Alternate Venues for Functions

Beyond the sea

Right around the world, the opportunities are endless for conference organisers intent on bringing out the best for their events.

Competition is fierce for conference business and hotel chains know that organisers need more than a carpeted ballroom if they’re to be impressed. For just this reason, most hotel and resort groups are almost constantly planning or implementing refurbishment programs, new properties, cut rates, special deals, value-added extras – anything to get an organiser’s attention. It’s a buyer’s market and organisers are well and truly in the driver’s seat.

Fiji’s mainstay property for the conference and incentive travel sector, Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort, is undergoing a multimillion-dollar refurbishment and upgrade. Work commenced in late 2003 and was divided into four phases, with the second currently underway. The whole project is due for completion by the end of this year.

The first phase saw the opening of its 180 room Lagoon Wing. The resort’s traditional Fijian architecture is being retained and highlighted throughout the renovations. The 436 rooms are getting a contemporary new look and ground work has begun for the new $5 million, 650 square metre ballroom, which will be one of Fiji’s largest, seating up to 500 people for a banquet dinner. The ballroom will follow a traditional Fijian design for the exterior and have sweeping views of the resort’s nine hole golf course from its outdoor terrace.

>> Conference & meeting venues Fiji

The construction of the Chi spa has commenced in a secluded area of the resort, near the increasingly popular Seaside Wedding Chapel. Scheduled to open in October, the spa will cater for those who have a holistic approach to physical and spiritual wellbeing. It will feature eight individual treatment bures with uninterrupted views of the Pacific Ocean or the surrounding rainforest.

PRESTIGE PLACEMENT

Accor Hotels has launched a major expansion of their prestige Sofitel brand, which includes the Gold Coast and Brisbane properties mentioned elsewhere in this edition.

Accor also launched Sofitel in the South Pacific, with one of Fiji’s most exclusive resorts, the Sofitel Vomo Island Resort, joining the network in February. Set on 90 hectares of spectacular white sandy beaches and lush tropical gardens, the resort has 29 bures and is currently undergoing a major renovation.

Facilities at the resort include two restaurants, two bars, a swimming pool, nine hole par three golf course, tennis court and health spa, as well as a range of watersports and leisure activities, including some of Fiji’s best diving and snorkelling.

Construction of the Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa is currently well advanced on a prime waterfront location on Denarau Island, and is set to open in October. The hotel is being designed with distinctive Fijian features spread over 10 hectares of landscaped gardens.

It will comprise 296 rooms and suites, three restaurants and three bars, including a poolside restaurant and bar, the largest conference facilities in Fiji, a lagoon-style free-form pool, full service resort day spa, kids club, wedding chapel and retail outlets. Guests will be able to fully utilise the adjacent Denarau Golf and Racquet Club, which incorporates an 18 hole championship golf course and 10 tennis courts.

MEET THE ORIENT

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is the largest international upscale hotel chain in China, with 18 properties currently operating. This year marks 20 years since Starwood became the first international hotel company to sign a management contract in China with the Sheraton brand.

Starwood’s development growth in the last two years has surpassed all previous years, with the addition of 10 new hotels to the existing portfolio of 18 hotels in China. Upon opening, these new hotels will bring an additional 3,714 rooms to the Starwood portfolio in key and emerging business and resort destinations in China, bringing Starwood’s total upscale guestroom inventory in China to 11,809.

>> Conference & meeting venues Hong Kong

“China is the engine of growth for Asia and we intend to continue to be a major player. China is rapidly developing, not only in terms of domestic tourism, but also a feeder market with a population that is eager to travel the world,” says Miguel Ko, president of Asia-Pacific Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

“With 28 hotels open or under construction in 21 cities throughout China, under the St Regis, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton and W Hotels brands, we are well-positioned to cater to the growing number of international and domestic business and leisure travellers.”

A highlight of Starwood’s expansion in China is the introduction of new international brands, including the debut of W Hotels, the world’s fastest-growing collection of world-class design hotels in China, with the signing of W Hong Kong and W Shanghai.

