• Steve Rushmore - Founder and President, HVS International;
• Timothy J. Grady - Managing Director, Morgan Stanley, Hong Kong;
• Nicholas Clayton - COO, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group;
• Marilyn Carlson Nelson - Chairman & COO, Carlson Companies;
• Jean Gabriel Pérès - President & CEO, Movenpick Hotels and Resorts;
• Raymond Bickson - Managing Director, Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces;
• Madhu Rao - CFO, Shangri-la Hotels & Resorts; and
• Byram Avari - CEO, Avari Group, Pakistan.

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Asia Pacific's leading luxury hotel group, announced today that the group has signed management contracts with India's Adarsh Group to operate three new hotels in Bangalore, India starting August 2007, adding a total of more than 1,000 rooms to the group's inventory in India. Strategically located in the central business district of Bangalore, the Shangri-La Hotel will open in August 2007. The Adarsh Group has named Singapore-based CPG Corporation its architect and Hirsch Bedner Associates Design Consultants its interior designer. Additionally, a Traders hotel will also open in August 2007 with 250 rooms near Bangalore's renowned International Tech Park situated at Whitefield outside Bangalore city, about eight kilometres from Bangalore's airport. Opening December 2008, Shangri-La will also operate a 350-room business retreat and spa located at Outer Ring Road, about six kilometres from Bangalore's airport. A second phase will include 200 additional rooms and 200 serviced apartments Shangri-La's exclusive CHI will be a separate spa village complex designed as a sanctuary within the hotel. Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts currently manages 46 hotels under the Shangri-La and Traders Hotels brands, in Australia, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates with a rooms inventory of over 21,000.

A new marina club on Sentosa Island aims to be Singapore's answer to the French Riviera. ONE 15 - named for its location one degree and 15 minutes north of the equator - will occupy a 1.7-hectare site on the eastern part of the island close to the upmarket enclave of Sentosa Cove, where multi-million dollar homes and land are in hot demand. The marina will be able to accommodate 240 boats, with 13 berths for mega-yachts longer than 85 feet. More mega-yacht berths may be added later. The US$47.6 million project is being developed by SUTL - better known as a food and beverage distributor. The clubhouse, which will have full town club facilities, is expected be ready in the first quarter of 2007. Additional plans include a strategic partnership with neighbouring Sentosa Golf Club, so ONE 15 will be able to enjoy golf facilities as well.

Located on Spring Street in the CBD, Melbourne's Windsor Hotel comprises 180 hotel rooms and suites. The owners, Oberoi Hotel & Resorts Group are selling the hotel, its last Australian asset, as it gets ready to exit the Australian hotel market. Oberoi purchased the hotel in 1990 for US$13.6 million during the property recession and has spent millions of dollar refurbishing it. Attempts have been made over the past years to search for an off-market buyer, but due to Melbourne's lacklustre luxury hotel market, have had no luck so far, however marketing will be geared up in the near future and the hotel will be officially listed for sale.

Global hotel and resort company Outrigger has picked a prime spot next to Melbourne's Telstra Dome for a new US$192 million hotel. Outrigger has signed up as the hotel operator within a new 36-storey building to be developed by the RIA Property Group, which is headed by Larry Bowtell and Steve Apperly. The proposed building will be split between 19 levels of traditional hotel suites and 17 floors of private apartments atop the tower. The proposed site in the US$6.2 billion Docklands precinct is a 6,600 square metre piece of land on the corner of Bourke Street and Wurundjeri Way. There will also be some commercial office space in the tower. Outrigger manages 51 properties with more than 12,000 rooms in Hawaii, Micronesia, Fiji, Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia. Three resorts boasting nearly 500 rooms are under development in Australia and one resort is under construction in Bali, Indonesia.