Roxy Charity Car Wash, Roxy Charity Bazaar to be held at Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy

Get some colleagues together and express support for the needy through the Roxy Charity Car Wash on 15 May 2015, which is in its 8th year at the Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy. 

The 7th Roxy Charity Car Wash was a resounding success. In May 2014, the management and staff at Roxy-Pacific & Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel ran a charity car wash at the hotel's driveway. Together with Tan Chuan Jin, Minister of Manpower and Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC, and the Marine Parade Citizens' Consultative Committee, S$113,000 was raised through this activity with the support from business associates and members of the public. 

Together with sponsors, the car wash aims to raise funds for the recently-launched Roxy Foundation that will be distributed to NGOs, voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) and schools.

The car wash will be held on 15 May from 10 am to 6 pm, with the goal of raising S$100,000 for the Roxy Foundation, which was set up in February 2015 by Roxy-Pacific Holdings, a property and hospitality group and owner of the Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy. Roxy-Pacific Holdings will contribute S$60,000 for the event. 

Lim Biow Chuan, MP for Mountbatten single member constitutency (SMC), is to be the Guest of Honour and will wash the car of the person with the highest donation, together with the Directors of Roxy Pacific Holdings and General Managers of Accor Singapore Hotels. Grand Mercure Roxy Singapore is managed by Accor.

Needy families, sponsors and VIPS will also be invited to the Children Are Our Hope For the Future 2015 dinner on 28 May 2015 that will also be hosted at the Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy, with Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong as guest of honour.

Up to 100 children from low income families living around the community will each receive S$300 from the money raised in the form of vouchers. Fifteen students from Nanyang Polytechnic will receive tuition fee grants of S$1,000 each that will go towards their tertiary education tuition fees.

“It is great to engage with the community and giving back by raising funds for the underprivileged through the annual charity drive here at Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy,” said Klaus Gottschalk, General Manager of Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy.

The car wash is mainly organised by Roxy Pacific Holdings, Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy and the Marine Parade Citizens Consultative Committee and supported by Accor Asia Pacific and five of its Singapore hotels - Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay, Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen, Ibis Singapore on Novena, Sofitel So Singapore and The Singapore Resort and Spa Sentosa. 

The car wash is followed by the Roxy Charity Bazaar on 16 May. Approximately 20 vendors will donate new and pre-loved items to be sold at the Roxy Charity Bazaar, which will be open at the Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy from 10 am to 6 pm. A full 100% of the sales will go directly to the Roxy Foundation. 

The organisers of the Bazaar hope to create awareness and encourage philanthropy by donating and selling items and also through the arts. Visitors will be able to buy one-of-a-kind art pieces and pottery owned by local potters, refurbished clothes, bags and accessories, jewellery as well as household items.

Local potter Mark Lee said, “It is heart-warming to see people come forward to support this Bazaar by donating items that are very dear to them.”

Please call +65 6344 8000 to ask about the Bazaar, or email H3610-SL15@accor.com. Admission is free.

Accor brands include luxury-upscale Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery and Grand Mercure, The Sebel; midscale Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure and Adagio; and economy ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget, adagio access and hotelF1. 

Accor relocates luxury and upscale team to Singapore to focus on Asia Pacific

Accor has moved its Global Luxury and Upscale marketing operations from Paris to Singapore in a move that signals the growing importance of Asia Pacific in these segments. Asian consumers now account for almost half of global luxury sales, the company said. The implications for MICE organisers are that events in this part of the world may have to be of a certain standard to satisfy participants from this part of the world.

“Asian travellers are very demanding and the standard of hotels in this region is very high. We believe that Asia right now is a hub of creativity, innovation and transformation and that this environment provides the perfect breeding ground for us to take our luxury and upscale brands to the next level,“ says Rick Harvey Lam, Senior Vice President Global Marketing, Accor Luxury and Upscale Brands, who recently relocated from Paris to Singapore.

Accor believes that Asia will replace North-America and Europe as the key market for travel in future, especially in the upmarket and luxury segments. And while China and India are leading the way, other markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines also have a growing affluent middle class with increasing disposable incomes, Accor said. Accor has luxury and upscale hotels in all these regions and will continue to grow its high-end footprint in all these countries.

"Over the past decade Asia Pacific’s economic development has been remarkable and as travellers become more affluent, their desire to travel and explore the world grows, making this region the fastest growing luxury market in the world,” says Michael Issenberg, Chairman and CEO Accor Asia Pacific. “We currently have more than 170 luxury / uspscale hotels with over 37,000 rooms in the region, plus over 70 luxury and upscale hotels under development. This means that Accor will open, on average, a new luxury and upscale hotel in Asia Pacific every month for the next five years.

“With Sofitel celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Accor has a long history in luxury and upscale hotels and our credentials in this segment continue to grow with our expanding pipeline in this sector, including more than 30 Pullman hotels in China alone,” he said.

The move of the Luxury and Upscale Global Marketing team to Asia follows a restructuring of Accor’s business model around geographical lines, with all its brands now divided into three segments: Luxury and Upscale; Midscale; and Economy/Budget. The Luxury and Upscale segments include Accor’s Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure and The Sebel brands. China hosts 19 Sofitel and 15 Pullman hotels, making it the number one market for these brands outside of Europe.

With its central location, excellent infrastructure and business-friendly climate, Singapore is an ideal hub from which to manage Accor’s growth in the region, and brings the company’s leadership closer to more of Accor’s core luxury and upscale markets.

Source: Accor. Artist's rendition of the Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour.

As one of the world’s largest and oldest operators of luxury hotels, Accor aims to make its Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure and The Sebel brands the reference point for discerning travellers throughout the Asia Pacific region and globally. In recent months Accor has celebrated the successful launch of several high-end hotels across Asia Pacific, including Sofitel So Singapore, Pullman Shanghai South, and the signing of Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour at the Sydney International Convention Centre.