A moving event experience

Tag Archives: travel

The 49 participants in the recent “Cake Me Away” conference of cake decorators in Australia hugely enjoyed their four days of meetings, dining together and networking. Unusually though, the ground seemed to be moving under their feet.

That’s because they were on a ship, P&O’s Pacific Aria, on a four-day voyage from Sydney to Moreton Island, off Queensland, and back. The attendees of what was marketed as Australia’s first “cake cruise” were able to demonstrate their specialised skills, enjoy demonstrations and classes, formal night, themed fun night, trivia sessions, treasure hunt and a day exploring Moreton Island. Some guests chose to bring along their partners, family and friends who joined in the non-conference activities.

Prices for the package included all meals and started off at $1,249 per person twin share.

“The staff on the ship were amazing, nothing was ever a problem for them,” says Blair Olsen, one of the chief organisers.

“There was always someone around to help with whatever we needed. The conference rooms on board [the Bondi and Noosa] and the Torquay theatre were well equipped and in close proximity to the atrium and reception areas, which made access to staff easy.”

Indeed it was so easy to hold the event and everyone enjoyed it so much that the group immediately booked two more floating conferences with P&O – for February and October 2017. And they are now seeking to arrange a similar event for their Kiwi counterparts.

“Cake Me Away Cruises” is the brainchild of Christine Kerr of The Raspberry Butterfly cake-decorating school in Newcastle, New South Wales. Cake decorating cruises have been happening in the US for a few years and Christine was keen to sail off on one. But it was too pricy to travel to the States, so she decided to organise an Australian version, says Blair. Christine approached P&O’s conference people, who helped put the icing on the arrangements.

One scribe penned this on the site’s Facebook page: “Loved every minute of it. Great work by the team to pull it all together so well.” Another said: “I had the best time, learnt heaps, made friends and I will be on the next one, see you then.”

The feedback must be encouraging for P&O in Australia, which last year began to offer conference space and services on the sister ships Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden in discrete, dedicated conference rooms. With all-in costs of AUD 250 to AUD 300 per person per day – including all meals, the conference venue including AV, and a dedicated groups specialist in Sydney to assist with organisation – demand is reportedly growing strongly.

The cruise line has already doubled its 2015 booking numbers in 2016, with six months of the year remaining, says P&O Corporate Groups Sales Manager Rebecca Mutanen (pictured left).

“Interest for the rest of the year is strong – our challenge is that we need more cruises to offer clients,” she says.

“The Noosa and Bondi rooms have a partition that can be opened up to create a larger space, so the ships can accommodate up to 180 guests for an event,” says Riccardo Garbin, Administration and Revenue Director for P&O who spoke to The Siteseer onboard. “We also cater for many larger incentive groups, which are very popular on all ships.”

More info:

www.pocruises.com.au

mice@pocruises.com.au

Through the picture window in your rail carriage, the red plains of Central Australia flow past as the sun sets over the outback. Soon you’re enjoying aperitifs with your work colleagues and preparing for dinner in an elegant lounge and dining car.

Your three-course meal includes kangaroo steaks, saltwater barramundi and a rich Australian shiraz. Later, when you retire to your private cabin, a marvel of comfort and compaction, looking forward to an exciting few days of exploration ahead, you fall asleep easily to the rattle and sway of the train.

This scenario is an easily accessible experience down under on The Ghan, one of the three legendary trains operated by the Great Southern Rail company. It owns The Ghan (Adelaide-Alice Springs-Darwin), Overland (Melbourne-Adelaide) and Indian Pacific (Sydney-Adelaide-Perth) rail journeys. The latter is reputed to be the only transcontinental train linking two oceans in the world.

In particular The Ghan, which takes its name from 19th Century Afghan camel drivers who helped explore the interior, is an increasingly popular venue for incentive organisers, according to Damien Wolff, Business Development Manager – Groups and Niche for Great Southern Rail.

The train traverses the continent from Adelaide to Darwin via Alice Springs on a three-day, two-night journey,and Great Southern Rail works with Australia’s Northern Territory Convention Bureau to develop special rail-and-land itineraries for incentive groups travelling the route.

The offers are in respect of the train’s “Platinum” offer, the highest level of service aboard which includes a private cabin with double or twin bedding, en-suite bathroom, in-room breakfast if you want it, all meals and beverages as well as a variety of off-train excursions centred mostly around Katherine and Alice Springs.

The Platinum club lounge (pictured) can be arranged as an exclusive space when all the Platinum cabins are booked by a group, says Damien. There’s a discrete lounge area for meetings as well as a flexible dining room.

“The Ghan has scheduled stops that include Katherine, where you can take a cruise along Nitmiluk Gorge or a helicopter flight, and Alice Springs where guests can take a walking tour of Simpsons Gap, visit the fantastic Alice Springs desert park or a tour on camels,” Damien says.

