Metro Hotels Packages with FREE Internet / Wifi

These fantastic Metro Hotel deals all have one thing in common: Free Internet

We understand that in today's connected world, having access to the net is important. These accommodation packages throughout Australia all include internet access.
Whether you are staying for leisure or business, you know you will always be connected at our hotels and apartments.

Melbourne VIC

Metro Apartments on Bank Place is offering this Autumn Package for $160.00* per night staying in a one bedroom apartment including:

• Free Internet
• Midday Check-out
• Bottle of Wine on arrival

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/264

Metro Apartments on Bank Place is offering this Corporate Package (Single occupancy) for $165.00* per night including:

• One Bedroom Apartment for One occupant* 
• Free Internet
• A bottle of wine on arrival.
• Late check-out of 11 AM

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/118

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Brisbane QLD

Metro Hotel Tower Mill is offering this Winter Warmer Weekend in the City Special for $123.00* per night staying in an executive double room including:

• 2 full hot buffet breakfasts 
• Free car parking 
• Free wireless Internet 
• Late check out till 12 noon

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/309

Metro Hotel Ipswich International is offering this great Bed and Breakfast package of $149.00 per couple per night including:

• One night’s accommodation in a Superior Queen Room
• Hot chocolate welcome pack
• Breakfast
• Free Internet
• Car Parking
• $30 voucher when two people dine in the restaurant and order a two-course meal. 

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/312

Metro Hotel Ipswich International is offering this Sunday / Monday Madness accommodation package for $110.00 including:

• One Nights accommodation
• Late check-out of 1.00 pm
• Free Internet 

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/241

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Sydney NSW

Metro Hotel Miranda is offering this Baby It's Cold Outside package staying in a Standard Balcony Queen or Twin Room for $105.00* per night including: 

• Hot chocolate and Raisin toast 
• Free internet 
• Free car parking 
• Late checkout of 11AM

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/308

Metro Hotel Miranda is offering Balcony Queen Room 3 Night Mid Week Special for $120.00* per night including:

• Accommodation for two staying in a Balcony Queen Room
• Bottle of Wine upon arrival
• Chocolates on arrival
• Free Internet 

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/259

Metro Hotel on Pitt is offering this Winter Sydney CBD Getaway for $134.00 per room per night including:

• Free wireless internet
• A bottle of wine on arrival
• Late check out of 12 noon
• Staying in a Standard\Single\double\twin room*

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/306

Metro Hotel Sydney Central is offering this Weekday Bundle Package from $99.00 per night (maximum 2 people per package) including; 

• One nights accommodation in a Superior Room
• Daily Free Wi Fi
• A big bottle of wine on arrival 

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/280

Metro Hotel Sydney Central is offering this Winter Sydney - Great Saver package for $129.00 per room per night including: 

• Free wireless internet 
• Free Breakfast for 2 adult 
• Free bottle of wine on arrival 
• Free late check out by 12 noon (Subject to availability).

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/307

Metro Apartments on King - Book this Corporate Special from $165.00 per night staying in a fabulously located one bedroom apartment featuring a fully equipped kitchen including:

• Free WiFi  

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/20

Metro Apartments on Darling Harbour - Stay at Metro Apartments on Darling Harbour on a weekday for just $180.00* per night including:

• Free WiFi  

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/21

Aspire Hotel Sydney Ultimo For just $169.00* per night, Aspire Hotel Sydney is offering this Expo Package including:

• Accommodation in a Superior room
• Buffet breakfast
• Free wireless internet
• Free car parking - One bay per room with unlimited entry and exit
• Exhibitor Survival Pack containing two bottles of water, one sandwich or ham croissant, one piece of fruit and one muesli bar).

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/271

Aspire Hotel Sydney Ultimo is offering this Deluxe package for our Best Available Rate + $40 including:

• Staying in a deluxe room
• On-Site overnight parking
• In-room wireless internet
• Daily breakfast

Book here: http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special/64

Sydney to Host Australia's Largest Indigenous Festival

Officials at the media call for Corroboree, which will be held in Sydney for at least the next three years.

NSW Governor,  Marie Bashir has joined Minister for Tourism, Major Events and the Arts, George Souris and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Victor Dominello, to announce that Sydney will host the largest, annual, national Indigenous arts and cultural festival in Australia's history.

