PAHANG’S Bukit Gambang Resort City (BGRC), said to be the largest water theme park resort in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, has set its sights on the international MICE market to fill its inventory of event spaces.

First launched in 2009, BGRC opened a dedicated MICE centre in May, offering 10 meeting rooms and a pillarless grand ballroom that can seat 3,100 people in a banquet setting. The massive ballroom gained fame recently when it made its way into the Malaysia Book of Records as the largest pillarless ballroom in the country.

With the opening of the dedicated MICE centre, the resort city now boasts 31 event spaces including those in the Caribbean Bay Suites and Bukit Gambang Water Park Visitor Centre, and is supported by 1,866 guest rooms in Caribbean Bay Suites and the new-build Arabian Bay Resort.

BGRC’s current business mix comprises 60 per cent MICE and 40 per cent leisure, and guests are predominantly locals. But it is looking to capture more international interest.

Karen Tan, spokesperson of BGRC, said business and leisure travellers from China, India and Singapore were on its radar, and efforts to connect with these markets include participation in travel trade fairs and organisation of familiarisation trips for MICE planners.

BGRC will add 11 break-out rooms to its inventory next year, while a safari park, focused on education and conservation, will open in 2Q2013.

THE 695-room pentahotel Hong Kong, Kowloon, slated for a summer 2013 opening, has appointed Andy So as general manager.

So brings 24 years of hotel experience to his new role. Prior to joining pentahotels, he was executive assistant manager, sales and marketing for Grand Hyatt Macau; opening team director of sales and marketing for Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Tsimshatsui; and director of sales and marketing for Renaissance Harbour View Hotel Hong Kong.

The soon-to-open property will boast a full floor of meeting and function space, as well as recreational facilities such as a gym and an outdoor pool.

ROYAL Cliff Hotels Group and Pattaya Exhibition And Convention Hall (PEACH) in Thailand have collectively rolled out a new meeting package that will be valid for events taking place between January 16 and May 31 next year.

Called the Royal Cliff Ultratech Meeting Package, the offer is priced at 1,700 baht (US$55) per person per day for the full-day package and 1,500 baht per person per day for the half-day alternative.

The half-day package includes use of a meeting room, one coffee break, buffet (a minimum of 40 pax is required) or set lunch with a customisable menu, four hours of Wi-Fi access, standard meeting stationery, slide and overhead projector, video conferencing facilities, a standard sound system, among other things.

The full-day package offers the same inclusions, but with an additional coffee break and double the duration for Wi-Fi access.

A minimum guarantee of 15 people is required for event organisers to access the Royal Cliff Ultratech Meeting Package. Other terms apply.

MTA, a specialist precision engineering trade show held once every two years in Singapore, will debut a new event component, MetrologyAsia2013, when it opens next April at the Singapore Expo.

According to a press statement issued by Singapore Exhibition Services (SES), the organiser of MTA2013, the launch of MetrologyAsia2013 is driven by a growing need for high quality test and measurement equipment for Asia’s budding manufacturing scene.

MetrologyAsia2013 will showcase exhibitors specialising in cutting-edge measurement equipment systems and technologies that are specifically designed to meet today’s demanding manufacturing processes.

“The local government has been putting in a lot of effort to bolster the industry, and we believe that MetrologyAsia2013, together with MTA2013, will serve to complement this initiative. Companies specialising in test and measurement equipment and systems have been growing by leaps and bounds, and it was clear that the next step for MTA would be to congregate all the top metrology companies within a dedicated space,” said William Lim, project director of SES.

MTA also incorporates ToolTec, iAutomation, MetalAsia, WeldTech and Outsource&SubCon.

THE FULLERTON Bay Hotel Singapore has unveiled three custom built floating event pods that can cater to a variety of business and social events.

Sited over water, the event pods – Compass, Voyage and Port of Call – come with an adjoining balcony, a rooftop, an attached bathroom, a 55-inch HDTV, built-in sound system and automatic blinds. They also offer clear views of the Marina Bay.

Boasting warm hues and luxurious furnishings, the pods can accommodate 30 people theatre-style, 40 for receptions, 15 in a classroom setting, 20 for boardroom meetings and 20 in a banquet configuration.

A GREATER appreciation for the serene environs in Putrajaya, Malaysia has led to a 25 per cent year on year increase in events business at the Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside, according to the hotel chief.

Franck Loison, general manager of the three-year-old hotel in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur’s city centre, said: “At the beginning people used to ask, what is there to do in Putrajaya? Now this has changed. Event organisers who do not want their participants to be distracted by (leisure) diversions in Kuala Lumpur city, such as shopping and getting a massage, are now looking at us.

“Our unique selling point is that we are a 20-minute drive from the heart of Kuala Lumpur and 25 minutes away from Kuala Lumpur International Airport.”

According to Loison, about 60 per cent of the business mix is from MICE and the remaining is leisure-based. International MICE business comprises about 30 per cent of the business mix.

The 281-room hotel saw an average room occupancy of 70 per cent last year, and is targeting a two per cent increase this year.

The close proximity of the hotel with Putrajaya International Convention Centre, which is five minutes away by car, allows both properties to cross-sell each other. On request, the hotel can provide catering services at the convention centre.

With an inventory of 21 fully equipped meeting rooms and boardrooms, Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside also attracts large-scale Indian weddings. It hosted two from India this year.

Loison said: “Each wedding ran for four nights, taking up almost all of the guest rooms. Meals were arranged in the hotel, and the ceremonies were held outdoors and in almost all our meeting rooms, including the ballroom. It was very good business for us.”

