Northstar

www.travelweeklyweb.com www.travelweeklyweb.com 16 | ■ TRAVELWeekly AsiA | JULY 2014 MIcE All meeting planners know that every single event is fraught with intense stress. Though it is impossible to eliminate all pressure, the team at Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central has an "Event Concierge" service, aimed at making the organisation of such functions as painless as possible. In this section, we interview Sherwin Lucas, Assistant Director, Event Service, Conventions & Banquets Department at Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central. 1. How was the concept of an "Event Concierge" originated? Is Sheraton Macao the first Sheraton branded hotel to have such a concept? Sherwin Lucas: At Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central, it is our desire to offer all event organisers a seamless and stress-free experience and we believe that this starts from having a professional MICE team that is able to work with them from the event planning stage to the actual event to the post-event activities and procedures. The Sheraton Macao Hotel Event Concierge is part of our efforts to deliver this experience and the role was modelled on Starwood's Executive Meeting Specialist which is a position that is in place at many of our large convention hotels in North America. Jim Krause, Executive Director of Conventions & Banquets, combined this with his experience of similar roles in other locations and the outcome was an Event Concierge concept that is uniquely tailored to our business environment in Macau and the needs of our customers. In addition to a dedicated Event Manager, every event has a dedicated event concierge and this person acts as a single point of contact on-site for the organiser during the event and it is part of his/her responsibility to ensure that every event order is carried out attentively, professionally and in a timely manner. The Event Concierge is also the "go-to" person for any last minute changes, requests or emergencies. We currently have a team of five Event Concierges. To ensure that events receive the utmost attention, we normally have at least one Event Concierge per meeting planner. For large scale events involving thousands of participants, we usually assign two to three Event Concierges, especially if the events are spread across two floors. This ensures that events are executed smoothly. 2. What are some of the landmark events that the hotel and in particular the ones that the Events Concierge has been involved? Sherwin Lucas: One of the landmark events that the Sheraton Macao Hotel hosted was the three-day 2013 Nu Skin Academy, which took place from September 16 to 18 last year. The event had more than 5,000 delegates from Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan. The itinerary was a good balance of both business and fun with product workshops, corporate presentations and teambuilding activities complemented by themed dinners and an exclusive screening of Macau's famous "House of Dancing Water" performance. One of the most memorable activities during the three-day event Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central introduces its Sheraton Macao Hotel Event Concierge service was an attempt to break the Guinness World Records for "the most number of people sitting in one chair". The Group managed to break the previous record of 1,311 people by fitting in 1,666 people. Our Event Concierges assisted by being on standby in case of accidents and the emergency team had to be contacted. Our Event Concierges also ensured that we had sufficient manpower to rearrange the room to the original theatre style seating after the record breaking feat so the delegates could continue with their meetings in as little time as possible. 3. What is the size of the meeting facilities at the hotel? E.g. How many sqm of meetings space in total, how many meeting rooms, how many guests is the largest ballroom able to host? Sherwin Lucas: The Sheraton Macao Hotel has 3,896 stylish guestrooms and about 14,000m2 of versatile indoor meeting space. In addition, the hotel's pool decks offer another 12,000m2 of outdoor meeting space. It is the biggest hotel in Macau, the largest Sheraton in the world. The hotel's MICE facilities include the pillar-less Kashgar Grand Ballroom and six Junior Ballrooms offering 14,000m2 of flexible and versatile meeting space, plus access to an additional 5,000m2 within Sands Cotai Central. The Junior Ballrooms can be further divided into 16 smaller breakout rooms offering both flexibility and versatility to meeting planners, which can accommodate comfortably from a 2,000-delegate theater-style presentation to an intimate boardroom

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