Q1: How did the hotel market perform last year? What about the performance of your property?

Leo Leung: We completed last year with very positive numbers and have outperformed our expectations. Open for a total of 15 months, Hyatt Regency Shanghai, Wujiaochang is already well-known in the north of Shanghai due to well prepared market surveys and analysis, as well as the sales and marketing strategy since the hotel’s pre-opening. Tailor-made products also match the needs of the feeder market.

Michael Parker: Sanya in Hainan Island has shown strong growth in both domestic and international arrivals in 2016. This has been fueled by new air routes and growing awareness of Sanya’s tourism attractions. The extension to Sanya Phoenix Airport this year will ensure these strong growths continue.

Rosewood Sanya is the first ultra-luxury resort of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts in China’s mainland and our grand opening was on August 21, 2017. Despite only recently opening we have already seen strong business levels and good meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) enquires from home and abroad as Sanya’s reputation as an international destination grows.

Adriano Vences: Niccolo Chengdu occupies the city’s desirable and enviable address at the heart of the city’s central business and entertainment district.

As a contemporary urban chic hotel, Niccolo has already become the market leader in Chengdu.

We had very positive figures of our last year’s performance. International arrivals compare with last year increased 20 percent in our hotel. In June 2017, BRICS film festival was held successfully in Niccolo Chengdu. More luxury brands show interest to hold events in our hotel with the impressive location and wonderful views of the Sculpture Garden and city skyline as an enchanting backdrop for their events.

Grace Chen: MICE is a key market segment for the Seaview Resort Xiamen as the hotel is located beside scenic seashores with a seaview and 1 million square meters of landscape. We have a professional event team, excellent facilities and a total of 3,500 square meters of meeting space.

The 9th BRICS Summit was held in Xiamen during September 3-5, which let the world focus on this beautiful city. The city is at sea, the sea is in the city, Xiamen is such a garden city surrounded by the blue sea and the green trees.

With the better environment and more convenient transportation, we believe more and more companies will choose Xiamen as their MICE destination. As the appointed reception hotel of the 9th BRICS Summit, we are looking forward to taking the great chance and driving our MICE market in the near future.

Ho Hoy Sum: Based on the 2017 Yellow Mountain Tourism Board report, it was reported that Yellow Mountain is still the best traveling destination in China. Compared to 2015, visitor arrivals have increased by 11.17 percent. In 2016 the total visitors to Yellow Mountain was 51.871 million, contributing a total receipt of 45 billion yuan, an increase of 12.33 percent over 2015. Yellow Mountain is the place where visitors must visit, followed by Tunxi Old Street, Hongcun and Xidi Village, to name a few. Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces are the main feeder markets for Yellow Mountain, followed by Guangdong Province and Beijing. South Korea is the largest overseas tourist source country.

2016 is the second year Banyan Tree Huangshan has opened for business. Based on our statistics Banyan Tree Huangshan is getting more and more popular in the market, where occupancy has seen an increase of 4 percent over the previous year. Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province is our key feeder market, followed by Guangdong and Beijing. We have seen a shift in guest traveling habits; from flying to taking high-speed train or self-drive. The main reason that Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai is our biggest market could be due to our location from major cities. Hangzhou is just over a four-hour drive to our hotel and from Shanghai it’s around five and a half hours away. All the way the trip is scenic with mountain views of the traditional Chinese countryside. With such proximity our hotel does appeal to families, FITs (frequent independent travelers) or couples to come and spend a weekend at Banyan Tree Huangshan. Our hotel is located besides Lucun Village, an old historical Hui-style village, and surrounded by serene mountains offering a relaxing and peaceful stay all year round. In short it is a place where one can really enjoy a sense of romance and serenity.

Chris Dexter: Change is always constant. For the Wyndham Grand Plaza Royale Hangzhou last year, the G20 Summit has given further exposure to a global audience. The spotlight will be positive for the “little Switzerland” of China. We offered tailor-made products and packages to meet different guests’ needs, such as the LV opening ceremony, Rolls & Royce and Mclaren activities and we have a very good image and reputation in the market, growing both a potential influx of foreign visitors in the years to come and further MICE opportunities.

Q2: What will be your hotel’s development strategy over the next couple of years? And according to your perception, which particular segment will be the biggest contributor to your future revenue growth there?

Leo Leung: The hotel is the newest international branded hotel in the north of Shanghai. Yangpu District government has indicated its intention to encourage development of the Wujiaochang, New Jiangwan Town and North Bund areas, and future hotel business should benefit from this development.

