Sunway Hotels & Resorts’ Colin Yeoh, and FatHopes Energy's Vinesh Sinha at the hotel's used cooking oil collection centre
Sunway Hotels & Resorts, the hospitality division of Malaysian conglomerate Sunway Group, has partnered with FatHopes Energy to recycle its used cooking oil into biodiesel.
Through this sustainability initiative, more than fifty per cent of participating Sunway Hotels’ used cooking oil is expected to be recycled. Collection by FatHopes Energy will be done on a weekly basis at the hotels’ respective collection centres.
Sunway Hotels & Resorts’ Colin Yeoh, and FatHopes Energy’s Vinesh Sinha at the hotel’s used cooking oil collection centre
Without proper collection, fats, oil and grease goes right down the drain – where it used to generations ago. Used cooking oil recycling helps stop oil from being disposed of in drains, which can clog sewage lines due to the build-up of fats.
The partnership with FatHopes Energy includes six participating Sunway Hotels & Resorts in Malaysia: Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, Sunway Pyramid Hotel and Sunway Clio Hotel located in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur, Sunway Putra Hotel in Kuala Lumpur city centre, and Sunway Hotel Georgetown and Sunway Hotel Seberang Jaya in Penang.
“By partnering with FatHopes Energy, we are assured of not only the conversion of the used cooking oil into an ecologically beneficial energy stream but also to the environment, which has become a priority to the business while being mindful towards the efficiency of our operations and stakeholders value,” said Colin Yeoh, Sunway Hotels & Resorts’ Group Director of Food & Beverage.
“This long-term partnership will also help raise awareness and spur other related industries to take this significant step in creating a sustainable future with us,” said Vinesh Sinha, CEO and founder, FatHopes Energy.
This initiative by Sunway Hotels & Resorts is part of the #sunwayforgood movement, which is Sunway’s commitment towards a sustainable environment, economy and society.
Business travellers report feeling unsafe, with business travel not getting easier or less stressful
Concerns over personal safety while on the road, as well as frustration that some companies seemingly put self-interests ahead of employee needs, are some of the challenges employees face while on business trips, revealed a new SAP Concur survey.
Highlights of the responding 7,850 business travellers in 19 global markets, including 2,500 respondents in Asia Pacific (APAC), include:
Business travellers report feeling unsafe, with business travel not getting easier or less stressful
Safety above all else for Asia Pacific travellers
Safety is the top propriety for APAC business travellers when they are on the road. Nearly one-third (32%) of business travellers in the region prioritise their own personal safety as the most important factor when taking a business trip. Travellers from the Greater China Region (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) prioritise their personal safety most during trips, with 43% putting their safety above all else, followed by travellers from Singapore and Malaysia (37%), and Australia (31%).
Interestingly in Japan, business travellers put their business needs above their personal safety when travelling abroad. Close to half of the respondents in Japan (43%) prioritised the goals of the business trip ahead of personal safety (23%).
APAC business travellers are more sensitive to current events, with close to half (46%) reducing travel to a location because of political unrest or health hazard in the last 12 months, compared to 38% of business travellers globally. Business travellers from Singapore and Malaysia are the most cautious of unsettlement, with 60% reducing travels plans, followed by Australia (53%) and India (50%).
Sixty-three per cent of respondents in APAC have even gone to the extent of changing their travel arrangements specifically because they felt unsafe. While business travellers across the region rated safety as their top priority while on a business trip, only 27% of business travellers say that their employers prioritised safety first, leaving their employees wanting more: more than half (53%) say that safety trainings would be the most valuable training their employer could offer.
Business travel isn’t getting easier or less stressful
Seventy per cent of business travellers in APAC believe that their company lags behind when it comes to adopting the latest technologies to make business travel easier. In fact, an overwhelming majority of business travellers (86%) are willing to share personal information to improve the convenience and personalisation of their business travel experience, which is telling in an age of data privacy concerns.
For business travellers which agreed that their company is behind in adopting the latest technology, 64% say that booking and expense reporting tools is the area that their employers’ tech lags behind in. With safety as the top priority for APAC business travellers, it comes with no surprise that 61% are hoping to see their employer improve the travel safety tools they offer.
