Daly: Yotel Singapore will showcase to Asia the Yotel concept

YOTEL, pioneer of sleek, digital-driven ‘cabin’ accommodation, is confident of expanding rapidly in Asia following the opening of the first Yotel in the region in Singapore early next year.

The 610-cabin Yotel Singapore, located on Orchard Road next to the Thai Embassy, is looking to charge a rate of S$200 (US$148) to S$240, according to its newly-appointed general manager, Brendan Daly.

The Yotel concept is new to most Asian customers. Currently, there are only four properties in operation, the flagship Yotel New York and three Yotel Air at London Heathrow and Gatwick and Amsterdam Schipol. The company’s CEO, Hubert Viriot, unveiled this new brand architecture to TTG Asia e-Daily, saying going forward, the brand Yotel will comprise city hotels while Yotel Air will be airport hotels. A third brand, to be announced, will cover serviced apartments.

Viriot and Daly are going all out to ensure Yotel Singapore will showcase Yotel as the best-in-class provider of affordable luxury accommodation. Said Daly: “As it is the first Asian property, it has to showcase the Yotel concept, which is about giving people the experience they want.

Affordable hotels have been around but other brands tend to dumb down. Our room may be 14m2, but we make it count and our R&D is on guest comfort for the 21st century traveller – mattress, monsoon rain shower, no long queues, high technology, etc. It appeals to the digital-driven, smart traveller of any age, both leisure and corporate clients.”

The first hotel will set the tone for the brand in Asia and open the eyes of Asian consumers to the brand, added Viriot, who is confident it will be the catalyst for more Yotels in the region once consumers and the investment community see and experience it.

Viriot said the company was eyeing 50 hotels by 2020 and “not less than a quarter of this will be in Asia”.

Currently, Yotel has a pipeline of 12 hotels, two of which are Yotel Air (one at Paris Charles de Gaulle opening next month and the other at Changi Airport to open in 2018). Of the 10 Yotels, four have just been signed – in Dubai, Riyadh, Geneva and London – and the other six are being developed in Boston, San Francisco, Williamsburg Brooklyn, all opening in 2017; Miami (2018), Yotel Singapore and Yotel Dubai opening in 2018, which will also be its first serviced apartment product.

Wanda Tulfo Teo

A TRAVEL agent will helm Philippine tourism beginning next month, a move enthusiastically welcomed by those in the trade.

Replacing tourism secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., whose five-year tenure is hallmarked by the successful It’s More Fun in the Philippines slogan, is Wanda Tulfo Teo.

She has 22 years of experience as owner and president of Mt Apo Travel and Tours as well as being the president of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS) Philippines since 2015.

Teo is currently based in Davao City, alongside Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte, who personally appointed her.

The trade is positive that someone recruited from the agency ranks will bode well for tourism instead of having an outsider, such as a politician, to be appointed to the plum post.

“She’s not a politician. My main worry was that the president might appoint a politician,” said Arnie Bayag, consultant at Travelexperts.

Bayag said Teo’s edge is that she knows the industry and what it needs and having come from Davao, she is expected to tackle order and infrastructure issues that are crucial to tourism.

“Secretary Jimenez sells the Philippines very successfully. Teo should maintain the marketing initiatives that Jimenez had and build on it, though not necessarily the same marketing slogan” added Bayag.

The Discovery Leisure Company’s corporate director of sales and marketing Odette Huang is hopeful that Teo, “as an experienced member of the travel industry”, “will provide continuity in enlivening the image of the Philippines”.

“The resonance of the It’s More Fun in the Philippines campaign is one of the hallmarks of secretary Jimenez. It created a positive buzz associated with the promise that Filipinos can deliver from the heart,” said Huang.

Eugene Tamesis, director of sales and marketing, Raffles and Fairmont Makati, while concurring that Jimenez did wonders for tourism, is hopeful that Teo’s appointment will be a “change for the better.”

Another travel agent, who requested anonymity, said Teo seems capable and her appointment should be fine so long as she gives up her interests in Mt Apo Travel and Tours to avoid a “conflict of interest”.

Sources indicate that Teo is planning just that and NAITAS will be meeting this month to discuss her replacement.

Hong Kong International Airport

WHILE Asia-Pacific recorded overall growth in inbound travel in 1Q2016, international visitor arrivals into Hong Kong plummeted after the city saw a drastic fall in visitors from China, according to a PATA financial report.

International visitors into north-east Asia was modest at 1.6 per cent, with Hong Kong seeing a 10.9 per cent fall in arrivals after being set back by a 15.1 per cent decline in visitors from China.

In contrast, South Asia saw arrivals grow 11.1 per cent, driven by increased traffic into Sri Lanka (22.1 per cent) and India (10 per cent).

In the Pacific subregion, Oceania reported robust growth (12 per cent) during the quarter, having seen strong arrivals from north-east Asian source markets.

Vietnam saw highest growth (19.9 per cent) in South-east Asia while the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand also reported strong growth ranging between 14 and 16 per cent.

The 29 Asia-Pacific destinations considered in the report recorded a combined inbound total of 83.8 million international arrivals into Asia-Pacific in the quarter with a growth rate of 7.4 per cent over the same period last year.

(From left to right) Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, CEO of King Power Group; Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, King Power Group’s chairman; Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia; and Arthid Nanthawithaya, CEO and deputy chairman of the executive committee of Siam Commercial Bank at the official press conference

CHAIRMAN of King Power, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, together with his family, has taken a 39 per cent stake in Asia Aviation PCL (AAV), which holds a majority 55 per cent stake in Thai AirAsia.

The deal, valued at around 7.9 billion baht (US$225.8 million), calculated at 4.2 baht per share for approximately 1.9 billion shares, is purchased from Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of AAV and Thai AirAsia, and his family. Tassapon will continue to lead AAV and Thai AirAsia after the sale.

In a joint statement, Vichai stated that he hopes to create better synergies between Thai AirAsia and King Power, the only duty-free operator in Thailand, through this acquisition.

The statement added that the share pricing of 4.2 baht per share, a sum significantly lower than market price, is due to laws and regulations that airline businesses in Thailand need to have at least 51 per cent of their shares owned by Thai nationals.

“Given the restrictive nature of such rules, there are only a handful of Thai individuals who, realistically, would be interested in and could afford the purchase price,” it stated.

Vichai also appointed Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, Apichet Srivaddhanaprabha and Sombat Dechapanichkul as directors of AAV, tasked with identifying and planning the company’s visions and business strategies together with Tassapon and the management of Thai AirAsia.

Aiyawatt, who is also CEO of King Power, said that the two companies will cooperate to create new business opportunities, highlighting specifically the large customer bases in China and South-east Asia.

“Thai AirAsia and King Power will team up to develop their brands, products and services together, with the aim of providing customers with international-quality shopping and travel experiences at affordable prices,” he said.