Hotels become preferred venue for MICE activities

In addition to more established convention and exhibition centers, hotels have also become popular venues for Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Expo (MICE) activities.

Star-rated hotels such as Hotel Borobudur Jakarta, Shangri-la Jakarta, Hotel Hilton Jakarta, Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta, The Acacia Jakarta and Hotel Salak Bogor are among the most preferred convention venues in the Greater Jakarta area.

The hotels which generally offer different sizes of meeting rooms are suitable not only for big conventions and exhibitions but also for corporate meetings. Some of them can even arrange their multi-function rooms for wedding receptions or other social gatherings.

Besides providing different sizes of meeting rooms, hotels usually offer different types of packages, which generally include a lunch and snack to meet the needs of their customers.

Located at the heart of the city and close to the main business districts, shopping areas, Presidential palace and other government centers, Hotel Borobudur Jakarta, had been chosen as the venue for many international conferences.

The hotel has 26 function rooms including the Flores Room, which has a seat capacity of up to 1,200 people. Besides for seminars and exhibitions, the rooms are also offered for wedding receptions and other functions.

To meet the needs of its different clientele, the hotel has arranged different kinds of meeting packages such as Board Meeting Package, Government Meeting Packages.

In addition to its Business Center, the hotel also offers a modern video conference service to event organizers or participants of the seminars or exhibitions held at the hotel.

The Acacia Jakarta is also a popular venue for business and social events. Located on Jl Keramat Raya, Central Jakarta, the hotel offers a spacious ballroom and four smaller rooms which can be used for seminars, corporate meetings or wedding receptions.

For The Acacia Jakarta, providing MICE facilities have become one of its important activities since the hotel began its operation in 1996.

Its ballroom which can be divided into three rooms can accommodate up to 1,000 people, and it is quite suitable for a big seminar and a wedding reception. The other smaller rooms have a seat capacity of between 25 and 100 people.

The hotel has seen an increasing demand for its MICE facilities since the start of the year thanks to an improvement in the country's economy. At least 900 events are held in the hotel a year.

The Acacia Hotel has also applied latest audio visual facilities such LCD projectors in addition to a complete set of sound system equipment, 29-inch TV sets, and VCD players to support its MICE activities.

Located in the resort town of Bogor, Hotel Salak has also become an important convention center in the Jakarta greater area.

The hotel was the venue of several major international events held in the town during the past several years.

Hotel Salak which was built in 1856 during the Dutch Colonial era underwent major facelifting projects during the past ten years to upgrade and build new rooms and meeting rooms to meet the growing need for convention and meeting facilities in Bogor.

The hotel which was called Binnenhof Hotel before it changed its name to Hotel Salak in 1948 has several meeting rooms with different sizes.

In addition to its Istana Room which can accommodate more than 500 people, the hotel also has other 11 smaller rooms to meet the needs either from its corporate clients or event organizers.

Like other hotels, the Shangri-la Hotel located in the center of Sudirman Business District on Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta, has also become a favored venue for seminars, corporate meetings, exhibition as well as wedding parties.

The hotel has been chosen as the venue for several major events such as the 36h ASEAN Economic Minister (AEM) Conference in September last year, the Indonesia Infrastructure Summit in January, this year, the Asian-African Summit in April, and the meeting of the Indonesian Council on World Affairs in May.

With a capacity of up to 3,000 people, the hotel's ballroom is one of the largest venue for wedding receptions or major seminars in Jakarta.

Besides the large-scale ball room, Shangri-la Hotel also offers 15 smaller size meeting rooms and a VIP lounge to meet the different tastes of its business customers.

All of the function and meeting rooms are supported with modern conference facilities. Wireless Internet connection (WIFI) is also available in all the hotel's outlet such as restaurants, function rooms and public area. The hotel also has satellite and teleconferencing facilities.

The Four Seasons is also one of the preferred venues for MICE activities. The hotel, located on Jl. HR Rasuna Said on South Jakarta has continued to see a significant increase in the demand for its function rooms. The hotel enjoyed a monthly occupancy rate of between 85 percent and 95 percent for its function rooms in the first semester of this year.

The hotel, which offers 14 meeting rooms of different sizes that can accommodate between 10 and 1,800 people. Each function is equipped with WIFI, natural light, built-in screen and sound system. The hotel ballroom is fully equipped with a giant screen with a size of 4 meters by 6 meters.

As part of the incentives, participants at all events held at Four Seasons can enjoy cuisines with the same standard provided by the hotel's restaurants, which offer different choices of Indonesian, Cantonese and other international dishes. -- The Jakarta Post