Gaining a luxurious shine

June 4, 2018

Langkawi-Aerial-photo — Aerial photo of Langkawi

An expanding collection of hotels and resorts – particularly in the five-star space – over recent years has facilitated Langkawi’s evolution into a destination favoured by planners of high-end meetings and incentives.

The St. Regis Langkawi; The Andaman, A Luxury Collection Resort; The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa; Four Seasons Resort Langkawi; Tanjung Rhu Resort Langkawi; Meritus Pelangi Beach Resort & Spa, Langkawi; Berjaya Langkawi Resort and The Danna Langkawi all call the Malaysian island home. There are 1,952 five-star guestrooms in Langkawi, making it the island with the biggest inventory of five-star properties in Malaysia.

The 119-key The Ritz-Carlton, Langkawi, overlooking the Andaman Sea and boasting a 10 million-year-old rainforest backdrop, is the latest five-star brand on the island. Opened on October 1, 2017, the luxury resort welcomes corporate events with its grand ballroom, a venue good for 430 people theatre-style. The pre-function area sits outdoors and offers a majestic view of the rainforest.

Come July this year, The Datai Langkawi will reopen after being closed for major renovations since September last year. With only 121 rooms and a newly refurbished meeting room, this property is keen to capture C-Level meetings and incentives, revealed Aaishah Bohari, its director of marketing & sales.

New additions at the hotel include a nature centre where customised nature talks and walks can be conducted as well as The Dapur, a special area where culinary activities for groups can be arranged.

Aaishah shared that the hotel is seeing “strong corporate incentive demand from the French and German speaking markets of Europe for 4Q2018”.

Beyond hotels and resorts, Langkawi demonstrates its seriousness in courting business events with the opening of the Langkawi International Convention Centre (LICC) in 2015. The modern facility is supported by two hotels on site – the 221-key The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa and the 89-key The St. Regis Langkawi.

According to Rajiv Kapoor, general manager of The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa and LICC, the convention centre has welcomed several high-profile meetings and events including the 26th ASEAN Summit, the ASEAN Regional Workshop, Amway Korea – Diamond Invitational Special Incentive Trip 2017, and Sports Medicine Australia National Conference 2017.

Rajiv added that The St. Regis Langkawi is also attracting a rising number of C-level executives from China, Hong Kong and Singapore who host their executive meetings in the hotel. These meetings come with wine dinners or cosy bonfire dinner parties with jazz music in the background.

He noted that there is a growing trend among meeting and incentive planners to infuse local experiences into the programme, such as by having a Malaysian theme dinner featuring local entertainment.

Rajiv believes that Langkawi continues to charm top-end meetings and events because of its “serene beauty, clean environment and duty-free status”.

He said: “Langkawi is still natural and not over commercialised.”

Destination specialists are observing the same strong demand.

Luxury Tours Malaysia director, Arokia Das, said his company has recorded more than 25 per cent year-on-year growth in incentive and meeting bookings out of India and Sri Lanka in 2017. RFPs are also strong for 3Q and 4Q2018 from the India subcontinent and the Maldives.

Arokia said: “The luxury properties in Langkawi may be pricier than those in Kuala Lumpur, but when you compare them with similar properties in this region, they are really affordable. Service here is also very professional, which ensures an excellent event.
“Furthermore, many of these properties are committed to supporting the environment and local community, and offer corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes. As we are seeing more companies asking for CSR activities to be included in the itinerary, we are working with Langkawi properties to offer such experiences.”

Saini Vermeulen, executive director, Within Earth Holidays, has also seen a year-on-year double-digit growth in demand for incentives to Langkawi from Eastern Europe, Germany, and the Middle Eastern countries of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon.

For European groups, Langkawi is usually twinned with the Malaysian capital city and is featured at the end of the itinerary, which is often multi-destination including Thailand and Cambodia.

Saini added that European clients also “usually conduct their incentive programmes during the off-peak periods of February to April and October to November, to escape the cold in Europe”.

“Langkawi is a popular beach destination for incentive groups as it is not as crowded and busy as Bali and Phuket. It is viewed by Europeans as an exotic destination with a lot of greenery and wildlife. Its UNESCO Global Geopark status is an added bonus,” said Saini.

“Another advantage Langkawi offers is that wherever you stay on the main island, you are never more than 45 minutes away from major attractions,” he said.

A fine transformation

By TTGmice

June 1, 2018

In a brilliant show of its event creativity and venue flexibility, the events and banquet team at The Star Grand Gold Coast turned its ballroom into a pretty garden, complete with hanging plants and a large vertical garden that backed its bar.