A typical itinerary put together by the NT Convention Bureau and incorporating a ride on The Ghan can look something like this:

DAY ONE

Arrive at Alice Springs. Visit a local gallery and lunch with Indigenous artists. Take a bike ride, meet local wildlife at the Alice Springs desert park or play eighteen holes on a desert course. Dinner is a barbecue at the foot of the Eastern MacDonnell Ranges. Entertainment includes a cattleman’s demonstration and line-dancing.

DAY TWO

Early hot-air balloon flight followed by champagne breakfast. Visit Simpsons Gap for lunch created by an Indigenous chef, followed by a guided walk through the National Park. Dine and be entertained at the Cultural Precinct theatre in the evening.

DAY THREE

Fly to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and check into an eco-sensitive resort. Options include a Harley Davidson ride around Uluru or participation in a dot-painting workshop. A ride on desert camels sets the scene for a dinner finale under the stars.

DAY FOUR

Take a cultural guided walk around Uluru. Enjoy some poolside time or get off the beaten track with an offroad four-wheel drive experience. (Trips can include a night at Kings Canyon with a degustation dinner under the stars and a helicopter ride.)

DAY FIVE

Board The Ghan. Settle in and take in the views of the outback with a glass of Australian wine in hand. Liaise with colleagues.

DAY SIX

In the morning explore the Nitmiluk Gorge in Katherine. Cruise along ancient waterways be inspired by Aboriginal art and dreamtime stories. Enjoy restaurant-quality lunch back on board before arriving in Darwin that evening.

Platinum from AUD $2,549

In the high season from April to November, Ghan “Platinum” fares per person are advertised on its website as AUD 2,549 from Adelaide to Alice Springs or vice versa, or from Alice Springs to Darwin or vice versa. (Low season: AUD 2,289). High season Platinum fares from Adelaide to Darwin or vice versa are AUD 3,699 per person.

Platinum cabins are almost twice the size of the train’s Gold Twin arrangements and by day can be configured as a private lounge with lounge seating, a table and two ottomans. By night the lounges convert to double or twin beds. Vegetarian, kids’ and special meals are available when making bookings. The Platinum Service fare includes breakfasts, two-course lunches and three-course dinners.

See more at www.greatsouthernrail.com.au.

Or contact Damien Wolff at Damien.wolff@gsr.com.au.

If you’re arranging an event overseas, plan for everything that could conceivably go belly-up – before you get on the plane, train, automobile or ship. That’s the heartfelt advice from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

In an interview with The Siteseer in March, a DFAT spokesperson outlined fresh crisis planning guidelines for events organisers. And PCOs ignore them at their peril, she warns, pointing to instances in which operators have failed to do due basic diligence – in their planning or when considering how to respond to crisis situations effectively – with dire consequences.

At worst these situations can lead to employees and clients being left to fend for themselves in dangerous situations. Equally as bad, the damage to reputation caused by the performance of personnel when plans are derailed in a crisis can put the business’s existence in jeopardy, she says. “A mishandled crisis response can severely impact a company’s reputation.”

On the other hand, good planning and a willingness to communicate and act decisively can help. The spokesperson points to a tour operator in Africa who was involved in an incident that resulted in injuries and fatalities. Awful as it was, it could have been even worse. The operators’ staff took full responsibility for managing the situation – liaising with family members, monitoring their clients’ treatment and organising transfers to better equipped hospitals as soon as possible.

“They were able to respond quickly as they knew local emergency response arrangements and understood their limitations,” says the DFAT spokesperson. “And one of the key elements that facilitated the speed of their response was the mandatory requirement for their clients to have travel insurance.”

The tour company had good communication links with key people and had developed strong relationships with insurance providers so they were able to liaise with them quickly and effectively for support. They’d also established a direct line of contact with the Australian embassy. This strategy meant stakeholders were kept informed at all times, and they released media statements early, outlining the action they’d taken, which helped provide comfort.

The story demonstrates, yet again, that events planners need to know who to contact on the ground locally and in Australia if a crisis unfolds. Establish clear lines of communication that are clearly understood ahead of time – as well as backup options if a crisis results in communication “outages,” the spokesperson advises.

“The greatest value of contingency management isn’t only gained from the final plan, but also from the process of developing it. It allows the organisation to consider risks, how they’ll mitigate them and how they’ll respond, and importantly, to test their assumptions. [It means] employees will have a better understanding of response arrangements and what their roles are in a crisis.

“In our experience [when interacting with companies], it becomes immediately evident which organisations have embedded crisis response planning in their day-to-day business activities.”

DFAT provides up-to-date practical advice through its Smartraveller website, smartraveller.gov.au, and there’s a specific page for business travellers.

“All travel carries risks, even short-term travel to familiar overseas locations for meetings and conferences,” she adds. “Businesses should develop well-considered emergency plans based on an all-hazards approach that takes into account the full range of scenarios that could affect their employees and clients.

“I encourage MICE organisers to subscribe to the Smartraveller business travellers page and keep themselves informed.”

If you line up 20 boxes that Bangkok ticks that places like Singapore, KL and Sydney don’t, it wins on price, food, service, luxury and setting, says this hotelier. And the City of Angels has one other, matchless attribute.

