Ocean Terminal Terrace, Tsim Sha Tsui


corporate events. The feeling now, however – at least among the local ranks of the ILEA – is that prospects can be tapped in the upcoming ‘Greater Bay’ area which includes Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Macau, Zhuhai and other areas of the delta. While established agencies look to the


China market, more young professionals – particularly from the corporate world – are attracting keen audiences with network- ing and TED-style events of their own. One of them is WE (west meets east)


Club, which recently hosted Hong Kong+, featuring more than ten speakers includ- ing Allan Zeman, chairman of the Lan Kwai Fong Group, designer Douglas Young, and start-up entrepreneurs Jen Loong of Wandersnap and Horace Lam of UberEats. With a new wave of young digital-savvy entrepreneurs on the rise, the venue scene is also changing as disruptors combine workspaces with networking venues. Event organisations that have used these spaces for forums and networking include MCI Hong Kong and ILEA. Among this new crop of small-scale business event venues are The Hive, in Wan Chai and other locations; The Smith- field Collective, in Kennedy Town; and The Work Project, Causeway Bay. For instance, Metta – based in California Tower in the nightlife precinct of Lan Kwai Fong – hosts forums on topics ranging from corporate governance to developing digital products. Retro Spot was one of the pioneers of con-


necting space with people and ideas when it opened in Quarry Bay in 2012. Founder Bonnie Yip said the aim wasn’t just to create co-working space, but to introduce investors to Retro’s members.


BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM


New wave in new towns


WITH SPACE AT A PREMIUM in business districts along the north of Hong Kong Island, more visitors have been seeking affordable hotels in the territory’s new towns and other up-and- coming locations.


Regulations on the use of industrial buildings have been relaxed to allow the development of hotels in new areas. This has seen properties able to meet the demand from mainland China visitors while also helping to rejuvenate local districts. Courtyard by Marriott Hong Kong Sha Tin is one international brand that helped pave the way. Its opening in 2013 followed negotiations between the government and property owners Nan Fung to lift the industrial use- only limits on the area. In Tsuen


Panda Hotel events space


Wan, to the west of Kowloon peninsula, Panda


Hotel is one of the more established properties as well as one of the largest in Hong Kong with 911 guest rooms. It


has been joined in the area by the new wave of hotels that have been converted from former industrial buildings, such as the 409-room Silka Tsuen Wan, developed by Dorsett Hospitality, and the 160-room Hotel Ease, from the Tang’s Living Group. Though surrounded by this new wave of accommodation, the Panda can lay claim to being Tsuen Wan’s MICE hotel with


Silka Tsuen Wan Hotel


the Panda Grand Ballroom, and newly revamped meetings venues in the form of the Crystal and The Terrace. To the south-west of Tsuen


Wan, Sheraton will be one of the big names destined to open in 2018 in the town of Tung Chung, on Lantau island, near Hong Kong International Airport. A Four Points by Sheraton and the Sheraton Hong Kong Tung Chung Hotel are expected to open on 1 July.


BBT January/February 2018 135


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