The ballroom was the Corporate Hospitality Suite during the recent 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, an exclusive venue reserved for who’s who in the sponsors pool and Games.

Quality nosh was all for guests’ pickings at live food stations, including two very charming charcuterie and cheese stalls that were dressed like the most enthusiastic participants at a local farmer’s market.

Chic furniture – gold wire-frame dining chairs and bar stools and oversized couches – completed the look at the Corporate Hospitality Suite and made the venue a functional, living space.

As an Official Partner of the Games, The Star Grand Gold Coast created 12-days of extensive entertainment at various locations across the property, the most impressive of which was the Celebration Lawn where enormous TV screens broadcasted sports events, live music was performed all evening to give off a festival vibe, and appearances from medal-winning athletes were promised.

A part to play in conservation

By Julian Ryall

June 1, 2018

Kyoto,Nijo-jo-Castle-a-UNESCO-World-Heritage-Site — Kyoto, Nijo-jo Castle a UNESCO World Heritage site

Dozens of Japan’s most revered and historically important venues are opening up to business events with the help of local authorities and the national government.

Since 2009, new policies have been implemented to make castles and palaces, traditional gardens, natural sites, UNESCO-listed locations and other iconic heritage landmarks across the country available for event hire.

These efforts not only provide new venues for business events competing to deliver the most impressive experience, they also bring about two other critical benefits – the promotion of the country’s rich cultural heritage and the provision of funds to maintain these ancient sites.

“We believe that the use of historical sites for events enhances attendees’ experience of Japanese culture, allowing them to interact in traditional landscapes and atmospheres that can only be found in Japan,” said Etsuko Kawasaki, executive director of the Japan Convention Bureau, in an interview with TTGmice.

“In the case of facilities that also operate as tourist attractions, we believe that hosting business events boosts their awareness and popularity, and may inspire attendees to visit again on pleasure trips.

“Revenue from these events sometimes contribute to the preservation and restoration of the sites,” Kawasaki added.

One of the notable heritage venues now available for corporate hire is Kyoto’s Nijo Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that houses a number of national treasures and important cultural properties.

“We hope that planners will take full advantage of the castle’s historical significance and value to create events that will help locals and people from all over the world understand the importance of preserving cultural properties and feel the charm of Kyoto,” said Takumi Kinoshita, head of the castle’s management office.

Besides corporate incentive events and international meetings, Nijo Castle has also hosted art exhibitions, traditional Noh performances, storytelling and film screenings.

“By accepting events like these, we are able to create opportunities for people to visit the castle,” Kinoshita said. “We feel this helps to spread awareness of our history, culture and what makes us appealing.”

And as rental income is channelled into the continued repairs and restoration of the castle, planners and event attendees become valuable contributors to the preservation of the country’s cultural assets.

The importance of the venues, however, means that operators must take the utmost precautions to ensure that event usage does not harm the ancient sites.

“Being an owner operated company gives us some freedom but we have to be very careful to abide by the rules for cultural properties,” said Alex Bradshaw, a spokesman for the UNESCO-listed Sengan-en Japanese garden and stately clan house in Kagoshima.

“Since we are also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we have to carefully consider which events to accept and reject,” he said, adding that clear guidelines that are strictly enforced will mitigate damage.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Park Association, which connects planners with the management of several traditional parks in the capital, such as the Kiyosumi and Hamarikyusen, takes careful steps to protect the venues.

“When plans are being drawn up for an event, we will ask for details about the temporary objects that will be installed and make sure that they will not cause any damage, do not change the terrain in any way, leave no holes (in the ground) or so on,” elaborated association official Masayuki Nagata.

Detailed discussions around the use of heritage venues mean that planners will need around six months to prepare for their events, but the outcome is worth the effort, believes Bradshaw.

When asked if pushing Japanese heritage venues for business events would be tantamount to exploiting local culture and history, Bradshaw said: “Traditional culture was generally not conceived to make money – although there are plenty of examples that did – but money is required to keep these sites from falling into disrepair.

“If the sites can be both used and supported, then I don’t see why (using them for business events) would be a bad thing.”

Westin Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok lays out latest MICE offer

By TTGmice

May 31, 2018

The Westin Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok, has launched a new meetings offer entitled Travel Well.

This offer is valid for groups of 40 rooms or more with a minimum stay of two nights and at least one full day meeting or a dinner. Room rates start from 4,600++ baht (US$143++), and double or twin supplement starts from 750++ baht per person.

