SANDS Cotai Macao has rebranded itself as Cotai Strip Macao and is waiving meeting charges in a bid to drive destination demand.
With 9,000 rooms from The Venetian Macao, Conrad Macao, Sheraton Macao Hotel, Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central and Four Seasons Hotel Macau, coupled with “budget pressures” of planners, Natasha Tomé, executive director of marketing of Cotai Strip Macao, said it was necessary to “drive destination demand and get Macau out there as the place to meet”.
The Meet for Free offers one free meeting package per room (maximum two full days of meetings) to groups with a minimum of two nights’ stay and 50 rooms booked per night. The package includes one plenary room, welcome coffee or tea each morning, morning and afternoon coffee breaks, lunch and basic audiovisual equipment. It applies to new bookings between June 1 and December 31 for arrival in 2013 and beyond.
Corinne Janssen, director of sales – associations and sales operations of the Sheraton Macao Hotel, said although Macau was now well-known within Asia as a meetings destination, it was not yet so in the global market. “We’re still such a new destination,” she said.
This, despite a year or so of drumming home Cotai Strip Macao’s convention facilities. There is a combined total of 120,000m2 of flexible meeting space, including 274 breakout rooms, a 15,000-seat CotaiArena, a 1,800-seat Venetian Theatre, over 100 international restaurants, lounges and dining outlets, and a fleet of over 150 vehicles with connections to air, land and ferry hubs.
Tomé said Macau was now attracting corporate meetings and incentives but not global associations meetings market.
Asked if planners still perceived Macau as largely a gaming destination, Tomé said Cotai Strip Macao was “trying to break that perception”.
“This is why we’ve launched Meet for Free. I know budget is not everything, but we think such a drive will at least create the impetus for planners to think of Macau for their next event,” she said.
