Hotel TV channel broadens horizons

THE Hongkong Channel, a prominent provider of entertainment and information television to the local hotel industry, has added several programmes that reflect developments in commercial, economic and political spheres.

Managing director Hal Archer said the channel had introduced five new programmes and two more would be launched soon.

In the meantime, the four-year-old channel is signing up more customers in Hong Kong's vibrant hospitality industry.

Mr Archer said: 'We are extending the Hongkong Channel to the Regent and Kowloon Shangri-La.' The channel started in November 1990 with five hotels on its books. Since then, the number of hotels providing its 24-hour services has grown to 22. The Regent and Kowloon Shangri-La will further boost the channel's penetration, which so far adds up to 13,000 rooms.

Its client list includes premier hotels such as Conrad Hong Kong, Excelsior, Grand Hyatt, Hong Kong Hilton, Mandarin Oriental, the Peninsula and Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers.

Programmes that were added recently to the channel include The China Business Report, 1995 Shopping Showreel, Duty Free and Specialty Shopping and The New Airport.

Two other programmes, The Future of Hong Kong, and Business and Trade Shows, are to be introduced shortly.

These programmes are sponsored by major companies.

Custom-made for overseas visitors, the channel reaches a market with a huge growth potential.

'In the hotels we are serving, we reach about two million visitors a year and 95 per cent of them are adults,' Mr Archer said.

'From a spending standpoint this market is much more lucrative than, say, the domestic market, because tourists have higher disposable incomes.' Mr Archer said surveys showed that guests in each hotel the channel was available spent $31 million on average every month on products and services. This figure did not include their hotel bills.

'So you can see that advertisers can reach a market worth $31 million in each hotel we are in,' Mr Archer said.

For advertisers, this would add up to a market worth $8.184 billion annually in the 22 hotels that offer the channel.

This is one reason that has prompted the channel to draw the attention of big spenders to upmarket shopping through a special programme and also to examine ways of making shopping less tiresome for tourists.

'One of the things that we want to do with the channel is introduce convenience shopping. We see a lot of potential in a situation where a lot of guests in hotels hardly have time for shopping.

'We can get the products they are looking for and provide an ordering system where guests get products and services delivered to their rooms,' Mr Archer said.

'We are discussing the idea with several companies.' Mr Archer said the channel offered 10 minutes of advertising in the channel's programme cycle that ran for an hour. Programmes were in five-minute segments and the shows that were included in the hourly cycle were repeated throughout the day.

The channel started its programme cycle with a five-minute introduction to the services of the hotel where the Hongkong Channel was available. In another five-minute slot, the channel showcased the particular hotel's dining facilities.

'What makes us different is our flexibility of being able to target different types of guests at any one hotel,' Mr Archer said.

Apart from the scheduled programming, the channel was examining the possibility of providing services for hotel guests, Mr Archer said.

'We are looking at additional guest services, like alternative languages and also a music channel to bring classical music to TV sets in hotel rooms,' he said.