Tamara Kobiolke has joined The Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa, Phuket as director of sales & marketing. She was last director of sales and marketing at Hotel Missoni Edinburgh.
Germaine Lim, Adrian Sng & Gwen Ng
SingEx Holdings has appointed Germaine Lim director in CEO’s Office, who will establish and drive sales and sponsorship infrastructure for SingEx’s portfolio of trade events. Joining SingEx Exhibitions, another arm within the company, is Adrian Sng who takes up the role of director (projects management), and Gwen Ng who is made deputy director (projects management).
William Lum
William Lum has joined Furama RiverFront, Singapore as executive chef. Lum has over 30 years of global culinary experience across various renowned hotels, restaurants and country clubs, and had participated in the World Chinese Culinary Contest in Taipei, the Food & Hotel Asia in Singapore and the Le Salon Culinaire in Australia.
Reto K Klauser
Reto K Klauser has been appointed the vice president and general manager of Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore and will also oversee Shangri-La Apartments and Shangri-La Residences. An industry veteran with more than 20 years of hospitality experience, Klauser held a similar position at Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur before his latest appointment.
Duncan Gray
Marina Mandarin Singapore has picked Duncan Gray as its new resident manager. Gray brings with him over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry and has held key positions in several properties across countries such as China, India, the UK and Turkey. Prior to this appointment, he was executive assistant manager, F&B with Starwood Hotels at The Westin Bund Center, Shanghai, China.
Freddie Coleman & Amarinder Sadana
Doubletree by Hilton Johor Bahru has named Freddie Coleman as director of operations and Amarinder Sadana as director of business development. Coleman brings more than 20 years of hotel management experience with him and was previously director of operations and director of food & beverage at Thistle Johor Bahru. Sadana has over 11 years of international hospitality experience and has worked with hospitality giants such as Starwood Hotels & Resorts and InterContinental Hotels Group.
Carlos Wong
Dorsett Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong has appointed Carlos Wong director of sales & marketing. Wong bring with him over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, playing roles in hotel companies such as Marriott, Hyatt and the Ritz-Carlton. Prior to this appointment, Wong was with Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel.
Louis Liu & Jennifer Gu
Hospitality veteran Louis Liu is now general manager of Crowne Plaza Resort Xishuangbanna. Liu is joined by Jennifer Gu who has been appointed director of sales & marketing. Gu brings with her more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience in China’s hospitality industry.
Richard Howarth
Richard Howarth has been appointed general manager, sales, marketing & entertainment at Sydney’s The Star to lead an experienced team of entertainment, tourism and hospitality professionals. Howarth has held senior roles within some of Australia’s most renowned companies including Sportingbet Group Australia (now William Hill UK), Telstra and The Coca-Cola Company.
Miri boosts tourism infrastructure to get more MICE
SARAWAK is banking on a new international standard hotel and ties with Brunei to promote northern Sarawak, particularly Miri City, as a MICE destination for the Asia-Pacific.
Leveraging Miri’s proximity to Brunei, Sarawak’s tourism minister Abang Johari Openg said the state will collaborate with Royal Brunei Airlines to promote packages to Northern Sarawak, using Bandar Seri Begawan as the main gateway.
He added: “We hope to capitalise on Royal Brunei Airlines’ network in the Asia-Pacific region to attract more leisure and MICE tourists to Miri.”
Miri is a 2.5-hour drive from Brunei and there are currently no direct air connections between Miri and Brunei’s capital, Bandar Seri Begawan.
To attract more foreign airlines to fly to Miri Airport, Malaysia Airports Holdings is throwing in free landing and parking for the first six months. Abang Johari said: “We hope this will entice charter services and when volume picks up, it will evolve into scheduled services.”
He said Miri city can accommodate small- to medium-size MICE groups as there are currently 2,400 rooms, a number that will be boosted by 328 when Pullman Miri Waterfront opens in 4Q2015.
MICE facilities at Pullman Miri Waterfront will include a ballroom with seating capacity for 1,000 delegates and six state-of-the-art function rooms. The executive lounge on the 24th floor will offer panoramic views of Miri City and the South China Sea.
Gerard Guillouet, COO of Accor Malaysia-Indonesia-Singapore said he foresees the business mix will be a “good mix of business, leisure and pure MICE”.
He predicts that MICE business will predominently be from the domestic market, and from Brunei and Singapore. Miri will also be a good post-event tour option for meetings and incentives held in state capital Kuching.
Currently, the only other international hotel in Miri is Miri Marriott Resort & Spa.
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