HONG Kong-listed Kosmopolito Hotels International Limited (KHI) has placed the MICE segment high on its business agenda and strategy, and is making moves to include event facilities in all six of its upcoming properties.
Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, KHI senior vice president sales & marketing, Philip Schaetz, said the six hotels – all under the upper four-star Dorsett Regency banner – would offer generous dedicated meeting spaces.
“Today, with the exception of the Dorsett Regency Kuala Lumpur, which has function rooms and draws a lot of events, and Yue Shanghai Hotel, most of our existing hotels (17 in Hong Kong, China and Malaysia) have limited event spaces. That will change with the new hotels,” he said.
Due to open next year are the 371-key Dorsett Regency Hotel Kwun Tong and 506-key Dorsett Regency Hotel Tsuen Wan in Hong Kong, and the 547-key Dorsett Regency Hotel Chengdu in China. The property in Chengdu will sit in a mixed-used complex that will be the provincial capital’s tallest building.
Two more properties are scheduled to open in 2013 – the 285-room Dorsett Regency Hotel on New Bridge, Singapore and the 416-room Dorsett Regency Hotel, Zhongshan in China.
The sixth opening will materialise in 2014 in London, near the popular Westfield London shopping centre. The property is KHI’s first venture outside of Asia, and Schaetz believes its location will attract Asian travellers who enjoy shopping, as well as corporate travellers doing business in London.
Meanwhile, KHI’s new generation of meeting-friendly hardware will be matched by strategic efforts that include building up brand awareness among MICE buyers, an increased presence at trade shows to connect with MICE planners, and providing information on MICE facilities via the individual hotel websites.
