St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, part of Marriott Bonvoy’s portfolio of 30 brands, has opened the doors to The St. Regis Jakarta in Indonesia.
The hotel is situated within the Golden Triangle of Jakarta, which extends from Central to South Jakarta, proving to be a convenient location for meetings and events.
In total, The St. Regis Jakarta boasts more than 2,500m2 of dedicated function spaces. The Astor Ballroom, with a capacity of more than 1,000 people, features a LASVIT ceiling masterpiece which depicts the mountains of Indonesia, while the Caroline Astor Ballroom includes its own reception area and private dressing room.
There are 282 guestrooms for guests, including 28 suites ranging from 75m2 to 187m2, each featuring a private balcony. Guests will also enjoy the St. Regis Butler Service, an offering that has been a hallmark of the brand for more than a century.
Meanwhile, F&B options range from the hotel’s signature St. Regis Bar and Rosé deli, to the all-day lounge The Drawing Room to the Bel Étage restaurant and its international menu.
Other facilities include The St. Regis Spa, a fitness centre with scheduled group exercise classes or personal training sessions.
Hugo Montanari has been appointed as the new managing director of Rosewood Hong Kong. He will be responsible for managing all aspects of the property.
A seasoned hotelier, Montanari has more than 17 years of global luxury hotel experience, with diverse experience in mainland China, Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Europe.
He was previously with health and wellness resort, Jayasom Ibiza, as general manager.
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has appointed Jason Krimmel as its vice president of international.
In his new role, Krimmel will oversee NCL’s sales, marketing and brand communication efforts outside of the US and Canada – including the Asia-Pacific region – to expand the brand’s international footprint.
He joined NCL in 2003, and was most recently vice president of international marketing and global creative strategy where he and his team successfully launched Break Free, NCL’s most extensive international marketing campaign to date.
Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor has appointed Joseph Colina as its new general manager.
Bringing nearly two decades of experience with Accor to his new posting in Siem Reap, Colina most recently served as general manager of MGallery Sapa in northern Vietnam.
He will take charge of the hotel, including the launch of the Khmer fine-dining restaurant 1932 and the addition of the Raffles Marquee.
Lawrence & Hanson, Australia’s most recognised electrical wholesaler with a strong heritage and over 170 branches, pulled off their biggest incentive trip in Singapore this year with more than 660 customers, managers and supplier sponsors in attendance.
For the Lawrence & Hanson Singapore Bucket List 2022, about 1,200 flight segments (itineraries with multiple city landings) and 335 room bookings were required and more than 1,000 tours and 28 individual events were staged in the city-state over one week.
For example, we had a golf day on Sentosa for our VIP customers, a private dinner on the roof top of CÉ LA VI, a beautiful Italian-themed night at Fiamma in Capella Singapore, and a relaxing spa day.
This year’s event even earned industry acclaim as one of the best held by the company, according to Rachel Raschilla, senior marketer, Lawrence & Hanson.
With only a one-year hiatus during the pandemic, the much-anticipated annual incentive trips have been ongoing for about six years now.
In the second instalment of the Say yes to Singapore series, Raschilla told TTGmice why Australia’s leading electrical wholesaler selected Singapore for the company’s largest incentive travel outing to date.
Singapore Bucket List 2022
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The official welcome party was hosted at the grand ballroom of The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore
The standout event for the trip this year was the Next Level event, the official gala night
Fun tours include venturing into the eclectic neighbourhood of Kampong Glam, peppered with cool boutiques, hip bars, indie cafes and stunning street art
Trip attendees went onboard the yachts at ONE°15 Marina Sentosa Cove
Universal Studios Singapore was one of the tour attractions
The VIP welcome reception was held at the CÉ LA VI roof top
Madison Brandi (left), marketing co-ordinator, Rachel Raschilla (right), senior marketer, both from Lawrence & Hanson with director of Picasso International Productions, Picasso Tan (centre) at the Next Level event
What are some of the highlights at your event in Singapore?
Our standout event for the Bucket List 2022 trip was definitely the Next Level event – the official gala night, sponsored by Clipsal & Schneider Electric (a major supplier of Lawrence & Hanson).
Every aspect of the event has been developed with the vision of making it a green one, thus having a smaller eco-footprint on our planet and taking our sustainability efforts to the next level.
Going green and being mindful about our environment for the planning of this sustainable event had so many benefits, such as being both fun and friendly to our earth.
Some of the ways we hosted the environmentally sustainable event included consolidating transport service for guests; managing event plans digitally via a smartphone app and offsetting the carbon footprint of flights for the entertainment.
The biodegradable food packaging had also been made from sustainable plant materials and we used recycled products or products that can be recycled for all our food and beverage utensils. Hired and repurposed furniture were deployed and in-house screens and projected branding made use of re-usable LED lights that utilise less energy and produce low emissions.