The focus of our core business is on the international companies located in KIC community, the educational sector of surrounding universities, IT, trading, pharmaceutical, logistic/transportation and manufacturing industries. We will also capitalize on MICE business from the nearby districts of Baoshan, Hongkou, Putuo and Pudong’s Waigaoqiao, Jingqiao and Lujiazui, as well as the city center.

Michael Parker: Rosewood Sanya will offer a variety of guest experiences to create memorable, personal journeys and discoveries; experiences that are non-conventional yet exquisite and locally relevant. The experiences include tailored transfers, a special Sanya arrival experience, a sunrise breakfast at our lounge Hai and a chauffeured vintage motorbike with sidecar experience, to name but a few.

Our Breakers Club caters for children of all ages but focuses on fun and interactive activities, including pottery making, star gazing and even a water distillation activity, where kids can learn how to distil fresh water from sea water. Families and leisure guests are of course a very important part of the resort business and offering an environment that allows families and couples to spend quality time together to relax is essential.

Haitang Bay has seen an incredible amount of development over the last five years and is now competing with the more established areas on the island. We have the largest convention and meeting space in Haitang Bay and so the MICE segment is very important to us. The MICE market will continue to grow significantly and Haitang Bay in the years to come.

Adriano Vences: The typical client of Niccolo Chengdu includes business traveler, leisure traveler and families. They share a lot in common, for example, a taste of fashion and style, a quest of high-quality life and a pursuit of discovery. The types of clients change but their core common points don’t change always.

Leisure and family travel will become the biggest contributor to our future revenue growth as Chengdu is becoming more and more international, which brings the city a larger volume of travelers. The second airport is under construction and certainly will enlarge the market of the hotel industry.

Grace Chen: One of the trends is the rapid development of social media. The connection between the hotel and guests through the social media is closer. More and more guests search hotel information through social media and book hotels through mobile devices.

Secondly, the meeting styles are more and more creative. The organizer chooses different venues, different styles to make the meeting a successful and impressive one. In Seaview Resort Xiamen, besides the meeting rooms in different sizes, the unique 3000sqm of lawn with seascape, outdoor swimming poolside, luxury private villas are your best choice of a creative meeting.

Ho Hoy Sum: We will continue to develop the Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang markets and at the same time we will be targeting other big potential markets i.e. south of China such as the Guangdong Province and other main cities like Beijing and Tianjin. One of our main strategies is to develop the group segment, especially MICE. Banyan Tree is a well-known luxury brand, not just for leisure but also meeting groups too. Banyan Tree Huangshan is equipped with full meeting facilities: a grand ballroom, three function rooms and other venues for outdoor activities. Our hotel is easily accessible from the highway hence it is ideal for new product launches like education, healthcare, beauty care and automotive. It is ideally suitable for new car test driving. Banyan Tree Huangshan not only is a fantastic product but has a strong operation team to support any events. The hotel’s location is unmatched by any standards. Imagine sitting under a crystal blue sky, serene mountains and the historical Lucun Village next door, what a feeling that would be?

Chris Dexter: The move toward a service economy ensures a steady growth in all sectors of the business. It’s noticeable that where possible clients are wishing to experience areas of natural beauty, with minimal visitors around but maintain a high level of services.

We always offer high service quality and a professional team to guests. We do client research regularly according to different industries, and purchase updated equipment and facilities, which is popular in the market. Good location, best service and well-appointed facilities are always our unique selling points to compete. Our hotel is ranked top on Tripadvisor. It scores high on Ctrip, and we have won many quality awards from Tripadvisor in the past two years.

Q3: What kind of role does MICE play at your property right now and how do you expect that sector to expand this year or in the near future?

Leo Leung: MICE is one of the most important business segments for our revenue growth, as well as for maintaining our fair share of the market. As one of the top MICE hotels in Yangpu District, we offer the best venue for international conferences, academic conferences, new product launch events and more. In the future, we are looking forward to more and more large groups choosing Shanghai’s Yangpu as their destination.

Michael Parker: Rosewood Sanya is part of an integrated resort set within 40 acres of landscaped gardens surrounding the Sanya Forum, the largest convention center in Haitang Bay. The hotel’s 3,425 square meters of meeting space includes a 1,500-square-meter pillar-less grand ballroom and six function spaces. It also offers The Pavilion, a sophisticated residential-style venue with a spacious outdoor terrace offering full seaviews.

State-of-the-art facilities and impeccable service support a range of personal and business events from exclusive board meetings, to product launches, to red carpet galas and weddings.

The Sanya government is very proactive at developing the MICE market and this includes domestic and international business. We will see more and more international business in Sanya from all these activities, as Sanya becomes better known and an international MICE venue.

