The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, always a slow period for business events, has turned out particularly bad this year for business hotels in Malaysia, the situation exacerbated by reduced corporate budgets on the back of a weak corporate environment and the national currency slump.
Susan Yap, director of sales and marketing at The Westin Kuala Lumpur, told TTGmice: “It is more difficult to convert leads from corporate companies this year. They tell us they are not sure about having the meeting, or it might be postponed.
“The lead time for small meetings is also very short. We’re getting bookings coming in three days prior to the event. In the past, it used to be at least 10 days for small groups of 20 pax or less.”
To compensate the slowdown, the hotel has designed one-stop breaking of fast packages in its function spaces for corporate organisers. The packages include food, traditional music, decorations and prayer facilities.
Zoe Seow, director of sales with Four Points by Sheraton Puchong, another business hotel, noted that local meeting organisers tend to be more price sensitive this year and are looking for better meeting package rates, rather than add-ons.
Seow elaborated: “They know this is a good time to get better rates. Our Ramadan full-day meeting packages are 20 per cent cheaper than the normal packages. We still offer two coffee breaks but those who choose not to have lunch can exchange for a dinner voucher which they can utilise during the fasting month.”
Four Points by Sheraton Puchong is also generating revenue from the breaking of fast spreads to balance out lower revenue from meetings.
When contacted last week, The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa’s director of sales and marketing, Sally Fadjrina, revealed that meetings were only coming from domestic account, many of which were from Kuala Lumpur. While business was slow, Fadjrina said clients are attracted to the more affordable rates now available.
Fadjrina expects business events from Asia-Pacific to pick up in 4Q2017.
Also seeing a tough month of corporate event business is Syed Razif Al-Yahya, group managing director of Sutra Group of Companies, who revealed that government agencies and government linked companies had slashed budgets last year and had trimmed it down further this year.
