Behind the scenes at The Cateys 2026

JW Marriott Grosvenor House, London. 7th July 2026

The great and the good of the industry gathered for ‘the Oscars of Hospitality’, The Cateys 2026, with a glittering awards ceremony staged by The Caterer. Exclusive Collection became the inaugural Event Partner delivering an immersive brand takeover experience, in partnership with BrandSensory.

*Guests were greeted with an inspiring display that spoke to Exclusive Collection’s values and purpose.*

As the UK’s first B Corp certified hotel company, Exclusive Collection became the inaugural event partner of The Cateys 2026, one of hospitality’s most respected awards programmes.

Recognised as the industry’s highest accolade, The Cateys celebrate excellence across the hotel, restaurant and food service sectors, with winners selected by a distinguished panel of industry peers. The Cateys, held in partnership with Square, took place at JW Marriott Grosvenor House London with a glittering awards ceremony.

The partnership provided a platform for Exclusive Collection to showcase its blend of luxury hospitality and responsible business practices to nearly 1000 guests of the awards. Beyond being a named sponsor, Exclusive Collection played a central role in the guest experience, crafting the menu with its array of Michelin star and award-winning chefs and styling the event with a sensory-led, sustainability-focused approach that rung true to the brand’s ethos.

BrandSensory proudly supported Exclusive Collection’s in-house team, led by Director of Operations David Connell, to deliver an immersive brand experience with responsibility for the takeover styling concept, design, sourcing and delivery.

*Only British wines and water were on the drinks menu, curated by Matthew Clark.*

Event objectives

To bring to life Exclusive Collection’s brand and ethos, B Corp values and responsible business practices, the following objectives were set:

• Demonstrate a commitment to sustainable sourcing and minimum food miles by ensuring every ingredient, as well as all wines, drinks and water, originated from the British Isles.

• Celebrate British culinary talent through a menu created by six Head and Executive Head Chefs, delivered by apprentices from the Exclusive Collection Chefs’ Academy.

• Deliver as close to a zero-waste event as possible, ensuring that no food, materials or resources from the evening went to waste.

• Create a holistic brand experience that brought to life the business principles, values and character to generate conversation on the night and encourage social sharing.

• Balance styling with sustainability to deliver a sensorial guest experience that reflects both Exclusive Collection and the prestige of The Cateys.

• Use the partnership to demonstrate that exceptional hospitality, responsible business practices and sustainability can successfully coexist on the hospitality sector’s biggest stage.

• Help further donations for the event’s charity partner, Prept Foundation, with our own guest-facing initiative.

“This event was an opportunity for us to showcase our brand and business principles to the entire hospitality industry, and so we wanted to be very particular about how we did that. With the support of BrandSensory we were able to bring to life all of the things that mattered to us - how it feels to be a part of Exclusive. BrandSensory’s deep knowledge of our brand and business meant they could craft a holistic and immersive experience for the guests with every detail carefully considered. Their creative thinking teams so well with brilliant design skills and their collaborative project management style meant with our internal deliverables it all came together perfectly. I was thrilled with the results and felt incredibly proud on the night.”

*Danny Pecorelli. Managing Director, Exclusive Collection.*

The elements behind the event design

A holistic approach

BrandSensory were tasked to create an experience that brought to life Exclusive Collection's brand promise at every touchpoint, translating the brand message "Eat well, sleep well, do you well. Take a breath from the everyday in beautiful surroundings" into a holistic sensorial journey. It needed to include the brand’s commitment to delivering sustainable luxury experiences, supporting British talent and love of good food.

Staging the takeover involved careful planning and sourcing, as well as seamless and efficient collaboration between the Exclusive Collection, Grosvenor House and Caterer/Jacob’s Media teams. BrandSensory acted as project managers, starting with the experience strategy and design concept and then overseeing timelines, budget, graphic design, sourcing and event installation.

Zero waste, British-only sourcing

As The Cateys 2026 took place at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House London, success relied on a close partnership between Exclusive Collection, its brigade of chefs and the venue’s service team, as well as The Caterer’s event team, to deliver an exceptional guest experience at scale. Waste reduction was a central consideration with the careful management of food production to minimise waste and ensuring any surplus materials were reused, repurposed or responsibly redistributed wherever possible.

