Engage and ideate at MCUBE

Marriott recently hosted MCUBE (Marriott Meetings Matter), its signature MiCE event, at the newly-opened JW Marriott Jaipur Resort & Spa. The event brought together the largest corporate and professional conference organisers under one roof to enhance synergies and strengthen partnerships.

TT Bureau

MCUBE, a two-day conclave, provided an opportunity for all the participating hotels to meet industry partners and potential customers who have substantial requirements for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MiCE). The key objective was to enhance synergies and strengthen partnerships.

Sanjay Sharma, Market Vice President—North India, Nepal and Bhutan, Marriott International, shared some insights on the viability of MiCE in India and why bringing events to cities helps elevate the local economy too. “MCUBE is not only an opportunity for us to show the hotel but showcase Jaipur as a MiCE destination. Jaipur is booming at the moment with the availability of new infrastructure and development with a possibility to avail more MiCE business into the city.”

“When meetings and conventions start coming in, new business opportunities are available for not only the hotels but local vendors, transporters, etc”

On the growth of Marriott, Sharma said, “Marriott witnessed a double digit growth of RevPar during the period 2016-17 and 2017-18. For F&B, we faced a little bit of a crisis due to liquor ban, GST and demonetisation when a few of our hotels were hit. So overall, 2017 was a stellar year for us and we performed far above our market share against our competitors.”

Talking about the strategy behind expansions, he states, “We are very detailed in terms of what the business needs are if we build hotels in new cities. Today’s hotels are not just about business in the cities but also about bringing business into the cities. One of the key drivers for demand in hospitality business is MiCE. When meetings and conventions start coming in, new business opportunities are available for not only the hotels but local vendors, transporters, etc. Bringing big events is not only beneficial to hotels but also the local economy.”

Sharma believes that the success of convention business is not defined by competitions but collaborations. He says, “We will make more headway in bringing in more international events into the country by collaborating not only within our hotels but also with other brands and marketing that destination as ‘collaborative service providers’. India is the optimal inbound destination with an excellent infrastructure now and myriad options of cuisine, value for money and building service levels.”

Referring to Marriott’s largest footprint in the country, Sharma further says, “We feel we are service providers to our partners and aim to deliver beyond their expectations.  We we have a total of 108 hotels in South Asia.”

CSR Initiatives

• Marriott painted the walls of a government school, adopted by JW Marriott Jaipur for their literacy programme. They also played games with school children