The Terrace offers panoramic views of the city

The package offers the following inclusions: single accommodation including daily buffet breakfast; a complimentary BTS Skytrain card valued at 200 baht for each delegate; airport fast-track service; round-trip limousine transfers for VIPs; complimentary 30-minute welcome reception; free Wi-Fi in guestrooms and meeting rooms; and one complimentary room night for every 30 paid room nights.

Spanning over 1,725m², the hotel’s 14 function venues include Altitude, a rooftop space with stunning cityscape views, a Grand Ballroom, meeting rooms, boardrooms, and more.

Travel Well applies to new bookings through July 31, 2018, for stays until 31 March 31, 2019.

Visit www.westingrandesukhumvit.com for more information.

Two new appointments at St Regis Bangkok

By TTGmice

May 31, 2018

Sam-Carl-St-Regis-Bangkok — From left: Sam Chia and Carl Chapman

Sam Chia and Carl Chapman have joined the team at St Regis Bangkok as director of sales & marketing, and director of F&B, respectively.

Chia was most recently leading the sales, events and marketing communications efforts at The St Regis Singapore.

He has a wealth of experience in the luxury hospitality industry that includes being part of the pre-opening team at Capella Singapore, a stint with the regional sales team of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, and a prior role as assistant vice president – business development at Capella Hotel Group Asia.

Meanwhile, Chapman is a seasoned international hotelier from the UK with over two decades of experience with luxury hotels and resorts from the UK to Dubai. He has had stints at the Claridge’s and The Savoy, and has joined St Regis Bangkok from Dukes Dubai.

Seoul Tourism Organization now a government organisation, gains new chief

By TTGmice

May 31, 2018

Seoul Tourism Organization (STO) has gained a new legal status since May 1 – shedding its former structure as a public-private partnership and government-invested corporation to become a fully government-funded foundation.

Now funded by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, STO has been re-established to “proactively respond to the changing tourism environment and promote Seoul tourism in a way that achieves the public interest and reflects professionalism and responsibility”, according to a statement from the organisation.

Rhee speaking at an event. Photo credit: www.campaignasia.com

Jae-sung Rhee, former executive vice president of the Korea Tourism Organization, has been appointed to a three-year term as president and CEO of STO.

Rhee worked at the Korea Tourism Organization for 33 years from 1985 to 2017 and held the position of director in every department within the organisation, namely as director of management, executive vice president, director of international tourism and marketing, director of domestic industrial affairs, and director of policy.

He officially joined STO on April 23, 2018.

Genting builds ships with corporate groups in mind

By Pamela Chow

May 31, 2018

Michael_Goh_Genting_Cruise_Lines_2 — Goh:

With an eye on the booming business events sector, Genting Cruise Lines has made a conscious effort to design and build cruise ships under the Dream Cruises line with event usage in mind.

Speaking to TTGmice in an interview, Michael Goh, international sales senior vice president, Genting Cruise Lines, said: “Take Bar City, the six water slides, the zipline and the 1,000-seat theatre for example. They were designed (as possible venues) for corporate events.”

Goh: current ships already have various spaces aimed at supporting corporate events

Bar City within Genting Dream is a collection of different bar concepts – from a Johnnie Walker House to a cigar lounge – that can “house incentive groups of a couple of hundred people for pre-dinner cocktails”, described Goh.

Outdoor facilities, such as the water slides and a multipurpose sportsplex, can be closed off for private functions while Genting Dream’s zipline can be used for teambuilding activities, Goh pointed out.

He shared that business events groups make up 25 to 30 per cent of Genting Cruise Lines’ business in Singapore, and group sizes can reach more than 1,000 people. The majority of business comes from Singapore, Indonesia and India, and spans companies including insurance, pharmaceuticals and multi-level sales.

Besides having event-ready hardware, Dream Cruises staff are also trained to understand the objective of the customer’s event and to propose suitable ideas.

MITEC launches initiative to nurture local staff

By S Puvaneswary

May 31, 2018

The Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC) has launched a Continuing Personal Development (CPD) programme at the end of May for full-time staff.

Through this programme, every full-time staff will have a budget allocated for both internal and external training, as well as overseas exposure, where applicable.

Such trainings will go a long way in upgrading an individual’s skills and retaining personel

Staff will be able to choose programmes that will advance their career development. In addition, attendance at such programmes will contribute to their job performance appraisal.

Rohizat Baharum, director of Human Resource at MITEC, said the programme will not only help staff upgrade their skill sets, but it will also keep them motivated and their morale high within the organisation. He believes that providing staff with training opportunities will also help to build staff loyalty and retention.