Sustainability needed to inform the event design, with table styling and floristry and print materials, all being carefully considered in how to minimise waste and celebrate sustainable best practices.

The entrance to the event was filled with 16 heritage apple trees, fruits and vegetables picked fresh from Lainston House’s kitchen garden that day, along with large scale images from the hotels’ grounds.

Delivering Sustainable Luxury Experiences‍ ‍

Guests were welcomed to the event with an immersive installation featuring an orchard of apple trees, freshly harvested estate vegetables and flowers, the scent of South Lodge and large images of the grounds and gardens of the hotels. The trees were returned to be planted at South Lodge the next day where the apples will be used in the kitchens and to create an estate apple juice in years to come. All brand storytelling installation materials were carefully chosen to be reused or repurposed with recyclable, seed and coffee paper used for menus, placecards, programmes and other styling elements. The tables were set with wooden plinths cut from a local sawmill and British grown flowers and plants in coir pots. To help support fundraising as well as reduce waste, attendees were invited to make a donation to Prept Foundation, the event's charity partner, in exchange for taking a plant home. More than £14,500 (the highest ever funds raised at The Cateys to date) was donated to help advance Prept's mission of delivering food education programmes for young people. Exclusive Collection worked with the Grosvenor House team to select beautiful table linens and intentionally omitted the standard chair covers to minimise environmental impact, reducing water and energy consumption associated with laundry services.

BrandSensory styled the spaces with a sensory focus, and the experience even extended into the bathrooms, where guests were immersed in a biophilic installation. Featuring diffusers infusing the space with South Lodge’s signature scent, a specially curated calming playlist and British vinotherapy products made by Pelegrims using South Lodge vineyard extracts. The bathrooms also featured cocooning spa chairs, live plants and imagery of the estate grounds and vineyards, reinforcing Exclusive Collection’s ‘take a breath from the everyday’ message, encouraging guests to pause, relax, and discover moments of calm beyond the lively main event space.

The depth of the brand experience extended even to the smallest details, including replacing standard toilet paper with products from fellow B Corp, Who Gives A Crap. The swap is one of many demonstrations of how every touchpoint was considered through the lens of responsible hospitality.

“Everyone was full of compliments about your work - it looked absolutely fantastic! I thought it gave the Cateys some needed freshness with this new look! Really impressive!”

*Sophie Borel. Design Manager, Cheval Collection*

For the Love of Good Food

*The chefs were challenged to create a menu with all ingredients sourced from the British Isles.*

The menu was sourced entirely from the British Isles, drawing on regional produce and with ingredients harvested and foraged from the hotels’ estates, including pink elderflower from South Lodge that was made into a Hugo Spritz, served with the Eton Mess dessert. The commitment to seasonal British ingredients meant some signature dishes were adapted at the last minute to reflect the available harvest. Due to June’s heatwave, the weather impacted the asparagus crop, meaning in-season, UK grown courgette was used in the main course to avoid importing produce.

Sustainability and brand ethos considerations also influenced the finishing touches. A caffeine-free herbal tea infusion was served instead of tea and coffee to encourage guests to sleep well, using freshly picked herbs from Lainston House alongside petits fours carefully designed to celebrate British flavours and therefore, without chocolate, as cacao is not grown in the UK.

Championing British Talent

Michelin-starred chefs from Exclusive Collection’s destination restaurants included Rob Potter from Bybrook at The Manor House, Ben Wilkinson from The Pass at South Lodge, and Steve Smith from Latymer at Pennyhill Park. Also contributing to the evening’s dining experience were award-winning Sarah Frankland from Pennyhill Park, runner up of Bake Off: The Professionals, former MasterChef: The Professionals winner Tom Hamblet from The Avenue at Lainston House, and Tom Bartle from Botanica at South Lodge, which was awarded three stars, the highest accolade, by The Sustainable Restaurant Association. Each chef worked together to curate the celebration event, and drinks paired to each dish, chosen for their local and sustainable credentials alongside their flavour combination.

Exclusive Collection’s Chefs’ Academy was central to the event, with Academy chefs working alongside the group’s Head and Executive Head Chefs and the JW Marriott Grosvenor House London culinary team. Established in 2014, the fully salaried two-year programme has developed more than 136 graduate chefs, reflecting Exclusive Collection’s people first commitment and focus on nurturing future hospitality talent.