Successful Meetings - December 2007 - (Page 77)

Meeting Sites ESSENTIAL TOOL BOX Passports/Visas: Both are required to enter China and must be obtained from Chinese Embassies and Consulates. A list of services and FAQs can be found at www.chinaembassy.org. Also visit travel.state.gov for further information and updates. Average Daily Business Travel Costs:* Hotel $152 F&B $95 For More Info: Visit Beijing english.visitbeijing.com.cn Beijing WHAT’S THE LATEST: The completion of the Beijing Olympic Green Convention Center this month will make the city much more capable of handling large-scale conventions. BETTER AIRLIFT: Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded four new routes between the United States and China, and gave tentative approval to three more. Chicago-Beijing and Philadelphia-Beijing are among the new routes. *Business Travel News 2007 Corporate Travel Index By Maggie Rauch BOOMTOWN: The 237,000-sf Beijing Olympic Green Convention Center will be Beijing’s first state-of-the-art center. Located on the Olympic campus, near the National Stadium and Olympic Aquatics Center, it will host the fencing and pentathlon competitions as well as the media center. It will also be complemented by a large commercial development. Two as yet unbranded hotels are being built on the site. The most heated competition in Beijing after next year’s Olympics are over will be among the city’s new hotels. The approach of the Games and the unprecedented growth of the Chinese economy have combined to spur a massive construction boom in the capital city. Each global hotel company has a recently completed or soon-to-be-completed new property in Beijing. And in most cases, one is not enough. In 2006 and 2007, a RitzCarlton and a Westin (with China’s first Heavenly Spa), respectively, opened on Financial Street. In late 2006, Hong Kong-based hotelier Marco Polo opened the Beijing Marco Polo Parkside in Chaoyang. Debuting next year are the Four Seasons Hotel Beijing, InterContinental Beijing North, Mandarin Oriental Beijing, and Westin Beijing at Chaoyang. Properties scheduled to open before the end of 2007 include the Park Hyatt Beijing, the Ritz-Carlton Beijing, and the J.W. Marriott Beijing, all in Chaoyang. Starwood also announced plans for an Aloft hotel opening in 2009. The Art of Saving Face Knowing some etiquette rules will allow you to build relationships in China more quickly, secure better deals, and ultimately make your meeting attendees more comfortable. Don’t plan events during Chinese holidays: Not only will you prevent Chinese delegates from enjoying a rare opportunity to take a vacation, but all of your attendees will also face costlier and more hectic travel. The whole country celebrates Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) on the second new moon after the winter solstice, which usually falls between late January and late February; May Day occurs every May 1; and National Day falls on October 1. Around each of these holidays, the whole country gets a one-week vacation. Maybe means no: When planning and executing your event, know that saying “no” to someone is generally considered rude, which means you won’t hear it much. If you get a response of “maybe” or “let’s talk about it tomorrow,” you should reframe your request or consider it denied. Title, please: Know the titles of important Chinese delegates at your event, especially anyone you expect to introduce to others. In formal situations, the Chinese show respect by calling one another by their surname followed by their title. If you’re addressing them in English, the order is reversed. So Manager Wang is Wang Jingli; President Li is Li Zong. If you don’t know someone’s title, laoshi, or teacher, is a respectful form of address. —MR SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS DECEMBER 2007 mimegasite.com PHOTOS: BEIJING TOURIST ADMINISTRATION 77 http://www.chinaembassy.org http://travel.state.gov http://english.visitbeijing.com.cn http://mimegasite.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - December 2007

Successful Meetings - December 2007 Contents Editor's Note Special Report Research Industry Trends 2008 Meeting Events Planner Spotlight Websites of the Month Mouth for Sale Technology Talk Food & Beverage Pre-Event On Site Pre-Event Tools of the Trade Goodbye, Booth Babes Five Tips to Improve Your Golf Events When Crime Pays Office for Hire More Miles for Your Money Places & Spaces South Florida Biloxi / Mississippi Gulf Coast Fort Worth Monterey Beijing Gurus Special Supplement: Hawaii Island-by-Island Guide

Successful Meetings - December 2007

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