HONG KONG hotel chain, Kosmopolito Hotels International, has shed its name in favour of Dorsett Hospitality International DHI, which the management believes offers a better reflection of the group s core hotel brands.

Winnie Chiu, president and executive director of DHI, told TTGmice e-Weekly that the rebranding made “natural sense” for more effective brand alignment.

“The group’s Grand Dorsett and Dorsett Regency properties enjoy strong recognition, so we want to bring the Dorsett presence into the group’s name,” explained senior vice president sales & marketing, Philip Schaetz.

The corporate name change has also impacted DHI’s portfolio of four hotel brands. Grand Dorsett and Dorsett Regency have been renamed Dorsett Grand and Dorsett respectively, and are grouped under the banner of Dorsett Hotels & Resorts. Boutique Series by Kosmopolito is now known as d. Collection, while economy label, Silka Hotels, remains as it is.

The company’s 17 properties in operation will progressively adopt new brand names, with renovation planned for some. Cosmopolitan Hotel Hong Kong and Dorsett Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will begin major revamps in early-2013 before taking on their new names.

Having implemented the corporate name change, Schaetz said the company would now resume its MICE strategy, which it had put on hold soon after announcing in late-2011 (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 14, 2011).

He said: “The company’s rebranding was our priority, and we decided to put our MICE strategy on hold so as to focus our attention on the task at hand.

“But now that is out of the way, and our Chengdu property (Dorsett Grand Chengdu) has opened, giving us more than 700m² of meeting spaces, we can refocus on MICE.”

Dorsett Grand Zhuji, China and Dorsett Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, which will open in 2013, will also be fitted with meeting facilities, adding more muscle to DHI’s MICE pursuit.

Chiu added: “You need to have the hardware ready to really drive MICE, and these new properties will give us more to shout about.”

SOFITEL’S inaugural hotel in Singapore will have a strong focus on individual corporate travellers when it opens by June/July 2013, while its upcoming development in Mumbai will have a dedicated MICE facility.

Located in the heart of the financial district with 134 guestrooms including 23 suites, Sofitel So Singapore is a boutique project by the luxury group, which already has a So in Bangkok and Mauritius.

Sofitel Asia-Pacific senior vice president, Markland Blaiklock, told TTGmice e-Weekly that his sales team would be contacting corporates in the vicinity to engage in their RFP process, while on the leisure side, promotions would be done via its own website and global sales offices. The average room rate of regular rooms will be around S$300 (US$245), while suites will be closer to S$600.

Due to the building’s heritage status, the hotel faced a number of size restrictions, explained Blaiklock. Aside from a small boardroom that can accommodate around 10-12 pax, there is no other meeting space. Facilities include a lobby gastrobar, a fitness centre, and a rooftop pool and bar.

He said: “Likely to be our biggest challenge is fitting all that demand into 134 rooms. Our markets will be predominantly Asian. China and Hong Kong will be big. And for Europe, it would be mostly from the UK, France and Germany. On the emerging side, there’s also some very affluent travellers from Russia and India.”

Drawing inspiration from the building’s neoclassical history and Singapore’s island status, the design theme is “empire arty”, which melds together elements such as Napoleon Bonaparte’s famous bee symbol, as well as orchids, geckos and jellyfishes.

Out of Sofitel’s 20 projects in the pipeline, more than half are in Asia, including 10 in China and two in India.

Having just opened in central Mumbai in February, the group is now working on a Sofitel Luxury Hotel and a Sofitel So in northern Mumbai, which will be part of a larger development that includes a convention facility managed by Sofitel. Scheduled to open in 2015, there will be over 400 rooms, as well as a ballroom of approximately 1,760m², five convention halls, six meeting rooms and two boardrooms.

Blaiklock said meetings continued to be key for Sofitel in this region because of the large sizes of several properties it has, which offer more than 500 rooms.

About half of its hotels in Asia-Pacific are in China, where business has dipped slightly partly because of the economic slowdown and the leadership transition that is due to take place next month.

“This year, activity in the primary cities – Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou – is still very strong, but activity in the secondary cities has slowed. Government activity has slowed somewhat and the economy is slowing, so we’re experiencing some slowdown, but it’s not significant. I wouldn’t say people are trading down, like in the global financial crisis,” Blaiklock said.

INTERCONTINENTAL Hua Hin Resort in Thailand has appointed Britta Kutz to the role of general manager.

Kutz joins the resort from her most recent role as deputy general manager of InterContinental Singapore. During her tenure in Singapore, she was awarded a place on InterContinental’s Accelerated General Manager Development Programme.

MANTRA on Queen, Brisbane has completed its refurbishment of all hotel rooms and one- and two-bedroom apartments.

Costing A$2.2 million (US$2.3 million), the makeover gave all rooms and apartments new furniture, new window furnishings, revamped bathrooms and kitchens/kitchenettes, new carpeting and a fresh coat of paint. Hotel rooms are also equipped with spacious work desks with contemporary built-in cabinets to house 37-inch LCD televisions.

The hotel’s refreshed guestrooms will support its existing inventory of meeting rooms which comprises function rooms for up to 120 guests, banquet style.

Mantra on Queen’s makeover is part of a series of refurbishments undertaken by Mantra Group this year to refresh its hotels in central business districts. The works, backed by A$20 million, commenced in July 2011. To date, Mantra on the Park, Mantra 100 Exhibition, Mantra on Russell and Mantra on Little Bourke in Melbourne; Mantra Parramatta and Mantra on Kent in Sydney; and Mantra on the Esplanade in Darwin have benefited from the group’s refurbishment drive.

Mantra Group CEO, Bob East, said in a press statement: “Our city hotels are predominantly frequented by business travellers who will benefit from the refreshed product now on offer.”