Canada-based Fairmont Raffles Hotels International’s (FRHI) annual Global Meeting Exchange (GME) has become a ‘must attend’ event for travel agents and event planners worldwide, a networking forum to gain in-depth knowledge of the group’s finest luxury and upscale brands which includes Raffles, Swissotel and Fairmont. A report on this year’s GME in Ajman,UAE. By Steena Joy
Every year FRHI’s Global Meeting Exchange (GME) is held in a different location giving delegates an opportunity to experience the brands and also connect with the destination. While last year’s GME was held at the Fairmont Monte Carlo, this year the event was held at the Fairmont Ajman from June 22 to 26, 2016. Ajman is the smallest emirate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The four-day event brings together more than 100 event planners from around the world for one-to-one meetings with representatives from Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel properties, workshops and knowledge sessions – a great educational opportunity with corporate organisers, agents and DMCs discussing the challenges and changes in the industry, exchanging information and discussing how FRHI and they can work better together as partners in progress. Notably, this year the company also had custom-built a mobile app for the event – the app had all the important information the delegates needed for the event, and features to enhance the event experience. The app was designed by US-based PSAV, a leading full-service event technology provider in the global audiovisual and event technology services industry.
Jennifer Fox, president, international FRHI Hotels & Resorts and president, Fairmont Brand, opened the GME 2016 saying, “We are really focused on luxury and upper upscale. For the future roadmap, FRHI will be focusing on three target segments – Aspiring Aristocrats, Cultural Connoisseurs and Occasion – based Luxury Travellers. These are the three affluent global tribes.” She added, “We have over 117 hotels in 50 countries. This region contributes 25 per cent of our business. We are planning on setting up a F&B Council across the globe which will have the best chefs on board.”
The group, which recently has been acquired by AccorHotels, views India as an important market. Speaking at the GME, Bastien Blanc, vice president, sales & marketing, Middle East, Africa and India, said, “India is an important market for us and it is a dynamic one. We already have Fairmont Jaipur and Swissotel Kolkata. Fairmont Jaipur is attracting a lot of MICE groups and weddings. These hotels also act as a feeder market for the rest of the region.” He informed that this GME has seen a 18 per cent growth in participation.
Knowledge exchange
The session on Distribution Solutions in Meetings & Events, was presented by Doug Carr, executive director, distribution, FRHI Hotels & Resorts. He observed, “In most events, the registration process is different from the housing process so we have to integrate the two. This also helps to increase pre and post business opportunities. For instance, if the conference destination is appealing, delegates may extend their stay for a few more days.” He suggested designing event specific websites to include imagery. “Linking registration benefits has the potential to eliminate a rooming list approach. If we tie together conference registration and housing, it not only helps to reduce the chances of bookings going outside but also makes it easier to spot attendees who have registered but not made room reservations. This also provides an opportunity to put incentives when booking rooms (like a discount on registration fees),” he informed.
Carr firmly stated that FRHI has no block commitments with OTAs. Event planners have to contact the hotel directly through the group’s global sales representative. As for competition, he said, “There are other travel verticals in the accommodation space like OTAs, aggregators and wholesalers. Growth in OTAs is through acquisition so they are a threat for the meetings space.”
Bharat Malhotra, senior VP, sales, CVENT who made a presentation on The Future of MICE, said, “After a company’s website, tradeshows and events are the most effective B2B marketing initiative. You have to adapt to change and create brand loyalists.”
Diana Banks, vice president, Raffles brand and luxury sales, said that this September the iconic Raffles brand will complete 129 years. “Apart from our current 12 hotels, in the pipeline are Warsaw (next opening in the last quarter of 2017), Jeddah, Sharm el Sheikh and Shenzhen. The Warsaw property is a 1857 hotel.” She noted that today’s luxury travellers are more discerning, more sophisticated and more demanding. “A Raffles hotel is an oasis for the well travelled. There are eight key characteristics that define the Raffles brand: Personalisation (people want bespoke experiences), relationships, discreet luxury (it is not showy but private and elegant), seamlessness, generosity, simplicity (experiences must be intelligently crafted), authenticity (immersed in local culture and connected with local people and heritage (storytelling adds credibility). Luxury has changed from ostentation to simplicity, from off the peg to bespoke and individual.”
Jean McKie, VP, Fairmont brand, said, “Be the essence of the destination; connect the guest to the destination and simultaneously, connect the guest to Fairmont.”
Alistair Watts, director, marketing, Europe, FRHI, gave a presentation on the Swissotel brand. “We are Swiss at heart. We want quality in everything we do. Even our bellman uniforms have been designed by Swiss designer, Ida Gut and has been inspired by the traditional costume of Appenzell, a Swiss village,” he said.
He informed that the brand’s new openings include Swissotel Sofia (208 rooms) in Bulgaria, Swissotel Al Jadaf Dubai and Swissotel Bali (172 rooms) in 2018 and Swissotel Chengdu (378 rooms) in China in 2017.
Most of the travel trade and DMCs who attended felt that GME gave them an opportunity not just for closing deals, but to help them put a face to the people they have been talking to or connecting by email. It also helped them in proper positioning of the hotel’s brands in each business segment.
Guest speaker Marios Maratheftis, chief economist, Standard Chartered Bank spoke on Brexit and its implications. A special mention was made of India. He noted, “India is the growth engine of the emerging world but she has to deal with infrastructure problems, corruption and bureaucracy.”
The session on Effects of the Economy on the Hotel Industry was presented by Shalabh Kayastha, executive director, performance strategy, FRHI Hotels & Resorts. He observed, “The global recovery continues at an increasingly fragile pace. We expect global arrivals to grow four per cent in 2016 (4.3 per cent in 2015) with Asia showing the highest growth of 5.8 per cent. In source markets, India moved from 22 in 2000 to11 in 2015 while China moved from 24 to 5. Asia inbound travel has grown 6.8 per cent in 2016 from 5.4 per cent in 2015.”