RANGE OF PROPERTIES

Although cities like New York, London and Los Angeles have long had a stronghold on the world’s top design hotels, Starwood has identified enormous potential in developing this genre globally, with Asia presenting tremendous opportunities. Other new W hotels in Asia include the newly opened W Seoul Walkerhill.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts expanded its portfolio in China significantly since last year, with the opening of Sheraton hotels in Sanya on Hainan Island, known as the “Hawaii of the East”. Upcoming are such properties as the Sheraton Shenzhen Hotel, opening late this year; The Westin Beijing in late 2006; and the boutique W Hong Kong and W Pudong, Shanghai in late 2008.

Starwood is also consolidating its presence in Fiji with a $US22 million refurbishment of the Sheraton Resorts Denarau Island complex in Fiji. This includes the Sheraton Royal Denarau Resort, Sheraton Fiji Resort, Sheraton Denarau Villas and the Denarau Golf & Racquet Club.

The refurbishment program has commenced with the renovation and conversion of Sheraton Royal Denarau Resort to The Westin Resort & Spa Denarau Island. This will be followed by a complete makeover of the Sheraton Fiji Resort’s guestrooms, starting in mid 2005 with a completion date of July 2006. Upon completion of the refurbishment, Starwood Hotels & Resorts will be offering a choice of two world renowned hotel brands – Westin and Sheraton – in Fiji’s only integrated resort complex on Denarau Island.

ALL-INCLUSIVE MEETINGS

Club Med, operators of renowned all-inclusive resorts in such exotic locations as Australia’s Lindeman Island and Bora Bora in Tahiti, offers conference organisers the opportunity to “own” a Club Med village for a few days or weeks. Taking over a Club Med village on an exclusive basis allows a group to do what they want, when they want. The entire team of staff is on hand to help, events revolve around the company’s timetable, and with state-of-the-art AV, staging and conference facilities already in place, there are no added costs.

The most cost-effective part of the event may be the reduced planning time. Club Med books everything, with a simple all-inclusive pricing structure per delegate that covers air fares, taxes, transfers, accommodation, activities, tuition, and three meals a day with wine, beer and soft drinks.

And what better way to encourage teambuilding than to watch the multicultural Club Med team swing into action on your arrival? Not one of them will need a tip just to be friendly, helpful and co-operative.

One of the best things about Club Med is the range of destinations and experiences available: beach volleyball in Tahiti; bargaining in Bali; snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef; rainforest meets the beach at Cherating; golf in Ria Bintan; skiing in Japan; and sunning in the Maldives or Mauritius.

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

A little closer to home, corporate guests at many Chifley, Country Comfort and Australis hotels and resorts across Australia are able to utilise wireless technology to check e-mails and surf the Internet at broadband speed.

One of Australia’s leading hotel operators, Constellation Hotel Group, is providing Telstra Wireless Hotspots to connect guests and visitors with Wi-Fi enabled laptops and personal digital assistants in public areas such as lobbies, bars, restaurants and conference rooms.

>> Conference & function rooms Australia

An initial 19 metro-politan and regional hotels across Australia began switching on their Telstra Wireless Hotspots late last year, with the remaining 13 properties in the network following soon afterwards. Telstra Wireless Hot-spots are installed in selected Chifley Hotels in the areas of Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth, and Adelaide; selected Country Comfort Hotels in Albury, Sydney, Wagga Wagga, Coffs Harbour, Mudgee, Port Macquarie, Tamworth, Terrigal, Rockhampton and Greenway; and selected Australis Hotels in Noosa Lakes, Surfers Paradise and Coffs Harbour.

They will add to Telstra’s expanding network of Telstra Wireless Hotspots across Australia, which also includes all Qantas Club lounges, selected McDonald’s restaurants, and the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre. The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), an international alliance of carriers, also allows Telstra customers to connect at selected hotspots in China, Malaysia and Singapore, with a number of other overseas destinations to be added shortly.