Adriano Vences: MICE play an important role in the segment. We’re expecting further growth in the segment from both domestic and international.

Ho Hoy Sum: As mentioned earlier, the MICE segment is an integral part of our mission, however, we still see a lot of potential for incremental production from the current level. Our strategy is to fully develop our MICE segment, so this year we will be working with various partners i.e. Accor to grow this segment further and also start targeting MNCs and other corporate accounts.

Chris Dexter: Hangzhou has the potential for further development in the MICE market, and the good news is Hangzhou will host the 2018 Swimming World Championships and the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games!

Apart from hosting G20 Summit 2016, Mary Kay, IBM, Bank of Paris global meeting, PAT and many big incentive groups in the past years, the tourism industry of Hangzhou is well known for services and tourist attractions. As a city close to Shanghai, Hangzhou tourism standard is very mature compared to others. For international hotels, we are very happy that Hangzhou tourism commission is playing an important role to spread city awareness and attract international events and visitors worldwide. Hangzhou is definitely capable of organizing and taking any international events.

Q4: Any major trends you’ve seen in the tourism and hotel industry?

Leo Leung: The hotel industry in Shanghai is continuously booming, due to rapid economic development and the increasing levels of capability of consumption. The consumers expect a higher quality of lifestyle, services and experiences to be provided by the hotel. More and more industries and corporations will benefit from the Belt and Road Initiative, commencing international communication and cooperation that will see the MICE program growing internationally.

Michael Parker: For MICE and leisure visitors we are seeing a trend for our guests becoming more aware of the environment and more inquisitive about the surroundings and history of Sanya.

We will offer our guests what we call “A Sense of Taste” program to learn about and savor local culinary experiences, such as a fishing and dining experience, harvesting fruit at a local farm and a sunset beach barbecue experience.

“A Sense of Taste” is in place at all Rosewood properties worldwide and invites guests to embark on extraordinary culinary journeys that create authentic connections with each locale. Each “A Sense of Taste” program includes Epicurean Encounters — private, guided tours offering rare access to indigenous, authentic culinary experiences; Bespoke Dining — exquisite, private dining in unique and exclusive locations both on and off property; and the Partners in Provenance initiative — a commitment by hotel chefs to source, present and showcase locally produced, sustainable and seasonal ingredients.

Sanya offers ever growing MICE capacities, first-class facilities, and resort activities. The city currently has more than 60 internationally acclaimed hotel chains spread throughout Yalong Bay, Sanya Bay, Dadonghai and Haitang Bay, and many other brands are still coming to Sanya, providing more than 18,000 guest rooms and a total meeting area of over 90,000 square meters. Each hotel has extensive MICE facilities and resort activities, including ballrooms of various sizes for different meetings.

The Sanya government has been giving great support to the development of the MICE industry.

It is pushing forward the standardization process of tourism operations and services in scenic spots, hotels, airports and public facilities, and encouraging companies to develop and introduce more personalized and creative services.

In late August, Sanya government hosted the 2017 Sanya International MICE Sourcing Fair and 2nd International Island (Sanya) MICE Forum. The MICE Forum not only helped Sanya’s MICE industry develop its talent pool and attract investment, but it also provided study and exchange opportunities for MICE travel agents in Sanya. The forum resulted in 428 million yuan (US$66 million) of business that was secured at meeting, an increase of more than 100 million yuan over the last year.

Adriano Vences: Young travelers between 25-35 become the main consumers of the hotel. Personalizing a hotel stay experience helps to attract the younger generation.

Ho Hoy Sum: Tourism is definitely seeing a boom, not only internationally but domestically. Improvement in disposal income and access to cheap flights has boosted travelling as a whole and this augurs well for the hotel industry.

As far as the hotel industry is concerned we see more and more hotels being developed and built across all categories, hence the market is going to be crowded, thus increasing rates will be a challenge. However looking at the positive side competition is good as this will drive the standards of service higher, which is obviously good for the industry.

On a cautious note if the increase in property development is not matched by improvement in infrastructure this may put a damper in attracting more tourist arrivals into the country. Accessibility is always key in any hotel development.

Most importantly, if proper monitoring on development is not put in place, environmental issues may cause more harm economically.

Chris Dexter: Hangzhou has increasingly become more and more famous for the travel industry in the past few years in China. A combination of the famous West Lake, Xixi Wetland and Longjing tea plantations has greatly increased its reputation along with the introduction of the speed train from Shanghai and its international and domestic airport.Hangzhou is a marvelous destination for incentive travel and MICE business as more international five-star brand hotels have opened or will open in Hangzhou.