“If you’re bringing eighty or a hundred people to a conference and you tell them it’s in Bangkok or Thailand, they’ll be excited,” says Paul Counihan, Cluster Director of Sales and Marketing for the Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort and Spa.

“On the other hand if you say it’s in Bhutan or KL, they might decide to give it a miss. That’s because Thailand has an allure that makes it a wonderful choice for MICE decision-makers.”

Paul Counihan (pictured) should know. The engaging, effervescent 36-year-old is a career hotelier who admits to having started pulling pints when he was 14 years old in his native Ireland.

He’s lived and worked in Bangkok for the past nine years, and in his current post has helped make the Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort – a sprawling, leafy resort on the banks of the Chao Phraya River – a five-star property that challenges brands like Peninsula and Shangri-la for luxury and service.

Thanks in part to Bangkok’s growing international appeal, the Anantara Riverside is attracting unprecedented levels of business and enquiries, Paul says. “The number of events we’ve hosted recently or that we have booked in is extraordinary.”

Recently a global pharmaceutical company had their annual conference at the hotel. It’s also hosted a German car manufacturer’s Asia-Pacific team, an airline’s internal meeting and launch, and a clean energy organisation among others.

Another key reason for his property’s – and Thailand’s – success as a MICE destination is price, Paul observes. The feedback he and colleagues are getting from clients in Australia, Singapore and elsewhere is that with the current economic and political uncertainty in the world, organisers are seeking to cut costs, while wanting to reward their people with great incentives at the same time.

‘Cheap as chips’

Room rates at Anantara Riverside Bangkok including all taxes, services and gourmet breakfast served on the hotel’s serene riverside terrace start at 5,000 Thai baht (about USD 140). Day conference rates range from USD 50 per person and delegates can upgrade up to USD 100 per person per day if they want to tailor-make the experience with, for example, additional servies like in-room baristas.

“In a city like Sydney you’d be paying $450 per night at a minimum to get into a place anything like this, with all additions on top of that,” says Paul. “We do fantastic private gala dinners for clients with over 20 live stations and 30 chefs serving, for around USD 50 per head; that’s cheap as chips.

“I’ve been in Bangkok for almost ten years and I want to cry sometimes at the prices I confirm for our premises, because it’s such good value! If I go to a meeting in Singapore and pay three times in a four-star hotel that I’m paying for a five-star suite on the river at Anantara, I’m reminded again that Bangkok is a winner.”

This may all help explain why the Anantara Riverside, a pleasant shuttleboat jaunt away from the centre of Bangkok, is seeing growth in events business that would normally have gone to Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands and other such destinations.

“We’re seeing more quoting up against other international cities than ever before,” Paul says.

The hotel is the flagship of the Anantara brand (owned by the Minor International group), which now operates 35 resorts in 11 countries.

With 408 bedrooms, which recently benefited from a USD $20 million upgrade, it’s set on 11 acres with 1,200 trees and 283 plant varieties growing on site. From the walkways of the lavish gardens and rooms, the Chao Phraya River and its teeming boat traffic are invariably visible.

The 12 meeting venues, spanning more than 3,000 square metres, all have natural light and include a grand ballroom that can comfortably seat 600 and which recently also underwent a million-dollar upgrade.

Avani opening next door

These spaces will be complemented by the addition of Avani Riverside, a new hotel, events and shopping precinct (opening scheduled April 2016) located adjacent to Anantara Riverside Bangkok. The $90 million Avani complex has 26 storeys, and when entirely complete will have 68 bars, restaurants and shops, and meeting facilities of 4,500 square metres (the new ballroom is pictured below). Each of the 248 Avani guest rooms and suites will have uninterrupted river and city views, Paul says.

Avani hotels, also owned by the Minor group, are what Paul describes as lifestyle, contemporary and international-style properties while Anantara represents more of a retreat and an experience – “luxury, relaxation and cultural experience of the location”. Avani is the first purpose-built hotel that Minor’s created worldwide.

“Meanwhile we’re developing an Avani in Perth, on Australia’s Gold Coast, and we’ve got 12 in Africa, having taken over half the Sun hotel group last year.”

Paul recognises that, now more than ever in the MICE market, corporate people are making big budgetary decisions when opting where to put their key people together for four or five days for an event. “Corporations see it as an opportunity to get two, a hundred or a thousand people in a room because that helps drive their business for the next year and beyond.

“We take the product we offer seriously, to create the right environment in which to conduct business and reward people, entertaining delegates and giving them a fantastic experience.”

For example at Anantara Riverside Bangkok the outdoor terrace has its own purpose-built stage and a light show, and executives can arrange to have private breakfasts on the river for up to 80 colleagues, he adds. Helping to ensure the success of tailor-made events are 630 staff. “It’s their dedication and service, which comes from the heart, that defines their work and our reputation. Their welcome is authentic and it’s what international guests expect.”

bangkokriverside@anantara.com

The Millennium Hilton Bangkok looks directly over the Chao Phraya River, which snakes through the heart of the Thai capital. From all its 533 rooms, especially those on the upper floors of the 32 storeys, guests have spectacular views of the teeming life of the waterway.

