Carlson Rezidor plans to increase MICE segment share in India

Aiming to increase the share of meetings and events business in its India revenues, global hospitality major Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group is bringing specialised offerings and planning to strengthen leadership team of the segment.
The company has launched its 'experience meetings' concept in its upper upscale Radisson Blue hotels and will be adding another director in the New Delhi area in 2016 for the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) segment.
"We are planning to increase share of MICE segment in our revenues as it is very valuable to us. It is a much more profitable piece of business," Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Commercial Operations Asia Pacific Vice President Sandy Russell told PTI.

While she did not share the revenues from the company's hotels, Russell said "Generally in our hotels, 10 to 12 per cent of revenues come from MICE. In places where we have convention centres, 20 to 25 per cent revenues come from MICE."
In order to hardsell the segment, the company has launched its 'experience meetings' features under 'Brain Box' scheme and specialised culinary package 'Brain Food', aimed at enhancing productivity of participants.
"We have made a commitment to deliver successful meetings with higher productivity and greater creativity for our guests. We are leveraging technology and innovation, customer insight and research to provide all elements that contribute to successful meetings," she said.

Commenting on the significance of the Indian market, Russell said "India is a growth market for us. It is an opportunity."

She, however, said India needs to fix and develop infrastructure, besides investing on marketing.
When asked which brand would be key growth driver, she said "Radisson Blu is going to be our key growth opportunity. In Asia Pacific it is the biggest piece of pie for our brand segment and continues to grow exponentially. It is going to be a key performer going forward."
The company currently has 27 Radisson Blu hotels in the country out of 45 in the Asia Pacific region and out of 34 under development, 10 are in India.

Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group has over 1,370 hotels in operation and under development, a global footprint covering over 110 countries and territories. It has brands such as Quorvus Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson Red, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inns & Suites By Carlson under its portfolio.