Archipelago International has expanded its portfolio in the Bogor Regency area, West Java, with the opening of The Alana Hotel & Conference Center – Sentul City yesterday.
The 271-room and suite property is located in the Sentul City, a 3,000ha integrated master-planned township situated between South Jakarta and Bogor.
From left: Alana’s Daniel Hutagalung, and Archipelagpo International’s Norbert Vas at the press conference
Owned by Sentul City, the developer of the township, the hotel features an all-day dining restaurant with a capacity for up to 350 people, and 15 meeting spaces, including a mini ballroom with a capacity of up to 400 people. It also has an outdoor area which can serve as an open-air pre-function cocktail or coffee break venue.
Facilities like the gym, spa and kids’ club will open by the end of this month, while the Sky Lounge – with a capacity of up to 200 people – will be ready in October.
The hotel is targeting business events, particularly from Jakarta and surrounding area, during weekdays.
The Alana Hotel & Conference Center’s Deluxe Room
Daniel Hutagalung, general manager of the hotel shared: “We have been conducting a trial operation since April and the hotel has been running at an average of 68 per cent occupancy, of which 60 per cent is business events. The majority of bookings come from Jakarta but participants come from different parts of the country.”
He added that Sentul City is a one-stop destination for business events as groups can hold teambuilding and other outdoor activities at Taman Budaya, or a golf tournament at the 18-hole Sentul Highland Golf.
The Alana Hotel & Conference Center is the third property managed by Archipelago International in Sentul City. It also manages Hotel Neo Green Savana Sentul and Aston Sentul & Conference Center.
The Korea MICE Bureau has made Hallyu – better known as the Korean culture and entertainment wave – as one of the main highlights of its new Korea Incentives & Meetings Support (KIS) programme.
Groups can enjoy various Hallyu-based offerings such as free admission to Hallyu-related tourist attractions, Hallyu merchandise as souvenirs, or an exclusive concert by popular K-pop artists. This programme will take effect from August 2018.
K-pop group SHINee with KTO president Ahn Young-bae (centre)
This feature comes in addition to standard support such as an airport welcome and gala receptions which are provided according to the group size and duration of the event.
The Hallyu addition follows Korea Tourism Organization’s appointment of popular South Korean boy band, SHINee, as its Korea MICE Honorary Ambassador on June 14. The band will actively promote South Korea as a MICE destination through inclusion in KIS campaign materials and possible participation in business events roadshows or tradeshows.
“Hallyu is one of the most influential factors why many groups visit South Korea, especially with groups coming from China, Japan, South-east Asia, and Western Europe,” Korea Tourism Organization’s meetings and incentives team director, Chulbeom Park, said in a statement.
Park hopes that the new programme will “support the recovery of the (Chinese) inbound incentive market” which was affected by China’s ban on travel to South Korea.
“We encourage all travel agencies and event professionals to actively utilise and promote the KIS programme,” he stressed.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) last week announced the extension of its 14-day visa-free entry trial programme for nationals from Brunei, the Philippines and Thailand.
The decision followed a June 11 inter-ministerial meeting convened by MOFA. The trial of visa-free treatment for nationals from these three countries will continue for another year from August 1, 2018 through July 31, 2019, with a possible extension in the future.
Taiwan renews visa-free entry program for Philippines, Thailand and Brunei; Taipei’s skyline pictured
This measure is being continued to attract visitors from New Southbound Policy partner countries for tourism and business purposes. Also factored into the decision to extend the trial period was the average length of stay by quality tourists and business travellers.
According to statistics from the Tourism Bureau, nationals from New Southbound Policy partner countries made a total of 2.3 million visits to Taiwan in 2017, a significant year-on-year increase of 27.7 per cent over the 1.8 million visits made in 2016.
Etouches CEO Oni Chukwu unveils the new corporate brand identity, Aventri, during an announcement
Global provider of innovative event management software solutions, etouches, has rebranded to Aventri.
In addition to the name change, Aventri’s new tagline “Connect Better” conveys the company’s mission to help meeting professionals better and more deeply connect with colleagues, attendees and customers.
Etouches CEO Oni Chukwu unveils the new corporate brand identity, Aventri, during an announcement
“Our rebranding project was ignited by the desire to take our former name and branding to the next level of our successful growth via a more thorough and strategic understanding of what our brand stands for, our commitment to our customers, and how we can be truly differentiated as a company in a highly fragmented and competitive market,” said Chalva Tchkotoua, chief marketing officer of Aventri.
The name Aventri is a result of three ideas; avenue, events, and entry. The combination of these three elements results in an identity that forges a new path by transforming the event experience through products and people, in turn, create a new way to challenge the market.
