Marriott International hosted its annual General Meeting Conference and Gala Dinner 2017 at JW Marriott Hotel Macau for the first time. Running from April 24-25, the event was attended by 1,000 Marriott International managers, directors and vice presidents across APAC Sales and Marketing Departments
– What are the objectives and goals set out to be achieved with Marriott International’s annual General Meeting Conference and Gala Dinner 2017?
The objective of this conference was to gather all keynote officers (regional directors, VP, CMO or above) from Marriott International, across the Asia Pacific region, to engage, connect and exchange ideas about regional properties. It also marks the first and largest GM conference following the merger of Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
As the venue provider, JW Marriott Hotel Macau wanted to delight participants and celebrate the completed merger of the two hotel groups. High quality services and uniquely JW Marriot amenities were therefore brought out for the occasion, as for every occasion hosted at JW Marriott Hotel Macau.
– What are the measures to achieve the goals and objectives?
In order to deliver a world-class experience and accommodate a large number of high profile individuals, the conference was hosted in a dinner banquet style at JW Marriott Hotel Macau’s Grand Ballroom. The Grand Ballroom offers a pillar-less space of 1,920 square meters with ground-level access. To deliver impeccable and comprehensive service under one roof, around 300 staff members were brought in from both JW Marriott Hotel Macau and The Ritz Carlton, Macau to ensure sufficient manpower for this large-scale event.
– What are the key challenges for organising such event, and how did the management overcome the challenges?
The biggest challenge was providing an ultra-extraordinary experience for high-profile APAC executives from within the luxury hotel industry. Superb attention to detail was required in order to exceed hoteliers’ expectations and highlight the exceptional and exemplary service on offer at JW Marriott Hotel Macau.
To ensure the very height of service was delivered, JW Marriott Hotel Macau took participants’ taste buds on a sensory, gourmet tour through an array of international delicacies prepared by 150 high-profile executive chefs from across the globe, all working under the Marriott International Group. For example, we worked with renowned chefs such as Chef Paul Lau from Tin Lung Heen at The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong; and Chef Joel Bickford from The Gantry Restaurant, Pier One Sydney Harbour, Autograph Collection. (Bios of Chef Paul Lau and Chef Joel Bickford are listed in the appendix below).
To ensure we delivered the most creative gourmet experience, our team added special flair with the first-ever creative chef parade show. This energetic chef’s march didn’t simply deliver dessert – it enticed executives’ every sense, in anticipation of the sweet finale prepared by chef Andy Yeung from JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong and Chef Roger Fok from Renaissance Harbour View Hong Kong. This chef parade show gathered all 150 chefs and served as the grand finale to the gala dinner.
Another challenge we faced was logistics management for such a large-scale event. As the gala dinner menu was created by a number of chefs at the same time, with a story behind each dish, we were required to manage, execute and coordinate all of these different ideas to create one cohesive menu. We also worked with a third-party events company assigned by regional office to ensure flawless conference setup, event rehearsal and tasting. Despite the challenges of logistics coordination, we were able to make all the necessary logistics arrangements three weeks ahead of the event date.
– Anything unexpected (unforeseeable at the planning stage) happening during the event, and how did your management deal with such incident?
Thanks to comprehensive planning, we did not encounter anything unexpected during the event.
– What is the result of the event (please include comments from a manager responsible for the event)?
JW Marriott Hotel Macau’s expansive efforts – from the carefully curated gourmet menu, to special touches such as the creative chef parade show – helped us deliver an event that exceeded the high profile executives’ expectations. The conference was very were well-received by the Marriott International Group and attendees.
As this was the largest scale annual GM conference, JW Marriott Hotel Macau team will use the success of this two-day GM conference as a benchmark when handling future events of a similar scale, with similar guests and delegates.
TravelDailyNews Asia-Pacific editorial team has an experience of over 35 years in B2B travel journalism as well as in tourism & hospitality marketing and communications.