The event was held at the stunning Gardens by the Bay – Flower Field Hall. The Gardens is a world-class sustainable event space and we also requested that all our guests wear a sustainable item of clothing that represented “sustainable and green”.
The idea was for our guests to wear something they already owned, borrowed or repurposed – therefore not purchasing a new item of clothing and not contributing to the fashion land fill.
(Overall) our agenda was to build a memorable Singapore trip, visiting as many iconic destinations as possible for our guests across four days.
Our VIP welcome reception was held at the CÉ LA VI roof top, while our official welcome party was hosted at the grand ballroom of The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore. Our cocktail events were held at the Singapore Flyer.
Tour East managed our specially handpicked tours for the entire group – ranging from (those for) Universal Studios Singapore, Singapore Zoo, cultural diversity, Tiger Brewery to of course, the spectacular and highly recommended vespa one.
We even transferred customers to the airport early so that they had time to enjoy Jewel Changi Airport.
This event has also been met with industry acclaim as one of the best events held by Lawrence & Hanson.
What aspects of Singapore made you choose it for your event, and why are these considerations important to host destination selection? When selecting the destination for 2022, Lawrence & Hanson had to consider many variables for the safety of our guests.
After an extensive review of proposed destinations for 2022, Singapore was a clear standout. Lawrence & Hanson found that Singapore would be the best option to host our Bucket List Trip 2022 because the city-state has unique and eco-friendly venues; wide range of entertainment choices; vast number of cultural tours and activities; as well as wonderful food options for our guests to explore.
There were also easily accessible flights from Australia and the hotel was able to host the group size and manage its operations and movements.
How would you describe your experience working with MICE professionals in Singapore? Any highlights? Lawrence & Hanson always try and support business locally within the destinations selected for the Bucket List trips.
Singapore was no exception. Lawrence & Hanson contracted Picasso International Productions (PIP) to manage all the events locally and contract local suppliers to coordinate the operations of the events.
PIP did an exceptional job and exceeded all expectations. With their help, Lawrence & Hanson was able to utilise many iconic local venues for our events and functions.
Working with Gardens by the Bay was wonderful – the team was open to all of our creative ideas and was a great supporter of our theme.
But this snapshot simply does not highlight the endless planning hours and video calls required to coordinate this incentive trip with our on-the-ground MICE teams – working within very fractured industries and overcoming the new normal for travel and events management.
Think 660+ guests, six supplier sponsorship partners, about 1,200+ flight segments, 335+ room bookings, 1,000+ tours, and 28 individual events hosted in Singapore over an epic week!
As a team, we pulled off what some wouldn’t have even considered attempting to create off the back of a pandemic!
How likely would you return to Singapore for future events? Lawrence & Hanson would definitely look at future events in Singapore as it is a destination with so much to offer and explore.
Our customers were able to basically see and experience so much of Singapore and they just loved every minute of it.
In fact, our recent survey suggested most would return to Singapore in the future for their holiday destination.
All images to be credited to Lawrence & Hanson.
Keen to organise your next business event in Singapore?
Singapore has more than 100 exceptional venues ideal for MICE events of varying sizes and profiles. Find out why the city-state is your business event destination of choice here.
Event brief
In October 2022, it was Manila’s turn to host the Annual Meetings of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP).
This event saw the largest gathering of CEOs, board members, and senior development bankers from 90 member institutions in 38 countries, and was also graced by representatives from institutional partners and networks outside the region.
Coinciding with the Association’s 45th founding anniversary, the Annual Meetings 2022 comprised the 93rd Board of Directors meeting, 25th ADFIAP General Assembly, and ADFIAP Awards 2022.
Event highlights
ADFIAP’s secretary-general Enrique Florencio shared that 200 delegates from 23 countries flew in for the Annual Meetings held at the Conrad Manila Hotel.
It was a good turnout considering that various countries at that point in time had varying and changing travel protocols and requirements.
In addition to the three Annual Meetings, delegates had the opportunity to attend thematic sessions featuring 26 speakers and panellists from various countries. These sessions offered insights on the roles of development financing institutions (DFIs) in climate change and transition finance; access to the financing of micro, small and medium enterprises; infrastructure, technology and agriculture development, and resource mobilisation and capital market development.
In between sessions, there were networking lunches and breaks designed for delegates to meet and reconnect in person after two years of hybrid Annual Meetings. The last in-person meeting was in Oman in 2019.
ADFIAP also put together a delegate-meets-delegate session to connect bank executives with each other. and with partner institutions to network and exchange ideas.
Also on-site was an exhibition of products from small and medium Filipino enterprises that were assisted by DFIs, a testament to the necessity of providing for this oft-overlooked segment of the business sector.