Thirty-five per cent of APAC business travellers feel the most stress before a trip, during the planning, booking and organising phase. On the flip side, 33% feel stress after the trip with emails to catch up on and expenses reports to fill – one in five (20%) would even rather have a cavity filled at the dentist than complete an expense report.
Business travellers in Japan are the most stressed after the trip, with 56% dreading tasks like filling expense reports.
APAC business travellers embrace online booking tools and services
More than three in five (68%) business travellers from APAC preferred booking their business travels through Online Travel Agents (OTAs), citing convenience (68%), better prices (67%), and better information, such as descriptions of hotels or airlines (65%) as the top reasons. Business travellers from the region are also avid users of online booking tools, with nearly half (47%) saying that they like to use them. The biggest reasons for using online booking tools include better information (73%), greater convenience (69%) and better prices (69%).
In addition, APAC business travellers would choose their booking tool based on the quality of information available. Seventy-three per cent chose better information as a key reason for using the selected platform to book their business travel. With the multicultural dynamics in Asia Pacific, details and descriptions in local languages are key to ensuring a more convenient travel booking experience for business travellers.
When travel arrangements are cancelled while travelling for business, 76% of APAC business travellers would prefer to re-book their trip online. Indian business travellers would avoid human interaction the most, with 84% choosing to rebook online instead, followed by business travellers from Japan (80%) and the Greater China region (79%).
“Societal issues and employee experiences are increasingly impacting the way we travel. With these shifts come new expectations from travelling staff that shouldn’t go unnoticed,” said Andy Watson, senior vice president & general manager for Asia Pacific Japan and Greater China, SAP Concur.
“Employees in Asia Pacific, in particular, are looking for a safe and seamless experience when they go on business trips, and want guidance and better technology to help them alleviate common hindrances.”
Additional findings from the study include:
Female travellers report high levels of harassment and sexism on the road
More than three in four female APAC business travellers (76%) have experienced some sort of harassment or mistreatment while travelling. They are also often asked if they’re travelling with their husband (47%), assumed that they are a hotel staff (43%), ignored by service workers (42%), and catcalled on the job (30%).
Delays in getting reimbursed for expenses are affecting business travellers’ trust in their companies
Forty-three per cent of APAC business travellers reported forfeiting their expenses in 2018, either because they did not think the expense was worth filing or because their employer never paid them the money owed. On average, APAC business travellers forfeited US$839 from expenses that weren’t reimbursed by their employers in the past year.
Adelaide, South Australia has been named host city for the 2023 World Potato Congress (WPC), the first time this significant biennial business event has been held in Australia.
The 2023 WPC is expected to attract over 1,000 delegates to Adelaide for the week, generating in excess of A$4.5 million (US$3 million) to the state economy and almost 40 direct jobs.
Locally-grown potatoes for sale at the Adelaide Central Market
The event will provide an opportunity for whole-of-industry unification in the celebration of the world’s third largest food crop.
The WPC’s Old World meets New theme will focus on the importance and position the potato will play in the future, with topics for discussion and discovery at the congress to include sustainability, consumer behaviour, value-adding, technology in production, and pests/diseases and biosecurity.
The Adelaide Convention Bureau supported the bid effort by hosting event owners at their 2017 Agricultural Industry showcase – an annual educational event designed to highlight the state’s business events assets as well as its innovation and technological advances within the agricultural sector. The Bureau has been working alongside and supporting Potatoes South Australia ever since.
Potatoes South Australia presented the WPC board with an all new initiative which also featured strongly in South Australia’s successful bid to host the event.
For the 2023 congress, a WPC Trust for Developing Nations will be established, the purpose of which will be to help fund potato industry research, development and education in developing nations.
Philanthropic efforts will be made too, in the areas of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, improving water use efficiency, and increasing yields from a diminishing arable/useable area, among many others.
Damien Kitto, CEO, Adelaide Convention Bureau, said: “The agriculture industry is vital to South Australia through its economic generation, world-class innovation and job creation. Our reputation as a premium food destination continues to grow internationally and is a unique proposition for business event delegates. It is for these reasons, as well as the broader legacy impacts – increased global profile, knowledge exchange, trade and investment and global talent attraction – from hosting business events, that agriculture is a priority focus for the Adelaide Convention Bureau.”
