Regional growth buoys Wuhan hotels
Print Edition
Q: How large is your current portfolio in Wuhan and how do you expect it to grow over the next few years?
Cabre: The total size of the meeting areas of the three hotels and Han Show is almost 9,000 square meters. This includes 1,500-square-meter pillarless grand ballrooms at both Wanda Reign Wuhan and Westin Wuhan Wuchang, an 880-square-meter grand ballroom in Wanda Realm, and a 4,800-square-meter Han Show Theater with 2,000 seats. Each hotel has a 75-square-meter LED screen, while the screen in the Han Show Theater is 225 square meters.
The 2,000-square-meter Han Show Square is the perfect outdoor place for holding new product launches. As for room inventories at the three hotels, there are more than 1,000 rooms, including over 400 twin bedrooms. Organizers and meeting attendees can travel the shortest distance between where they attend their meetings and where they sleep.
Yu: In Wuhan, Wanda Hotels & Resorts has two hotel brands: Wanda Realm and Wanda Reign. There is also a Westin Wuhan that is not a member of any of the three brands mentioned, but is a family member of Wanda Hotels. Wanda Realm opened in 2013 and provides excellent service for both business and leisure guests. Numerous hotel chains have chosen to open branches in Wuhan because they have seen that Wanda Hotels & Resorts has realized Wuhan’s great potential.
Wanda Hotels & Resorts carefully studies a city before deciding to build a new hotel. Since recent years of development in Wuhan have been amazing, it decided to invest there.
Q: What campaigns you are going to launch this year to further strengthen your brand image?
Cabre: Recently, we launched a MICE promotion campaign — not only for Wanda Reign, but also for Wanda Realm, Westin Wuhan and Han Show — to promote the city of Wuhan as a new MICE destination. This “City of Rivers” campaign is meant to provide MICE organizers with a well-located city stocked with incomparable inventory and facilities.
We have designed the program to let media and MICE organizers experience the journey to Wuhan, where they can discover its attractions and then share their knowledge with the market.
Yu: Wanda Realm Wuhan has always been committed to social welfare undertakings and participates actively in organizing welfare and charitable activities.
Wanda Realm was named a “Green Hotel” by the China Tourism Hotel Star Rating Committee this year. We also publicize our “green” activities to the public. At the same time, Wanda Realm Wuhan arranges regular volunteer functions, such as visits to senior-care centers and orphanages.
In addition, we continuously try to improve our products and services, and we also offer special promotional packages for business guests to thank them for their past support. We try to create an influential corporate culture brand through a variety of flexible public relations channels and strive to do our best for Wanda Hotels & Resorts.
Q: What do you think of the supply-demand situation in the city’s upscale and luxury hotel market? What challenges you are encountering at the moment to maintain long-term rowth here?
Cabre: Until 2017, there will be no new openings of luxury brand hotels in Wuhan. That is to say, there will be no new competitors for Wanda Reign Wuhan until that time. Thanks to the rise of central China, the development of the Wuhan MICE market is on an upward trend. The challenge for us is that Wuhan is not a traditional MICE destination, even though transportation is quite convenient from all cities in China. A two-hour flight, or five- or six-hour high-speed train trip, is enough to reach most cities in China. However, the prospects are still quite rosy. The opening of Han Show, the whole Wuhan Central Cultural District and other new art and entertainment attractions will attract more attention from publications as a new MICE destination.
Yu: Wuhan is the cradle of Chu culture and is one of China’s most historic cities. The huge potential for tourism means that Wuhan will likely attract more and more tourists in the future, providing much more scope for the growth of the city’s top-class hotel business. Wanda Realm has a range of luxurious venues, including a majestic 880-square-meter Grand Ballroom featuring a giant LED screen. We have the capability and experience to handle all kinds of conferences and banquets, with past events playing host to the King of Belgium, the Women’s Tennis Association in Wuhan, the Hong Kong Chief Executive, Expo Central China, etc. And we have won the praise of government authorities and well-known enterprises.
Q: Do you consider MICE business an important engine for your future revenue/profit growth? How do you expect the overall MICE market in Wuhan to expand over the next couple of years?
Cabre: Yes, it is definite that MICE business is an important engine for our future revenue growth. And this is not only for Wanda Reign, but also for the whole Wuhan hospitality industry. MICE business will drive the revenue of not only rooms but also of banquets, and food and beverage. With advantages in transportation, new attractions such as the Han Show and Wuhan Movie Park, and a large hotel capacity, Wuhan will surely become a hotspot for MICE.
Yu: Wuhan functions as a hub of water, land and air transport. With its enormous economic growth and diversifying business development, the proportion of MICE guests has risen quickly, and we expect this increase to continue in the next few years. Wanda Realm is ideally situated in the city’s cultural heart, 6 kilometers from the railway station and 45 kilometers from Tianhe International Airport. With 408 fashionable and elegant rooms, Wanda Realm provides guests with a unique stay experience and excellent service. Wanda Realm has a mission to promote Wuhan’s travel business and commercial development by building a platform to bring international hotel chains to the city and give the people of Wuhan the chance to enjoy a higher quality lifestyle.
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