The Annual Meetings were followed by a Fellowship Day consisting of lunch at the Manila House Private Club in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), and a heritage tour that brought delegates to Intramuros and Fort Santiago, Rizal Park, National Museum of the Philippines and Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Challenges
Initially, ADFIAP was prepared to hold another hybrid meeting this year, but decided against it and chose to hold an in-person event, after assessing and monitoring the pandemic situation and easing of global travel restrictions.
Still, organisers made online links available to those who were unable to make the trip.
At that time, there were also still outbound travel restrictions for China delegates. As such, the Bank of China which had an office in Indonesia, asked a development banker to represent them at the meetings.
To hasten and ease the processing of delegates’ documents at Manila’s airports, organisers also requested for help from the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism.
Event 45th Annual Meetings of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) Organiser ADFIAP Venue Conrad Manila Hotel Dates October 26-27, 2022 Attendance 200
Accor has teamed up with Source Global to bring the world’s first sustainable bottled drinking water brand to prominent hotels in Singapore.
Single-use plastic bottled water at key hotels in Singapore will be replaced with drinking water packaged in reusable glass bottles and made by Source Hydropanels – a solar-powered technology that harvests the pure, renewable water vapour in the air and transforms it into drinking water.
Source offers an answer to sustainably-minded companies and its conscious consumers
Each Hydropanel can offset more than 50,000 plastic bottles in its lifetime. Source will deliver its water in reusable glass bottles, which will be collected, cleaned, and refilled near the Source Water Farm.
This project is part of Accor’s global commitment to increase circularity in its operation and eliminate single-use plastics in the guest experience, consistent with the UN Global Tourism Plastics Initiative and the Resource Sustainability Bill passed by the Singaporean Government in 2019.
Kenny Chung has joined InterContinental Singapore as executive chef, where he will oversee the hotel’s culinary operations.
Of Mauritian roots, Chung brings with him 20 years of culinary and catering experience managing kitchens at The Imperial Hotel in New Delhi, and opening independent restaurants in Burgundy and Provence, France. He then moved to Singapore in 2009, and joined Raffles Hotel Singapore, and thereafter St Regis Singapore.
Prior to this new role, Kenny was executive sous chef at Capella Singapore for four years.
In the last five years, what have you seen happen in the sustainability space? Are there things happening that give you hope that it is progressing?
I’ve always been an optimistic person, so I’ve always had hope. But up until a few years ago, I started to become slightly disappointed, because when I went to conferences, there will always be a speaker on sustainability, and some noise is created. But nothing meaningful was actually happening.
However, around 12 to 18 months ago, I felt that things started to change. And at the 22nd World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit, there were even more conversations around employment, jobs, industry, relationships with the government, all of which were related to sustainability.
This awareness brought about measurement ideas, which is critical. It feels more tangible now, and not just mere talk. Sustainability has been around for a long time, but there’s also been a lot of greenwashing. Now, we are in an era of action, where we are moving from greenwashing to scientific methods to get measurements up in place.
The aim of net zero by 2050 has also galvanised the industry. Airlines for instance, have come onboard, where they have pledged to reduce emissions by half by 2030.
Is it possible to get to net zero by 2050?
We have to, so I think it is possible. The level of energy going into net zero at the moment was unthinkable three years ago. The progress made in the last three years has been extraordinary.
In the context of aviation, sustainable aviation fuel has gone from one per cent of fuel supply to two per cent in the last four months. By 2030, it will be 10 per cent. Although it doesn’t sound like a lot, this means that emissions per kilometre flown will start falling, and it will fall faster and faster.
Also, carbon offsetting is another hot topic. With time, it will become more important and more regulated, and the quality of carbon offsets will get higher. Right now, it’s very fragmented. There are different standards of carbon offsets. Some are not worth toilet paper, while some are very good. We need the industry to clean out the bad players, and rally around the good standards of carbon offsetting. Over the next two years, there will be new standards attached to carbon offsets, which will give the industry a lot more confidence in carbon offsets.
How is the travel industry working towards systemic change to create a more sustainable industry, and enabling customers to make better purchasing choices?
We know that customers do want to make more sustainable choices, but they don’t necessarily know how to. What does a sustainable hotel or sustainable airline route look like? It is tricky. This is where Travelyst comes in. We are trying to simplify this for the customer, and enable supply chains to work better through a unified methodology.
We got together with our partners and broke down the verticals. Our growing coalition includes some of the biggest brands in travel – Amadeus, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Google, Skyscanner, Travelport, Trip.com Group, Tripadvisor and Visa.
To start, accommodation and rental vehicles have certain similar characteristics. Airlines is another vertical, cruises another, and tours and activities will be another.