South Australia produces in excess of 500 million kilogrammes of potatoes annually and 80 per cent of the country’s fresh potatoes.
The new format formats that harness delegate opinions to facilitate conversations and peer-expert collaboration
Community-led corporate travel conference CTW China is inviting industry players to have their say in deciding the broad themes of the upcoming Shanghai event from March 24-26, 2020.
Chinese and international/regional corporate travel professionals with responsibilities spanning China, can rate their interest on a mix of 10 perennial and trending themes through a one-minute poll here. Sentiment via the poll will go towards the development of CTW China 2020 conference topics, ensuring that talking points and conversations reflect the community’s interest.
The new format attempts to harness delegate opinions to facilitate conversations and peer-expert collaboration
In addition, organisers have revealed four format changes, refreshing CTW China 2020 to better meet the preferences of the local community.
There will now be two full-day conferences; schedule-friendly timings from 10.30 to 17.00; interactive, delegate-led sessions instead of speaker-centric lectures; and all corporate buyers will stand to win attractive lucky draw prizes including travel perks and Starbucks vouchers, with an additional reward scheme in place specifically for local buyers.
CTW China continues to be co-located with IT&CM China, providing attendees with access to top MICE and corporate travel destinations, products and service suppliers from across China and the world.
A rendering of how the view will look like from the top floor
An A$1 million (US$678,400) refurbishment of the top floor function and events space at the Pullman Adelaide Hotel has been given the green light, with works set to commence next month.
Owner, Hines Property, engaged global design studio, Woods Bagot, for the project and appointed Shape as lead contractor.
A rendering of how the view will look like from the top floor
Rosina Di Maria, principal at Woods Bagot, said: “The centrepiece of the redesign will be the incorporation of glazing to the function spaces that will allow panoramic views across Hindmarsh Square, the city and towards Adelaide Hills.
“The design concept to update Pullman Adelaide celebrates the hotel’s unique location – which is almost entirely bordered by parklands – by taking inspiration from the detailed architectural and cultural elements of the city and the Botanic Gardens,” concluded Di Maria.
The 15th floor will receive a complete makeover, including new wall coverings, extensive use of stone, custom flooring, specialist lighting and state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment.
The main ballroom, capable of hosting functions for up to 400 attendees, and divisible into up to four smaller rooms, will be upgraded, as well as the unique corner boardroom. The rooms will benefit from the latest audio-visual technology and lighting controls.
The pre-function space will feature a refurbished bar facility and bi-fold doors to a balcony overlooking Hindmarsh Square.
This refurbishment is part of the five-star repositioning of the property, since its rebranding from a Crowne Plaza into a Pullman Hotels & Resorts brand.
Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore general manager Roy Liang has been promoted to regional general manager, overseeing Oakwood’s properties in Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.
In this new role, Liang will support corporate operations in optimising the performance of his region. His remit includes pre-opening of new properties, implementing and monitoring operations standards while ensuring compliance with the group’s brand strategy. He will also have to develop and champion new initiatives to drive service excellence and operational success.
In addition, Liang will continue to serve in his current capacity as general manager of the Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore.
Hilton has opened 224 full-service residences in Hilton Haikou, part of a 630-room hotel that provides easy access to the city’s downtown recreational and cultural attractions. All studios and apartments come with facilities like a microwave, washing machine, refrigerator, and a dining table.
As part of the standard room offerings, all residences are outfitted with Hilton Serenity beds, a desk, wireless Internet access, a 48″ LCD TV with international channels, a bathroom with a separate shower and bathtub, as well as Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries.
One-bedroom sea view suite
Long-stay guests have added convenience and privacy with a separate lobby for express check-in and check-out services, as well as an exclusive sea view lounge providing self-service coffee and tea on the 31st floor. For guests staying in One Bedroom Apartment, Executive room or suites, they also have access to Executive Lounge on the 57th floor.
