Marking the 50th anniversary of The Hermitage hotel official opening, the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre was officially opened by Lady Hillary in late May, the 55th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary's first ascent of Mount Everest with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
The $7.5 million centre provides a state-of-the-art 3D cinematic experience with New Zealand's first full dome digital planetarium, stargazing, museum and Hillary Gallery. The Centre seats 125 and is available for exclusive hire.
The Hermitage has a range of event packages and venues – most with stunning views of the Southern Alps – from small boardroom style meetings to conferences of 200 attendees. Plus, The Hermitage events coordinator, Nyree Schaar, can also arrange activities like helicopter flights, Ski Plane flights (with Tasman Glacier landings) glacier lake boat trips, and private guided tours of the park for your group.

Email: ns@hermitage.co.nz  Nyree Schaar, events coordinator
Website: www.mtcooknz.com

The Park Hyatt Beijing, located on the top floors of the Beijing Yintai Centre building will open at the end of this month, and the 237 generously sized guest rooms and suites are already fully booked for the Olympic Games.

Each room is outfitted with a work desk, international power outlets, wireless and wired Internet access, DVD player, personal safe large enough for laptops and with laptop charger. The spa-inspired bathrooms feature oversized rain showers and deep soaking tubs.
The property has 2,300 sqm/24,757 sqft of flexible meeting space including a 1,221 sqm/13,143 sqft pillarless ballroom, which accommodates 1,500 for a reception.

The hotel offers 4 restaurants and private dining rooms with butler service, among them the highest restaurant in the city, 4 bars, wine cellars, cigar room and coffee counter. For relaxation, there is a Health club with indoor swimming pool, a spa with 8 treatment room and luxury boutiques for shopping.

E-mail: parkhyattbeijing@hyatt.com
Website: http://beijing.park.hyatt.com

The Hilton Kuala Lumpur will open Level Seven, the hotel's new meetings and conventions space, in September. Level Seven is specially designed to a living room and kitchen concept with lounge seating and an interactive kitchen to give attendees a relaxed feeling during meeting breaks. Level Seven is decorated using soft natural wood tones and the glass wall partitions can be regulated to be clear or opaque, separating the three meeting rooms of flexible space accommodating 180. The Hilton KL has 13 meeting rooms in total that accommodate from 10 to 1,500.

The property is located near KL Central, the city's railway hub, less than 30 minutes from KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) and 10 minutes from the KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre). The property also features a 2-storey state-of-the-art health club and a 120 meter terrace pool, which overlooks gardens.
Website: www.hilton.com

The W Hong Kong,  located in the West Kowloon district, adjacent to the Elements shopping mall and close to the International Commerce Centre, is scheduled to open in September but will open some rooms in August.

The W Hong Kong will have 393 spacious guest rooms with the signature W bed, 400 thread count linens and goose-down pillows and duvets. All guest rooms will be outfitted with High Definition 42" LCD TVs, surround sound systems with DVD /CD players, i-Pod docking stations, bathtub LCD screens and both wired and wireless high-speed Internet access. W Hong Kong will feature over 10,000 sqft/929 sqm of event space with 8 meeting rooms. The property's two signature restaurants, Fire and Kitchen, will be under the leadership of celebrated New Zealand-born Executive Chef, Michael Poutawa. The hotel will have Hong Kong's most highly elevated swimming pool at 700 feet above street level and a Bliss spa.

Website: www.starwood.com

Singapore Airlines is deploying the A380 to fly Singapore/Beijing for the Olympics. This will be the first A380 flight to the People's Republic of China. From 2nd - 8th August, the Singapore/London flights will be operated by Boeing 747-400 as its regular equipment the A380 brings people to the Olympics.

Singapore Airlines recently took delivery of its fifth A380. The airline configured the jet in three classes of service with private cabins for each First Class passenger, a four across seating plan for Business Class seating and a more comfortable Economy Class.

At this time, Singapore Air operates daily A380 scheduled services on the Sydney/Singapore, London/Singapore and Tokyo/Singapore routes. The Sydney/Singapore service commenced on 28 October 2007 and Singapore Air is the first carrier to fly the A380 on scheduled services. Singapore Airlines has firm orders for an additional 14 A380 aircraft and an option to purchase six more after that.

Website: www.singaporeairlines.com