We broke the travel industry down to 60 attributes and put them through a database. Then we created an algorithm, as well as a scoring methodology, that can be published. Beta testing is currently underway for Expedia Group and Tripadvisor.
We knew aviation was the most important, but this vertical is also really challenging, because emissions are the most significant factor that we are looking to measure there. There are different routes, different load capacities, and different emission levels. However, we made early inroads into the accommodation vertical, with Booking.com.
It is quite remarkable you have some of the world’s largest competitors in the same room. How did you achieve that?
When dealing with climate change, everyone is impacted. Sustainability is a problem that transcends any company, and we all have a vested interest in finding a solution.
Prince Harry was actually the one who suggested getting competitors together, and help them recognise that this problem is bigger than their competition, and they have to solve it together. We have to find common solutions that not only benefit every company, but also benefit the broader society.
Aside from these partners, we are also forming alliances to gain leverage in the entire industry. We recently formed an alliance with IATA, and previously another with the Sustainable Hotel Association.
How does that play into the corporate travel space? Is the ecosystem more complex and are corporations pushing the demand?
We assumed that we would target the leisure sector first, because the OTAs that we are currently working with have a voice in that space. But we got it wrong. In the last six months, we have had our door knocked on several times by corporate partners to say – hey, our customers want sustainability.
The big corporates of the world now have reporting requirements, so we are pivoting to focus on that. Corporates have also asked for a unified methodology to bring it all together, because they don’t want 10 different systems and standards that are not “talking” to each other. They want a simple standard that can be verified with the authorities.
Over the next six months, we will be focusing on corporate travel. Corporate travel programmes also have the ability to have a large impact on global sustainability, as compared to a single consumer decision.
Do you work with any TMCs?
We hope to work with them in the future, but we don’t have any as of now.
What is Travelyst’s overall goal?
Our goal is to create a unified system so that the entire travel industry can work on and help make the customer’s buying decisions informed and easier, regardless of whether they are a leisure or business customer. From there, we hope to put pressure on the supply chain to increase their sustainability standards. This way, we work on both sides of the equation, with the industry and our suppliers, and customers who use the products.
Travelyst has been around for three years, but only in the last 12 months we have had more visibility. We will work towards having even more visibility in the next 12 months, and get more partners onboard.
The Knowledge Program is about empowering people by sharing experiences and focusing on the opportunities for what’s next
The Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) has revealed its Knowledge Program for 2023, which include an address from Australian tennis star, Jelena Dokic, and accredited futurist Ben Hamer.
Additionally, the Knowledge Program will see a mix of industry business leaders and renowned professionals, as well as keynote speakers from Saxton Speakers Bureau and ICMI Speakers & Entertainers.
The Knowledge Program empowers people by sharing experiences and focusing on the opportunities in the future
The theme for 2023 is Your Industry. Your Opportunity. What is the opportunity for the events industry now? and will ask how, after much upheaval, renewal and refocus, the business events sector can emerge stronger and more important. Major industry discussion points around the future of work, how to build resilient cultures, what to do in a crisis, upskilling and wellness will be discussed.
The programme will be hosted by El Kwang, chief commercial officer at The Venues Collection, AIMEbassador and chair of the Knowledge Program Advisory Committee.
Speaker sessions will be complemented by EQ (emotional intelligence) and IQ (intelligence) streams, designed to address both the hard and soft skills needed to thrive in the business events industry. The day will end with associations setting the vision for the future of the industry, while music from SongDivision will bring learnings from the day to life.
New for AIME 2023 is the Knowledge Program Advisory Committee. Eight leaders from the Asia Pacific meetings and events industry have, for the first time, curated all programme content ensuring discussions will leave attendees more invigorated than ever before.
Silke Calder, AIME event director, stataed: “On the back of a monumental 2022, everyone is starting to feel the ‘burn’. Event planners more than ever are having to balance the practical skills of event planning with the more humanistic qualities which build connections within our workplaces and our events.
“We have kept this front of mind when curating the 2023 Knowledge Program, selecting a diverse range of speakers and sessions to create space for us as individuals, and together as an industry, to inspire leadership, creativity and map a better path forward.”
AIME 2023 will run from February 13-15, 2023, at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.
A polished urban retreat designed for business travellers, Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown combines thoughtful design, seamless service, and exceptional facilities.
The five-star property excels in backing its expansive facilities with seamless service and personalised attention, setting the benchmark for luxury in Bangkok.
He joined NCL in 2003, and was most recently vice president of international marketing and global creative strategy where he and his team successfully launched Break Free, NCL’s most extensive international marketing campaign to date.
He will take charge of the hotel, including the launch of the Khmer fine-dining restaurant 1932 and the addition of the Raffles Marquee.
