Getting to Hospitality Tech Expo: ExCeL, times and where to find us
The Hospitality Tech Expo runs on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 September at ExCeL London. Doors open at 10:00 on both days.
If you have not been before, ExCeL is the exhibition centre in the Royal Docks, in the east of the city, between Canary Wharf and London City Airport. It opened in 2000 and runs around 400 events a year. The exhibition floor is 87,328 square metres without a single column, which is the detail that matters most on the day: everything is on one level, and the walk from one end of the aisles to the other takes longer than people expect.
One ticket covers more than you might think. The Hospitality Tech Expo is one of eight shows running side by side on the same floor, on the same two days, under The Food Service Industry Expo banner. Registration is free and one badge gets you into all of them.
They sit in colour coded zones, left to right across the hall: Street Food Business, Restaurant and Takeaway Innovation, Responsible Packaging, F&B Retail, Hospitality Tech, Hotel and Resort Innovation, Trade and Drinks, and Café Business.
The stand number tells you where you are standing. HT is tech, H is hotel and resort, RT is restaurant and takeaway, RP is packaging, ST is street food, TD is trade drinks.
Getting there
The Elizabeth line is the fastest way in. Fifteen minutes from central London, three minutes from Canary Wharf and forty three from Heathrow. Get off at Custom House.
On the DLR, change at Canning Town towards Beckton and get off at Custom House for the west entrance or Prince Regent for the east. Both stations are a two minute walk from the doors.
If you are coming from Canning Town underground on foot, allow about twenty minutes.
Which entrance
This is worth thirty seconds of thought before you travel, because the show floor has three of them: S6, S4 and S2, running left to right along the hall. https://hospitalitytechexpo.co.uk/
The eight shows sit side by side in colour coded zones, so the entrance you pick decides what you walk into first. Street food is at the S6 end. The Hospitality Tech Expo floor sits in the middle, closest to S4. Trade drinks and café business are down at the S2 end.
If you are here for technology, S4 puts you in the right half of the hall from the first step. If your list spans several of the shows, start at the end furthest from your last meeting and walk one way rather than crossing back.
The organiser publishes a colour coded floor plan with a QR code for the current version, and it does get updated. Check it the morning you travel rather than the week before.
Driving
There are around 1,800 underground parking spaces. The Orange car park sits directly beneath the venue and costs £20 for up to 24 hours.
Check your route before you set off: Sandstone Lane and Seagull Lane are closed, so vehicle access is only via Royal Victoria Dock Road or the A112. For sat nav, use E16 1FR.
Before you travel
Registration is on the show website and tickets come as a QR code, so have it saved on your phone rather than in your inbox. The wifi in a hall with fifteen thousand people is not something to rely on at the door.
Check the closing time on your ticket. The published sources do not agree: ExCeL’s own event listing says the show closes at 16:00 on both days, while the ticketing page says 17:30. The organiser’s site does not publish opening hours at all. Your confirmation email is the one to trust, and if the afternoon matters for your meetings it is worth a call to the organiser on +44 117 457 8784.
Beyond the stands
Three things on the floor are open to every attendee and easy to miss. The Innovation Awards have finalists demonstrating live in front of a judging panel, which is a fast way to see new products without walking the aisles. Hospitality Connect is a seated networking area with sessions curated by sector and seniority through the day. And the Sustainability Trail is a signposted route linking the packaging, energy, waste and water exhibitors, which saves a lot of walking if that is your year’s project.
Find us at HT1310
We are there both days with our self ordering kiosks, order and pay at table and the digital menu, all running alongside the EPOS you already use. Come and talk it through with your own menu and your own peak in mind.
And if you have not got a ticket yet, ours are free.
→ Get your free Hospitality Tech Expo ticket
See you at ExCeL.