There are plenty of hotels in Bangkok, and some are located near the Chao Phraya. So what’s special about this one? The resort-like attributes of the property are a big drawcard, explains General Manager Heidi Kleine-Möller, pictured below left.

“Staying in this kind of atmosphere, with a view of the river and its life is something visitors don’t usually find in other hotels in the city,” says Heidi. “European MICE clients coming to Bangkok tell me they prefer this kind of experience to the shopping-mall set-up they see elsewhere. That may be on reason our occupancies are so good.”

Though it’s not set precisely in the centre of Bangkok, the hotel is well connected to all parts of the city via the waterway and skytrain, and close to many local points of interest, shopping places and a bustling night market. It operates its own shuttle boats.

Another drawcard is splendid meetings facilities – high-ceilinged ballrooms (the Grand and Junior) which can seat over 700 guests and spacious pre function spaces. The hotel has 13 breakout rooms, ten of which are on the thirtieth floor with natural light and river views, says Assistant Director Marketing Communications Suteera (“Pui”) Chalermkarnchana, pictured below right.

Meetings clients have several choices of dinner venues. The ThreeSixty Lounge is an indoor- outdoor place that works well for welcome receptions. Delegates can dine here while taking in spectacular views of the Bangkok skyline. The Flow restaurant, an airy eatery looking directly out onto the river, serves a vast buffet and is flanked by an adjacent cheese room.

THB 1,500 meetings package

Yet another drawcard is price. The rack rate for rooms online (depending on dates) starts at around USD 125. A recent full-day meetings package offer for THB 1,500 (about USD 40) included two coffee breaks and lunch, all AV gear, water, mints and Internet access.

Of particular benefit to events guests, says Pui, is HiltonLink, a free service that makes it easy for individual clients to control their arrangements, enabling them to book online using the group rate they’ve secured.

“They have the option of building a custom web page or we can provide them with a booking link in up to 23 languages,” says Pui. “Then they simply share their link with their guests – send it in an email or post on other sites to spread the word.”

Many of the hotel’s MICE business these days comes from government and embassy clients, the IT industry medical and pharmaceutical companies and bridal parties, says Heidi. The hard-working staff spend much of their time “making the impossible possible,” as when they worked overnight recently to set up an Oktoberfest function, or when 400 people arrived for a dinner when fewer than that had been catered for.

“It’s about flexibility and how willing you are to make the impossible happen,” Heidi says. “Our attitude is of course we can do it. How we’ll do it is our problem.”

As a result the hotel is on the “TripAdvisor Hall of Fame” for consistently achieving good traveller reviews. “The five-day event was professionally slick and ran seamlessly and, most importantly, we received very positive feedback from our internal and external guests,” wrote one client. “We are pleased to share that our guests had had only good comments and positive feedback regarding the Hilton Millennium Bangkok.”

Siteseer says:

This is an elegant, comfortable good-value hotel in a spectacular location with excellent food, facilities and staff. But Hilton should review its irksome policy of charging guests for Internet access in rooms.

For more information, click here, or email bangkok.reservations@hilton.com.

The Siteseer was a paying guest of the Millennium Hilton Bangkok.

To the denizens of Hong Kong, time is money, and a minute lost is a potential step away from fortune. As locals will tell you, that’s the main reason the city never sleeps and its streets are constantly busy.

It’s also why the very upmarket five-star Hyatt Regency in Tsim Sha Tsui, set among the towering skyscrapers of the Kowloon Peninsula, has a strategy to keep its staff happy and motivated. It’s the most effective way to ensure guests get what they need, when they want it.

“Every minute counts in Hong Kong,” explains Mandy Law (left, main picture), the hotel’s Director of Sales. “We know that motivated staff supply the professional, friendly and prompt service that business guests expect and keeps them coming back.”

To help ensure they stay committed, the hotel’s employees enjoy flexibility in many of their working arrangements and managers make support and encourage them at every opportunity. “We have empathy interviews, for example, and really listen to what they want,” says Marketing Communications Manager Karen Ching (pictured right, with General Manager Richard Simmons). “And we make a special effort to treat casuals just as well. The benefits are real. The feedback we always get is ‘I feel like I’m treated as a person when working here’.”

Feedback from MICE guests, similarly, shows that the approach works well, Mandy says. One guest wrote: “The event service [people] did not only work on keeping the organisers happy, they cared for the participants’ wellbeing. They took ownership of our event to do the best for all present, regardless of whether they were VIPs, organisers or just participants . . . which for me personally was very touching.”

Classily furnished

Located in the Tsim Sha Tsui business and tourist district, this is a classic Hyatt establishment, many of whose 381 elegant and understated rooms have a panoramic view of the city’s harbour.

It has four restaurants and occupies levels three to 24 of the mixed-use complex K11, one of the tallest buildings in Kowloon. There’s direct access to two subway (MTR) stations in the complex.

