IAAPA Expo Asia concludes on a positive note
The Great Room expands to Australia
Hospitality-led co-working operator, The Great Room by Industrious, has expanded to Australia, with the first location set in Sydney to open in 3Q2023.
It will be located in the heart of Sydney’s CBD at Level 29, 85 Castlereagh Street, marking its first foray into the country in partnership with Australia & New Zealand-based asset manager 151 Property.
Spanning 1,200m2, there will be 35 dedicated offices and customised spaces. The dedicated offices can take teams from three up to 20 people, while other spaces include hot desk options, and virtual office services for businesses needing a corporate address. Day passes for short-term space and amenity use will also be available, along with an enterprise suite option.
Founded in Singapore in 2016, The Great Room has since grown to 10 prime locations in key cities across Asia, including Singapore, Bangkok, and Hong Kong.
voco Orchard Singapore unveils new rooftop venue
There’s a new rooftop venue in the heart of Singapore’s Orchard Road, aptly named Rooftop@24 at voco Orchard Singapore.
Rooftop@24 is a spacious open terrace with views of the city skyline, and is able to hold up to 150 pax. The space also comes with a pool.
A team of experienced event planners will work with clients to create a customised event package that suits their specific needs and preferences, while chefs will be able to create an event-specific menu including appetisers, signature cocktails, and desserts.
To celebrate the launch, voco Orchard Singapore is offering the following exclusive introductory packages. From Mondays to Thursdays, bookings will cost S$6,000++ (US$4,480; usual price is S$10,000++), while from Fridays to Sundays, bookings will cost S$8,000++ (usual price is S$12,000++).
Award-winning five-star green MICE destination in Malaysia’s Tech City
Brought to you by DoubleTree by Hilton Shah Alam i-City
Bearing testimony to its eco-friendly credentials, DoubleTree by Hilton Shah Alam i-City won the International Sustainable Award 2022 by Luxury Lifestyle Awards in the same year it opened its doors to guests.
According to general manager, Gagan Talwar, prioritising sustainability is a strategic move as it caters to the current green meeting trends.
The 300-key five-star hotel strives to drive the message of sustainability to its guests by implementing eco-friendly practices throughout its premises – from the guestrooms to the hotel F&B options.
Talwar told TTG mice that sustainability considerations begin from the procurement and sourcing operations.
Eco-conscious organisers and planners keen to ensure their events and meetings are sustainable will find DoubleTree by Hilton Shah Alam i-City a green MICE venue of choice.
For a start, the hotel can offer them the option of “offsetting their carbon emission through a meeting calculator”.
To make sure eco-friendly menu items are available for delegates, the hotel takes on the responsibility to find continuous supplies of fresh local produce for its restaurants too.
Talwar said: “Our kitchen team has specially curated menus that promote locally sourced and nutritious food options. In line with our Meet with Purpose goals, we work with local vendors like BOOM GROW and GWG Fresh to ensure we continue to support local businesses and the community.”
The green meeting initiatives extend to linen-less set-ups and environmentally-friendly Tetra packs of water to further reduce carbon footprint.
All meeting rooms are also fitted with LED lights and managed by a building management system to ensure optimal conditions are maintained without excessive use of energy and resources.
Well-positioned to capture demand
DoubleTree by Hilton Shah Alam i-City is also well-positioned to capture the MICE demand with its expansive 1,594m² state-of-the-art meeting spaces and facilities spread over two floors, making it an ideal venue for business conferences, events, weddings and other social gatherings.
The stunning pillar-less grand ballroom, with three built-in LED screens, measures at 1,170m² and can accommodate up to 1,000 guests.
In addition, another 10 flexible meeting rooms are equipped with advanced audio-visual and technical facilities, high-speed internet, bespoke coffee stations, quality catering services and have direct access to the car park.
Within close proximity to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, the hotel is also well connected to major highways, as well as just 40 and 25 minutes away from Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport respectively.
Apart from the eforea Spa – first in Malaysia – within the hotel premises, bleisure options are aplenty for business delegates with Central i-City mall locating next door to the hotel housing about 350 retail stores, kiosks, and pop-up shops, only three minutes away and i-City Convention Centre, and a theme park consisting of SnoWalk, WaterWorld @ i-City and City Of Digital Lights, just a stone’s throw away.
Furthermore, Talwar also believes that DoubleTree by Hilton Shah Alam i-City being nearby to the major manufacturing hubs of Shah Alam can step up to fill the market gap of five-star meeting and convention offerings needed in the area too.
Find out how DoubleTree by Hilton Shah Alam i-City is the ideal green option for event planners and business travellers to stay, work and play.
Thomas Boehringer joins Anantara Bophut Koh Samui as GM
Anantara Bophut Koh Samui Resort has appointed Thomas Boehringer as its general manager.
Boehringer brings with him extensive luxury hospitality knowledge and experience, and will manage the overall operations of the property in his new role.
He was previously resort manager of Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas.
Kandima Maldives appoints new GM
Tom Van Tuijl is the new general manager at Kandima Maldives.
In his new role, he will drive commercial growth and optimise operations at the resort.
With over 20 years of experience in the leisure and business hospitality industries, he was most recently general manager of Centara Mirage Resort Mui Ne, Vietnam.
The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore welcomes new hotel manager
Pieter Teune has been appointed as The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore’s new hotel manager.
He will be part of the hotel’s executive team, and will oversee the food and beverage division, as well as the banquet and in-room dining operations.
