Marina Bay Sand

Marina Bay Sands (MBS) is one of only two integrate resorts (IRs) in Singapore, locating in Marina Bay waterfront in the heart of the city. It developed by Las Vegas Sands (LVS) Corporation has opened officially in 2010. MBS does not only delude tourists by the fascinating design, but it also attracts visitors by a rich variety of services such as 2,560-room lodging property, amenities of spa, fitness centre, bar, theme park with infinite swimming pool, the state-of-art casino, convention, shopping mall, theaters, cinema and extraordinary lotus-shaped museum.
Writing this report, the author aims to investigate MBS regarding the application of guest activity programming model. Overall, the model is very significant to MBS in delivery of service excellence to its guests. 2. The application of guest activity programming model to MBS It is not useless to spend time to explore the term of guest activity programs before applying the theory for MBS. According to Mill (2008), guest activity is also called as recreation which is “an activity that takes place during one’s free time, is enjoyable, freely chosen, and benefits the individual emotionally, socially, physically, cognitively, and spiritually”.
In other words, recreation means chosen activities that guests can receive benefits from it, including having fun together. And in order to satisfy guests, popularly the guest activity director who plays an active role in ensuring guests to get benefits will plan guest activity programs. The guest activity programming model (refers to Appendix) consists of 5 stages. First of all, it assesses guest needs. Perhaps it is influenced by 4 external factors such as history, environment, culture, and organization. These factors will contribute partly to generate guest needs.

In particular, historical influences refer to the tradition and philosophy of the resort. Typically, the IR is a resort offering a rich variety of leisure and entertainment activities and casino facilities. Thus, if developing a guest activity programming for MBS, it is possible to concern with these elements. On the other hand, environmental influences can be understood as the time of the year, weather, and nature. In Marina Bay, it inherits beautiful Singapore River which is ideal for sports on the river.
Namely, MBS has collaborated with Singapore River Cruise in order to open a tour route across convenient locations surroundings the river such as Clarke Quay, Boat Quay, Merlion Park to the IR. Guests can enjoy the beauty of the river before arrivals of the IR. Cultural influences comprise of ethnicity, age, and religion of the guests. Singapore possesses multi-ethnic culture which is the most popular destination in Asia for Westerners and Easterners. Although Singaporean is mainly Chinese, Malay and Indian, most people are well-educated and comfortable with English.
This cultural factor is the supporting to MBS’s business. Meanwhile, social influences are fads, trends, and news. In this respect, it can mention about the tendency of international guests in Singapore towards gambling and shopping interests. Finally, organizational influences are defined as values and mission of the company. An example of MBS, the chairman of LVS – Adelson claimed that the IR will aim to be “a catalyst for the economic future of Singapore and a launch pad for its tourism industry”.
Usually LVS Corporation builds its properties in the purpose of developing the local economy, and MBS in Singapore is not an exception. Thus, in the first stage of needs assessment, the guest activity director should expect guest’s needs that reflect 4 external factors. In order to deploy the most effective needs assessment, the process must be conducted by interviewing existing and potential guests regarding their interests or learning national statistics to explore current trends in recreation.
In the next stage, the guest activity director should develop objectives. After identifying what important to guests, the director will set objectives for the guest activity programming to enable guests to be satisfied. In particular, MBS will deliver outstanding services of 5-star hotel with the cutting-edge facilities. It means the IR seeks a level of over expectation to its guests. Furthermore, it is the stage of deploying cluster or activity analysis in order to meet identified objectives in the guest activity programming.
According to Mill (2008), the scholar broke down each activity following by criteria: behavioral domains, skill level, interaction patterns, leadership, equipment, duration, facilities, participants, and age appropriateness. For instance, during Christmas and New Year Holidays, MBS might plan to have seasonal sales or decoration the property with sparkling style. And this involves the cluster of duration which occurs during the holiday. In addition, the external factor of environment – i. e. the time of the year, also generates the recreation.
Beside seasonal arrangement, sometimes activity can schedule weekly or monthly in a period of the day. For instance, the Sands Fruit Festival has recently opened on July and August for 1 day. Moreover, other events require lighting, audio and visual aids such as The Social Pavilion for one’s own virtual photo shoot, exhibitions, movies and so on. All events are classified as the cluster of equipment criteria. From this stage, it can see that the use of guests, staff, resources and facilities in the model will be assisting tools together to deliver the guest experience in the next stage.
The activity experience seems to be a process how much guests enjoy and have fun in recreation. Taking the example of Sands Fruit Festival, the holder promises that the festival will deliver a wide selection of premium fruits to visitors such as lychees, longans, rambutants, and mangosteens. It means the IR hopes the guests can experience high quality and fresh fruits. Or in the lodging sector, MBS desires the guests to stay wonderful rooms. Guests can relax with spacious bathroom with freestanding bathtub and walk-in shower.
In addition, they can invite friends into their rooms for conversations with coffee and tea made by in-room mini bar. Guests can watch 42-inch LCD with cable TV or movies on demand. Otherwise, business guests can take advantage of high-speed internet access for their needs. In the last stage, it is activity evaluation – an indispensable step in every process. Usually, the guest activity director might work with other department in the resort to publish customer feedback questions in order to get guest’s opinions regarding what they experience in the resort.
This aims to determine whether or not objectives can be met. Otherwise, it will investigate how much objectives are met or which level of experience guests reach from unsatisfactory to delight. If there is any failure, this step will indicate clearly, as a result the resort will eliminate or make adjustment in the next guest activity programming model in order to offer better recreation. 3. Conclusion In conclusion, the guest activity programming model is very helpful tool for resorts in developing recreation and ensuring guests to be satisfied during their stays in resorts.
The model consists of core 5 steps such as needs assessment, identification of objectives, activity analysis, activity experience and evaluation. The guest activity director should follow these steps to create the most efficient recreation to guests. Importantly, recreation will be built by the influences of 4 external factors such as environment, history, organization, social, and culture. Besides that, guest, staff, equipment/resources and facilities are useful tools in assisting the director to create successful recreation.