From here it takes 20 minutes to travel to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and 50 minutes to Mainland China via the MTR.

The Regency executive club arrangement, whose guest rooms occupy three floors, gives access to daily complimentary buffet breakfasts, an all-day coffee and tea service, and substantial evening canapés and cocktails in the exclusive lounge.

Pillarless ballroom

The hotel has 590 square metres of meeting space on the lobby level, including a 335-square-metre pillarless ballroom, the Regency, which has a five-metre ceiling. It can accommodate up to 400 guests and be partitioned into two venues. Meanwhile five “salons” can be configured to provide flexibility for planners arranging smaller events. With floor-to-ceiling windows, the pre-function area and most of the salons are flooded with natural light, which Karen Ching says keep attendees fresh during meetings.

In line with what some other upmarket properties are now offering, the Hyatt supplies a free smartphone in each room, giving guests unlimited local and international calls to the US, UK, Australia, Singapore, China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan, unlimited 3G Internet access, interactive maps, a city guide as well as a list of offers across Hong Kong.

Green initiatives

The hotel recently won a medal in the “GreenPlus Award 2015” for a variety of initiatives to embrace CSR. “More and more people are asking about our green initiatives,” says Mandy Law.

These include installing LED lights and water-saving devices in rooms, accessing an “aquaponics” food production system that grows fish and herbs together, recycling glass and plastic, and replacing gas steam cabinets with electric versions in kitchens, allowing steam to pre-heat water for dishwashing machines. This Hyatt participates in a sustainable seafood program and no longer serves shark’s fin.

Meeting package: US 112

The Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui offers a variety of packages aimed at the business tourism sector. The recent “Executive Meeting Plan” started from HK$868 (US$112) per person, including lunch, coffee breaks, AV support and equipment. The online rack rate for rooms is around USD 275, but planners are urged to contact the reservations people to discuss options.

Visit hongkong.tsimshatsui.hyatt.com, call +852 3721 1333 or email hongkong.tsimshatsui@hyatt.com.

Hong Kong is overcrowded, often smoggy, clogged with traffic and nobody there gives a damn about the environment. Right?

Wrong actually. As travellers’ enthusiasm for green products and services grows unabated, more and more hotel and meetings facility operators in this beehive of a city are embracing environmental credentials to meet the expectations of MICE visitors – and help give the seven-a-half million inhabitants a vision of a sustainable future.

The autonomous Chinese territory is one of the most densely populated places on the planet. Yet, in addition to its other virtues, more local operators are promoting the fact that about three-quarters of it is countryside, with easily accessible walking trails and islands.

“Not far from the commercial district, as close as a five-minute cab ride, visitors can enjoy the silence of a country trail or take in the views of the harbour from a ferry to an outlying island,” says Gregory So Kam-leung, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, writing in the South China Morning Post recently. “Few cities have dense urban and commercial districts within such easy reach of harbour and hillsides.”

Eaton example

One hotel property that’s proud of its sustainability credentials is the four-star Eaton, in the city’s Kowloon area to the north of Victoria Harbour. Last year it won a gold award in the Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence (and other accolades), in recognition of its efforts to cut waste and source sustainable food.

Why? With 465 guest rooms and ten meetings and events venues, the Eaton has recognised that it makes good business (its occupancy rate is typically 80% to 90%) and environmental sense to make genuine efforts to be sustainable.

One noteworthy achievement is its investment in a drinking water purification system that removes bugs from H2O and allows glass bottles to be sterilised, refilled and reused and sealed in guest bedrooms. It’s already helped the hotel eliminate the use and disposal of 350,000 plastic bottles a year, says Environmental Officer Katrina Cheng (pictured below, right).

“Waste in a small territory like Hong Kong [1,100 square kilometres] is a big concern,” says Katrina. “It’s becoming an issue for hotel guests and MICE clients in particular expect us to acknowledge and do something about it.”

Shark’s fin soup, which represents a growing environmental issue across Asia, has been removed from the Eaton’s menus, which Katrina acknowledges has had some impact on the F&B business, but “it’s an important step for us”.

The hotel gets its seafood from sources that are reliably certified as sustainable and insists on buying Fair Trade products wherever possible. These feature in its “Green Meetings” package, offered standard with no premium, which includes “low-carbon menus,” “Fair Trade coffee breaks,” waste recycling and so on.

The list doesn’t end there. The hotel provides refillable dispensers in bathrooms, LED lighting, acoustic wall panels in bedrooms made from recycled materials and “low-carbon dining options”. Each year 300 staff volunteer for a beach clean-up day and other community service activities. “We all take it very seriously,” says Katrina.

Complimentary enticements

In addition to pushing its green credentials, the hotel seeks to add value to keep customers coming back, says Public Relations and Communications Manager Erica Chan (pictured above, left). Residents can enjoy complimentary walking tours of local shopping precincts like Temple Street and the Jade Market, take a free daily tai chi class and use on-the-house smartphones in every bedroom offering free mobile data, local calls and international calls to selected countries, says Erica.