Called Corroboree, the new annual festival will find a home in Sydney for at least the next three years.

It will be held over 11 days, from 14 November to 24 November, 2013 and is being put together by nine of Sydney's major arts and cultural institutions which have strong Indigenous programs. It has unprecedented support from the Indigenous community.

"I am delighted to announce the inaugural national Indigenous arts and cultural festival - Corroboree and the NSW Government's support for this important event," Governor Bashir said.

"Corroboree will give us all a chance to begin to understand and celebrate the true culture of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - the original inhabitants of this great land".

Souris said: "Corroboree is aimed at bringing together Indigenous art and culture from around the nation and will become one of Australia's major cultural events.

"The NSW Government is very pleased to be supporting a festival of such national importance not only for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, but for all communities across Australia. Interest and participation in Indigenous culture continues to grow and with NSW having the largest population of Indigenous people in Australia, our State is the right place to host this significant event.

"Corroboree will bring together a number of Sydney's premier cultural organisations. It will deliver on the recommendation contained in the Visitor Economy Taskforce Report to establish a major Indigenous cultural festival in Sydney, to raise the profile of NSW's Aboriginal heritage and contemporary culture.

"It will also provide the State with a direct economic impact of approximately $21 million over the three years, with an expected 55,000 interstate, intrastate and international visitors to attend," Souris said.

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Victor Dominello, said: "This is an important event that will demonstrate and celebrate the diversity and strength of Indigenous art and culture to the people of Sydney, NSW and beyond.

"Art and culture is a crucial part of the social fabric of Aboriginal people and communities throughout Australia.

"This event will help provide opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to share their important and vibrant cultures with all Australians as well as visitors from overseas."

Festival elements will include:

•Opening of Corroboree with a Kids' Parade and Aboriginal Elders Firelight Ceremony
•Workshops, tours, exhibitions and performances by Sydney's diverse cultural, arts and heritage institutions
•Educational Culture Camps for secondary students across NSW
•Film, Music and Dance at Cockatoo Island
•Youth Career Day for Indigenous young people
•Arts and Crafts Market at Walsh Bay
•Fashion and Design Showcase bringing together the best of Indigenous Design from across Australia
•First Nation's Conference

The Future is Bright for Business Events in Sydney

Business Events Sydney (BESydney), in partnership 12 co-exhibitors, will shine the spotlight on Sydney’s spectacularly bright future at this month’s Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expos (AIME).

Held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 26-27 February, AIME is the Asia-Pacific region’s must-attend event for the meetings and events industry.

Sydney and NSW’s world-class venues and suppliers will fly the flag for NSW at the Destination Sydney stand (#1522), showcasing the scope of the state’s unique opportunities for event planners.

The harbour city will also be showing off Australia’s largest convention and exhibition facilities – an exciting development that will bolster the city’s already stellar reputation as one of the world’s favourite places to do business.

The International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) will have its own stand (#1422), where AIME visitors will be able to see a model of the current design and talk to the consortium that will build and operate the facilities when they open in late 2016.

Other new developments on show include The Star’s recently opened Event Centre, a multi-purpose venue designed to host A-list acts, conferences, exhibitions and awards functions, and Royal Randwicks’ $150 million redevelopment (opening in August), which includes a four-star hotel, ballroom and outdoor amphitheatre, as fantastic locations for upcoming business events.

Construction is also currently underway at Barangaroo, a 22-hectare former container port that is being transformed into a $6 billion extension of the city and which will include office space, residential apartments, public parks and event space, and a hotel, cafes and shops.

Lyn Lewis-Smith, CEO of BESydney, says that Sydney is open for business, and industries, government and communities are working together like never before.

“The venue options are abundant in Sydney and the redevelopment of Darling Harbour is the perfect opportunity for the city to showcase its diverse venues and the agility and flexibility of its suppliers,” Ms Lewis-Smith says.

“Also, many national conferences are literally getting out of town and benefitting from the unique activities and specialised knowledge hubs in regional NSW locations such as the Hunter Valley and Wollongong,” Ms Lewis-Smith said.

“NSW welcomes almost half of all international business arrivals to Australia. We are, and will continue to be, the country’s premier business events destination, now and in the future.”

