CVBS, Conference Venues and Booking Services
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Hobart · Venue finding

Conference & Event Venues in Hobart

Tell us what you need in Hobart. Shortlist within 48 hours, free to you.

Hobart, in short

The largest single room in Hobart is the Federation Ballroom at Hotel Grand Chancellor, at 1,200 theatre across 1,225 square metres. The tiered Federation Concert Hall in the same complex seats 1,100, and because they are separate rooms you can run a plenary and the catering at the same time rather than turning a room. Wrest Point in Sandy Bay reaches further only by combining the Tasman Room with its Plenary Hall, at 1,651 theatre.

Accommodation, not floor space, is what actually limits a Hobart conference. The five main business events hotels publish 271, 243, 241, 152 and 114 rooms between them, so a thousand delegate residential conference needs close to the entire premium inventory of the city at once. Business Events Tasmania markets the state’s working ceiling at around 1,100 delegates, and that is an honest number.

Where Hobart is unusually strong is high value programs under about 300. The city is small and walkable, the food and drink are genuinely part of the sell, and the Antarctic, marine, agricultural and renewables research sitting on the doorstep makes site visits and study tours easy to build in. The practical constraint on delegate numbers is usually flight capacity rather than venue capacity. See the venues we would start with.

Hobart is small enough for a conference group to take the city over, and interesting enough that they will want to. A working waterfront, a serious food and art scene, and the Tasmanian wilderness within easy reach. Venues range from waterfront hotels to character spaces around Salamanca. We source across the city and negotiate rates that account for travel from the mainland.

What we source in Hobart

  • Waterfront and city centre conference hotels
  • A self contained residential conference campus at Sandy Bay
  • Bare waterfront exhibition space for builds and trade displays
  • Gallery, museum and distillery venues for dinners and receptions
  • East coast and highland lodges for executive retreats and incentive rewards
Start your Hobart brief
Where to start

Not sure where in Hobart your event belongs?

A quick steer, based on what you are running. Tell us the detail and we will shortlist what suits it, rather than the obvious names.

Based on venue suitability alone.

Large conferences and exhibitions
Hotel Grand Chancellor, Wrest Point, Princes Wharf 1
Residential conferences
Wrest Point, Hotel Grand Chancellor, Crowne Plaza Hobart
Premium gala dinners
Federation Ballroom, Wrest Point Tasman Room, Princes Wharf 1
Leadership retreats
Saffire Freycinet, Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, The Tasman
Incentives
Mona and the catamaran, Saffire on a buyout, waterfront dinners
Product launches and brand events
Princes Wharf 1, Mona, The Tasman’s LUMINA
Local knowledge

Where in Hobart to hold it.

The area you choose shapes everything from how easily delegates arrive to what you will pay for dinner. These are the ones we source across most, and what each is good for.

Hobart CBD

Where the plenary and the room block sit in the same few blocks. Hotel Grand Chancellor, Crowne Plaza and The Tasman are all within a short walk of each other and of Salamanca, and delegates will not need a car.

Sullivans Cove waterfront

For a view or a raw space to brand. Princes Wharf 1 takes a full build, and the Mona ferry leaves from Brooke Street Pier, so offsite transfers start here.

Salamanca and Battery Point

The dine around and the social program rather than the plenary. Very limited large function space and mostly boutique accommodation, walkable from the city and the waterfront, which is precisely its value.

Sandy Bay

A self contained campus. Wrest Point holds the largest single site room block in Hobart, about five minutes from the city and twenty five from the airport, and the university next door suits academic meetings with tiered seating.

Berriedale

One high impact evening rather than the working day. Mona takes 450 standing in the Nolan Gallery, about fifteen minutes by road or twenty five by catamaran, and the ferry is part of the experience.

Regional Tasmania

When the destination is the point and the group is small. Freycinet suits an executive buyout of about forty, Cradle Mountain an offsite up to eighty five, and both are multi hour transfers, so build the flights around the lodge.

Worth knowing first

The parts of Hobart we would raise before you commit.

No destination is right for every brief, and the useful conversation is about where the limits are. These are the ones that change a Hobart program most often.

Late December is effectively closed

The Sydney to Hobart finishes into the city from 26 December and the summer waterfront festival runs through to early January, which takes Princes Wharf 1 out of the market and puts the whole city on peak rates. It is a wonderful week to be in Hobart and a difficult week to run a conference.

