Hong Kong Stays Steady - Sep 01

Major players in Hong Kong's conference and meeting (C&M) sector are bracing themselves for a slowdown in the year's final quarter but this has yet to put a damper on the industry. All those preparing for a quiet run through to January are predicting a return to form for next year. Hong Kong will play host to major events during 2002 including the World Economic Forum, the International Telecommunication Union, the World Congress of Accountants and the Forbes Global Forum. One of Hong Kong's major event producers, Jack Morton Worldwide (JMW) has pitched to handle the events. Managing director Mr Scott Schenker says competition for the events will be hot but also believes JMW will be in a good position to win some of this business. As the economic climate has cooled in Hong Kong, competition for event management has become even hotter in one of the region's most popular destinations. "Things are a bit slow in Hong Kong right now and hotels are having one of the slowest summers for some time but there are signs this could turn around," Mr Schenker says. "The slowdown in Hong Kong is related to the economy. This is a financial centre and the financial industry has been hit quite hard, so many of the smaller conferences and meetings are not being held. "For a lot of these financial companies, it cannot be Hong Kong every time for their event so they also have to consider options in South Korea, Singapore, Bangkok and Tokyo. "Companies have had to rethink where the dollars go and be a lot more prudent with their spend. The financial industry is very much a staple of our business and we are pleased to say we have signed some new clients this year. Mr Schenker adds during the height of the information technology boom and the lethargic recovery period following 1997, cocktail parties, product launches, staff training, opening ceremonies, analyst events and initial public offering roadshows provided ample volume for industry organisers and suppliers. He says these events have now "dried up" and the industry is suffering from a "hiccup" because of it. "So companies are being a lot more careful now," he says. "They need to be very careful when selecting a location because it has now become a lot more important that an event works this year so a decision can be made about the following year." JMW has recently been involved in events for Forbes, Microsoft, Intel and Allergan but it is not just the large global companies holding regional events it wants to be involved in. "The perception is that we (JMW) only organise the large events but we are trying to change that, we are interested in organising the smaller events as well. I guess we are guilty by association," he says. "We like to keep a client's costs down but we have a great quality of people here and have a high level of experience in doing well-planned events." Still providing one of the best locations for a C&M property is the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. The hotel's director of sales and marketing Ms Barbara Pang says the hotel's position in the centre of the business district has made the hotel a staple venue for the financial industries including recent events by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Arthur Andersen and Standard Chartered Bank. "Different meetings have different requirements and a lot of organisers are looking at fine details now and our team here can provide that," Ms Pang says. Part of its service has been the hotel's decision to assign one specific manager to a group coming to the hotel for C&M activity. That one manager will handle the group from the booking and organisational stage (including arranging accommodation, meeting space and food and beverage needs) through the event and will be on call at all time. "It is just part of providing a one-stop-shop service," Ms Pang says. "The company coming here will only deal with one person from our hotel and then we have a much better 'feel' for what they want and the company also gets to know our staff member personally. This has often led to requests from returning organisations to deal with that same person again for their next event." The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong has 13 event rooms ranging in size from 52.8sqm to The Connaught Room, which is 520sqm in size. The rooms can be positioned in different configurations to seat between 30 to 300 in theatre-style, 18 to 150 in a classroom formation and 12 to 26 in U-shape. The rooms can also accommodate from 30 to 600 for a cocktail and 20 to 250 for a dinner banquet. One hotel also going after the regional C&M business is the recently rebranded 514-room Hotel Inter-Continental Hong Kong, formerly The Regent; all staff except upper-tier management were retained. The property is geared toward high-end events. The 885sqm ballroom cana accommodate up to 1,900 for a cocktail and 850 for a banquet. There are also 11 function rooms that can be utilised as C&M facilities, ranging in size from 34sqm to 152sqm. All 11 rooms have harbour views and contain audio-visual equipment. The hotel has recently hosted meetings for Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, American Express, Johnson & Johnson, Lucent Technologies, GE Capital, Honda and Royal & SunAlliance. It also hosted the World Presidents' Organisation (WPO) China Programme (as The Regent) and received a glowing review from the client. "The service level, the value, the quality of the food and the quality of the people were unsurpassed anywhere else in China and Hong Kong," WPO president Mr Christopher Murphy says. "Everyone who attended the China seminar came away saying the hotel was a wonderful property, managed very well and staffed with responsive, friendly people." New hotel managing director Ms Jennifer Fox says the hotel is undergoing a programme of improvements and upgrades, including