Hilton has globally rolled out EventReady with CleanStay, its meeting and events programme designed to help organisers create event experiences that are clean, flexible, safe and socially responsible.
With EventReady, Hilton has identified 10 “high-touch” areas in its event spaces where disinfection efforts have been enhanced, such as door handles and the podium. Hilton has also added room seals for both guest and meeting rooms to signify that no one else has entered the space after it has been thoroughly cleaned.
Hilton EventReady with Cleanstay
“It’s all about the touchpoints and mitigating risk, reducing the moments people need to touch before we clean. What we are trying to do is to keep it simple, because we all know that if we make it too complicated, it’s not going to happen,” said Herman Ehrlich, general manager of Conrad Bangkok.
One part of the EventReady programme comprises the Hilton EventReady Playbook, an interactive resource which covers the spectrum from pre-event attendee communications to hybrid meeting solutions; alongside health and wellness considerations to creative networking ideas.
The second part is the Local Pages, an additional information document tailored to each country’s climate and hygiene standards, the hotel or resort size and layout, and volume of event space being used.
In Singapore for example, Hilton Singapore works closely with Singapore Tourism Board to ensure its Local Pages provides specific, up-to-date information as restrictions are lifted and group numbers are increased, shared Peter Webster, regional general manager, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos & Cambodia at Hilton.
When asked how the demand for corporate meetings was like at the moment for Hilton Singapore, Webster revealed there has been a “week-on-week increase in demand”. He added that the hotel has seen “a large number of domestic meetings”, and that international enquiries were coming in for 2Q2021 onwards.
“I am quietly confident that next year will be a good year because of all the pent-up demand. There’s nothing quite like meeting in-person to make decisions or conduct trainings; it’ll come back with a vengeance next year,” he opined.
It is not only the Singapore market that has noticed an uptick in momentum.
Paul Hutton, vice president, operations, South East Asia, Hilton, told TTGmice: “This month alone, our properties across South-east Asia have seen a 30 per cent increase in leads from June, of which 50 per cent are leads for social events such as weddings and celebrations. Of the 524 leads for meetings and events across South-east Asia, over 300 are leads generated in our key markets – Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand – an encouraging sign that the MICE and events industry in the region is gradually making headway with recovery.”
EventReady was built upon Hilton’s CleanStay programme launched earlier this year, which are standards and procedures for hotel cleanliness and disinfection developed in conjunction with Lysol & Dettol maker RB, and Mayo Clinic. – Additional reporting by Anne Somanas
South-east Asian leaders have agreed to take steps towards the establishment of an ASEAN travel corridor arrangement framework to facilitate essential business travel within the region.
Such an arrangement would necessitate the development of a common set of safety measures to safeguard public health in the face of Covid-19, noted the leaders in a joint statement issued at the 37th ASEAN Summit, which took place on November 12 and was hosted virtually by Vietnam.
Travellers will also be required to strictly abide by the prevailing public health regulations stipulated by the authorities of the receiving countries.
The ASEAN Coordinating Council, supported by the ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group on Public Health Emergencies, has been tasked to coordinate and oversee the development of an ASEAN travel corridor arrangement framework.
This plan will build upon existing bilateral travel corridors set up between individual ASEAN member states, as well as those established with partners outside the region, said the regional grouping in a statement.
For instance, Singapore has already established green lanes with ten countries, including ASEAN members Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Vietnam.
The leaders further added that they do not preclude the application of the framework to other categories of travel in the future.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo is pushing for the regional travel bubble to come into effect by early 2021, according to Bloomberg.
Earlier in June, Indonesia had proposed the move, which was backed by Thailand and Malaysia, but other countries have not signalled their support for the arrangement, said the report.
Indonesia is battling the largest coronavirus outbreak in South-east Asia, having recorded 463,007 infections and 15,148 deaths as of Saturday. This month, the country entered its first recession since the 1998 Asian financial crisis, after two successive quarters of economic shrinkage.