For my hotel research, I will be focusing on Conrad
Centennial Singapore’s event marketing strategy. But firstly, a brief overview
and introduction about the hotel. The Conrad Centennial Singapore was established
in 1996 and is an award winning luxury business hotel. Located at Two Temasek
Boulevard, the hotel is strategically located in the heart of Singapore's
liveliest and largest business, historical, cultural and shopping districts of
Marina Bay. The hotel is just next to Suntec Singapore Convention and
Exhibition Centre and in close proximity to world class attractions, which
include the Singapore Flyer and Marina Bay Sands. The brand Conrad is part of
the Hilton group of hotels.
During my visit to Conrad, I managed to interview a staff. Her
name was Ms Theresa Choo and she was the Director of Sales and Marketing. She
managed to answer my queries on Conrad’s marketing strategies, though not all
information could be given as some are ‘private and confidential’.
On the question of, ‘how Conrad markets its hotel to lure
customers?’ she mentioned that, for events (meaning event space like ballrooms
and function space), a lot of these are confirmed and brought in by the
Corporate Sales Managers who are dealing with the sales of guestrooms. They
have relationships with companies that constantly support them in terms of
guestrooms and events. Conrad does not do strong advertising due to the fact
that they do not have much function space. And Conrad, being part of the Hilton
Hotels Group, does rely on Hilton's Meetings and Events advertising. They have promotions
every now and then that provide loyalty points. Also, using Hilton's marketing
database which is huge, they are able to reach out to more potential customers
every time.
Ms Choo than proceeded to explain that events held at the
hotel are, at times, referred by existing clients. Even in the case of
weddings, which Conrad is very strong in and is well-known to have a popular
ballroom for wedding lunches/dinners. Referrals are done either by word-of-mouth
or through wedding forums and good feedback given by couples who have held
their weddings there previously. Hilton and Conrad also does cross-referrals
for business that are not suited for certain events, or location preference. It
even goes beyond just properties within the same country which means referrals
can also be from overseas properties when clients there mention that they are
interested to hold an event in Singapore, this lead will be forwarded to either
Hilton or Conrad Singapore.
In order to keep these clients coming back, Ms Choo goes on
to explain that Conrad always organizes activities to show their appreciation
to these clients who have always been supportive. An example would be by
booking an entire/partial musical or play at the Esplanade to invite all these
clients and before the show have a cocktail or dinner reception. She ends off
by saying that “it is always best to build rapport and relationships with
clients because that will give a very strong edge against other hotels because
our trade is really all about relationship and how we rub people the right way
so that they will give you unconditional or sometimes conditional support”.
I personally feel that Conrad has a unique way of selling
their brand and getting clients to use them for events. Unlike other hotels who
usually proceed by having event calendars, Conrad does not and thus, this makes
events held at Conrad rather exclusive and special. Thank you, Ms Choo for that
wonderful inside to your hotels way of marketing.
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