the technological facilities for its C&M programmes. "We still have all of the senior staff that have been handling our conference and meeting accounts," she says. "We will be positioning ourselves to retain the hotel's existing conference and meeting business. "We will definitely be upgrading technology (such as introducing broadband access throughout the hotel) and going through a 'soft refurbishment'." Ms Fox adds while the hotel has hosted a number of major events it can also cater to meetings and conferences of any size. "We just do not go after the big events, we have a good product that caters to all sectors of the market," she says. "We have a great location on the waterfront and also have a large outdoor space that not a lot of other hotels in Hong Kong can offer." The property also has its own dock on the harbour front for the exclusive use of delegates and - as mentioned - all meetings rooms have harbour views. Sail-bys from traditional junks with corporate logos on sails can also be arranged. Hong Kong-based Century International Hotels (CIH) is also in the process of rebranding some of their Hong Kong properties after securing a master franchise agreement with Accor. Century's flagship property will be known as the Novotel Century Hong Kong in Wan Chai and the Century Inn North Point will become the Ibis North Point, with possibly more changes on the way for other properties not just in Hong Kong but regionally. CIH president and chief executive officer Mr Brian Deeson says with the access the group now has to Accor's distribution system, Century is now well-placed to cater to the "mid-market" C&M sector. Importantly, the franchise agreement also gives Accor a presence in Hong Kong that Mr Deeson says will provide a huge logistical boost to existing Accor C&M clients. "Accor has some key regional meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition accounts and now they can be serviced in Hong Kong (and other places such as Kuala Lumpur) through our presence here," he says. Mr Deeson adds the Century Conference Centre in Wan Chai has also been providing planners who want to have "off-site meetings in a high-tech environment" with more options in the area. Another development for Century in Hong Kong will be the opening of 48 serviced apartments, opposite its Wan Chai hotel. One hotel in Hong Kong that has identified a shift in the importance of the small- to medium-sized C&M events is the Regal Hongkong Hotel in Causeway Bay. General manager and vice-president Regal Hotels International Mr Daniel Pauwaert has overseen the hotel's corporate offices being converted into a state-of-the-art M&C facility. The five Victoria Rooms and Victoria Boardroom can seat from ten to 32 in a U-shape formation, from 12 to 48 as a classroom and from 12 to 32 boardroom-style. Mr Pauwaert says the hotel invested more than US$250,000 having purpose-built conference tables, chairs and audio-visual equipment manufactured for the upgrade. "We recognised the hotel was popular with dot com companies and there was a need for them to meet in an environment which was similar to their offices in their home countries, so we created these rooms," he says. "We also identified they did not want rooms with chandeliers or rooms that double as function rooms they may be kicked out of, if the meeting or conference ran over time. This is a major investment and it is something we had to do." Mr Pauwaert says because of expensive office space in Hong Kong, some companies are lowering their rental and leasing costs by reducing their office space. When companies have regional meetings, they are taking them off-site to facilities such as the ones at the Regal Hongkong Hotel. This is a view Century's Mr Deeson shares and hence explains the popularity of the Century Conference Centre. Mr Pauwaert believes the high level of technological assistance the Victoria rooms offer is also superior to the facilities most companies have in office boardrooms. The newest Regal hotel in its roster of Hong Kong properties is the 1,103-room Regal Airport Hotel. While neither in Kowloon nor on the Hong Kong Island, general manager Mr Brett Butcher says the major selling point for C&M organisers is the size of events that can be hosted at the hotel. "For a large conference or event we would be prepared to set aside 400 or 600 rooms and we have the meeting space on-site to cater for that type of request," he says. The hotel has a 1,000sqm ballroom that can seat up to 1,300 theatre-style, 1,020 classroom, 320 in a boardroom set up and 300 in a U-shape. It can also seat up to 960 for a set dinner. There are also another seven function rooms that can cater from 50 to 190 theatre-style, 30 to 120 in a classroom, 20 to 25 in a boardroom or in a U-shape. These room can also seat 36 to 168 for a set dinner. "Business (because of our facilities) has been good in the hotel and we have now set up our own dedicated sales department," Mr Butcher says. The hotel also points out to prospective clients it has recently purchased 40,000 Airport Express Line (at a good volume discount, Mr Butcher says) daily return tickets that can be factored into a room rate upon request. The hotel has done this to get guests into central Hong Kong within 30 minutes of leaving the hotel. Mr Butcher also said he would be pleased if the persistent rumours in Hong Kong are true and a new purpose-built convention centre was to be built in the Chek Lap Kok precinct. "We would fully support any further development here, it can only be positive for the whole area," he says. But while the major players in Hong Kong freely admit business is down a little this year they are expecting C&M traffic to improve in the third quarter and for the first half of next year, if early bookings are a guide. Another pleasing aspect for the industry is the apparent renewed interest in the industry from Cathay Pacific.