April 2010 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

Interview
and personalize menus. Food in this part of the world is
very important and we are conscious of that as well as of
our clientele and their needs. Providing first class cuisine
underlies our core business mission and enhances our
product offering.
Since our inception in 1995, we were owned by a group
of investors from Hong Kong. Since October 2009, we were
acquired by the ARA Harmony Fund, with 20% owned by
Suntec REIT and 80% by private investors. We presently
have 289 staff -- these are experienced professionals
that work in the following teams / divisions: Human
Resources and Administration, Finance, Sales, Marketing
and Communications, Building Services, Audio Visual
Services, Food and Beverage, Banquet, Stewarding and
Housekeeping.
How were the past years for Suntec Singapore? How was
or is the influence of the economical recession for an
organisation as yours?
The past few years have been very successful for Suntec
Singapore. I am pleased to say that this has coincided with
my tenure here, and we have seen our profits quintuple.
The business we are in has a long gestation period - so we
are reaping what we have sown in the last years, increased
our revenues, and watched our costs. Due to the nature
of the business, we will, as a result of the recent economic
recession, likely to see some negative impact in 2011 or
2012. Last year was an interesting year. While the global
economy suffered a major economic meltdown, we also
had to face the pandemic that traversed the globe. Being
in a global business where delegates convene in large scale
for B2B (business to business) meetings and tradefairs had
its challenges as organisers were less confident of filling
up the space and the seats that had been booked. Despite
that, Suntec Singapore did well -- We were flexible with our
clients and our business partners and worked with them
to meet their needs -- the results speak for themselves
– we turned a good profit in 2009, and strengthened
relationships with our business partners.
How do you see the future of Suntec Singapore especially
with the opening of the integrated resorts in mind?
The future of Suntec Singapore looks good. Our reservation
book for events in 2010 is nicely full (of course we have
some space available depending on the flexibility of dates),
and we are working actively to secure future events all the
way to 2018. The casino resorts are a new phenomenon
to Singapore -- and they will help to bring in many tourists
and travelers to Singapore, which is part of the larger
government initiative. The two casino resorts also have
meetings space, and it is clear that organisers have now
more choice than ever on where to hold their event. At
Suntec Singapore, we see that. We see the draw of the
novelty factor and accept it. However, that does not mean
that we do nothing about it -- we are a business and we
will survive, and survive well. Since the announcement
of the upcoming casinos resorts a few years ago, we
have spent much time strategising our game plan. Over
the last few months we have planted the seeds of new
business strategies and we are seeing the first fruits of
our labor. These tried and tested strategies will then be
further implemented and tweaked to get the results we
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