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Aichi , land of the re-arising business events
MORGAN CHAUDELER , PRESIDENT OF AICHI SKY EXPO IN JAPAN AND THOMAS VIDAL , CLUSTER GM OF MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL FOR NAGOYA , SPEAK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF EVENTS TO THEIR RESPECTIVE VENUES . enter the country yet . So the disruption was significant .
Luckily the Marriott branded hotel can benefit from the popularity of the brand and its Bonvoy Membership programme . Even in these tough times , we had a solid base of Japanese domestic Bonvoy members who kept staying in our hotels . This allowed us to maintain occupancy levels .
The room rates of our hotels here in Nagoya , the average room rates , and other cities across Japan are back to pre-Covid levels or even higher .
MW : For those not familiar with Aichi , where is it situated ?
C MC : Aichi prefecture is
situated in the centre of Japan , on the Pacific Coast side and located between Tokyo and Osaka . Nagoya is the capital of Aichi prefecture .
How has the year to date worked out for each of your venues ? MC : For Aichi Sky Expo , we are still going through a recovery period , but there is strong interest in Japan for business tourism and events . We ’ re seeing a mix of short and long term bookings beyond 2025 . TV : We had a good first quarter for the hotels here in Nagoya , Aichi . We can finally see the recovery of travel and hotel demand , not only domestic , but also international visitors .
The occupancy levels , of course , depend on the hotels and the location . But overall for the region we ’ ve seen an increase in 50 % -60 % on average in hotel rooms occupied . Nagoya ’ s recovery is a
little bit behind Tokyo and Osaka , but we ’ re improving .
Have your expectations for 2022 / 2023 been met , in terms of recovery since Covid ? MC : We have had to realign exactly what we wanted to do . After Covid , at first there were no strong restrictions in Japan and we were able to continue doing business . We were in a positive place compared to the rest of the world . The second thing is that because of the postponement of the Olympic Games , the main venues in Tokyo remained unavailable to host B2B and B2C events . So that ’ s why a lot of national events were relocated to Aichi and Aichi Sky Expo . We benefited from the unavailability of the venues in Tokyo .
Thomas , was there much disruption to your two hotel properties ? TV : Until October last year both the Courtyard and the Four Points hotels were limited to purely the domestic market . Inbound travellers could not
Morgan , What are the dimensions of Aichi Sky Expo and what kind of events are you typically attracting ? MC : Aichi Sky Expo is the fourth largest venue in Japan and also the newest , opening in 2019 . In terms of exhibition space , we have six halls , each measuring 10,000sqm . We have five halls that can open up into one large hall measuring 50,000sqm , which makes it the largest exhibition hall in Japan . In addition to this , we also have an 18 meeting rooms .
We attract a broad spectrum of events and are able to host outside events because we have 36,000sqm of outside space . We recently hosted an automobile event in April , the Nagoya Motorcycle Show .
We also host international concerts – most recently we hosted The 1975 and Avril Lavigne .
Thomas , could you tell us a bit more about your two properties ? TV : Both hotels together have a total just shy of 700 rooms . The Courtyard in the city has 360 rooms and the Four Points at the airport has just over 300 .
The Four Points , right next to the Aichi Sky Expo , tends to be a favourite for people attending events .
The Courtyard has big meeting and banquet space , with a ballroom holding 300 guests , and several meeting rooms .
How does being located next to the International Chubu Airport help
46 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / ISSUE 125