H OT E L S W
hen you first walk into a hotel ballroom as a conference delegate or banquet guest, there are plenty of things that can grab your attention, from wall-to- wall LED screens showcasing exciting video to grand chandeliers hanging majestically from the ceiling, or unparalleled panoramic views through expansive windows.
Yet none of these quite evoke the sense of wonder that hits you when you enter a huge, capacious grand hall for the first time. With multistorey ceilings and walls that stretch what seem to be the entire length of the hotel, these spaces are impressive for their scope and audacity. Given the huge number of new hotel developments across Asia-Pacific, such titanic rooms are becoming all the more numerous. We look at some of the largest – and most impressive – hotel ballrooms around the region.
GRAND HYATT, HONG KONG The Grand Hyatt, Hong Kong has long been a mainstay of the city’s business events scene, having first opened in 1989 on the opposite side of Victoria Harbour to the Kerry Hotel, in the city’s Wan Chai district. The property has since been joined by the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, which stands adjacent to the hotel and offers its own array of huge event spaces. There are still plenty of event venues within the Grand
Hyatt, though – 22 to be exact. The largest of these is the 730 sqm (7,858sq ſt) Grand Ballroom which, when combined with the Grand Rooms and foyer, are capable of accommodating up to 30 automobiles. The ballroom itself is also impressive for a number of its features, namely a nine- metre by four-metre LED wall, marble pillars, mirrored walls and a massive 2,800kg elliptical bronze chandelier featuring more than 63,000 pieces of crystal.
hyatt.com
KERRY HOTEL, HONG KONG
One of the most recent properties to open on Hong Kong’s iconic waterfront, the Kerry Hotel, Hong Kong burst onto the scene in April last year as the Shangri-La Group’s fourth property in the city. Located in the Hung Hom district and designed by Andre Fu – the same architect behind Swire Hotels’ the Upper House in Admiralty district – the Kerry Hotel is a sizeable property in its own right, occupying 16 storeys in a broad, curved building with 546 rooms and ample outdoor spaces. However, it’s the hotel’s massive Grand Ballroom
that truly makes it stand out. Encompassing a whopping 1,756 sqm (18,900sq ſt), and with ceilings that stretch 6.5 metres high, the ballroom has been proclaimed the largest meeting space in Hong Kong. At its greatest extent, the venue can accommodate 2,016 people in a theatre-style setting, though a more common setup may be banquet style, which allows for 1,248 guests.
shangri-la.com
MARINA BAY SANDS This list really couldn’t be complete without the inclusion of Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands. The huge mixed-use development comprises not only a hotel but also a shopping mall, exhibition hall and even a museum. The exhibition halls provide access to more than 30,000 sqm of corporate event space, however it’s the 7,672 sqm (82,580sq ſt) Sands Grand Ballroom – proudly proclaimed by the hotel as the largest ballroom in Southeast Asia – that truly stands out. This whopping space can provide seating for more than 6,000 guests in a banquet-style setup, with this figure rising to 8,000 for a standing reception, and its ceiling height of 11 metres does little to lessen the vastness that one feels when stepping inside.
marinabaysands.com
LEFT:
Grand Hyatt, Hong Kong
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
FAIRMONT SINGAPORE While the largest ballroom at the Fairmont Singapore may be dwarfed in the city by that offered at Marina Bay Sands, the property’s 2,256 sqm (24,294sq ſt) Fairmont Ballroom is nothing to be sneered at. Able to accommodate up to 1,800 people for a banquet and up to 3,000 in theatre-
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