1^st April as ever I have popped over to Google to get a quick precis of what Passover is all about. Passover (or Pesach in Hebrew) is one of the most important festivals in the Jewish year. In a nutshell the Jewish people had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, Moses, was a Jewish boy bought up in the Royal Court of Pharaoh, God chose Moses to lead the Jewish people out of slavery, Moses asked Pharaoh to “let my people go” Pharoah refused, as a result 10 plagues were visited upon Egypt after the 10th the Jewish people were allowed to leave. Passover is a festival remembering the challenging times of the Jewish nation and what they (we) went through. On the first two evenings of Passover we have a special service called a Seder (Order). This takes place over a meal with family and friends at home. During the meal, the story of Exodus and our freedom is told from a book called the Haggadah (Narration/ story) The most significant thing about Passover is that we do not eat bread instead we eat Matzah a cracker type crispbread.

If Passover is your thing, may I take this opportunity to wish you, your family, and friends a Chag ve Kasher Pesach sameach (a happy, joyous and above all kosher Passover) 

The second finally, Easter is Friday 3^rd April – Monday 6^th April may I take this opportunity to wish you, your colleagues, family and friends a very happy Easter and an awesome Easter long weekend, can’t wait it is our first break since Christmas.    

And that’s the view from my MM and Company desk for this week

MM and Company news update

Portugal

Rita, Joana, Madlena and the team at AIM DMC Portugal has told us that Andaz hotel a Hyatt brand has opened its first hotel in Portugal in Lisbon the hotel has 170-room and is located in the Baixa neighbourhood the Praça do Comércio and the Tagus River waterfront. The hotel has a, a rooftop restaurant and terrace, Luzzi and the Andaz Lounge, which serves Portuguese-inspired food.

Greece

Maria, Lisa, Tina, Fanni, Miltos, Eleni Giorgos and the team at Event Makers DMC Greece reminded me to tell everyone I meet about a wonderful sight just off the coast of Mykonos, why Mykonos because it seems to be getting a lot of enquiries for incentive groups. Last September Event Makers DMC Greece successfully operated a Mykonos event for one of our UK clients where the client bought out the entire hotel, the hotel inventory in Mykonos has a full range of small boutique five- and four-star hotels that are ideal for a buyout. Any way back to the plot the archaeological site is on Delos, a small uninhabited island near Mykonos, it one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece, protected by UNESCO. Delos has been inhabited since around 3000 BC and, according to Greek mythology, was the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. Visitors can explore well-preserved ruins including temples, residential houses, a theatre, and the famous Terrace of the Lions.

Miami

Clem, Nora and the team at C Florida Hospitality DMC the DMC we at MM and Company have proudly and successfully represented since1997 (yes last century) have told us that The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, Miami has reopened following a $100 million transformation. The resort set across seventeen acres of pristine beachfront and blends the oasis of Key Biscayne’s island lifestyle with the fashionable energy of Miami.

The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, Miami has six beachfront dining and cocktail destinations  There is of course a 30,000-square-foot spa that has 16 treatment rooms, including three couples’ suites, a full-service salon, and the Spa Sanctuary, Journey Lounge, and Sensory Spa Garden with private cabanas. The hotel is only 15 miles away from Miami International Airport.

IMEX 19^th – 20^th May

I am gathering which of our DMCs will be there so far

Eva Hoffman of Cornerstone Meetings DMC will be at IMEX 

Stephane Louise Hello Islands DMC Mauritius will be at IMEX

And that is about it for this Monday, you know as much as I know, wishing you an outstanding day and an awesome week ahead.