Destination China Takes Fuji Xerox Group To The Ritz-Carlton Sanya

The brief
The Fuji Xerox Group, a high end incentive group, was handled by local operator Destination China from August 24 to 28, 2010. All 28 guests were from New Zealand and the organizer wanted their clients to have a unique, memorable, and luxurious Chinese experience during this trip. The Ritz-Carlton, Sanya was selected because of its experienced event team, world-famous legendary service, and its Summer Palace-inspired architecture.

The challenges
This was the first time that all the guests had come to Sanya or even to China. Both the event company and the hotel tried their utmost to impress guests by giving them a unique and memorable Chinese Experience.

An off-site gala dinner was arranged at the top of Yalong Bay Rainforest Park where the guests could overlook the whole Yalong Bay. This was also a first for the Ritz-Carlton banquet team — the first time they had arranged an event on a mountain top — and transportation and food preparation were the biggest problems. The hotel dedicated more than 60 staff to arrange this spectacular event for 28 VIPs.

Another challenge was a kitchen cooking class, guests were taken by hotel chefs to the local market to procure food in the morning. The then went back to banquet kitchen for an interesting Chinese cooking lesson. A chef's table was set up inside of kitchen as well so that all the "students" could taste their own work straight away. Not only learning how to eat Chinese food, but also learning how to cook it, these were indeed a major challenge for all the foreign guests.

The execution
Whole event was full of creative and fun ideas.

Guests were welcomed with a cocktail reception at the hotel's private beach on the first day. And on the second day, an off-site gala dinner was arranged on the top of Yalong Bay Rainforest Park where guests could overlook the whole Yalong Bay. To celebrate a modern Chinese theme, a dragon sculpture was made as a backdrop, modern cage art and Chinese folk dancing were performed by Chinese artists and local children. The last day was filled by a cooking class activity. In the morning there was a tour of the local market with a hotel chef, followed by a cooking class and a chef's table in the kitchen. The hotel and event company management offered a champagne toast to all the guests for their fantastic work.

The verdict
Meeting planners Jenny Shi and Jenna Egen very satisfied with the overall event and recognized that hotel service is key to making a difference. Egen commented, "Very good, I would score your hotel as five out of five, in comparison to our previous experience with another hotel. The hotel has a great banquet team, and also our guests liked the hotel facilities: especially the spa and fitness center."