Q: How would you assess Shanghai/Hangzhou’s current MICE market?

John O’shea: I believe Shanghai’s current MICE market is promising. Over 2004 to 2014, international visitors have grown from 4,919,000 to 7,913,000, an impressive increment of nearly 61 percent. Overnight stays by international visitors have also grown from 3,855,000 to 6,396,000, a growth of about 66 percent. Moreover, Shanghai has welcomed a good number of new direct international flights, there have also been new infrastructure developments like the upcoming Shanghai Disneyland Resort and Shanghai Tower. This year’s MICE business is positive and it should be much better next year. In 2017, I believe there will be sustainable growth in the Shanghai MICE market.

Joseph Zitnik: The MICE market in Shanghai continues to show steady growth, driven by many factors, including more than 500 companies opening or relocating to the New Hongqiao area. With the opening of National Exhibition and Convention Center, there will be large demand for corporate, MICE and leisure business. This will occur even with more new hotel supply coming into Shanghai and, specifically, the Hongqiao area over the next three years. However, there are government and regulatory restrictions which will have some impact on development of the local/domestic MICE business in Shanghai. But the growth of overseas MICE business will be strong, with more big exhibitions taking place in Shanghai over the next few years.

Richard Greaves: Shanghai is a major world city. The MICE market in Shanghai is strong, especially with the convention centers and the upcoming Shanghai Tower. The current MICE market is very positive with year-on-year growth. With the development and infrastructure of Shanghai it is a strong and lucrative market, and it is an important market for Grand Hyatt Shanghai.

Chris Dexter: As a MICE destination, besides West Lake, super shopping facilities and Longjing tea plantations, Hangzhou has Alibaba, Netease, an international animation festival, West Lake International Expo, West Lake Marathon and Xixi Wetland. There is an ever increasing list of city attractions that appeal to MICE organizers and tourists. It also has some of the finest universities in China. Public transportation in Hangzhou is improving.

Peter Pan: It is apparent that Shanghai is a cosmopolitan city and a major business hub in China. The diverse international community merging with the local population is essential to businesses. The infrastructure within the city has attracted growth in the hospitality industry.

Q: What are your hotel’s competitive advantages in the MICE market? What challenges are you encountering at the moment to maintain long-term solid growth?

John O’shea: The Langham, Shanghai, Xintiandi, is not a typical MICE hotel with a large capacity to accommodate this sector business. Instead, we focus more on the high-level management meetings (corporate) as well as incentive sectors.

The hotel is ideally located in the heart of the city (Xintiandi), and along Huaihai Road there are only two five-star hotels. Well-known malls like K11, iAPM, and even Kerry Centre in Jing’an District, alongside the Xintiandi complex have brought us numerous fashion and luxury clients. Recent phases of Corporate Avenue, SOHO Plaza and others have also contributed new business to our hotel.

The upcoming opening of new hotels such as Bvlgari Hotel, the Swire hotels in Da Zhong Li of Jing’an and W hotel in Hongkou may pose potential challenges to us once they are open.

Joseph Zitnik: Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao has the largest room inventory and largest meeting space of any international hotel in the Hongqiao area and our large hotel layout and many garden spaces make us an outstanding MICE hotel.

The Grand Ballroom is truly spectacular, with a 6.7-meter-high ceiling and more than 1,700 square meters of column-free space that can accommodate more than 1,000 seated guests — making it ideal for a grand banquet or conference.

A separate conference zone, which can be sealed into an independent area, contains six meeting rooms of varying sizes, all offering wired and wireless broadband Internet access and audio/visual equipment. A soundproof boardroom provides a secure environment for top-level director meetings and the like. The entire meetings area can also be turned into luxurious banquet rooms to entertain VIP guests.

Richard Greaves: Grand Hyatt properties within Asia Pacific have earned a reputation for being leaders in the field of MICE; whether in Shanghai or other key cities where we are located. For Grand Hyatt Shanghai, what makes us competitive is our location in the heart of the Pudong financial district. We also have extensive MICE facilities — some of the strongest in Shanghai — with two grand ballrooms which many hotels do not have, plus the largest number of food and beverage outlets as well as 548 rooms.

We have an experienced event planning team, who ensure that an event is successful by being fully versed in the needs of the MICE market, as well as familiar with what success looks like in the eyes of the consumer.

Chris Dexter: We have highly rated service quality and a professional team, which are always favored by organizers and clients. We undertake client research regularly according to the different industries and purchase updated equipment and facilities that are popular in the market. Good location, great service and well-appointed facilities are always our best unique selling points to compete. Our hotel is ranked No. 2 on tripadvisor.com and we have won many quality awards as announced regularly by Shanghai Daily in the past five years. We offer tailor-made products and packages to meet different guest needs.

Peter Pan: To sustain long-term growth it is vital to make improvements on both tangibles and intangibles.

Pricing is also of paramount importance as many hotels in the competition have “under-cut” one another to explore opportunities in the MICE business.

