Timing wasn't exactly great as a top brand name opened a hotel with the recession still reverberating - but now the mood is geared towards drumming up some tidy business.
The Westin Shenzhen Nanshan opened in January this year after what was a slow few months for the Mice sector, as corporate meetings and travel were curtailed due to the global financial crisis.
'For companies that had economic problems, all sorts of incentive meetings or annual dinners were stopped,' says Melody Xu Rong, the hotel's director of event sales. 'For companies in quite good shape, some preferred keeping a low profile and reducing the number of events or size of the events.'
Compared with its first six months, Xu says the hotel is now seeing 'very positive growth in demand' from the Mice sector. 'We've designed attractive meeting packages, organised theme events for event planners, or corporate meeting organisers, and welcomed familiarisation groups from Hong Kong to promote the hotel and meeting facilities.'
Xu says it's too early for a new venue to boast of keynote events, tour exhibitions, but key feeder markets, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, are being targeted to attract more Mice business.
Over at the Crowne Plaza, general manager Christian Buggelsheim points to the busy schedule for the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Centre. 'From the beginning of 2010 to last month, nearly 50 exhibitions have been held at the centre. Mice business is expected to grow in Shenzhen with the opening of the Asian Games in Guangzhou and the Universiade in Shenzhen. We are confident that hotel Mice business will continue to perform well in the next few months. As the Asian Games in Guangzhou and the Universiade in Shenzhen draw near, the mainland's Mice sector has entered into a rapid development stage with its business boom being witnessed everywhere. Shenzhen, along with many other cities on the mainland, will certainly benefit from these,' Buggelsheim says.