Dark Mofo prices mid June like summer

Winter is otherwise the value season here, but the Dark Mofo fortnight in June draws tens of thousands of interstate and overseas visitors and fills the city. Either build the program around it deliberately or avoid it.

Air capacity sets the delegate number, not the venue

There is no rail link anywhere in Tasmania and almost every mainland delegate flies. On most Hobart bids the practical ceiling on delegate numbers is seat availability into the city rather than the size of the room, so we look at the flight schedule before we look at floor plans.

Why CVBS in Hobart

Hobart is small, and that is exactly why it works for the right program.

Karen Jepson, Director, CVBS

One brief. A real person on the other end.

Everything above this point is information. It is genuinely useful, and no other venue finder in Australia publishes it. But it is not the thing you are actually buying.

What you are buying is someone who has already had the conversation with the person who holds that room, knows what they will move on and when, and will pick up the phone rather than send you a portal login. Whoever takes your Hobart brief stays your point of contact from the first call through to the day of your event.

Karen, Anthony, Chantelle and RychelleSourcing Australian conference venues since 1989

Start your Hobart brief Meet the team

Venues we can speak for

A walkable city, food and drink that carry a program on their own, and research institutions on the doorstep make Hobart unusually strong for high value events under about 300. The honest limit is that above roughly 1,200 in one seated plenary the destination stops working, and we will tell you that before you commit.

The drawbacks as well as the pitch

Every venue has something worth knowing before you sign. A difficult load in, a low ceiling, a pre function space that struggles once the room is full. You will hear that from us at shortlist, not on the day.

Free to you

There is no fee for our service. The sourcing, the local knowledge and the negotiating are all included, and the rate you end up with is usually better than booking direct.

FAQ

Hobart venue finding, common questions

How much does it cost to use CVBS to find a venue in Hobart?
Nothing. Our Hobart venue finding service is free to you, and the rate we negotiate is usually better than booking direct. If you would like the detail, it is set out on how we are paid.
How quickly can you find Hobart venues?
We deliver a shortlist of matching Hobart venues within 48 hours of receiving your brief, with rates and inclusions ready to compare. If your dates are tight or unusual, tell us in the brief and we will call the venues rather than email them.
What is the largest conference venue in Hobart?
The Federation Ballroom at Hotel Grand Chancellor Hobart is the largest single room, at 1,200 theatre across 1,225 square metres, with the tiered 1,100 seat Federation Concert Hall in the same complex. Wrest Point reaches 1,651 theatre by combining its Tasman Room with the Plenary Hall.
How many delegates can Hobart realistically handle?
Business Events Tasmania markets the state at up to about 1,100 delegates, and that is a fair planning number. Above roughly 1,200 in a single seated plenary there is no venue, and well before that the constraint becomes hotel rooms and flight capacity rather than the room itself.
Do you cover group accommodation in Hobart as well as venues?
Yes. We can package delegate or group accommodation in Hobart with your venue as a single negotiation, which often strengthens the rate on both. See group accommodation for how that works.
Which Hobart venue has the most rooms on one site?
Wrest Point in Sandy Bay, at 271 rooms with 24 event spaces, a casino and several food outlets on the property. It is about five minutes from the city centre, so delegates tend to stay on site in the evenings rather than walk to Salamanca.
When should we avoid holding an event in Hobart?
The week after Christmas, when the Sydney to Hobart finishes and the waterfront festival runs, and the Dark Mofo fortnight in June. Both fill the city and lift rates. Everything either side of those, particularly the shoulder months, is good value.
Can we run an event at Mona?
Yes, as a standing event. Mona hires its galleries rather than function rooms, with the Nolan Gallery taking 450 standing, and it is a destination experience rather than a working conference venue. Most programs use it for one evening, arriving by catamaran from Brooke Street Pier.
Is Hobart good for a leadership retreat?
It is one of the best in the country for it. Saffire Freycinet on the east coast takes a whole property buyout for about forty, Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge handles up to eighty five theatre with 86 cabins, and both give a group genuine separation without leaving the state.
Ready when you are

Planning something in Hobart? Tell us about it.

You will have Hobart options to consider within 48 hours.

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