Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore general manager Peter Mainguy says 2010 will be a year of recovery for the property and he expects this to impact occupancies positively.
Located in the Marina Bay district, The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore offers 608 guest rooms, including the 23 suites overlooking the Marina Bay or the city skyline. Services and facilities include restaurants and a lounge serving Chinese, western and international favourites, a fitness centre and spa with swimming pool, indoor gym, tennis court and spa treatment rooms and a business centre.
“In 2009, we saw a shorter lead time for reservations although the hotel enjoyed full house situations during certain periods,” said Mainguy. “People travelled in spite of the downturn as personal contact is still vital to any business but they tend to be more cost conscious and co-ordinate their travelling schedules such that they visit multiple destinations on the same trip to minimise expenditure.
“However, 2010 is a year of recovery and, as such, demand is coming back to the city. Currently, the corporate, group and leisure travel segments are ahead of pace this year versus last year. With the introduction of the two integrated resorts at Marina Bay Sands and Sentosa, the industry and destination have become more dynamic. At the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, we continue to focus on offering a value-added experience for our guests by being flexible and responsive to their expectations and needs.”
While the hotel’s biggest source markets are from the US and Hong Kong, the Middle East market still remains the top focus. “The Middle East is an important market for Singapore, especially for meetings and incentives, with the key feeder markets being the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar. With an exciting myriad of events and new developments taking place in Singapore, visitors from the Middle East are increasingly drawn to this dynamic city state,” said Mainguy.
“Our hotel is the venue of choice of Arabian diplomatic delegations and event planners. The exclusive Ritz-Carlton Suite, located on the top floor of the 32-storey tower, boasts panoramic views of the city, and is the preferred accommodation of guests such as HH Prince Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani crown prince of the State of Qatar, and HH Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.”
With the conference services and banquet teams having built a reputation for successfully managing meetings and events ranging from 20 to 16,000 guests in size, meetings held at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia will enable meeting planners to rely less on having additional corporate team members on-site, resulting in a more cost-effective experience. The hotel has conference and function space totalling 3,251 sq m and offers 13 meeting rooms of varying sizes and configurations.
In addition, the hotel has a dedicated and experienced Arabic speaking director of sales handling the GCC/Middle East market and amenities in the hotel which cater to the needs of Arabic guests available include, Arabic television channels, welcome and turn down amenities with Arabic flavours such as dates, nuts and Baklava, Qur’an and prayer carpet and Qiblah directional arrow placed in all the rooms.
“We will continue to work closely with Singapore Tourism Bureau and Singapore Airlines offices in the Middle East and optimise our resources by tapping into key industry partners, our general sales office in Dubai, regular sales trips to the GCC and participation at the Arabian Travel Market. As with previous years, the hotel will be rolling out a summer promotion package in June,” Mainguy concluded.