STARWOOD Hotels & Resorts Asia Pacific has rolled out a More Rewards meeting offer with more than 200 participating hotels across Asia-Pacific.

Under this promotion, participating properties will offer five per cent off the Master Account, a signing bonus of 1,000 Starpoints for every 10 roomnights booked and a choice of two value-adds from a selection that includes complimentary high-speed Internet in guestrooms, complimentary welcome reception with selected beverage and canapés for an hour, and two Starpoints for every US$3 spent.

Meeting planners who book at least 150 roomnights will also bag a two-night stay at the new Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central.

Besides offering additional rewards for holding events at Starwood properties in the region, the hotel group now allows members of the Starwood Preferred Planner (SPP) programme to combine group roomnights consumed in 2013 with those earned through the Starwood Preferred Guest programme. This move will speed up status upgrades for SPP members.

PACIFIC World has appointed Mark Searle as its UK-based sales manager focusing primarily on the development of business to Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Searle took up his position on April 29, reporting to Maria del Campo, head of sales in EMEA. He was last business development manager, UK with AlliedPRA Destination Management.

Shaun Casey, EMEA regional director, said: “The combination of (Searle’s) MICE agency background and the knowledge he has gained of the DMC offering in EMEA will strengthen our presence in the UK market. The timing of this appointment is significant given the arrival of a number of new senior management staff at Pacific World, including Hannelore Carzon in Barcelona, who are already well known in the UK marketplace for their DMC expertise.”

ONCE located on the ground floor, the club lounge at Grand Hyatt Macau now enjoys a prime location on the 37^th floor of the Grand Club Tower and boasts greater comfort and a wider selection of unique event venues.

The exclusive Grand Club takes on a Portuguese-inspired design, using a blend of black walnut wood, precious marble and soothing pastel colours. Floor-to-ceiling windows showcase spectacular views of Cotai.

Besides the main lounge area where breakfast, all-day refreshments and evening cocktails are served to club floor guests, the Grand Club also features four private dining rooms that are available for private event hire. Measuring between 15m² and 40m², these private dining rooms can accommodate eight to 12 guests.

Ideal for dining events and meetings, each private dining room is fitted with a built-in LCD projector or flat-screen TV, entertainment system and audiovisual and lighting that can be controlled via an iPad supplied by the hotel.

Two of the private dining rooms are equipped with video-conferencing capabilities, while the other two has a portable kitchen.

Event planners can also take their functions to the Grand Club’s terrace, a 200m² space that can fit eight banquet tables.

CONRAD Bali and Hilton Bandung has joined Hilton Worldwide’s Carbon Offset Program in Southeast Asia, bringing the total number of participating properties in the region to 13.

Since its launch on October 1 last year, the programme has offset more than 4,500 tonnes of carbon emission, an amount equivalent to taking 470 economy class flights around the world.

According to a press statement from Hilton Worldwide, the progamme has been popular among corporate clients. Around 70 per cent of events and meetings offset were from this segment.

Offered at no additional cost to customers, the programme measures carbon generated by events and meetings, and offsets these through the purchase of carbon credits, which are used to fund the Borneo Rainforest Rehabilitation Project and Cambodia Cookstove Project.

William Costley, vice president, operations – Southeast Asia, Hilton Worldwide, said: “The exceptional results from the first six months of the Carbon Offset Program in Southeast Asia demonstrate the meaningful contribution an organisation can make to the environment and communities it operates in.”

“The Carbon Offset Program in Southeast Asia has definitely drawn great interest from our customers, and there is a growing trend for companies to conduct events, and other aspects of their business, in environmentally responsible ways. The programme offers a competitive edge for clients that take sustainability seriously and provides them with an avenue to give back to the environment,” said Heinrich Grafe, general manager of the Conrad Centennial Singapore.

A supporter of the programme, Rain Toh, event manager-corporate division, MCI Singapore, said: “At MCI, we have an obligation to grow our business sustainably and responsibly in a way that supports communities and safeguards the environment.”

