HotelPlanner's sponsorship will also help the association's elite athletes and provide them with added training and competition opportunities
SINGAPORE, March 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- HotelPlanner, a leading travel technology company and hotel booking platform, has inked a two-year deal to be the official accommodation partner of Singapore Aquatics for 2024 and 2025.
Singapore's 4x100m medley relay team featuring Quah Ting Wen (from left), Quah Jing Wen, Singapore Aquatics President Mark Chay, and Christopher Lee, President of APAC at HotelPlanner.com, alongside Levenia Sim and Letitia Sim.
The sponsorship will allow international participants taking part in aquatic competitions in Singapore to rely on HotelPlanner's platforms to plan their accommodation and travel itinerary with ease and efficiency. In addition, aquatics athletes in Singapore will also benefit from favourable HotelPlanner accommodation rates when travelling overseas for competitions and training camps.
HotelPlanner's President of APAC, Mr Christopher Lee said: "We are thrilled to come on board as Singapore Aquatics' official accommodation partner. This collaboration represents our shared commitment to support the development of the sport and contribute to the success of Singapore's aquatics athletes and officials. With exciting opportunities for both our athletes to travel and compete overseas and for Singapore to welcome international athletes for competitions here, we're confident HotelPlanner can add value to the aquatics ecosystem."
HotelPlanner joins OCBC Bank, TYR and 100Plus as official partners for Singapore Aquatics, in support of athletes and officials across all aquatics sports. As part of the agreement, Singapore Aquatics and HotelPlanner will work towards strengthening and growing aquatics in Singapore through outreach events as well as provide added training and competition opportunities for athletes.
Singapore Aquatics' President, Mr Mark Chay said: "We are thrilled to welcome HotelPlanner as our official accommodation partner in what promises to be an exciting two years for aquatics in Singapore.
"This year will be a busy year for our athletes as they prepare for the Paris Olympics in July before welcoming the world's top swimmers for the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in October. This will be followed by a hectic 2025 as we plan training and competition opportunities to help our athletes prepare for the 2025 World Championships in Singapore and the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand.
"We also hope our partnership with HotelPlanner will allow us to both develop and bring more events to Singapore as we push towards our goal of being a regional aquatics hub and a world-class aquatic nation."
The partnership with HotelPlanner was announced during a media day with members of the women's 4x100m medley relay team - Quah Ting Wen, Quah Jing Wen, Letitia Sim, and Levenia Sim - who became the first Singapore relay team to qualify for the Olympics.
The Quahs and Sims clocked 4 min 00.87 sec at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year but dealt a disappointing disqualification after Ting Wen jumped 0.1 sec too early. However, they made amends at the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships, clocking a new national record of 4 min 2.88 sec to book their tickets to the Paris Olympics.
National Head Coach of Swimming, Mr Gary Tan said: "The relay team have put in an immense amount of hard work and dedication to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and their achievement is truly well-deserved. Our goal is to ensure that the girls not only have the best possible experience during the Olympics but also achieve outstanding results. This is a pivotal moment for our aquatics community, and we are excited and determined to build on this momentum to continue strengthening and expanding our relay team for future successes."
The HotelPlanner sponsorship will allow the relay team to explore both training and competitive trips to help them get in tip-top shape for the Paris Games.
Ting Wen, 31, who is set to compete at her third Olympics said: "We are really excited about this incredible opportunity to represent Singapore at the Paris Olympics. We've worked really hard to qualify, and after the disappointing disqualification at the Asian Games, finally making the cut is just an indescribable feeling. We've grown so much even though we've been racing for only a short time. I'm excited about what we can accomplish in the coming year."
Levenia, 17, who is the rookie on the team said: "It's been a whirlwind five months since I made my debut for Singapore. To qualify for the Olympics with my sister is something we've dreamed of and to be able to live that dream in Paris is something special."
ABOUT HOTELPLANNER
HotelPlanner is a leading travel technology company and hotel booking platform that combines proprietary artificial intelligence, and a 24/7 global gig-based reservations and customer service network. HotelPlanner is one of the world's leading providers of individual, group and corporate travel bookings. Founded in 2003, HotelPlanner has enduring partnerships with the world's largest online travel agencies, well-known global hotel chains, individual hotels, online wedding providers, ancillary lodging providers, corporations, sporting organizations from youth to professional, universities, and government agencies. HotelPlanner's family of brands includes its flagship site HotelPlanner.com, its meetings & events-focused sites Meetings.com; EventConnect.com; and Venuexplorer.com.sg; Lucid Travel, which focuses on sports team travel; and its most recent acquisition Eventsquid, which focuses on corporate and association event registration. Learn more at https://hotelplanner.com/.
ABOUT SINGAPORE AQUATICS
Singapore Aquatics (SAQ) is the National Sports Association governing aquatic sports in Singapore. These include five key disciplines – diving, open water swimming, swimming, artistic swimming and water polo. As the national governing body, SAQ spearheads its vision of developing the Republic to become a leader in aquatic sports – regionally as well as globally. Closer to home, SAQ collaborates with various affiliate clubs and stakeholders, to proactively nurture a greater depth of local talent through various outreach efforts and programmes. Our vision is to become a world-class aquatics nation, with the goal of making every Singaporean a swimmer.