Tchkotoua: rebranding to help bring the company to its next growth stage
The rebrand encompasses three pillars:
Curation: Helping customers navigate the often overwhelming event management software (EMS) industry by curating custom solutions that address their specific needs.
Navigation: Dedication to staying ahead of the innovation curve by helping clients chart a sure-footed path forward.
Connection: Enable high-quality connections to drive ROI in every interaction.
Since 2008, etouches as assisted more than 25,000 event professionals with planning, executing and measuring their events. With four acquisitions in the past two years, Aventri’s growth-focused agenda includes organic growth and targeting complementary strategic acquisitions.
PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) has launched a new guide for business event strategists on how to confidently handle communications in a crisis.
Based on a 15-point toolkit, the guide aims to be a companion for those involved in planning a range of events. It focuses on the impact poor communications can have on a crisis – or a stressful situation.
Opportunities for the wrong messages to leak out are ever-present, making communications planning an essential part of every event organiser’s role
The actions the guide recommends are grouped in three phases; pre-crisis or day to day business strategic planning; during a crisis – who handles it and how; and post crisis – responsibilities, resources and recovery.
It also stresses the importance of asking ‘what if…?’ across the business, making sure that plans can respond adequately. The guide also addresses the importance of re-building a reputation post-crisis, and talks about how good communication skills are critical throughout the process.
The crisis communications guide will be distributed to PCMA’s network of contacts throughout North America, Asia and EMEA.
Sherrif Karamat, president and CEO, PCMA, said in a statement: “We all need to think about ‘Resilience and Reputation’ – the core of what any business needs to have – and how we build these to counter any threat. What happens at our events has a lasting effect on our brands. This guide helps prepare event organisers to ensure a positive and long-lasting brand reputation.”
The full guide can be downloaded from the PCMA website at pcma.org/crisis.
Four Seasons Hotel Kuala Lumpur has opened its doors in a new skyscraper just next to the Petronas Twin Towers.
The 65-storey building houses 209 guestrooms and suites, 27 serviced apartments, and 242 Four Seasons Private Residences.
A guestroom in the Four Seasons KL
Recreational facilities include an outdoor pool complete with private cabanas, a spa with eight treatment rooms, and fitness centre. There are also half a dozen F&B venues, ranging from the Cantonese restaurant Yun House to Bar Trigona. For meetings and events, the hotel offers 1,821m2 of flexible event space over two ballrooms and four meeting rooms.
Directly connected to the hotel and residential tower is a retail podium – The Shoppes at Four Seasons Place – which includes a selection of luxury retail and dining outlets spread over six floors.
Four Seasons Place is part of Kuala Lumpur City Centre, a 40-hectare complex with upscale shopping, fine dining and vibrant nightlife, and next to a 20 hectare urban green park.
The Mantra Albury Hotel has opened in Albury, New South Wales, Australia, and is the first hotel to open in the destination in more than three years.
The A$40 million (US$29.8 million) development took 18 months to build, and stands in the centre of Riverina town’s CBD.
Mantra Albury’s two-bedroom suite
The eight-storey hotel offers 146 one- and two-bedroom studios and suites, where all of the rooms boast floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Albury and out to the Victorian Alps and Kiewa Valley. Rooms also come furnished with a microwave and fridge.
Amenities on-site include a restaurant and bar called La Tierra, 24-hour reception, an internet lounge, and a fully-equipped gymnasium. There are also conferencing and events facilities that can cater for more than 200 people, and an exclusive Sky Lounge available to hire on the top floor with sky lighting, wet bar and lounge seating.
Onyx Hospitality Group has appointed Michael Gaehler as the new general manager of Oriental Residence Bangkok.
Prior to his appointment, Gaehler was group general manager at Regent Hotels and Resorts in Taipei, where he oversaw hotel projects in Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia and mainland China.
The Swiss hotelier began his career in his native country as commis de cuisine at Restaurant Frohsinn in Aarau. He rose through the ranks, working in a variety of positions in the hotel industry and was named general manager at Villa il Tesoro, Maremma in Tuscany in 2003.
After another general manager assignment in Switzerland, Gaehler further honed his hotelier experience with pre-opening roles and running luxury hotels of various sizes across Asia.
Nangang International Exhibition Centre Hall 2 will open in March 2019
As demand rises for large-scale conferences and exhibitions in Taiwan, the destination’s lack of event spaces has been thrown into sharp relief, reveal industry players there.
Philip T T Huang, executive director of Nangang International Exhibition Centre Hall 2, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), admitted that it has been “difficult for Taipei to bid for big international events and meetings” due to a “shortage” of larger exhibition grounds, conference halls and breakout rooms.