SMX Convention Specialist Corp, which operates convention centres in Manila and Davao, has unveiled a set of new services to boost event registration and communication efforts for show organisers.

Offered under the label SMX i-Connect, one of the two new services is an event registration system that will generate QR codes on delegate badges which can be used by show organisers to track attendance and to enable the exchange of business information between exhibitors and trade buyers at shows.

The second service is a push advertising platform that delivers show information to participants via SMX-developed event microsites. The platform will carry exhibitor listing, event schedules, floor map of the event and useful concierge information.

SMX i-Connect services are available to show organisers for a fee.

The event registration system costs 60,000 pesos (US$1,455) for exhibitions with up to 300 exhibitors and 3,000 badges or for conventions with no more than 1,000 delegates and 1,500 badges.

A joint convention and exhibition package with 1,000 delegates, 300 exhibitors and 3,000 badges will cost 90,000 pesos.

Charges apply for additional participants.

The push advertising platform alone costs 80,000 pesos, inclusive of Wi-Fi service. When contracted with the event registration system, charges for the communications service will be reduced to 60,000 pesos.

“These are value-added services for our clients, and to our knowledge no one (in the Philippines) has (provided such an event registration system) so far,” said Marivic Marquez, assistant vice president for sales and marketing at SMX Convention Specialist Corp.

Marquez said the event registration service would greatly facilitate business lead retrieval, while the push advertising package, which includes design and development of an event microsite, would allow show organisers to generate more revenue and give their sponsors greater exposure.

The company expects acquisition of the new services to come in July, and is offering a 20 per cent discount to its first 10 clients.

Besides SMX i-Connect, SMX is also helping to put event organisers in touch with accedited teambuilding and public speaking specialists and travel and tour service providers, and offering special rates for recreational facilities within the SM Mall of Asia which sits next door to SMX Convention Center in Manila.

FOLLOWING successes in catering to group series, Sukosol Hotels has started to train its sights on business events, says a representative of the Thai-based chain.

“Our MICE focus for now is on China, as it is the largest international source market for the group. We had a 60 per cent increment in overall Chinese business last year,” said Tan Yuewu, assistant sales manager with the flagship property, The Sukosol Bangkok, who also leads the group’s sales efforts in China.

Recognising that Sukosol Hotels “lacks a brand presence” in China’s MICE sector, Tan said the team would have to conduct sales calls and sales missions, and step up participation in Chinese MICE trade shows to do well.

“I’ve met several MICE clients in China and realise that while our facilities are on par with some international business hotels in Thailand, we tend to lose out because few have heard of us. Intensive face-to-face sales meetings in China will hopefully raise clients’ awareness of the Sukosol brand,” said Tan.

Tan pointed out that the group has ready hardware to support business events from China and other markets.

“Most of our properties are suitable for business events of different scales. For corporate meetings, The Sukosol Bangkok and Siam Bayshore Pattaya are most suitable due to their range of function rooms and guestroom inventory,” he said.

“The Bayview Pattaya may be smaller (in terms of meeting facilities), but we have been able to cross-sell and combine both Siam Bayshore Pattaya and The Bayview Pattaya for larger corporate groups, ” said Tan, adding that Sukosol Hotels will augment its Pattaya portfolio with the end-May opening of the 21-key Wave, a luxury art deco boutique hotel.

Tan reckons that the group’s 39-key The Siam, an all-suite resort in Bangkok’s historical Dusit district, will also attract small-sized, deep-pocketed incentive groups, although the property currently draws mostly holiday-makers.

“We are making good headway so far, with five MICE groups from China now in the bag. They are from Shanghai, Beijing and Yunnan. The start of the year is usually slow for business events, so we expect bookings to pick up as we move into the year,” he said.

There are, however, no plans yet to establish a sales office in China, according to Tan.