Hilton Haikou offers five F&B options, including Yuxi Chinese Restaurant serving Cantonese and Hainan cuisine; Senses, an all-day-dining restaurant, Grill@33 Restaurant specialising in Western-style seafood; Blu Bar which serves craft rum and whiskey; and Cha Tea Lounge which offers a selection of Chinese teas or Hilton’s signature afternoon tea.
The hotel also features a total of 2,000m2 of meeting space, including 15 meeting rooms and a pillar-less Grand Ballroom, spanning 814m2. Other facilities include a 24-hour fitness centre, as well as a heated indoor pool and Jacuzzi.
Vietnam is stepping up its game to better position itself as a major player in the regional MICE market. The last decade has seen the country’s business travel landscape expand exponentially as a swathe of products have come online, coupled with various government efforts.
Jeff Redl, managing director of Diethelm Travel Vietnam, said: “MICE business is definitely increasing in Vietnam compared with 10 years ago. The tourism industry as a whole has moved forward incredibly, and the business travel sector has grown.”
Ariyana Convention Centre
Vietnam National Authority for Tourism (VNAT) has become a lot more active in international marketing efforts, attending international business travel trade fairs to promote the country’s growing collection of MICE-ready destinations – Danang, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi.
Danang’s rapid rise in recent years as a darling of planners is particularly noteworthy. It has helped to elevate the country’s standing among its regional competitors, with a raft of event infrastructure having come online.
In October 2017, the Ariyana Convention Centre opened, attracting numerous international events. It is connected to the Furama Danang’s International Convention Palace, which boasts 15 function rooms, and a pillarless Grand Ballroom for up to 2,500 pax. The Sheraton Grand Resort Danang, armed with 258 rooms and 3,300m2 of function space, was the next to open in January 2018.
By end-2019, the total number of hotel rooms in Danang will stand around 43,130, a 37 per cent year-on-year increase.
Said Redl: “Danang has positioned itself as a strong MICE hub, especially with help from the direct flight from Doha by Qatar Airways (in December 2018). This has encouraged business from Europe.”
Overall, the hosting of large-scale international events has also placed Vietnam in the spotlight. In 2017, Danang welcomed 21 world leaders to APEC 2017. This year, South-east Asian delegates flocked to Halong for the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2019, while the Trump-Kim summit was hosted in Hanoi in February.
Furama Resort Danang’s deputy general director Nguyen Duc Quynh, said another element that will help push the country’s business tourism landscape is the development of secondary destinations. For example, northern Halong is emerging as a MICE hub, thanks to its world-class conference centres and a range of business hotels opening.
He pointed out that Ninh Binh, Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Vung Tau and Phu Quoc also hold potential. He said: “Cities with new air routes, conference centres and facilities need to be taken into consideration, especially cities with airports and direct flights.”
Meanwhile, Alexander Leven, general manager of Asian Trails Vietnam, noted a shift in source markets in recent years. He said Australians were a popular MICE source market for the country up until about three years ago, but numbers have fallen due to groups choosing to stay on home turf, or explore nearby.
Leven added that “we are now seeing more and more requests from South Africa”, while business from European countries, such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and France remain stable.
Other major changes include the decrease in demand from the pharmaceutical industry. “In the 1990s, the pharmaceutical industry was thriving. They would hold crazy incentive trips with huge numbers and stayed at four-star plus hotels. The industry has gone down now and brought with it big changes,” shared Leven.
Some MNCs have banned business travel to Hong Kong out of security fears
Travel restrictions to Hong Kong as a result of the continuing civil unrest has not only resulted in the cancellation of a major corporate travel event in August, but has now led to two US companies banning travel to the city.
Following a global emergency meeting last week, corporate travel managers of a giant US consumer IT company decided to impose a travel ban to Hong Kong, which one industry observer in the know claimed would have repercussions on other aspects of its business and not only corporate travel.
Some MNCs have banned business travel to Hong Kong out of security fears
In late-August, the ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives) Global Summit in Macau, with an expected turnout of 700 international participants, was cancelled when many attendees had to pull out due to company travel restrictions.
In the planning stage, the ACTE event was to have taken place in Hong Kong and Macau to showcase the Greater Bay Area.
Another corporate travel manager whose US-based company has also banned travel to Hong Kong, told TTGmice: “(We) had to bear the cancellation cost for the ACTE event as we were not able to get ticket refunds because of the booking class.”
