With new hotels being built all over Asia, it is an exciting and busy time for Robert Cotter, president of ITT Sheraton, Asia Pacific Division. This is his working week. Monday ALTHOUGH my trip begins early, with a 7.55 am flight from Hongkong to Beijing, the thought of visiting seven of our properties throughout Asia in as many days gets the adrenalin going. I am wide awake and once on board, I prepare for my first meeting of the day in Beijing. On arrival, I go straight to our flagship hotel in China, The Great Wall Sheraton, to meet with a director of China International Travel Services Group (CITS), key partners at several of our properties. We discuss several new projects aimed at raising our profile. Later, it is back to the airport to fly to Shanghai, where we spend the night at the Sheraton Hua Ting Hotel. The city is fascinating and I hope the next time I am here I will have more time to explore the sights. Tuesday I believe communication is the key to development and I begin the morning with our first divisional tele-conference call with our 15 key ITT Sheraton executives within the Asia-Pacific region. The ''meeting'' is beneficial with everyone having the opportunity to discuss current issues and future development. Early in the afternoon I meet with our owner of the Sheraton Hua Ting Hotel to discuss the appointment of a general manager. I am sorry to see Charles Woo leave us. But the candidates that have been short-listed look promising. At 3.30 pm I fly to Kuala Lumpur via Singapore. I am accustomed to using my flight time well, preparing for the next leg of my trip and forthcoming meetings. But I enjoy a break and a meal on the Malaysian Airline flight which arrives in Kuala Lumpur at 10.45 pm. It is straight to the hotel (unfortunately a competitor at this stage) and straight to sleep. Wednesday Malaysia has one of the fastest developing economies in Asia and to have a presence in Kuala Lumpur is essential for ITT Sheraton. It is for this reason that I spend the morning reviewing the site of our new property - The Sheraton Hotel and Towers Kuala Lumpur - followed by lunch with our potential joint venture partners. The signing ceremony for the contract is scheduled and there are a few issues to be negotiated in advance. This is one of our first joint ventures, but I believe it is the start of things to come and we are already in negotiations for similar ventures in other parts of the region. I then fly to Langkawi to visit the Sheraton Langkawi Resort and discuss the progress of the property with our owner. Langkawi is one of Asia's most undiscovered destinations, which I am pleased to report is growing in popularity. Surrounded by such tropical beauty, I forget Kuala Lumpur is only an hour's flight away. In the evening, the resort's executive chef has prepared a wonderful Malaysian meal - it is off to the health club tomorrow. Thursday My visit to the health club was less of an ordeal than expected. I enjoy this time to exercise and take my mind off work before my flight to Labuan. I catch another Malaysian Airlines flight via Kuala Lumpur to our new Sheraton Manikar Resort. This 247-room property is located at the northwestern tip of the island and is the only international class beach resort on Labuan. The island's developing financial community and tax-free environment brings many business travellers to the resort. This is an important market for ITT Sheraton, and I am delighted to see we have excellent banqueting facilities and a fully-equipped business centre in operation. The resort is proving to be popular with residents from Brunei who come for the weekend. The ferry trip takes about 21/2 hours and I promise myself to visit the Sultanate during my next trip. In the evening, I fly back to Kuala Lumpur and meet up again with our potential partners for dinner. All appears ''systems go'' and we look forward to having our first five-star Towers property in the capital ready for business by 1996. Friday I fly to Phuket to visit the five-star Sheraton Grande Laguna Beach Resort, open since last November. Unfortunately, my luggage has flown to Tokyo. My worries leave me, however, when I am greeted by warm Thai smiles, sweeping lagoons, long white beaches and the 323-metre swimming pool which weaves its way around the resort's 370 suites and rooms. I congratulate general manger John Koster and the resort's executive committee for their hard work and achievements - no wonder the property is part of ITT Sheraton's Luxury Collection. We discuss the regional sales and marketing conference to be held at the resort in a month and it appears John has everything under control. More than 60 of our sales and marketing staff and general managers will gather to discuss our new marketing programme, swap ideas and develop systems enabling us to give complete support to the new products and services we will be introducing to the region. Saturday We catch the early flight to Bangkok and go straight to the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel and Towers, another member of our Luxury Collection. Erhard Noreisch, ITT Sheraton's area manager for Thailand and general manager of the hotel, provides a warm welcome and I am pleased to learn my luggage has caught up with me. John Koster and Michael Smith have travelled with me and Paul Tribolet, our vice-president and director of sales and marketing, Asia Pacific; and Susanne Barfoed, marketing manager for Asia; have flown in from Hongkong. We discuss Thailand's advertising campaign, the general manager's meeting and the sales and marketing conference. Later, I meet with the owners of our new five-star Sheraton Bangkok Towers property which is under construction. In the evening we attend a cocktail party hosted by the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel and Towers to which 15 members of Thailand's press attend. Some of our key Thai customers also join us and the evening is a success. Sunday Things start early in Bangkok so I am not alone when visiting the hotel's gym this morning. My efforts are rewarded, however, by a delicious Thai lunch with the owners of the Sheraton Grand Laguna Beach Resort. We had some interesting discussions about theintegrated resort and I congratulate them on the success of this fabulous project. In the afternoon, I meet with various members of the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel and Towers' board of directors to discuss future activities, including the 10th anniversary which it celebrates this year - congratulations on a decade of success. After seven days visiting seven of our leading properties throughout the region, I catch my flight back to Hongkong and contemplate where ITT Sheraton will be in Asia within the next five years . . . and where I will be flying to then.
