Hotels agree to reschedule parties

Hotels agree to reschedule parties

Hundreds of celebrations and festive parties that were planned to take place at Bangkok hotels have been postponed to the next couple of months in response to the ceremonial bathing rites of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana.

Published on January 7, 2008

Most hotel operators in the capital have already given notice of the postponement and the rescheduling of the events to March or April, according to a survey by The Nation. The occasions include annual thank-you parties, company staff parties, new product launches and personal celebrations.

However, hotel operators said international meetings and business conferences would take place as planned.

Ferry Tjahjono, director of convention sales at the Centara Grand Hotel and the Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld, said the hotel had received postponements of four staff parties planned from now through January 15, involving 400- 800 persons. He said that the parties were postponed until March.

"However, we still have around 25 meeting functions during the period. The biggest involves 1,000 persons," he said.

Tjahjono said the hotel was becoming one of Bangkok's most popular places for meetings and conventions as it is located at the city centre and surrounded by shopping malls, department stores and easy connections to mass transportation.

Meanwhile, Central Pattana, developer of CentralWorld, announced

the company's management decided to downsize this year's Children Party.

There is a report that the wedding party of a son of Tourism and Sport Minister Suvit Yodmani is being shifted from January 4 to February 15. The party is planned at the Swissotel Nai Lert Park.

Kwanruen Liewtrakul, public relations manager of Radisson Hotel Bangkok,

said three staff parties plan-ned at the hotel this week have been shifted to February or April.

Moreover, a combination of annual party and room bookings reserved by a giant electricity company that was scheduled for next week was also postponed to April.

Kwanruen said all meetings and conferences were ongoing.

Thai Hotels Association manager Sakkarin Chorsawai said that Thai people are avoiding festive events at this time.

Most hotel operators responded to the government announcement of a 15-day mourning period for government and state enterprise employees, and flags at all public buildings will be flown at half mast.

The private sector has also required dressing in black as a sign of participation in the Buddhist ceremonial bathing rites of the princess.

Dusit Thani Hotel and Banyan Tree Hotel said their business meetings had not been cancelled. An official at Millennium Hilton Bangkok said all scheduled meetings would take place as planned, including a charity show scheduled for late this month.

"We can't postpone it as it took some time to fix the schedule for the international musical band," she said. "We hope that this should be okay given that proceeds from the first day of the show will go for charities."

Taksin Pilivas, board member of Tourism Council of Thailand, said domestic travel was expected to be slow in the first quarter this year because many people who planned to travel between January and March will postpone their trips to mourn the death of the Princess.

He said Chinese New Year on February 7 and tourism-related services such as car-rental firms and restaurants will also be slow for the same reason.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation