Vince Chan

Research indicate that business traveler and MICE convention goers spending significantly much more money on food and everything that hotel providing.

I used to feel that convention hotel have nothing to do with luxury or even upscale.

Those kind of hotel usually consists of more than 500 rooms and does not provide any service, it's very similar to those Las Vegas casino properties.

But recently I notice that there are some better and more luxurious hotel providing and focusing on MICE, brand such as Grand Hyatt, JW MARRIOTT, Conrad,Shang- rila.

Those hotel usually carries less than 600 rooms internationally and even for business people with no taste or mass conventions which creating noise for individual leisure customer, they are still be able to provide a more sophisticated experience than those traditional Hilton, Marriott Sheraton.


My question is, since MICE and all the business customer and meeting is such a big deal and easy money for hotel, then WHY top chain like Four Seasons, MO and Ritz never give a(), I mean they never really care about those market that Hilton Marriott and SPG cares so much. Why? It's easy money,why not?


Why those luxury chain still only focus on leisure customers? They average spending less money than Convention people.

And why Four Seasons and MO don't care so much about loyalty program?

Are they really that good?

MikeFromTokyo

What is this MICE acronym?

I see, Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions

My feeling is that the top luxury hotel groups want to distance themselves as far as possible from that kind of image, which makes sense as it is not their target market. FS/MO/Pen etc.. cater to high end leisure and business travelers, and also host small to mid sized business or social functions, as well as high end weddings in certain markets.

Grand Hyatt does a very nice job of managing larger, upscale properties that can accommodate much larger events and functions. They typically have large ballrooms, various other event spaces, and F&B departments that can handle catering for such large numbers of people.

Grand Hyatt Tokyo is an example of a property that successfully wears two hats. It caters to large functions and groups of business travelers, but is also capable of providing a high level of personalized service and can meet the needs discerning travelers (at club room and suite level).

ajeleonard

I'm increasingly getting the impression you're doing a school project on hotel brand positioning.....

MikeFromTokyo

And there's nothing wrong with that, if that's the case. ^

offerendum

Indeed. But would be nice to know. Also didt know what MICE is. Here is the answer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meetin...g,_exhibitions

There are such hotels on the market which are convention center and luxury hotels. Problem is that it´s hard to offer "real luxury" with high bed-figures. Much more easy with smaller hotels. Much traveler on the luxury-market also avoid big hotels. Another problem are compliance-issues. Many companies only allow 4 star hotels and also many won´t pay for luxury-rooms. Only a very small market for high-end conventions. I normally have a convention not at the hotel I stay in. But in my case the reason is not too much luxury at the convention-hotel

MikeFromTokyo

I also most often stay at my preferred hotel intstead of at the location of an event or conference. Of course I do this because I want what I consider the best hotel in town, but I also do it for reasons of privacy and relaxation.

If I stay at the local Four Seasons, for example, instead of at the site of the conference/convention/event, it's much less likely that I will run into every Tom, Dick and Harry at the hotel bar, swimming pool etc..., and then have to say hello and make small talk. If other people from the same event are also staying at the same hotel, they will likely be senior management types, or otherwise like minded people who have chosen the hotel for the same reasons I have.

I have even done so when I have attended large weddings, alumni events, and gatherings with extended family

offerendum

Couldn´t say it better!

Kagehitokiri

luxury MICE = buyout (including at "leisure" properties)

MICE definition has nothing to do with numbers of rooms
overwhelming majority of business travelers are not MICE
loyalty programs really have nothing to do with loyalty
MICE includes leisure (Incentive) purposes, vs 'business'
when E is Events, is it ever used to include weddings etc?

some smaller luxury allow large groups that are not buyout

KatW

I don't appreciate hidden agendas.

emma69

Plenty of conferences use luxury hotels, and plenty of luxury hotels actively entice conference and event use (e.g. by offering planning perks). Your research is flawed.

Vince Chan

What is the defination of high bed - figures?

500 rooms? 1000+rooms?

In North America, 500 rooms is considered as a mid scale hotel but in Asia it's considering as a big hotel.

In certain location like Orlando , Four Seasons, Ritz carry more than 500 rooms .

In Taipei Taiwan, Grand Hyatt is the biggest hotel but it's still very quite and upscale. While there are some Grand Hyatt in America that does not carry more room numbers than GH in Taipei, it's a mess . This doesn't make sense. A 800 rooms Grand Hyatt is more quite and upscale than a 500 rooms Grand Hyatt? But people always thought that the less the room numbers in a hotel the better and more quite. People always feel that large number of rooms can't be a luxury hotel. And a luxury hotel can't have a large number of rooms. Is this stereotype right? A 1608 rooms,,77 stories,twin tower JW Marriott Dubai Marquis is usually considered as a more luxurious and higher -end hotel than a 300 rooms JW Marriott Miami. The ironic is that while JW Dubai have more than 1600 rooms, it actually only carries 14 rooms per floor, so it might be a lot quite and boutique- feeling than lots of hotels in America!

How do you tell whether a hotel is small or big? How can I tell whether this hotel is Luxury or Convention style? Can a MICE property also considered as a real Luxury property? I couldn't think any of example, because none of a Four Seasons or MO hold a MICE scale event.
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I am a business men but I most travles for pleasure so I hate convention and event style hotels. usually stay at not so good hotel such as Conrad and JWM so I am very curious about how those real luxurious chain work and how can they make lots of money when they don't give a about loyalty program and MICE.

I have not stay at A four seasons or The Peninsula. Like I said, I am poor, so I can only stay at fake luxurious Intercontinental

I am a man with curiosity,nothing to do with homework. Funny, thank you guys very much.

offerendum

There is no universal Definition of a luxury hotel. We have a Long thread about it. For me the border to a big hotel is 100 rooms.

It´s not 100% true luxury chains don´t have loyality programs. Some have named programs (St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton, GHM, LHW) and often you can collect miles via airline programs (like MO). But you are right the classical chains don´t have something like SPG or IHG. Loyality-reward is something else in this case. For excample I believe every FS hotel views my historybefore I arrive. At least reception-staff seems to know about former stays at other FS hotels or the same property. Over the years I got better upgrades. So you may not get points for free nights but you get more out of your stay. If I may choose between 3 upgrades on suite level or 1 free night in a room I choose the upgrades, much more important for me.

obscure2k

Please continue to follow this thread in the TravelBuzz Forum.
Thanks.
Obscure2k
Moderator
Luxury Hotels

chgoeditor

As someone who used to plan business seminars at luxury properties, I can tell you one reason most luxury hotel brands don't aggressively go after the business: Because many US companies are reluctant to approve employee requests (even at the VP/EVP/SVP level) for stays at the Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton and the like.

sbm12

Is this research compared to the average non-conference hotel guest or the average non-conference luxury hotel guest? Makes a HUGE difference.

I doubt this stat holds if you compare only the luxury hotel market.

They focus on loyalty, not points. There's a massive difference.