ITB Asia News 2019 Day 3 Edition

TRADE TALK
9
I THINK THERE WILL BE
MUCH MORE MOVEMENT
TOWARDS SINGAPORE WHEN IT
COMES TO MICE.
Tim Hentschel
Group CEO,
HotelPlanner.com
and Meetings.com
Growing the online group travel
booking market in Asia
Exclusive trade interview: Tim Hentschel, CEO, Hotelplanner.com
and Meetings.com
HotelPlanner.com is the world’s largest provider of online group
hotel bookings and event management services. Meanwhile
Meetings.com secures hotel accommodations, meeting space,
conference venues, and hospitality services – and negotiates
the most favourable terms possible. In the last month, group
CEO Tim Hentschel has moved from the UK to Singapore. We
asked him why.
We launched our Asia headquarter
office in Hong Kong about four
years ago. Then around a year ago,
we decided to expand more into
this market, and started to look at
some new cities. Finally we took
the decision that Singapore was
the best spot. We are happy to be
in a place where things are very
stable. We are also happy to be in an
area which is also growing rapidly.
Singapore just took the number
one award for the most businessfriendly
environment, and they
overtook the US this year in that
field. They also took the number
two spot among the top financial
markets. It’s exciting to be here
while Singapore is experiencing
such great growth.
How are your companies
performing and what are the
sweet spots at the moment?
We are lucky to be in online group
travel where we have a good mix
of leisure group as opposed to
corporate group, because corporate
group has taken a considerable
hit in the last year. When markets
flatten out, the first thing CFOs do is
to cut their corporate group spend.
But luckily for us, we have a strong
leisure group market too, and we
also have a product that tends to
see more growth during recessions,
because more people are looking
to save money. Our leads are up
20% year-over-year right now, and
we have signed some really good
deals. We acquired VenueExplorer.
com.sg – a local Singapore startup
that specialises in meetings
and events. We just did a deal
with One Championship. There’s
a seven-figure sponsorship deal,
and it includes a lot of exposure in
the Asian market for what we do.
That is unique, as there is no other
online travel company in Asia that
specialises in group bookings that
has a global reach and the kind of
traffic and history we do. We have
been seeing pick-up in Europe ever
since Bas Lemmens, the co-founder
of Bookings.com became the CEO
of Meetings.com, our other brand
headquartered out of Amsterdam
now. And then of course North
America continues to be our
strongest market, where 80% of our
revenues are still located.
Singapore itself seems to be
growing as a MICE destination.
What are your thoughts on that?
Yes, they are building a fourth tower
at the Marina Bay Sands and are
building a huge indoor stadium as
well. They are anticipating bigger
OUR LEADS
ARE UP 20%
YEAR-OVER-YEAR
RIGHT NOW, AND
WE HAVE SIGNED
SOME REALLY
GOOD DEALS.
events coming down here, and I
know the Hong Kong market has
become tough – especially with
the transport issues there. I think
there will be much more movement
towards Singapore when it comes
to MICE.
You are an adept of ITB shows
around the world. What are your
thoughts on ITB Asia?
We are in talks to grow our
relationship further with the
organisers of ITB Asia. As you know,
we organise a number of award
events around the globe – paying
tribute to the top companies who
work to facilitate the life of those
working in the MICE sector. We
have the World Hospitality Awards
that will be happening alongside
Art Basel in South Beach. In Berlin,
we do the European Group Travel
Awards. To complement our fastest
growing market, which is Asia,
we definitely want to organise
something in Singapore around
ITB Asia. And as we get closer to
the next show, we will figure out
what that looks like. It will be big.
We will want to get big celebrities
and entertainment to help highlight
everything our industry does, and
obviously help raise money for
charity
ITB ASIA NEWS • Friday 18 October 2019