Conferences and weddings in SL’s newest conference facility
View(s):KANDALAMA – Picture a conference being held in the sky or being wedded amidst the clouds!
That’s the feeling you get when seated inside the conference facility on the topmost, 7th floor of the iconic Heritance Kandalama.
The new facility, coming on the back of a marked growth in MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) traffic in Sri Lanka, is set to dramatically add to the country’s MICE market potential and breadth of diverse offerings.
Sun deck of new conference facility
According to hotel officials, the facility which opened recently is already seeing bookings flowing in for banquets, conferences and wedding receptions. Occasionally a couple planning to have their honeymoon at the hotel with the wedding elsewhere, during a pre-wedding visit, goes overboard when shown the 7th floor hall and quickly books it for the wedding, too.
The Heritance Kandalama Conference Centre has six meeting rooms with the largest – a 3,640 square foot conference hall – able to seat up to 350 guests.
“The Centre includes four breakout rooms that provide everything from exceptional comfort, beauty, and acoustics, to state-of-the-art technology with wireless Internet, lighting, projection, and sound systems,” one official told a Business Times reporter as we surveyed the hall from inside and on the spacious balcony, absorbing the panoramic view.
The main hall has glass panes on three sides providing a panoramic and 360-degree view of the Kandalama lake which has been filled to capacity from recent rains. The lake dries up during the drought as the number of users increases and attracts more thirsty elephants to the shallow areas, a welcome diversion for conference guests who want a break from a strenuous session.
“I don’t think any resort (in Sri Lanka) could offer a view like this,” notes Priyan Wijerathne, Heritance Kandalama Manager, during an interview in his office, alongside the large reception on the 5th floor of the hotel.
Section of the hotel
The hotel itself is unique. A (architect) Geoffrey Bawa creation, it first (before construction) drew large scale protests from nearby Dambulla residents over fears that the building would swallow the water resources in the vicinity.
After months of painstaking negotiations, parent company Aitken Spence convinced the village that the hotel will protect, preserve and enhance the environment. And also provide jobs for the village.
The hotel recruits more than 40 per cent of its staff from the village some of whom have served for 19 years – the lifespan of the Heritance which opened in 1994 – and risen from room boys or waiters to senior managers.
Built on a giant rock, care has been taken to blend the structure with the surroundings. The large expanse of foliage and forest has been weaved in providing a green building that drew the attention of a world certification body. One needs to be a nature lover and eco-friendly guest to saviour the surroundings of the hotel and the walk-through some corridors where the rock juts out to blend with modernisation.
The 152-room resort where monkeys roam and can slip into your room if the balcony door is left open is the first hotel in the world to receive LEED certification.
Mr. Wijerathne said the hotel is aggressively marketing the conference facility, which has a separate entrance. Thus non-resident guests need not go to the main hotel lobby to enter the convention centre which has an interesting observation lift – with glass on three sides – that takes you to the 7th floor and other floors below. The facility is one of the most advanced and spacious centres for any conference, meeting or banquet experience.
The conference hall
The hotel building is located on 8 acres of a 221-acre land owned by the company, the balance of which is preserved for nature and ecological reasons.
Mr Wijerathne said some multinationals have already held 3-day weekend conferences at Kandalama with more in the pipeline. There are some 30 other conferences and wedding that have booked for the rest of the year.
The Heritance brand is linked to the Indian MICE market and expects a lot of business from there.
Leisure is 20 per cent of a 3 to 4-day conference package and guests have access to a range of options including scaling the Sigiriya rock fortress, going on an elephant safari expedition to the Minneriya National Park or staying indoors on the 2,127 squre foot cocktail deck which offers an unobstructed view of the Ritigala mountain range, officials said. (Feizal)
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