There’s a roof-top outdoor pool and well-equipped gym, and an executive lounge arrangement, the “E Club,” aimed primarily at the business tourist sector, six restaurants and an alfresco bar. The E-Club guests are served free beers all day, free cocktails and canapes in the evenings, and can take their breakfast at an exclusive buffet in the lounge.

“We’re in a great location three minutes’ walk from the Jordan subway station in Kowloon, which tends to offer a more authentic Hong Kong experience than Hong Kong Island which is more commercialised,” says Erica.

Ten function facilities

The ten function rooms include three ballrooms, one of which can accommodate up to 500. The hotel’s events business is roughly split between local companies and delegates from southeast Asian countries – Singapore in particular – as well as Australia and the UK, says Erica.

“We deal with a lot of pharmaceutical companies. They can be demanding customers but we like that; it’s a challenge and keeps everyone sharp.”

Though some critics of Hong Kong point to higher room rates than those in other southeast Asian nations like Cambodia and Vietnam, there’s much to recommend it, especially for shorter (two- to three-day) events, observe Erica Chan and Katrina Cheng.

As a business, financial and trading centre, Hong Kong is accessible to about half the world’s population via a flight of five hours or less. The public transport system is cheap and one of the best in Asia. Entry is hassle-free, with visa-free access for about 170 countries.

And finding the right venues at the right price is not difficult. Hong Kong has some 74,000 hotel rooms and tourism authorities expect another 10,000 to come on stream by 2017. That may explain why the number of overnight MICE visitors increased from 1.2 million in 2009 to 1.8 million in 2014, even though leisure tourism numbers have declined slightly in recent months.

Another drawcard, according to local journalist Yonden Lhatoo, writing in the South China Morning Post, is that Hong Kong is the safest city in the world, with a good, corruption-free police force. “The can-do spirit is for real,” he says.

Meetings packages from HKD 350 a day

Meetings packages at the Eaton Hotel including coffee breaks, break-out facilities, lunch and AV equipment start from around HKD 350 (USD 45) a day and the rack rate for the rooms is around USD 200.

For more information, go to hongkong.eatonhotels.com.

The air is dense and humid in this green and tranquil place. I pass a glassy lake flanked by lawns and broad-leafed trees. Now I find myself in a garden of vivid orchids, approaching a serene colonial house whose windows are framed by Asian screens and shutters.

Where am I? In the heart of the pristine, 74-hectare Singapore Botanic Gardens. In more than 150 years of existence, this urban oasis has become one of the world’s centres of expertise for breeding hybrid orchids, survived the interference of Japanese wartime occupiers and been listed as a World Heritage spot.

It’s also developed a reputation for being a charming events venue. The structure ahead of me, Burkill Hall (main image, courtesy National Parks Board), named after a former director of the gardens, is becoming hugely popular as a place for corporate functions, product launches and weddings, say marketers.

The only surviving example of an Anglo-Malayan Plantation style house in the city, with high ceilings, wide eaves and broad verandas on the first floor, it overlooks the National Orchid Garden, where new hybrids and clones of orchids and ornamental plants are displayed. Level one can accommodate 80 people, and level two can take 100.

Nearby, with a capacity for up to 180 guests in seminar-style seating, the Function Hall is used mainly for conferences, workshops, exhibitions and retreats.

Each booking here must be made for a minimum of four hours – including time for catering and setup and tear down.

In addition, a function room can host up to 50 seated seminar-style.

Part of the facility’s charm is that it’s a significant spot in the history of Singapore and the region, and the serenity of the gardens belies their tumultuous history. Within a few days of the Japanese occupation, which lasted from 1942 to 1945, Professor Hidezo Tanakadate of Japan’s Tohoku University assumed control of the property and asked some of the senior staff to resume their work. Other staff were not as fortunate, and were sent to work on the Siam-Burma railway. (Image above courtesy National Parks Board)

Orchid obsessions

In addition, a tour of the orchid gardens makes for a genuinely interesting pre- or post-conference activity. Orchids, bred here since 1928, are among the world’s most complex and ubiquitous plants, growing wild on every continent except Antarctica. Some orchid blooms have a perfume-like scent; others stink like rotting meat. One can grow to weigh two tons; another has flowers smaller than a pinhead.

USD 400 an hour

The rate for Burkill Hall and the other venues is extremely reasonable. The hourly cost of hiring the hall, including 7% GST, is just S$560 (USD 400) an hour, for a minimum of four hours, and the other venues are available for less.

Go here for more details:

https://www.sbg.org.sg/images/Venue%20Hire/Venues%20Rental%20Rate.pdf

Visit the gardens’ website at www.sbg.org.sg, or contact NParks_SBG_Venues@nparks.gov.sg.

A spate of reports about people behaving badly on planes and the arrival of a “PassengerShaming” Facebook page serve as timely reminders to business travellers that being rude to flight attendants can have repercussions.

It’s a sad and sobering truth that in the reminiscences of flight crew, business travellers – perhaps because of their imagined self-importance – often feature.

