CITI PROPERTIES

In the Orchard Road area, the Hilton completed a refurbishment in May, spending US$28 million in the process. The result is impressive with a great-looking property.
Some 80 per cent of its meeting facilities are naturally lit and the hotel’s meetings website
features a ‘Personalised Online Group’ setting for group bookings.

A group of 400 from IBM and 200 from Nokia recently used the property. IDP Education also recently held a 1,200-person training session at the hotel. “The facilities were very well matched to our high expectations and purpose of the event,” says Lim Pang Lluia, a manager from IDP Education.

The Regent is a Four Seasons-managed property and is located minutes away from Orchard Rd, making it one of Singapore’s classiest addresses. There are 439 rooms and the hotel’s self-contained feel makes it easy to maintain the attention of conference attendees. Boeing, Unilever and Proctor and Gamble are all recent clients.

The Conrad Centennial is part of the Marina Bay complex of hotels, all of which are within
walking distance of Suntec Singapore. Its 307 rooms were reopened in June after an extensive
refurbishment. Hermes and Citibank recently used the property for their events and its
ballroom can hold 500 people at a time.

Nearby, the 575-room Marina Mandarin has almost completed a major renovation, with the final 25 per cent to be completed by January. All rooms also have their own balcony. The hotel’s internal atrium looks spectacular and is ideal for indoor events.

The Mandarin Oriental (formerly known as the Oriental) was rebranded in late September.
Its dark colours give the hotel a chic feel and Melt, its signature restaurant, won an award
for best new restaurant in 2006. The well designed property features 15 meeting venues
and while the rooms aren’t the biggest in Singapore, the club lounge certainly is.

The Carlton Hotel is only minutes away from the Marina Bay area and offers 630 rooms, with another 300 rooms to come online by by 2009 in a 19-storey tower.

NEW ROOMS
At the start of 2007, the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel opened 11 new rooms and
converted one floor into Executive Club rooms, which now gives the hotel a capacity of 550 rooms including five floors containing 71 Executive Club rooms. Its Waterfront Conference Centre also spent US$260,000 in late 2006 on new interiors including wallpaper and audiovisual equipment.

The Copthorne Kings Hotel is ten minutes away from Orchard Rd and China Town. It only has a small meetings capacity but its strength lies in the nearby the Furama, Mirimar Riverfront and Grand Copthorne Waterfront, which combine to make a block of 1,000 rooms all within minutes of each other. WorldVision and the Fletcher MBA Programme are two recent clients.

The biggest meeting space at the Traders Hotel holds 300 theatre style and the property
was last upgraded in 2005. The hotel can handle a maximum of 50 as the largest selfcontained
group.

The Novotel Clarke Quay is ideally set next to Singapore’s main entertainment precinct. It
is increasing its share of the regional meetings market and recently won the Best Corporate
Meeting of the Year Award in the inaugural Singapore Business Events Awards. It will also host the Accor Roadshow in May 2008.

With 1,261 rooms, Swissotel The Stamford is the biggest property in Singapore. It also
features a 6,500 sqm conference centre that includes the 3,200-capacity Raffles Ballroom.
The highest category of rooms here is the Stamford Guest Suites while there is private
dining on the 69th floor for 200 people.

Coming up
The 299-room St. Regis will be Singapore’s first new five-star hotel to open in 11 years.
It opens on December 22 with its largest meeting space able to hold 1,080 people.
The Orchard Road property is near the Regent Hotel, as well as many embassies.
Its opening will certainly impress planners looking for luxury options within the city.