PULLMAN Bangkok King Power has spent about US$900,000 on transforming an entire guestroom floor into meeting space to serve the increasing demand for small- to medium-sized venues.

Replacing the 20 guestrooms on the property’s sixth floor is a new 800m2 site, which comprises five meeting rooms that can each cater for about 50-70 guests, as well as lobby areas for coffee breaks.

The hotel’s general manager, Marc Bagassat, said the addition of the new meeting space provides some welcome respite from the floods in Thailand, which severely affected the local hotel industry last month.

“We went ahead with the investment (despite the floods), as in business, if you wait until things settle down, you would not be able to move on,” he said.

The new meeting space is scheduled to welcome next week its inaugural customer: a 12-pax residential meeting which runs over two days.

According to Bagassat, the venue is expected to run at about 30 to 40 per cent occupancy in its first year of operations, and will be priced about 15 per cent higher than the nine existing meeting spaces on the hotel’s lower levels.

Meanwhile, in a bid to stimulate bookings, the hotel is offering a 10+1 package on both meeting spaces and guestrooms from now till March 31 next year.

By Sirima Eamtako

JAPANESE hospitality group Fujita Kanko Inc. has set its sights on growing its MICE business. The company’s function space has so far largely been devoted to smaller events and the local weddings market.

Sales manager of Fujita Kanko’s newly-established convention sales division, Foo Ming Sheng, said the firm was now focusing on MICE as a new market, and had identified four products capable of hosting large groups.

The products are: Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so, Hakone Hotel Kowakien, Chinzan-so and Taiko-en, the latter two comprising restaurants and meeting facilities in lush garden settings. Chizan-so’s largest banquet room, Orion, for instance, can accommodate up to 2,000 people.

“Chinzan-so is actually famous for bridals. We have around 2,000 couples getting married yearly in its three chapels and two Japanese shrines. But the population in Japan is shrinking, so the market for bridals is shrinking as well,” he said.

Foo explained that while Fujita Kanko’s venues were popular with smaller meetings and incentive groups, the group was “not yet strong in exhibitions and conferences”. A big convention due to be held in March this year had also been cancelled because of the earthquake.

“We’re still working on our strategy, but currently, we’re collaborating with bureaus like TCVB (Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau) to pull in more international conventions. We’re also promoting MICE when we participate in travel marts,” he said.

“Our theme is MICE in Green. Green as in gardens, and green as in environment-friendly. For example, we’ve started changing to LED lighting, even in Washington Hotels (the business hotel chain operated by the group).”

SOME S$32 million (US$24.9 million) has been invested in an extreme makeover for Singapore Marriott Hotel, which is said to be the largest-ever refurbishment in the property’s 16-year history.

The hotel’s general manager, Antony Page, said the makeover would see all 372 guestrooms being “stripped bare” and rebuilt, Crossroads Cafe and Marriot Cafe being refreshed, the addition of a new F&B outlet, and the lobby being transformed into an open space, complete with a more prominently positioned front desk.

Phase one, which comprises the lobby’s remodelling, has been concluded, while phase two, which includes a major overhaul of Marriott Cafe, Crossroads Cafe and all guestrooms, is now underway and scheduled for completion by April next year.

Phase three will involve technology upgrades and some cosmetic enhancements of the hotel’s meeting facilities. Improvement works on the ballroom will be completed by 2013.

Page said the makeover was necessary to maintain the hotel’s competitiveness in Singapore.

“Singapore Marriott Hotel is the crown jewel of Tang Holdings and its owners are committed to maintaining its competitive edge. To cater to increased traffic and ensure five-star standards of service, it was deemed the right time to conduct a major overhaul of the property,” he explained.

When asked if room rates would be adjusted upwards as a consequence of the upgraded hardware, Page said the hotel would “remain competitively priced”.

“We welcomed more than 170,000 guests last year, and even though we do not see such figures this year due to reduced room inventory during the refurbishment, we did see a 12 per cent increase in group business,” he added.