But staff have a variety of methods of getting even.

High wind areas
At the end of a demanding flight, according to David Sedaris, a scribe for The New Yorker, some attendants indulge in the practice of “cropdusting,” silently passing wind as they walk down the aisle. Annoying passengers are prime targets.

Captains’ call

Author Gigi Wolf recalls that flight attendants in the now-defunct airline Pan Am would routinely doctor bullying pilots’ coffee with Visine eye drops, renowned for causing “terrible” diarrhoea.

“If I was a pilot, I’d bring my own thermos and a lunch box from home,” she writes.

Or a captain might have his coffee laced with some of the liquid that flight service staff poured into empty ice buckets. This evil cocktail comprised left-over melted ice water, coffee and other dregs that attendants threw down the toilets – once the ice buckets were full – because the garbage containers leaked.

“The ice bucket had a little of everything in it,” she writes, “like minestrone soup. Getting some of this vile concoction in your coffee makes spitting in a customer’s plate at a restaurant seem innocuous.”

Contaminating drinks is a common theme. Ellen Simonette, author of Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant: The Queen of Sky Blog, writes about the time a colleague took revenge on an abusive business traveller by making him “a very special drink” in the galley, rubbing the rim of his glass on the plane’s filthy floor before serving it with a smile. “Looks like you’re finally getting what you deserved, sir,” she said.

Another ploy is to place a full bottle of water in the horizontal position with the lid off on the seat of a troublesome passenger when they get up to visit the bathroom. They usually don’t realise their trousers are wet until they’ve sat down again.

Digital dishonour

Bill Haymaker writes online that, years ago, he was evaluating service on a flight between Bahrain and London when a man lifted his thobe – an ankle-length robe – and exposed himself to a young stewardess, who was so distressed she wept.

“We moved down the aisle to where the lone passenger was. I made certain he was looking at us when I gesticulated to the man by pointing to him and then holding up my hand and lifting my ‘pinkie’ finger, wiggling it to signify the diminutive and homuncular nature of …er, um…something.

“My colleague then looked at the man . . . also holding up her hand and wiggling her pinkie finger, so as to acknowledge I was suggesting something involving the passenger was nanoscopic.”

The man appeared to be “stewing” afterwards, and was met by police when the plane landed at Heathrow.

Celebrities are not immune. A steward and fellow crew on a US airliner once took their revenge on actress Faye Dunaway.When Dunaway turned up at JFK airport with a coach ticket to London and her demands for an upgrade were refused she allegedly became enraged.

“She was . . . screaming at everyone and saying, ‘Don’t you know who I am?’,” the stewardess said. As a result Dunaway was seated at the front of the economy section on purpose so she could see that there were seats free in business and first class, making her even more furious.

Infamous meltdown

It’s hardly surprising some attendants blow up, therefore. One famous incident involved Steven Slater, a flight attendant of JetBlue airlines, who in 2010 had an argument with a passenger during boarding at Pittsburgh.

According to witnesses, he grabbed the intercom and said: “To the passenger who called me a ***, *** you . . . I’ve had it. That’s it.” He activated the emergency exit and slid down the inflatable slide onto the tarmac.

He then boarded a train to the terminal, stripping off his tie and discarding it, to the astonishment of onlookers. He was later arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.

Damned by faint praise

On other occasions crew take their frustrations out on their employers. One traveller was flying into Denver some years ago. While the plane was taxiing to the gate the attendant added the following to his normal flight patter: “We know you had the choice of flying on many bankrupt airlines today, but we thank you for choosing [ours], the number-one bankrupt airline in on-time arrivals.”

Airline staff do it tough, and not just in their punishing schedules. According to a Hong Kong-based Equal Opportunities Commission, some 27% of air hostesses said they’d been sexually harassed while on duty in flight over the past 12 months, while nearly half had witnessed or heard about it happening to a colleague.

So the next time you’re tempted to snap at one of these hardworking people, remember that their patience is not endless and there could be unforeseen consequences. You could end up on the PassengerShaming site on Facebook where some of the pictures of passengers are, well, shameful.

Or worse.

Meetings on ships are easy to arrange, cost-effective and exciting, and there are more benefits aboard than ever, says Joyce Landry (below), CEO and co-founder of cruise events specialist company Landry & Kling. The Florida-based industry pioneer talked to The Siteseer about her business and what’s on offer.

The Siteseer: Are you really finding there’s more interest in meetings afloat these days?

Joyce Landry: Yes, meetings and incentive planners are looking for new experiences and more opportunities to boost motivation and loyalty. At the same time they’re challenged to demonstrate strong return on investment and return on engagement [ROE], often with tough time and budget constraints. An event at sea delivers it all – great experiences, creative meeting spaces and with multi-generational appeal, and it’s all-inclusive and easy to plan.

SS: Tell us a bit about your company.