He added: “Today’s young employees expect companies to provide them with training.”

More than half of MITEC’s 74 full-time staff are millennials, where the average age of employees is 32.

Preparations for the future

By Rachel AJ Lee

May 31, 2018

What interesting observations have you noticed of the South-east Asian MICE market?
First, there has been movement away from half a dozen key cities – which includes where we have legacy hotels – to second- and third-tier cities across the South-east Asian region.

We’ve been sending quite a few meetings to Myanmar, to both Mandalay and Naypidaw. Provided there is the airlift and right hotels, with safety and security taken care of, companies are actually becoming more creative in how they want to engage their customers or employees. Most of us would like to rest well, eat well, and be in an environment that is conducive to great meetings. This is a reason why meetings have been moving away from large cities, as it’s a lot easier to offer all the above.

For instance, I took a 150-pax team of mine to Bali. It felt like I was on a vacation, but working between sessions. Walking outside between gardens and breathing fresh air, (was so much better than) walking between two meeting rooms.

Next, there is also a strong desire for sustainability, plus a connection to local culture.

When we opened the Bali conference, we invited two teenage girls to speak about how proud they were to be Balinese and what they wanted to do to tackle the plastic issue (in the sea) in Bali. They delivered a great message, and every delegate told me that it was an inspiring way to start the event.

Lastly, meetings are now being driven by customers who are sure about what they want, and what outcomes they need out of the meeting. This ties in with Hilton’s Meet with Purpose campaign, which was piloted in Singapore in 2016 and officially launched this June.

We’re in a very competitive space – there are lots of brands and meeting venues that one can choose from in Singapore for example. Two things can help to make us stand out – our people, and the products that we have created and put together and how they deliver them.

As a whole, how is Hilton planning to capture more business travellers?
Innovation and technology are two crucial points. We are rolling out the digital key as corporate travellers like that ability to move in and about (our properties), as well as the connectivity. Technology will also allow them to choose their room, and even the view outside their room.

We also are working towards providing sustainable offerings. For instance, the choice of being able to have healthy food options and local food options without having to specially look for it. We see that the emerging travel class in China want comfort food, yet they also want to experiment (and try other cuisines). We need to get this mix right.

We’re also looking for gaps in markets to fill with our 14 brands, primarily in key cities for corporate travellers.

In Asia-Pacific, Hilton and DoubleTree brands are quite well set. But there are different travellers across the corporate traveller segment, from the budget traveller to the luxury traveller, so we need to give them a choice of brands.

What is Hilton’s expansion plan in the Asia-Pacific region?
Today we operate 224 hotels in 21 countries. Our pipeline is double that, with 441 hotels due to open in the next five to six years.

Hilton currently has the largest pipeline in this region. One in four hotel rooms across Asia-Pacific under construction has a Hilton flag on it.

For the Asia-Pacific region, the key market is clearly China. For my region, key markets are Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, while emerging ones are Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Myanmar.

We’re opening the first Hilton-branded property in Dili, East Timor, in 2019, and we’ll be the first branded hotel in the country.

Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur shows off new event spaces

By TTGmice

May 31, 2018

Grand-Hyatt-Kuala-Lumpur-Poolhouse-Day — The spruced up Poolhouse

Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur has added two event spaces to its repertoire, the Poolside Residence and Poolhouse.

The Poolside Residence is a collection of five private event rooms – Poolside Residence 300, 301, 302, 303 and 304 surrounded by the Gallery and the Loft Kitchen. With floor-to-ceiling windows throughout, the Poolside Residence is a modern and versatile residential-style event space spanning over 765m2. Coffee breaks and meals can be prepared at the Loft Kitchen – a personalised space overlooking the Petronas Twin Towers.

With flexibility in mind and a capacity of up to 170 guests for banquet or 240 guests for a reception, the Poolside Residence is the ideal venue for casual networking sessions, breakout meetings, open house events, cocktails or welcome parties in an informal setting.

Formerly the Poolside restaurant, the newly refurbished Poolhouse is a glasshouse facing the hotel’s swimming pool and surrounded by tropical greenery, serving both local and international favourites.

Measuring 150m² complete with an al fresco terrace, the all-day dining space is equipped with a contemporary show kitchen. It can support after-parties and outdoor barbecues.

Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur now offers a total of 13 event spaces with the two new additions, complementing the Grand Ballroom, Grand Salon, Grand Residence and Sky Lounge.