Japan-headquartered Oriental Hotels & Resorts aims to build awareness of its brand and properties to outbound corporate and leisure travellers from South-east Asia.
“At this point, the brand is relatively unknown outside of Japan, which is why they hired me in May 2023. I want to develop a strong brand identity and positioning, (so that it is) easily recognised by the MICE and leisure sector in South-east Asia,” Serene Law, director of sales, South-east Asia, told TTGmice.
Since joining the company, Law has kept busy meeting with key business event planners and travel agents at major South-east Asia tradeshows such as IT&CM Asia in Bangkok, Matta Fair in Kuala Lumpur, TTC Travel Mart in Jakarta, and ITB Asia in Singapore.
She stated: “My goal is to increase MICE business from South-east Asia by 30 to 40 per cent in the next five years. I think a good balance would be 60-40, with 60 per cent being corporate groups.”
However, Law pointed out leisure guests are just as important, as the group also manages smaller, boutique properties that are better suited for leisure guests.
As 2023 draws to a close, Law plans to continue to identify segment preferences and needs unique to the South-east Asia market, and identify several key target markets. She added that “partnerships are also important”, and plans to collaborate with event planning agencies, corporate travel management companies, as well as travel industry associations.
Oriental Hotels & Resorts’ portfolio comprises 20 hotels and resorts totalling 6,220 keys across Japan, offering a wide range of options to suit different budgets. Several more hotels in the pipeline will come online over the next few months.
