Edwin Li is the operation director at Time Express Travel Consultant Company. He is responsible for planning and managing the company's operations and has the responsibility for the final decision on purchasing hotel products, as well as for achieving operational targets.

What criteria do you use when selecting a venue as a MICE destination?
My priorities are: service, brand, facilities, location, surroundings, F&B standards, and price.

Which are your favorite hotels when you arrange company MICE?
In Beijing I would choose, the St. Regis Hotel, Beijing, the Grand Hyatt Beijing, and The Ritz-Carlton Financial Street. In Shanghai: St. Regis Hotel, Shanghai, and The Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai.  And in Sanya the Crown Plaza Sanya.

How do you view the developing MICE market in China?
Currently, inbound travel is expanding due to a number of factors; this is especially true for MICE. With the 2008 Beijing Olympics coming peak time is approaching. Everyone looks on 2008 as a year of Olympics, travel, and business, which is going bring more opportunities for the MICE market.

What would you like to say to hotel general managers and marketing directors?
First of all, traditional ballrooms and guest rooms are not ideal places for most of my clients. My clients focus more on impressive service as well as all-round facilities. They like to feel at home. Basic service is not enough to meet their specific needs; they want hotel staff to offer more care and warmth.

I hope hotel general managers and sales directors can do better, earlier, and be more sophisticated than MICE organizers. This can help us to use the hotels’ facilities comprehensively, deploy diversified resources, and simplify our jobs. Then the hotel becomes a really good partner. We do need hotels to say "we can offer more," and then do it.

What are the biggest problems you've met when booking?
Unprofessional MICE teams and bad information on the required facilities.

What are the main problems for a domestic MICE organizer?
Badly managed systems for large MICE events. This should be improved by learning more, and in depth, from Western management. Problems are not enough facilities for users, unreasonable arrangement of time and space, no professional assistance to activities, and unprofessional MICE teams.

Looking at China Hospitality News and its website, as a professional MICE company what do think about our MICE products?
It really is helpful to offer more of the latest industry news and we use it as a bilingual travel guide. Clients are very sophisticated and highly brand conscious; they would like to see more international brands expanding in China. It will be nice if you can offer more information on that.

As one of our readers, which department is your favourite in China Hospitality News?
The "Focus" section is my favorite department. It gives details of hotel facilities, reception capabilities, and developing trends, through interviews with professional hotel managers. The information is timely and up to date which means a lot to us professional buyers.

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