Destination Presentations will be held at the Destination Sydney stand on Tuesday February 26 at 11.35 am and Wednesday February 27 at 1.15 pm. Register at www.aime.com.au  to attend.

SICEEP to ‘Blow Away’ MCEC

THE NSW Tourism Minister has declared the redeveloped Sydney Convention + Exhibition Centre (SCEC) will not just rival that of Victoria’s prime conference venue, but “blow Melbourne out of the water” when it opens by 2017. Speaking with BEN, George Souris - who is also the Minister for Major Events - referred to the size of the project as “humongous”, enabling Sydney to offer greater competition to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. 

“It’s going to be a long year, but we are building something twice the size of what we were initially planning,” Souris said. Facilities include what’s billed as Australia’s largest exhibition space, at 40,000sqm, and the country’s biggest convention hall capacity for 10,000 people over four different spaces. While the Sydney International Convention, Exhibition & Entertainment Precinct’s design is still to be finalised, the Minister confirmed the project was likely to result in events being turned away during the rebuild stage.

Questioned if the substitute Glebe Island facility - along with other alternative venues across the city - would result in conferences being hosted intrastate, Souris said “I’d say so.” “We’re hoping to make sure we cover the bases, but there will be events that will say ‘We’ll be back in a years time”. He said the SICEEP would take the better part of two years to construct, with the existing SCEC closing from Dec next year. Classed for all intents and purposes as a ‘pull down, start again’ project, Souris believes the SICEEP design will integrate some of the existing halls of the SCEC during its redevelopment.

Within the project is a brand new build hotel for Sydney, sitting just below the 5-star standard. Souris was unable to comment on which hotel group was linked to the project, but confirmed it would not compete against The Star’s ‘6-star’, The Darling. As detailed in the November update on the SICEEP website, a “hotel use” site is earmarked for the Northern Sector of the precinct near the water at the existing Convention Centre. 

Two groups of companies have submitted bids to design, plan and operate the new facilities, Destination Sydney and VeNuSW. Among VeNuSW’s partners (via a joint venture with Plenary Group) is Hilton Worldwide. Back in June, Hilton Worldwide announced plans to debut its DoubleTree by Hilton brand in the Australian market with a new build property in Karratha, WA, saying at the time the DoubleTree brand has potential growth prospects in Australasia.

(Source: Business Events News 5/12/12)

MEA Awards Open 25th National Conference Sydney

The MEA Industry Awards that recognise excellence and best business practice in the Meetings & Events Industry, are now open. The awards encourage industry professionals to excel in the achievement of their business and personal goals, and reward those who achieve outstanding results. Winners enjoy considerable profile within the meetings industry and with the general buying public.

In all but Individual Awards, members self-nominate for an Award by addressing a range of criteria that are relevant to the particular category or categories they are entering.

Candidates for MEA Individual Awards are nominated by a third party such as an employer, client, supplier or colleague who is responsible for completing the written application.

All Award submissions must be submitted on official award submission templates. The submissions are then judged by a panel of industry and independent judges. Short-listed candidates are interviewed by telephone to determine the category winner. Applications close 18 January 2013.

(Source: Business Events News, 7th November 2012)

BESydney to Manage Bookings for Glebe Island Expo and SICEEP

Business Events Sydney (BESydney) will take on broader responsibility and manage booking enquiries for the Sydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct (SICEEP) and Glebe Island Expo until operators of the new facilities are appointed.

Glebe Island Expo is the interim facility that will house Sydney's major public exhibitions and trade shows during the development of the 20-hectare Darling Harbour site that will be home to SICEEP - a world-class meeting place for the future. 

Infrastructure NSW, which is delivering SICEEP for the NSW Government, will recommend the successful proponent in December 2012 and the operator for the interim facility is scheduled to be announced in March 2013.

Infrastructure NSW Project Director, Tim Parker commented, "BESydney's team has extensive knowledge of the events market and the expertise to oversee both the enquiry and booking process for both Glebe Island Expo and SICEEP. Our aim is to make the enquiry and booking processes as streamlined and user-friendly as possible. BESydney is already bidding on events for 2017 and beyond that will take place in the new facilities. The company is well placed to manage enquiries."