Nangang International Exhibition Centre Hall 2 will open in March 2019
Taipei, the business hub and capital city of Taiwan, is currently home to only two major exhibition venues. The first is Taipei World Trade Centre (TWTC) Exhibition Halls 1 and 3, which can accommodate 1,477 and 365 booths respectively. Hall 1 has five conference rooms, while Hall 3 has just one.
The second is Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre Hall 1, which can take in 2,467 standard booths across two indoor exhibition showgrounds and has 14 to 18 conference rooms.
The climbing popularity of Taiwan as a business destination has proved challenging for conference owners such as TAITRA, which have had to split up larger events and shuttle delegates between multiple sites.
For example, the 2018 Taipei AMPA Show, a mega international automobile and autotronics exhibition held from April 11-14, had to be divided between Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre Hall 1 and TWTC Exhibition Hall 1.
In Kaohsiung, demand for the young four-year-old Kaohsiung Exhibition Centre (KEC) is expected to grow further since the city has been granted hosting rights for the ICCA 2020 Congress – an event that has already presented capacity challenges for KEC.
KEC can accommodate 1,500 standard booths, has 15 function rooms and can seat up to 2,000 pax in its largest room. However, this space may not be sufficient or sustainable for future growth, revealed William Liu, vice general manager, Kaohsiung Exhibition Center Corporation.
He explained: “We don’t have enough land to expand our exhibition centre. We have meeting rooms, but they may not be enough for (large) conferences. For instance, for the ICCA 2020 Congress, we will have to use special partitions on the first-floor exhibition space to convert (it) into conference rooms.”
In anticipation of this imminent shortage, the Kaohsiung City Government has tentative plans to build conference centres and smaller meeting venues around the harbour where KEC is located, shared Liu.
Taipei city is banking on the upcoming Nangang International Exhibition Centre Hall 2, the US$240 million expansion to the centre’s Hall 1, to solve the space challenge. Set to open in March 2019, Hall 2 will bring another 34,120m2 of exhibition and meeting space to Nangang. This includes a multifunctional conference hall that can be converted into 14 breakout rooms.
It will raise the centre’s total meeting room count to a maximum of 32, and total booth capacity – indoors and outdoors – to more than 5,000. Both halls will be connected to the metro by an underpass.
Huang expressed: “In the future, Nangang (district) will be the real capital for Taiwan’s MICE industry, thanks to our big exhibition space and conference rooms that can attract international events and exhibitions here.”
Future business events can also seek venue options in Taichung, an industrial city in central Taiwan. The secondary city has begun extensive works on multiple event venues across different districts, namely Houli, Fengyuan, Waipu and Shuinan. These will debut with the 2018 Taichung World Flora Exposition, to be held from November this year to April 2019. It had been originally slated only for the new Houli Horse Ranch and Forest Park Area.
When an endangered endemic leopard cat was discovered there, the Taichung City Council expanded the show to Fengyuan and Waipu, which will also receive new large-scale event venues. These are Fengyuan Huludun Park – which will house Taiwan’s longest waterside floral gallery – and Waipu Park Area.
“As what is now Taiwan’s second-largest city, Taichung is hoping to make its mark on the global map (for business events). One way we’re doing this is by developing our business events landscape, and the 2018 Taichung World Flora Exposition will serve as a good platform to attract more international visitors to Taichung,” shared Sun Chung-Hsing, senior executive officer, Taichung City Government.
After the event, Taichung’s new venues will adopt different uses. Houli Horse Ranch and Forest Park Area will become Asia’s largest equestrian competition venue; Fengyuan Huludun Park will house a pastry museum; and Waipu Park Area will become an international agricultural innovation park.
Sun added: “With this show, we have already begun to construct large facilities in Taichung to accompany the development in Shuinan.”
The Shuinan area of Taichung is concurrently being remodelled into an NT$60 billion (US$2 billion) “smart city” – a flagship project of Taichung’s Industry 4.0 initiative.
The district will soon house the Shuinan Interntional Convention Exhibition Centre, green buildings, green landscaping, automated waste collection system, rainwater recycling system and more.
Absolute Hotel Services has promoted Suchitra Sirirak to general manager of U Chiang Mai.
Suchitra first joined Absolute Hotel Services in April 2015 as a public relations manager at U Sathorn Bangkok, where she rose to the position of executive assistant manager of the property two years later in 2017.
She also possesses extensive experience working in hotel management for organisations such as Centara Hotels & Resorts, The Peninsula Bangkok, and The Siam Luxury Suites and Villas.
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.
