From left: SP Setia’s Wong Tuck Wai, Khor Chap Jen and Mohd Zahid with Onyx Hospitality Group’s Douglas Martell and Markus Aklin
Onyx Hospitality Group has signed agreements with Malaysian developer SP Setia Berhad to launch Amari hotels in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
Set to open within the upcoming KL Eco City mixed-use development in the capital’s Mid Valley district in early 2021, the 252-room Amari Kuala Lumpur will enjoy direct access to corporate office buildings, residential towers, a retail mall and integrated rail hub with inter-city and inter-state rail connections.
From left: SP Setia’s Wong Tuck Wai, Khor Chap Jen and Mohd Zahid with Onyx Hospitality Group’s Douglas Martell and Markus Aklin
Amari Penang, scheduled to open in late 2020, will offer direct connectivity to the Setia SPICE Convention Centre. The world’s first hybrid solar powered convention centre incorporates a 10,000-seat events arena, aquatic and sports centre, and a lifestyle and retail village.
The hotel is located in the Bayan Lepas district of Penang island, close to multinational corporate offices, Penang Golf Club, shopping malls and places of interest.
Both hotels will feature key Amari brand signatures including service from Amari Hosts, the street market-style Amaya Food Gallery, Cascade lounge, meetings facilities and gathering spaces. Other facilities include pools and terraces, as well as a fully equipped fitness centre.
Amari Kuala Lumpur and Amari Penang will join Amari Johor Bahru, which opened last year as the brand’s first in the country.
Onyx said it has five properties in the pipeline in Malaysia.
Non-profit association Euromic’s long-standing executive director, Christophe Verstraete, has left the organisation, and Huw Tuckett has been appointed as his successor.
Based in London, Euromic’s operational centre, Tuckett has over 20 years of global experience in the incentive travel and performance improvement industry.
Huw Tuckett
Welsh by birth, Tuckett has been providing consultancy services and was previously the chief operating officer of Uwin and Iwin International South Africa. Prior to that was an inbound incentives manager for Abercrombie & Kent Southern Africa. He also has experience to the cruise and aviation industries.
Flying the Singapore flag high. Photo credit: Pamela Chow
TTGmice, with its editorial headquarters in Singapore, will be taking a break for the public holiday on Thursday, August 9, in recognition of the country’s 53rd National Day.
TTGmice news will resume on Tuesday, August 14.
Happy National Day in advance to all Singaporean readers!
The first dedicated events venue on the Great Barrier Reef has been launched in Cairns, Australia, offering events and functions in the middle of the Coral Sea.
Sunlover Funlover is an innovative event and entertainment product incorporating a high-speed catamaran and outer Great Barrier Reef pontoon which can be customised for any function. It can cater for more than 300 guests, and operates all-year-round.
The catamaran and its attached pontoon
Sunlover Reef Cruises and Hides Hotel Cairns group general manager Sharon Sheldrake said the unique offsite venue was the only tourism infrastructure at Arlington Reef so guests would feel like they had the Great Barrier Reef to themselves.
Entertainment options include starting the event with a comedian doing a live set, or learn about the reef from in-house marine experts, as the boat leaves Cairns and sails for 90 minutes to the Great Barrier Reef.
Once the boat anchors, activities includes snorkelling, glass-bottom boat tours, visiting the underwater observatory, fish feeding can be arranged and are included in the fee, while extras such as diving and scenic helicopter rides can be added.
The Kota Kinabalu Marriott Hotel in Sabah, has opened along Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens on the Malaysian city’s waterfront.
The property offers 332 guestrooms and suites decked out in a contemporary design that pays homage to the rich heritage of Borneo’s Kadazandusun tribe.
Kota Kinabalu Marriott
Recreational facilities include an outdoor infinity pool with views of the South China Sea, a 24-hour gym, and a spa. There are also five F&B options, ranging from the Japanese teppanyaki dining room to the rooftop bar.
The property has also been designed to meet the needs of Malaysia’s growing business events market, offering some 1,300m2 of versatile event space. Function space include five rooms, and a Grand Ballroom that can accommodate up to 650 guests.
Angsana Laguna Phuket in Thailand has updated its Meet For More Package.
From now until October 31, 2018, groups that book with the resort will be entitled to five complimentary room upgrades to Laguna Premier and/or Angsana One Bedroom Loft, as well as complimentary early check-in for VIPs and extended check-out time till 15.00 for up to five rooms. All group sizes are welcome, but the minimum booking has to be 10 rooms and up.
An outdoor event arrangement on the beach at the Angsana Laguna Phuket
A welcome amenity will be provided to every delegate upon arrival at their room, along with complimentary Wi-Fi access, and laundry and room drop services.
In addition, groups will receive a 15 per cent discount off food prices at all hotel-operated restaurants, and a one-time set dinner or buffet dinner that includes regular soft drinks, coffee and tea. The package also includes full-day meeting room usage and round-trip airport transfers for every delegate.
These benefits are enhanced with other essential incentive and business event elements, comprising the complimentary boardroom for use as secretariat room with laser printer, and an extra of a function room for set up and rehearsal one day prior to the event.
Other extras include a complimentary teambuilding session, or a CSR activity.
The beachfront Angsana Laguna Phuket has a range of both indoor and outdoor facilities comprising 10 meeting rooms, a 358m2 ballroom for up to 400 guests theatre-style, and a 40m-long beachfront area which can accommodate up to 4,000 guests.
Graham Perry has been appointed managing director of Best Western Hotels & Resorts, Australasia.
