It’s only business with One&Only
Ivy Kwan, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Asia Pacific, One&Only Resort, talks about the kind of luxury their different properties offer for MICE.
Giving an update on the group plans, she says, “Next year is going to be a very exciting year for us, we are currently undergoing renovations for One&Only Ocean club in the Bahamas. We are looking to reopen in the first quarter of next year. We are also undergoing renovations for the One&Only, Le Saint Geran in Mauritius. That is one of the most staple resorts in our portfolio, so we are very excited that we are able to undergo a massive renovation to reopen towards October of next year.”
“In terms of new openings we will be opening One&Only Seef, Bahrain followed by One&Only Sanya, in the Hawaii of China, that in itself will be our first resort in Asia. In 2018 we will be opening our first resort in Europe, which is One&Only Montenegro,” adds Kwan
Telling us about their luxury MICE offerings, she says, “Our resorts in Dubai, our resort in One&Only Cape Town, South Africa, One&Only Hayman Island in the Great Barrier Reef all cater to MICE. So in the world of MICE, we do really well, specifically with high end corporate, corporate retreats, board meetings, and incentive groups, we are seeing quite an emergence of incentive business. Then for many of our resorts, celebrations, like birthday parties, renewal of vows, weddings. These are the type of celebrations we are seeing taking place more and more, especially from the Indian market.
"We spoke to a few of our trade partners, we are seeing numbers whether its 20 people, 40 people for larger celebrations. Whether it's the 50th or 80th birthday, we are seeing bigger groups of families and friends brought together in a location where for three solid days you are together. We are seeing quite a tremendous growth in that.”
Talking about the Indian market she says, “We have been seeing double digit growth from the Indian market and we do not see that abating. India is a very strong growth market for us. Then there is China, and countries like Japan, rest of SE Asia is coming in strong. For our resorts, Australia continues to be a very strong market. Travel is an innate part of our lives whether you take one or two trips a year. At the level that we operate, it's about luxury. Even if in troubled times you may cut back a bit but we see more and more luxury is about privacy,
it's about discretion. We do not see any negative impact at all.”
“Americas is very strong for us, especially with incentive groups into our Australian property as well as into Cape Town, into Mexico, our resort One&Only Palmilla, Mexico. From India we see celebrations and corporate meetings groups taking place in South Africa. We are also seeing an interest in our Australian property. It is an incredible private island resort. This is an amazing opportunity where we have only 160 guest rooms' villas and suits, wherein you have the entire island to yourself. So you can privatise the entire island for your own private corporate meeting. There is nothing quite like it in the world,” she adds wabout source markets.
Enumerating exclusive offerings for events, Kwon concludes, “If you look at One&Only, Le Saint Geran, Mauritius, we are able to build a special barrier across the pool so that you may have a cocktail reception over the pool. In One&Only Reethi Rah, we have many beautiful beaches and lovely sunrise and sunset points. We can erect a special arch at these points for renewal of vows or wedding ceremonies. We put up a tent, marquee, and chandeliers. We are able to fly in, worldre-nown entertainers."
We will be opening One&Only Seef, Bahrain followed by One&Only Sanya, in the Hawaii of China, that will be our first resort in Asia