Lyn Lewis-Smith, CEO of BESydney comments, "The team is pleased to be taking on these new responsibilities. BESydney will be a one-stop shop for business events. Glebe Island Expo is part of the Sydney-wide interim solution that will enable Sydney to remain a vibrant hub for business events whilst SICEEP is constructed. The new facilities will deliver great opportunities for business events in the city, both now and in the future, and the team is looking forward to working closely with the industry to ensure their success."

"We already have a dedicated Event Delivery department that assists clients with sourcing venue options for their events. BESydney has been working closely over the past months to re-home the conferences and congresses it secured for Sydney that will be affected by the SICEEP development. This team will be expanded and will have dedicated staff to take on the responsibilities of the Glebe Island Expo and SICEEP." 

Exhibitions that will be affected by the SICEEP development will have first right of refusal for bookings for the interim facility. It is anticipated there will also be scope for additional events to be secured for Glebe Island Expo.
BESydney's Event Delivery team will manage the bookings and Robyn Johnson, General Manager Event Delivery, comments, "Our first priorities will be making sure that planned exhibitions have a home and ensuring that event organisers know Sydney will continue to deliver a world-class event experience during the development period."
Expressions of interest for bookings can be submitted online at www.glebeislandexpo.com. All enquiries should be emailed to bookings@besydney.com.au or call 1300 141 583.  

Glebe Island Expo was announced yesterday by Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Brad Hazzard and Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Hospitality and Racing, George Souris. Infrastructure NSW will soon issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to companies interested in designing, building, operating and then removing the interim facility. Detailed designs have yet to be developed, yet it is aimed Glebe Island Expo will provide:

• Pavilion-style exhibition space of 15,000 square metres in a high quality, air-conditioned, fully serviced interim facility
• An adjacent flat space of 10,000 square metres for exhibitors to temporarily expand the space for larger public exhibitions and trade shows
• A weather-proofed and climate controlled environment
• Flexible space that can create reception areas and meeting rooms
• Close proximity to the CBD and a unique location on Sydney Harbour
• Availability for the entire construction period
• Event-related food and beverage facilities, such as pop-up cafes and restaurants
• Full 'back of house' facilities, such as loading-dock, external storage and waste management facilities. 

For further information: 

Rebecca Mills, Marketing and Communications Manager
Business Events Sydney
rmills@besydney.com.au
Tel: +61 2 9332 5218
Mob: +61 420 960 108

ACTE's Australasia Education Conference - Sydney

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives’ (ACTE) is pleased to announce its 1st Australasia Educational Conference being held in
Sydney Australia, 5-6 December 2012.
 

We understand that the procurement and management of a travel program is not a simple task. Comprising many components, travel interacts with most areas of an organisation, has increasing duty of care responsibilities and is constantly under pressure to extract greater value.

ACTE’s much anticipated 1 ½ day educational conference will bring the region’s business travel community together to provide you with real strategies to tackle these challenges and assist you with running a reliable, streamlined and cost effective travel program that is well matched to your organisation’s culture, requirements and legislative responsibilities.

Conference Highlights Include:
»	Participate in education sessions focused on key business travel matters. Sessions posted shortly!
»	Listen to thought provoking speakers who will share their insights and ideas about the direction of business travel and how this can potentially assist your travel program objectives and its travellers.
»	Connect with professionals who share similar challenges and who too are trying to find solutions to their travel requirements.
»	Enjoy the exclusive après sessions which will maximize the delights of the host city’s beautiful Harbour during the warm daylight-saving December temperatures.

Steering Committee:

• Rebecca Bellamy, Senior Relationship Manager - Procurement PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Michelle Crutcher, Vice President - Strategic Sourcing and Category Management Citigroup 
• Simon Dodd, Manager Sales Strategy & Government QBT 
• Georgie Farmer, Global Service Delivery Manager Microsoft
• Elizabeth Ford, Director of Corporate Sales - Australia Accor
• Stuart Hunter, Director, Account Manager Egencia 
• Brian Jeffreys, Group Procurement Manager - ICT Boral
• Aileen London, Senior Manager Global Meeting Services APAC Oracle 
• Doug Marcotte, Global Lead - Travel & Corporate Card Macquarie Group
• Lachlan McEwen, Director Customer Value APAC ConTgo 
• Kenneth Phua, Business Development Manager Flightworld American Express 
• Phil Robinson, Head of Sales Diners Club Australia
• Michael Thorburn, Director of Sales & Marketing Serko