Teune’s most recent position was as director of operations at The Reykjavik Edition, Iceland.
New executive chef joins Wyndham Casablanca Jakarta
Angga Febrian has joined Wyndham Casablanca Jakarta as its new executive chef.
Angga will oversee the hotel’s banquet and culinary operations, including the all-day dining restaurant, Café One Asian Fusion, and RIVA Grill Bar and Terrace. He will lead an F&B team of more than 30 people.
Bali to launch inaugural International Medical Conference
The Bali tourism and medical society has seized the opportunity to launch its first International Medical Conference (IMC) on November 10-13, 2023, on the back of the 2023 International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA) Conference on international medical regulation.
The IMARA conference will take place first in Merusaka Nusa Dua from November 6-9, 2023, and more than 600 delegates from around the world are expected to attend.
Taruna Ikrar, chair of the Indonesian Medical Council, explained: “The IAMRA conference is a prestigious regulatory event, and we saw the opportunity to create a sequence event, the IMC, with an expectation that the IAMRA delegates (would be able to) participate too.
“The IMC aims to support Bali’s aspiration of becoming a leading health tourism destination. It will also be an annual event, and help to bridge Bali’s thriving tourism industry and healthcare development.”
The IMC is slated to take place at a convention centre that is currently under construction in the new Sanur Special Economic Zone area. It is owned and organised by Bali Nusantara Sembilan Semesta, a collaboration between Bali Convention Management (Bacoma) and several medical experts like Taruna.
Taruna opined that the IMC would make history as a medical conference that not only discusses regulation, but medicine in general, noting that there were other medical conference dedicated to specific fields such as cardiology and pulmonary diseases.
AI, metaverse take centrestage in panel discussion at The Macao Showcase
The intrusion of artificial intelligence (AI) into business events will enhance the productivity of industry professionals and participants by compacting event duration and delivering a better return on investment, according to a panel of technology experts and event organisers at the MICE and Luxury Forum on June 8.
As part of The Macao Showcase, speakers at the Technology in Events: How to Navigate the Journey Ahead session discussed the impact of AI, the metaverse, ChatGPT and new iterations aiding or threatening the role of meeting planners.
Jason Ho, co-founder of Beyond International Technology Innovation Expo, pointed out that AI could be used to come up with 150 speakers and topics, and chips could be embedded into badges to track the time a participant spends in an exhibition booth and how he navigates the show floor.
Ian Roberts, vice president Asia, Informa Markets, added AI has helped to enhance productivity in areas such as marketing and PR.
However, Glenn Gore, CEO, Affinidi Group, commented some aspects of technology like the metaverse in business events were still five to six years out, and while he believed it has “a place, a niche”, it is not what everyone makes it out to be.
Gore explained that stage one in technology development is characterised by “overpromising” and “not delivering”. The metaverse is now in stage two “stuck in deception” and finding a solution in the next stage is extremely hard before it can “disrupt” and “democratise” at stage six.
Gore cautioned: “AI is smart but it does not understand what it is telling you”, noting that it “takes bad advice from the Internet” and what it churns out amounts to “groupthink”.
Rebecca Hallet, vice president and director of experience, Jack Morton Worldwide, Asia, said carving out a budget to use technology in events would depend on the event and the target audience.
And in answering what industry roles could potentially be replaced by technology, Gore described a scenario where the job is “isolated and task-driven”, could be done “fully remotely” and with the “least collaborative role”.
He reassured the audience: “AI does not have an opinion (unlike what meeting planners provide their customers). Do not be stressed from the initial chaos.”
Reviews
The Ritz-Carlton, Bangkok
Mama Shelter Zurich
Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown
International amusement park and attractions show IAAPA Expo Asia, last held in Singapore in 2017, was “sold out” with 287 exhibitors, including 64 first-timers, taking up 7,000m2 of space at Marina Bay Sands.
The show took place from June 13-16, 2023, and hosted 47 exhibitors from North America, 83 from Europe and 150 from Asia; comprising sellers from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Macau, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, according to IAAPA. China and Hong Kong made up the biggest block with 118 exhibitors and 107 were from the mainland.
June Ko, executive director and vice president, IAAPA Asia Pacific, told TTGmice that some brands which had merged since 2019 returned this year, and the association managed to bring in new buyers from new regions like Europe.
The four-day event recorded 5,330 registered attendees from 75 different countries and regions, including 3,764 qualified buyers from 2,145 companies.
Exhibitor highlights this year included entertainment design company Legacy Entertainment showcasing its “destination dining initiative” in North Jakarta which combines retail and entertainment in a sustainable way.
Described as a floating metropolis, the Batavia Pantai Indah Kapuk mega-development is billed as the world’s first overwater retail destination featuring more than 40 restaurants, retail outlets, attractions and live entertainment.
Opened in early June just ahead of the expo, a spokesperson said the project, which is the size of San Francisco, will be completed by end-2023.
On the technology front, DOF Robotics specialising in AR and VR immersive attractions gave attendees the chance to test its enhanced Hurricane VR 360 attraction and the debut of its new VR movie Homeland: Rise of Nomads.
The expo agenda included 11 EduTours, some across the causeway to Genting SkyWorlds and Gamuda Cove in Selangor, 30 EduSessions, and a Young Professionals Forum and Reception special event.
IAAPA Expo Asia 2024 is scheduled to take place in Bangkok from May 27-30.