The appointment follows Best Western International (BWI) taking management control of the brand on June 1 from the Motel Federation of Australia.
His first few weeks have been spent bedding down the operational transition as BWI moves to a property direct relationship with hotels and resorts in Australia and New Zealand.
Perry’s immediate goals are to boost the level of services Best Western provides properties such as increasing revenue management capabilities and growing Best Western Rewards.
He was most recently CEO of inland NSW, while previous roles include CEO See Australia, CEO Traveland, managing director classifieds at Fairfax Media, and managing director Utell International.
The expanding business events industry in Asia-Pacific has created an employee’s market where salary alone will not attract and retain quality staff.
In Malaysia, industry employers are realising that this talent crunch is exacerbated by opportunities for staff to build their career overseas.
Retaining millennials is more difficult in today’s workforce
To attract and retain talents – particularly the millennials – employers have discovered that the key is providing employees with opportunities for continuous training and skills enhancement from within the organisation, job empowerment through decentralisation of responsibilities, as well as career growth.
In an effort to tackle the talent crunch, the Malaysia International Trade & Exhibition Centre (MITEC) launched its Continuing Personal Development (CPD) programme for full-time staff in May. All qualified staff were given a budget for internal and external training, as well as overseas job exposure.
A unique aspect of CPD is the staff’s freedom to choose programmes they feel would advance their career. Their attendance will also contribute to their job performance appraisal.
Rohizat Baharum, director of human resource at MITEC, told TTGmice that more than 50 per cent of full-time staff at the venue are millennials aged under 35.
While Rohizat acknowledges the benefits of providing staff training – that it “helps retain staff and improves motivation and skill sets” – he was also quick to point out its limitations as a solution to retain millennial staff.
Rohizat said: “Retaining millennials is the most challenging as they don’t like to stay long within an organisation, preferring instead to move on after a few years. Moreover, training initiatives provided by employers is something that millennials regard as a given.”
Mona Abdul Manap, founder and CEO of Malaysian PCO Place Borneo, said companies hoping to retain staff must “keep the team motivated and interested in the job”.
Mona, who is herself a millennial, elaborated: “This includes empowering them in decision-making and allowing them to lead projects.”
A fun work culture is also needed, she opined, and offered an example of how Place Borneo does it – management meetings and strategic planning sessions are held away from the office.
She said: “In January, we went to a resort in Lundu (Kuching, Sarawak) where we held a strategic planning session for the next three years. We also hold weekly yoga sessions outdoors for staff. It helps with team bonding and curbs stress.”
All but one of her 11 full-time staff are under 35 years old. Mona said these efforts are needed as “it is difficult to get good talents in Sarawak. Many graduates who did event management courses eventually opted for government jobs, or a career outside the industry”.
The state government of Sarawak addresses the talent shortage through the Graduate Enhancement Training Sarawak programme, where diploma and degree graduates are provided with a 12-month internship with the private sector to acquire industry related skills. They are paid a monthly allowance by the government.
Place Borneo has converted three interns to full-time positions through this programme.
At Luxury Tours Malaysia, flexible work hours and a relaxed dress code are tricks to keeping its young staff happy The DMC has 75 per cent of employees aged under 35.
Its director Arokia Das said: “We also offer overseas sales trip opportunities. There are career advancement opportunities for those who are good in their work and interact well with clients.”
The Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) does its part by working, over the past three years, with universities offering event management courses to provide internship opportunities to students.
Francis Teo, honorary secretary at MACEOS, remarked: “The manpower shortage will become more acute in the coming years with more hotels and convention centres opening in Malaysia, along with rising demand for Malaysian talents from regional destinations.”
Matthew Smith has been appointed general manager of Destination Asia in Singapore, succeeding Bob Guy who retires after eight years as managing director of the DMC in the Lion City.
Smith brings with him 18 years of experience in the travel industry and a developed network in meeting & events and DMC activities.
From left: Matthew Smith and Bob Guy
Alongside the management of daily operations, he will also drive forward new initiatives to further develop key sectors of meeting and events, luxury FIT travel and cruise.
Guy had set up the Singapore office in October 2010 alongside James Reed and Gill Guy, growing the company from an initial five staff to 34 travel specialists.
He will continue in his role as managing director of Destination Asia in Malaysia until the end of the 2018.
The Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB) has unveiled details for its inaugural Penang International Travel Exchange (PITE) later this year, where 150 Indian buyers will be the first to be hosted.
PITE 2018 will be held over five days, from September 4-8. One of the key components of PITE is the B2B session for Malaysian business events and tourism suppliers to showcase their products and services to Indian buyers. The exchange will also comprise site inspections, education workshops and networking events.
Ashwin: PITE’s aim is to bring in more business events to Penang
“The first edition of PITE will see Penang hosting India’s leading travel product, the Global Panorama Showcase (GPS), where it will be conducting its first Educational Destination Workshop-International (EDWIN) in Malaysia at PITE,” said Ashwin Gunasekeran, CEO of PCEB.
“PITE 2018 marks another significance for Penang as it is co-organised by Apollo Conferences, Penang’s first homebased PCO. One of PCEB’s mission was to advocate the setting up of Penang-based PCOs. With the support of a PCO based in Penang, Team Penang’s capability to bring in more business events is strengthened,” said Ashwin.
PITE is a homegrown initiative to further promote Penang as a business events and leisure destination in the region, where every year, select buyers from around the world will be brought to Penang to experience the destination.
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.