JL: My partner Jo Kling and I are former cruise line executives who shared a common vision back in 1982: to bring cruising and the corporate world together. Our company was the first resource for business meetings on cruise ships, and that’s still our primary focus more than thirty years later. We provide cruise solutions and custom cruise planning for ship buy-outs, incentives, cruise meetings, theme cruises and dockside ship charters. We’re the only cruise event specialist that’s been inducted into the Cruise Lines International Association Hall of Fame.

One of our specialties is cruise ship charters. We also originated the concept of using chartered cruise ships as floating hotels to provide supplemental dockside housing during big city events, like the 2009 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad.

SS: What’s new in the industry?

JL: Well Asia-Pacific cruising is booming! For example Royal Caribbean International signed a deal recently with the Singapore Tourism Board and Changi Airport Group to promote and launch more cruises than ever from Singapore. Royal Caribbean also plans to increase the number of departures from Singapore on Mariner of the Seas [which can accommodate over 4,000 passengers] to more than forty a year.

Their new ship,Ovation of the Seas, will homeport in Sydney for winter 2016-17 and will be the largest and most technologically advanced cruise ship in the region. Meantime MSC Cruises is sending MSC Lira to China in early 2016 and may be building new ships for the Chinese market.Princess Cruises is also building a new ship that will be based in China year-round.

SS: What are the main advantages of using a specialised agency like yours?

JL: We’re not an all-purpose travel agency and we don’t work for any single line; we offer impartial cruise event advice and a menu of services – everything from ship selection and operational planning to onsite staffing and marketing support. Most members of our team have a background in the industry and we know what it takes to convert a land-based program to a cruise environment.

Over the years, we’ve established relationships with cruise lines and suppliers, and we have lots of creative ideas for customised experiences. We’re based in South Florida, widely known as being the cruise capital of the world, so we can inspect many ships and meet face-to-face with line executives on behalf of our clients.

SS: What are your most popular programs? Is there an “ideal” size for a conference or incentive group aboard, or length of cruise, in your experience?

JL: Our most popular events at sea are incentives, all types of meetings and conferences, as well as ship charters – anything from an executive retreat for fifty people to a 5,000-person convention. The length of cruise programs are typically four to seven nights, with most top-tier incentive programs on new or “ultra-premium” ships sailing for seven nights.

We’re always on the lookout for outstanding short cruise itineraries and last-minute charter opportunities to share with clients. We keep an updated list of these short cruises on the Cruise Gems page on our site.

SS: What are the other benefits of conferencing afloat?

JL: [There are distinct trends like] enhanced onboard wifi capabilities and more competitive Internet service pricing, high-tech entertainment venues, more culinary options, celebrity chef partnerships and interactive dining experiences, and more outdoor spaces for eating, entertainment and sports. There are also more active and authentic adventures ashore, and exclusive private [“ship within a ship”] enclaves available for groups to book, like MSC’s Yacht Club concept, and “The Haven” concept on Norwegian Cruise Line vessels.

SS: Where does your clientele hail from, mostly? Are you finding they’re becoming more budget conscious?

JL: They span the globe, from North and South America and the Caribbean to Europe and Asia-Pacific. While we’re noticing a return to high-level incentives, planners are still watching their bottom line. The all-inclusive aspect of ships obviously make them an attractive alternative to land-based venues. Meals, entertainment, sports facilities, meetings space and AV equipment are all complimentary.

SS: Can you point to recent examples of successful events for which you’ve been responsible?

JL: Our website has some good meetings-at-sea stories, including the SKF Latin America Distributor Conference. This presented us with some onboard challenges that required creative solutions, like building plasma screen kiosks to showcase products that were too large to bring on board, sourcing a translation services company to provide simultaneous multilingual translations in meetings, and working with the ship’s staff and chief engineer to create a big farewell event on the sports deck.

We’ve also had great success in planning and operating music-themed charter programs, like The Livescape Group’s “It’s the Ship” festival (above), Asia’s largest music event at sea. [See the promo clip here: https://youtu.be/NuJ3xh1IyIo].

The 2014 event was very successful and the November 2015 sailing is quickly selling out. An estimated 3,100 electronic dance music fans are expected to be onboard Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas when she sails from Singapore for three nights of performances by dozens of international and regional acts.

SS: How does your ship selection process work?

JL: There are over 300 cruise ships sailing, so busy meeting planners simply don’t have time to sort through all the choices to find the best fit. That’s where we come in. We listen to clients, and research and recommend the best options based on their needs. We then use our knowledge and experience to get the best deals.

SS: What does the future hold?

JL: More than 30 new ships are currently on order, including mega-yachts, expedition ships and river vessels, and with cruise lines recognising the burgeoning international MICE market, I believe the future of meetings and incentives at sea couldn’t be brighter.

For more information visit landrykling.com,shipcharters.com or call +1(305) 661-1880.

See a clip of Joyce Landry giving some great packing tips here: https://youtu.be/vtokO8D-QDQ.

And Landry & Kling’s “Scuttlebutt” blog here: http://blog.landrykling.com/2015/08/25/meeting-at-sea-the-inside-scoop-for-planners-down-under/.