INDIA’s tourism minister Subodh Kant Sahai revealed last week that an outlay of 10 billion rupees (US$200 million) would be allocated for building 20 tourism parks across the country.

Envisaged along the lines of Singapore’s Sentosa island and Cancun in Mexico, each tourism park, built on 50 acres (20 hectares) of land, would comprise of entertainment and sports facilities, F&B outlets, hotels, restaurants and venues for cultural festivals.

The parks are expected to be joint partnerships between private investors and the government, whose role will be to facilitate connectivity and infrastructure.

An initial investment of US$10 million per park will be allocated by the central government, with the rest of the startup funding sourced from the respective state governments and private sector partners.

“Indian tourism is looking bullish”, said Vijay Thakur, president, Indian Association of Tour Operators. “In order to attract more foreign tourists, we need to evolve, constantly upgrade existing facilities, offer new products and develop infrastructure.”

INDONESIA’s Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, is optimistic that the country will achieve its target of 7.7 million overseas arrivals this year, despite the economic turmoil in Europe and the US.

Pangestu was quoted by Antara News during a recent visit to the Benoa Marina project as saying that some promotional efforts would be diverted to more promising source markets.

“We are putting more focus on countries with positive economic growth, and offering interesting products such as cruising,” she said.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily on a separate occasion, Pangestu said ASEAN member countries, China and India were some of the markets that Indonesia could still rely on for growth.

“We should not forget to also focus on the domestic market, encouraging Indonesians to visit other provinces in the county,” she added.

Meanwhile, Pangetsu’s office has set aside an annual budget of between two (US$220,000) to four billion rupiah to promote the country’s cruise potential. Current marketing efforts include participating at overseas shows such as The Diving Equipment & Marketing Association show in Miami.

SHERATON Hangzhou Wetland Park Resort, which opened last month in Xixi National Wetland Park (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 25), is gearing itself for MICE business.

MICE faclities at the 380-key property include an independent 1,946m2 conference centre, nine meeting rooms, a pillarless ballroom for a 600-pax banquet, and an outdoor pre-function area for 1,000 pax.

The hotel is located within Westbrook Resort, an integrated complex which features various restaurants and bars, more than 160 retail and commercial outlets, a theatre and a museum, as well as five other hotels including Banyan Tree Hangzhou.

General manager Colin Vickers said: “We are the only resort in Hangzhou featuring a large outdoor venue, which is the perfect place for a pre-event cocktail.”

“With our outdoor venues, the guest experience combines well with the extension of the Xixi Wetlands right up to the hotel itself. The option of having a tranquil location after a busy day aids our guests’ overall relaxation.”

According to Vickers, global and local companies have already booked meeting space at the hotel, and business is looking strong from December through the first quarter of 2012.

Meanwhile, Sheraton Hangzhou Wetland Park Resort is offering introductory rates valid till February 29, 2012. Full-day meeting packages start from RMB550 (US$86.5) per person and half-day packages start from RMB450 per person. Accommodation rates start from RMB1,000 per room per night.

By Patricia Wee

SINGAPORE Airlines’ new medium- and longhaul low-cost subsidiary Scoot has unveiled Sydney as its inaugural destination.

Scoot, which will operate out of Changi International Airport’s Terminal 2, will offer a daily service to and from Sydney when it takes flight in June next year.

With the launch of its first-ever route, Scoot will become the only budget carrier offering direct flights from Singapore to the capital of New South Wales, with competitors such as Jetstar and AirAsia X choosing to fly to other Australian destinations.

“Scoot’s decision to fly its first service between Sydney and Singapore from mid-2012 is fantastic news,” said Barry O’Farrell, premier of New South Wales.

“This is a significant step towards our goal of doubling tourism expenditure by 2020, placing Sydney front and centre of the boom in budget travel in emerging markets like Singapore, China and India.”

According to a report in Channel NewsAsia, Scoot’s choice of Sydney as its initial destination was the result of an alliance between Destination New South Wales (NSW) and Sydney Airport to promote Sydney to new airlines and compete for new routes.

