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.”

MARINA Bay Sands (MBS) will host 13 tradeshows and conferences this month alone, four times the monthly average for the venue since its opening in April 2010.

These events will be attended by some 46,000 delegates from industries as diverse as architecture, property, travel and hospitality as well as energy, according to a press statement issued by MBS.

Included in the line-up of 13 events are several new-to-Singapore exhibitions, such as the inaugural GAS Asia Summit and the prestigious SkyBridge Capital’s SkyBridge Alternatives Conference (SALT). Singapore beat four other cities, including Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai, to host SALT, which will see luminaries such as Al Gore and Tony Blair gather at MBS this week.

MBS is also hosting five of eight TravelRave 2012 events – Hotel Technology Conference, Tourism Destination Investment Conference Asia, Web in Travel Conference Asia, Aviation Outlook Asia conference and ITB Asia 2012 ­– between October 15 and 19.

THE Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) has yielded positive results with all business segments meeting their targets and continuing to perform well.

From January 1 to September 30 this year, the centre hosted 1,119 events, a 13 per cent increase from the 973 held in the previous corresponding period, and served 1.2 million delegates and visitors. These events garnered an economic contribution of RM407 million (US$134 million) to Kuala Lumpur city and Malaysia.

KLCC will continue to register robust business in the final quarter of 2012, with more than 25 major events lined up between now and the year-end.

Attributing the year-to-date success to a committed and dedicated team, the KLCC general manager, Peter Brokenshire, acknowledged that all team members had worked, and would continue to work, very hard to deliver quality products and services ìto ensure a positive experience for all our clients and their guests, regardless of the size of their eventî.

The period in review saw the centre host one of the largest events in its seven and a half years of operation. The 25th World Gas Conference 2012 in June saw over 8,000 delegates fill the centre’s entire 22,659m2 of function space.

HOGG Robinson Group (HRG) has launched HRG Logistics, a new service that caters to the travel needs of clients in the marine, offshore, energy and workforce travel sector.

Clients will be armed with complete control over complex travel arrangements and the ability to drive further value from budgets through technology, global support and advice from HRG’s consultants who have the experience in managing multinational travel programmes that involve moving employees to and from difficult-to-reach locations and coordinating the logistics of crew movements.

HRG Logistics offers clients access to fully integrated proprietary technologies such as the HRG Global Fares Database, which provides travel managers a global range of the best available marine and offshore fares; the HRG Crew Booker, which simplifies complex crew rotations and allows travel managers to request, confirm and store itineraries in one place, as well as easily make changes at any time; and the HRG traveller tracking tool which enables travel managers to locate travellers quickly and easily during a crisis, as well as create customised reports to better understand travel activity and spend.

HRG Logistics also offers 24/7 support and crisis management assistance through its global network of service centres, even in remote and inhospitable locations.

DUSIT International is dangling US$500 credit vouchers to encourage business event planners to book their functions at any of the 14 Dusit properties in Asia.

Besides shaving US$500 off events held in a Dusit hotel, the vouchers, which are valid till April 30 next year, also offer a 20 per cent discount on the prevailing Dusit Best Available Rate for new group bookings confirmed between October 1 this year and end of April, 2013.

James Ramage, Dusit International’s assistant vice president-global sales, said: “The credit voucher is our way of thanking our trade partners for their continuing support and to provide an attractive incentive with generous discounts.”

He added that the MICE market “is becoming increasingly selective, with clients demanding more than the usual mix of facilities, location and infrastructure”, and explained that the “unique character of the Dusit International brand” is able to satisfy those needs.

THE 175-room Fort Canning Lodge in Singapore, owned and managed by the local chapter of the World Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), is stepping up its game to attract more corporate travellers and business events.

Spearheading the initiative is general manager, Jimmy Kwan, who came into the role last month. He joins from Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts and Maikhao Dream Hotels & Resorts.

Kwan said: “Fort Canning Lodge has been quietly popular with events organised by local schools, churches and companies, and our meeting and function rooms run at a monthly average occupancy of 60-70 per cent.

“We also receive many leisure travellers, business travellers and residential meeting groups from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, which are now our key source markets. We get a number of Japanese business travellers too, some of whom are long-stay guests.”

Kwan explained that the lodge’s success with travellers and meetings was a result of “loyal customers” and partnerships with travel consultants.

“But I want to raise the bar, first by reaching out to companies located in Orchard Road, around Fort Canning Lodge, which was not done before, and secondly by being more aggressive in our branding efforts. One of the things we have done is to improve the hostel’s website and provide more information and photos (that) travellers and planners can use,” he said.

“Few actually know where Fort Canning Lodge is – we have a great location in the heart of town and close to other business districts, and yet our room rates are around S$150 (US$122). Few also know that we have facilities for meetings and events, including dining functions that are supported by our own kitchen.”

With all guestrooms – lead-in category rooms measure 20.5m² – and 12 event spaces fully renovated last year, Kwan believes that the lodge “is in a good position to receive more business travellers and meetings and events”.

“Moreover, with tighter corporate travel budgets next year against a backdrop of continued economic problems, more attention will be paid to affordable accommodation and venues. Fort Canning Lodge will offer a strong proposition, especially in pricey Singapore,” he said.

THE Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) has stepped up its courtship of Chinese MICE by introducing a new brochure targeting the Chinese corporate and incentive markets as well as updated Malaysia Twin Deal (MTD) programmes for China and Hong Kong.

MyCEB CEO, Zulkefli Haji Sharif, told TTGmice e-Weekly that China was as an important source market for corporate and incentive travel, due to the short flight time, cultural similarities and Malaysia being a value-for-money destination.

Unveiled last month, the new brochure, Malaysia – Asia like Never Before, focuses on theme events and experiences, teambuilding, corporate social responsibility and unique venues. It also provides creative ideas on products that are essential for corporate and incentive planners.

The brochure is joined by additional value-adds offered under the MTD programme for corporate and incentive groups from China and Hong Kong. All confirmed bookings for the programme must be made by June 30, 2013 and events must take place before December 31, 2013.

Malaysian suppliers are also doing their bit to draw more MICE business from China.

Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre has ensured that all relevant corporate material, including its corporate video and business presentation, are available in Mandarin, and has added Mandarin-speaking marketing staff to its team.

Reliance Conventions & Events general manager, Fu Kei Cheong, said the company had seen a 20 per cent year-on-year growth in incentives from Shanghai.

A series of roadshows to Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai last month have also earned Reliance Conventions & Events six confirmed incentive groups from Guangzhou in 2013 and 2014.