Hotels gaining the business will ultimately have to offer competitive pricing, perks and benefits to enhance guest satisfaction. Unobtrusive service is also needed to beat the competition. Aggressive yet appealing offers will be necessary to secure business in some cases.

Q: Are there any new projects your hotel will launch this year to attract business travelers and enlarge your share of the MICE market?

John O’shea: The Langham Hospitality Group has recently launched the Meetings and Events Bespoke Service Program across the globe to pamper MICE organizers. Highlights of the bespoke service include very detailed preparation required on the hotels’ side for the site inspection, meeting room mock-up in response to the MICE planners’ needs at the site inspection stage.

We shall also arrange iPhone 6 handsets for overseas MICE organizers so they can make overseas calls, and we shall use our Pink Taxi to escort MICE organizers on a tour of the city. Moreover, a nice office environment will be set up for the organizer with a printer and coffee machine or tea setup. It is also worthwhile to mention that we’ve recently taken a good number of 360-degree virtual tour pictures of The Langham, Shanghai, Xintiandi, to serve as a good reference for potential MICE clients.

The goal is to differentiate our MICE service level and bring the MICE planner’s experience to an unprecedented level.

Joseph Zitnik: The hotel has already established an enviable record and stack of awards for organizing MICE events. We will build on that by further streamlining procedures and acting on feedback from our partners.

This year we have launched or will launch a number of incentive programs to give our clients maximum benefits for continuing to book Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao as their preferential MICE hotel. From September, our Global Sales Week “Coffee on Us” campaign was launched, and in November, we will celebrate our hotel’s 5th anniversary with a gala appreciation party to reward our loyal MICE customers.

Richard Greaves: Grand Hyatt Shanghai recently completed the renovation of its guestrooms, so our room product is one of the newest in the Shanghai market which goes together with our fantastic location.

Our creative food and beverage team is leading innovative and market-driven experiences for the MICE market which include meeting setups, coffee breaks, lunches and a gala dinner that was inspired by the recent Hyatt Asia Pacific Food and Beverage Leadership Conference, which was held at Grand Hyatt Shanghai. Being the host of an event where new concepts are launched to all Hyatt properties in the Asia Pacific region shows that we have the expertise.

Chris Dexter: We have renovated the 10th floor roof garden — a super venue for outdoor activities that allows sundowner cocktail parties and events with breathtaking views of West Lake and Baochu Pagoda as a natural background. Adjacent to the terrace is a vegetable garden providing over 10 different organically grown vegetables for the Chinese restaurant.

Peter Pan: I am delighted to enunciate the fact that Howard Johnson IFC Plaza Ningbo is currently managed by an international management company originating from the United States of America.

Q: Do you consider MICE business an important engine of future revenue/profit growth? How do you expect the overall MICE market in China to expand over the next couple of years and how do you anticipate it to impact your own business?

John O’shea: Our MICE growth has been phenomenal in 2015 compared to the previous year. The months of July and August this year are not in the regular “low” season mode as The Langham, Shanghai, Xintiandi, has received quite a good number of overseas incentive groups as well as domestic celebrities. As explained in the very beginning of this interview, we are optimistic about the growth of MICE business in Shanghai and we are in full gear to reap the lucrative returns in the coming future.

Joseph Zitnik: Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao is Hilton brand’s flagship MICE and events hotel in China, so, yes, MICE business is a key cornerstone and important engine for the hotel’s future revenue/profit growth. With the overall development in the Hongqiao area expanding, driven by NECC’s opening and Hongqiao hub, many new offices will be moving in, however, this will be slightly offset by the more than 3,000 new hotel guestrooms coming into the Hongqiao market. Many of these hotels will have impressive, new ballrooms and that is why it is important that Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao has the best ballroom and an experienced events team. We expect overall steady growth in demand with slightly increased ADR and occupancy in the coming years due to the increased demand.

Richard Greaves: MICE business is a key segment for us because Grand Hyatt Shanghai is a dedicated MICE hotel, equipped with the required function spaces, food and beverage facilities and room count. The market for MICE is very positive so naturally, it will have a positive impact on our business.

Chris Dexter: Yes, forecasting for 10 years ahead is challenging. It’s all about supply and demand, your price point, service and your location.

Hangzhou will host the G20 Summit next year and the FINA world swimming championships in 2018.

Apart from hosting these meetings and many large incentive groups, the Hangzhou tourism industry is well known for its service and attractions. For international hotels, we are very happy that the city’s tourism commission is playing an important role in attracting international events and visitors. We will receive more opportunities to attract MICE groups.

Peter Pan: The MICE business certainly forms an integral part of the hotel’s profitability. Shanghai being at the forefront of the Chinese economy will ensure further growth in the next decade as China will surpass the United States as the biggest economy in the world.

International enterprises have set up offices here and this obviously will benefit many industries including the hospitality sector. Despite overall optimism, we need to be cautious in terms of the supply and demand factor.