As part of the agreement, Destination NSW will be also be working with Scoot, Sydney Airport and Tourism Australia on a two-year joint marketing initiative to promote the new route.

EVENT specialist Pacific World has consolidated its worldwide operations under a single brand umbrella as part of its ongoing global expansion.

The move will see its agencies in Europe and India, specifically Ultramar in Spain, TravelScotWorld in Scotland, TUI Hellas Corporate Services in Greece, Miltours in Portugal and Integrated Conference & Event Management and Mintcentives in India, being rebranded under the Pacific World banner.

With the addition of the aforementioned MICE agencies, Pacific World will now operate in 13 countries and over 30 destinations, compared to eight countries in Asia-Pacific previously.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, Manuel Ferrer, regional director South-east Asia of Pacific World, said: “Pacific World has been largely an Asian company, one that has built a strong reputation for delivering outstanding customer care and for being best in class in onsite operations. That is the identity of Pacific World for the past 30 years, and we must keep that and bring that reputation to Europe and North America.”

A fresh logo that resembles a key, and a new tagline – opening up perspectives – has also been adopted. The revamped corporate identity will be reflected in all marketing collaterals and Pacific World’s corporate booths at trade shows.

“We unveiled the new corporate look at EIBTM in Barcelona this week, and many business partners and even friendly competitors came by to say they loved it,” said Ferrer, adding that the group was also planning to sharpen its congress organisation and special events capabilities, and expand into destinations it does not already have a presence in.

Ferrer explained that while Pacific World had honed its expertise in destination management, the group “has also achieved excellence in PCO and special events capability in some destinations”, specifically capital cities where congresses often gather.

PHILIPPINE-based low-cost carrier Zest Air is making a major push into mainland China and South Korea.

Beginning December 12, Zest Air will operate from Chengdu to Kalibo every five days, with the return sector being operated on a similar frequency starting December 16. A thrice-weekly Manila-Jinjiang service will be launched starting December 22.

In South Korea, the carrier will operate twice-weekly Cebu-Muan services from December 29 to January 26, twice-weekly Cebu-Cheongju flights from December 31 to February 4, and twice-weekly Bacolod-Seoul (Incheon) services from January 4 to February 22.

All these flights will be operated using the airline’s 168-seater Airbus A320 aircraft.

THE PARENT company of American Airlines Inc. (AA), AMR Corporation, yesterday filed voluntary petitions for bankruptcy protection in the US, citing the need to achieve industry competitiveness.

“AMR’s board of directors determined that a Chapter 11 reorganisation is in the best interest of the company and its stakeholders. Just as with the company’s major airline competitors in recent years, the Chapter 11 process enables American Airlines and American Eagle to continue conducting normal business operations while they restructure their debt, costs and other obligations,” it stated in a press release.

It would be business as usual for the airlines during the Chapter 11 process, including flights, services, tickets and reservations, frequent flier programmes, and payment for suppliers, among others.

Thomas W. Horton, chairman, chief executive officer and president of AMR and American Airlines, said: “This was a difficult decision, but it is the necessary and right path for us to take – and take now – to become a more efficient, financially stronger, and competitive airline.”

He added: “But as we have made clear with increasing urgency in recent weeks, we must address our cost structure, including labor costs, to enable us to capitalise on these foundational strengths and secure our future. Our very substantial cost disadvantage compared to our larger competitors, all of which restructured their costs and debt through Chapter 11, has become increasingly untenable given the accelerating impact of global economic uncertainty and resulting revenue instability, volatile and rising fuel prices, and intensifying competitive challenges.”

AMR said that it has approximately US$4.1 billion in unrestricted cash and short-term investments and that it would be more than enough to pay for goods and services during the Chapter 11 process.

In a separate announcement, AMR Corporation’s board of directors appointed Horton chairman and chief executive officer of the company, succeeding Gerard Arpey, who is retiring. He will also succeed Arpey as chairman and CEO of AA and will retain the title of president.