While other global companies have not imposed a ban on travel to Hong Kong, travel managers have reported a dip in traffic to the destination.
AECOM and Siemens, for instance, are avoiding “unnecessary travel”, using conference/video technology or postponing any Hong Kong trips if possible.
Kelvin Li, regional procurement and travel lead, Asia-Pacific AECOM, said travel volume was related to the type of business “during the period” and reported the company had been less impacted.
Jane Sim, commodity manager, ASEAN, with Siemens, said regional travellers have been urged to check travel advisories and the company has emphasised the importance of logging into the company’s security system to help track their whereabouts.
“The percentage of virtual meetings has increased. I don’t have the exact figure, but would say by around 10 to 15 per cent.”
Siemens has also seen changes in business demand in its new financial year, which started in October, Sim noted. “We are keeping our fingers crossed it will not go down too much.
Autodesk does not have a travel ban to Hong Kong, as most of its travel was outbound from Hong Kong, noted Adriana Nainggolan, travel programme manger, Asia-Pacific.
“But someone I know who works in a top wealth management bank said high net worth clients do not want to travel to Hong Kong,” she commented.
Five South-east Asian MICE associations from pioneering ASEAN member countries have taken the first step to harness the building blocks of the Asia-Pacific Community Building Manifesto to create a strong and sustainable business ecosystem.
In July, these MICE associations from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand signed the Asia Community Building Pledge, an outcome of the Manifesto, created by the Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (SACEOS) last year. They are: INCCA (Indonesia Congress and Convention Association, MACEOS (Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers), PACEOS (Philippine Association of Convention/Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers), SACEOS and TICA (Thailand Incentive and Convention Association).
Working together for the greater good for the MICE industry
They have agreed to support the professional development programmes of each other, including the creation of new and relevant training modules to boost capabilities and support the evolving customer needs of the MICE industry.
The pledge also includes the commitment to share research and data to help in generating market-specific insights for the benefit of the respective MICE industries.
Starting with the five MICE associations, SACEOS president, Aloysius Arlando, told TTGmice the intent was to incorporate more like-minded countries in the region.
He commented that the Manifesto was a bold commitment among like-minded stakeholders “to confidently harness the new forces of change brought about by the digital era in transforming business events into a powerful platform for socio-economic, intellectual and commercial benefits”.
Arlando observed that business events had emerged as significant enabling platforms that would need to bring together different communities from various industry and functional groups to cross-learn and collaborate, to develop new solutions to address industry challenges or emerging industry needs.
On what the pledge could achieve, Sumate Sudasna, president of TICA, said he was “hoping more business-driven ideas could be initiated”.
With the MICE industry now a government priority, PACEOS president, Joel Pascual, said the association was not only serving as the voice of the MICE industry in the Philippines, but had made every effort to cooperate with associations from Asia and beyond, such as the BRICS countries.
In October, PACEOS and the Department of Tourism jointly hosted the AFECA (Asian Federation of Exhibition and Convention Associations) General Membership Meetings in Manila for the first time, “showing how serious we are in pursuing cooperation”.
MACEOS president, Vincent Lim, who hailed the initiative, commented: “The pledge will definitely strengthen the promotion of each other’s events. The next step after collaboration among the associations is for relevant members to work together. We have to strengthen collaboration among the ASEAN countries.”
Meanwhile, Rod Cameron, executive director of JMIC (Joint Meetings Industry Council) and AIPC (International Association of Convention Centres) – and one of the 60 architects involved in creating the Manifesto, said: “The point here is that with the industry growing so rapidly in many different parts of the world, it is really important to encourage some consistency and sense of common purpose to help everyone focus and as a way of generating more credibility among key audiences such as governments.
“By generating such a document (the Manifesto) out of workshops that involved representatives of both the local industry and international associations, it became the visible product of a collaborative process, that enhanced its credibility even further and achieved greater buy-in from the people who will have to stand behind it.”
Cameron added that the “regionally specific” Manifesto can even have a wider positive impact.
“(It) can potentially offer a lot to other parts of the world that are struggling to achieve greater consistency and direction in many of the same areas,” he said.
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.
