SINGAPORE, Sept 12, 2014 - (ANTARA) - Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore has become the first hotel in Singapore to engage with guests in Asia via WeChat, the world's fastest growing social application that changed the way people connect and communicate with each other. To celebrate this new partnership, the hotel has launched a "Share and Win" campaign to encourage users to share the news of this initiative.

WeChat users can make accommodation and dining reservations, learn about special offers, understand the hotel's facilities and check their reservation status upon subscribing to Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore's WeChat official account at ShangrilaSG.

"The new-generation of Asian travellers are sophisticated, knowledgeable and tech-savvy. By engaging with them through WeChat, we are delivering our services and offers directly into their hands. This is one of many initiatives to strengthen our commitment to travellers from across the region, who appreciate Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts as their home during their business or leisure travels," said Mr. Reto K. Klauser, vice president and general manager of Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore.

The collaboration is a first-ever initiative by Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore to engage the rest of the Asian and International markets through WeChat. Developed by Tencent and released in 2011, WeChat and Weixin, its sister product in China, together has a monthly active user base of 438 million worldwide (June 2014). GlobalWebIndex (GWI), a market research company specialising in online consumer behavior, named WeChat the fastest growing application between Q1 2013 and Q1 2014, based on global growth figures released in a research in May (excluding China).

"This is our first collaboration with a hotel in Singapore and we are excited to be able to work with Shangri-La Hotel to provide users with a more personalised travel experience," Louis Song, Country Manager for WeChat in Malaysia and Singapore. "This is made possible by enabling users to explore and manage their hotel bookings seamlessly on the application, thus enriching usage experience for users across Asia."

'Share and Win' Campaign

To kick off the launch of the official account, Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore will introduce a "Share and Win" campaign on WeChat. Starting today until 26 September 2014, users who participate in the campaign will stand a chance to win a one-night stay in the Garden Wing Pool View Room with breakfast for two. There will be three winners selected from this contest. To participate, simply:

1. Follow Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore on WeChat.
2. Share the hotel's page through the Moments tab and recommend it through a group chat.
3. Send screenshots of the group chat to ShangrilaSG.

About Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts

Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts currently owns and/or manages more than 80 hotels under the Shangri-La brand with a room inventory of over 34,000. Shangri-La hotels are five-star deluxe properties featuring extensive luxury facilities and services. Shangri-La hotels are located in Australia, Canada, mainland China, Fiji, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sultanate of Oman, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. The group has a substantial development pipeline with upcoming projects in mainland China, India, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Qatar, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates. For more information and reservations, please contact a travel professional or access the website at www.shangri-la.com.

About WeChat

WeChat innovates new ways for people to connect, communicate and share. A mobile social communication app designed for smartphone users, WeChat is the world's fastest growing social app with hundreds of millions of registered users internationally. WeChat empowers users in fun dynamic ways by bringing together messaging, social communication and gaming in one seamless, interactive experience, with comprehensive privacy and security settings that can be tailored as needed. WeChat is available free for download on Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Symbian and Windows operating system. For more information visit: www.wechat.com. Follow WeChat on the latest WeChat Blog Chatterbox blog.wechat.com, and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wechatapp.

Press Contact:

Joleena Seah
Director of Communications
Tel: +65 6213 4769
E-mail: joleena.seah@shangri-la.com

Cheryl Lim
Communications Manager
Tel: +65 6213 4882
E-mail: cheryl.lim@shangri-la.com

Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore
Fax: +65 6737 2693
Website: www.shangri-la.com

On behalf of WeChat:
Mikaela Lee
Ogilvy Public Relations
Tel: +65 6213 6965
Email: mikaela.lee@ogilvy.com

Editor: PR Wire
Copyright © ANTARA 2014