1. Application of Number level 1
1
Conference Arrangements
I have been asked to make the travel and accommodation arrangements for my manager to
attend a conference in London at the end of next month. To do this I will have to research travel
and accommodation costs using two means of transport and 3 hotel prices.
I will research this information and show the results in a table and graph. To make sure that I have
calculated the prices correctly I will use hand calculation and a calculator to check my results.
Task 1. Conduct a survey with the staff to find out the most popular means of transport.
To complete this task I had to make a short survey to go see what transport people prefer to travel
whether a car, bicycle, motorbike, train, bus or a plane. The following information is what I
gathered from this survey;
Car – 19
Bicycle – 11
Motorbike – 6
Train – 5
Bus – 12
Plane – 7
From this information you can see that the car was clearly the most favourite choice of
transportation. I had an idea that the car would be the most favourite because that’s what most
people use on a daily basis in D S Smith. I was quite surprised with the votes the bus received
because the bus only runs at certain times of the day.
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5
10
15
20N
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Transport
Survey Votes
No. Of votes
2. Application of Number level 1
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Task 2. Is to research and find hotel prices. I will use different websites to do this.
1. Hotel ibis London Excel Docklands
9 Western Gateway
Royal Victoria Dock, London E16 1AB
ExCeL London
020 7055 2300
http://www.ibis.com/gb/hotel-3655-ibis-london-excel-docklands/index.shtml
I have chosen this hotel because it is the cheapest of the three closest hotels where the
conference will take place. It is literally about a 2-3 minute (0.450m) walk from the hotel.
There will be no food included in this package unless paid for.
The price for one night is £59.00.
2 nights - £118
2. Crowne Plaza London Docklands
Royal Victoria Dock
Western Gateway, London E16
1AL
020 7055 2000
http://www.cpdocklands.co.uk/
The prices for this hotel are £140, including breakfast, lunch and an evening meal.
The distance from this hotel to the conference centre if you walk is 600m.
2 nights - £280
3. Aloft London Excel
One Eastern Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock
London E16 1FR
020 3203 0700
http://www.aloftlondonexcel.com/
The distance from this hotel to the conference centre is 350m, making it the nearest of
the three from the centre.
The price for this hotel is £79 a night and is bed and breakfast.
2 nights - £158
3. Application of Number level 1
3
Table showing the 3 different hotel prices.
1 Night 2 Nights
Hotel ibis
London Excel £59 £118
Crowne Plaza
London
Docklands
£140 £280
Aloft Excel
London
£79 £158
I have researched 3 hotels and found that the cheapest hotel is the hotel ibis, which is located
right next to the ExCel Centre where the conference will take place.
Task 3. To research the price of a train journey to London from Neath.
This is the link to the website that I found out my train rates and times -
http://www.affiliates.thetrainline.com/buytickets/default.aspx
Single journey to London; Wednesday night - £17.00
Single journey to Neath; Friday night - £25.50
Total fare for the return journey is £42.50.
4. Application of Number level 1
4
Task 4. To work out the price of the journey to London by car. I will show my hand workings out.
Below shows the workings out of the car journey to and from London.
My next task was to find the prices for a London underground day pass should it be required for
hotels further away from the conference centre and for travel to London by train. For the 2 days
travel (to / from the railway station) the price for the day pass is £45 or £90 for both days.
This is the link that will take you to the website that lets you purchase the day pass:
http://www.viator.com/tours/London/London-Pass/d737-3138LONDON?pref=02&aid=g1752
This is the price for the day pass on the London underground for one day. This
will help you if your hotel is some distance from the conference centre. The
hotel chosen is 450m from the conference centre so transport is not required
between these venues.
5. Application of Number level 1
5
Allowances
The company has allowed £100 per day for food; this will allow £300 for the three days in London.
Food would be required on Wednesday evening, 3 meals on Thursday and Friday before returning
to Neath Friday night.
This table shows whether meals are included in the hotel price.
Breakfast Lunch Dinner
Ibis Hotel n/a n/a n/a
Crowne Plaza Hotel inc inc inc
Aloft Hotel inc n/a n/a
Should the conference provide food, these costs will then be reduced.
Summary
After researching all hotels, transport, petrol cost etc. I have come to the conclusion that the best
hotel is:
1. Hotel ibis London Excel Docklands
9 Western Gateway
Royal Victoria Dock, London E16 1AB
ExCeL London
020 7055 2300
http://www.ibis.com/gb/hotel-3655-ibis-london-excel-docklands/index.shtml
2 nights - £118 (£59 a night)
This hotel has the best price out of the 3, I have researched the distance from the hotel and it has
one of the shortest routes to travel to the conference centre.
The best transport I found was to go by train, because if you were to go by car it would cost you
£47.52 to get there and back but you have to bare in mind the traffic that may build up on rush
hour and that will cause you to take longer to get there and back. When you get to your
destination you will still have to find a parking space and if there are no parking spaces then you
may have to travel a distance to find one. If you were to go by train you would only have to pay as
little as £17.00 single or £42.50 return which is a difference of £5.02 compared to the car.
6. Application of Number level 1
6
Daily Travel Costs
Above is a table showing a summary of the best value prices there are available for attending the 2
day conference. Although the Hotel Ibis isn’t the closest to the conference centre is it the cheapest
I found out after researching the prices of the nearest hotels to the centre.
In this conference arrangements I have chosen to use 3 days due to the fact that I was assuming
the conference would start around 9:00am so you’d have to go up the night before instead of on
the day. I have worked out the calculations for both car and train because I wanted to make sure
the use of transport I was choosing was the best option. I calculated out that the train was the
better choice.
The car had more disadvantages than advantages; the only advantage I could think of was you
could leave for the journey on your own time. The disadvantages were you would have to find
space to park; the time taken to get to London would have been greater due to traffic along the
way.
The train’s advantages are that you don’t need to find a parking space once you arrive, it would be
quicker as you wouldn’t have the stress of driving for 4-5 hours and is cheaper. The train does
have some disadvantages like there could be a delay to the arrival time or you may have to stand
in the carriage if no seat free.
Total Costs by Train
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Travel £17.00 n/a £25.50
Hotel £59.00 £59.00 n/a
Underground
Pass
£45.00 n/a £45.00
Expenses £100.00 £100.00 £100.00
Daily Totals £176.00 £159.00 £125.50
Total
Expenses
£550.50
Total Costs by Car
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Travel £23.76 £23.76
Hotel £59.00 £59.00 n/a
Expenses £100.00 £100.00 £100.00
Daily Totals £182.76 £159.00 £123.76
Total
Expenses
£465.52
7. Application of Number level 1
7
Train and Car Pie Charts
Comparing Costs
To help the manager decide on the arrangements he would prefer to use, I have included a
breakdown of all costs by car / train and individual hotel.
ibis Crowne
Plaza
Aloft
Excel
2 nights £118.00 £280.00 £158.00
Train n/a n/a n/a
Car £47.52 £47.52 £47.52
Underground £45.00 £45.00 £45.00
Expenses £300.00 £300.00 £300.00
Totals £510.52 £672.52 £550.52
12%
33%
55%
Total Costs
Train
Hotel
Expences
13%
32%55%
Total Costs
Car
Hotel
Expences
ibis Crowne
Plaza
Aloft
Excel
2 nights £118.00 £280.00 £158.00
Train £42.50 £42.50 £42.50
Car n/a n/a n/a
Underground £45.00 £45.00 £45.00
Expenses £300.00 £300.00 £300.00
Totals £505.50 £667.50 £545.50
