SOUTH-EAST Asia online tour operator One Click to Asia (OCTA) is guaranteeing its clients 50 per cent of daily trip cost back in cash if heavy, continuous rain lasting three hours or more disrupts itineraries for holidaymakers.
This offer is valid from now to October 31 for travellers who book a minimum seven-night trip to Laos with OCTA. Unlike other operators, the refund comes in the form of actual cash given out during the trip rather than post-trip payouts or credits for future trips.
Laurent Granier, co-founder, OCTA, said that the offer is meant to instill the idea that travel during the rainy season can be a pleasant experience.
“When travellers (think of the rainy season) they immediately (imagine) monsoons, floods and ruined holidays. This means that Laos and its neighbours (Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand) all suffer a big drop in visitor numbers during the rainy months,” explained Granier.
He added that Laos, unlike other South-east Asian destinations, is perfect for travel during the rainy season because it doesn’t get the same quantity and frequency of rain. Hotel rates are also cheaper during the period, he said.
LCC Scoot will be launching flights from Singapore to the cities of Chennai, Amritsar and Jaipur this year, marking the budget carrier’s entry into the Indian market.
Daily Singapore-Chennai services and three-weekly Singapore-Amritsar services will begin from May 24 while Singapore-Jaipur services will commence October 2. All flights will be operated on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
According to a statement, Scoot will replace sister airline Tigerair’s service to Chennai, in an effort to better match capacity and demand. Both Scoot and Tigerair are owned by parent Singapore Airlines.
Those who have made advance bookings to fly the Singapore-Chennai route on Tigerair will be offered the option to be re-accommodated on Scoot’s new service.
To mark its launch in India, Scoot is offering a promotion from now till 23.59 on April 28 for one-way flights to Chennai, Amritsar and Jaipur from Singapore starting at S$99 (US$73) for economy and S$239 for business seats.
THE JacTravel Group has lived a new accommodations wholesale site for agents, www.totalstay.com, with a bookable inventory of over 100,000 hotels worldwide.
The portal is a result of JacTravel’s merger with TotalStayGroup last year, bringing together the JacHotels and ExclusivelyHotels brands under one roof.
Highlighted features of the new site include having a wide portfolio of properties ranging from five-star hotels to apartments and youth hostels, the ability to search by proximity to landmarks, by name or by location, as well as being able to book online for groups of up to 19 adults.
Additionally, agents can expect to be able to transact in 14 different currencies and languages, and utilise 24/7 multilingual telephone support via local phone numbers.
“The new website combines the ease of use of the ExclusivelyHotels site with the excellent portfolio of hand-picked properties from JacHotels,” said Stuart Ellis, chief commercial officer, JacTravel.
“Bringing it all together is a major initiative that will give our travel agents more choice and deeper availability from our worldwide hotel portfolio.”
GOOGLE will be releasing a test version of its own travel assistant app next week to a select group of people, according to an email invite sent to members of the tech company’s Local Guides programme.
The email, which was sent to this editor, informs that the app will be available on both Android and iOS devices. It further requests that invitees take part in a survey, and if selected, will be informed how to get access to the new app.
Survey questions, given in multiple choice format, asked whether one had travel plans coming up in the months ahead, as well as what kind of travel it was, whether leisure or business, among several other questions.
There is little other information at the moment, other than conjecture that it could be some kind of travel buddy app that will include itinerary planning features. There is already some semblance of that in Gmail, under its Trips feature.
Most likely, the app will also incorporate Google Flights, the tech giant’s flight metasearch product, pitting it against current industry players like Skyscanner, Kayak and Wego.
Location
The 54th floor of Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre, right in the heart of Bangkok’s downtown at the Ratchaprasong Junction.
Ambience
Spanish food has been making inroads into Bangkok and the addition of Uno Mas to the city’s dining scene in late 2015 is worthy of a siesta. A terrific tapas bar and restaurant perched on the 54th floor of Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre, the venue has its feet firmly planted in the Thai capital’s pulsating downtown and heart in the Iberian Peninsula.
Decked out in hues of teal and terracotta, Uno Mas boasts a rustic yet elegant vibe with Moorish-influenced elements, glazed floor, arches and exposed wooden ceiling beams.
The restaurant is split into three separate zones: the 42-seat Wine Cellar, the 60-seat Tapas & Raw Bar, and the 78-seat Dining Deck. The Wine Cellar has tables and lounge seats overlooking the glass cellar centrepiece, while the Tapas & Raw Bar features a huge display of fresh oysters and seafood produce, with an open bar with counter seats and communal tables on the elevated wooden deck for bigger groups.
At the Dining Deck, patrons can mingle in the semi-alfresco space over feisty cavas and scrumptious tapas while observing the signature Cochinillo suckling pig roasting over the special fire pit and Josper oven. Furthermore, the chest-high glass walls wrapping the restaurant allow guests to move close to the edge for views of a setting sun over the sprawling city. The cooler winter months will definitely make Uno Mas a more desirable place to linger over drinks in Bangkok.
Spanish cochinillo asado (suckling pig)
Menu
Led by Catalonia-born chef de cuisine and restaurant manager Joan Tanya Dot, Uno Mas specialises in Iberian-Mediterranean food, ranging from pièces de résistance like the 36-month-cured Jamon iberico ham and Cochinillo roasted suckling pig to non-Spanish interpretations such as live Boston lobster tail sashimis.While we spent considerable time browsing the 40-odd tapas list, small plates hit our table minutes after our order: wild porcini mushroom croquettes, fried baby squid with aioli and lemon, and Wagyu beef and pluma pork meatballs. For main courses, we opted for fideua (angel hair prepared like paella) crowned with squid and langoustines as well as gorgeous snowfish plated with Jerusalem artichokes and Joselito ham. Fresh from the oven, the warm churros – sprinkled in coarse sugar and accompanied with Valrhona chocolate dipping sauce – rounded up the meal on a sweet note.Uno Mas also shares a two-storey, 2,000-bottle transparent wine cellar with the famed Red Sky rooftop bar on the 55th floor. An outstanding selection of 36 Spanish wines are available by the glass in 9cl and 15cl. Priced from 170 baht (US$5), drinks here are definitely a steal, considering the venue’s sky-high location in a upscale hotel setting.
Service
The crowds were visibly thinner when I visited on a Wednesday, a public holiday, allowing the staff to pay even more intimate attention to diners. I had wanted to catch the sunset but arrived too early, so the thoughtful receptionist suggested I enjoy a bubbly in the air-conditioned comfort of the Wine Cellar before proceeding to the Tapas & Raw Bar for dinner.
Verdict
No matter where one is seated, sublime tapas – and views – are guaranteed at Uno Mas.
HOSPITALITY veteran Michael Saglid has been appointed CEO of Blink Design Group, a Bangkok-based design firm specialising in hotels.
Saglid was most formerly founder of hospitality consultancy Saglid and Associates, and prior to that, served as managing director, Asia-Pacific development, for MGM Hospitality.
In other roles, Saglid was also CEO of Stein Group International and COO of Minor Hotels and Resorts, overseeing the Anantara brand and Four Seasons portfolio in Thailand.
Blink’s list of clients include luxury hospitality brands such as Kempinski, Mandarin Oriental, Regent and Rosewood, among others.
ALILA Hotels and Resorts is set to open its first property in China on June 1, located in Anji, Zhejiang Province, the country’s first national ecological county.
Alila Anji will overlook a lake and features 74 villas and rooms decked out with bamboo and native wood. Facilities include a conference centre comprising meeting rooms, a ballroom and a VIP lounge, one restaurant and its signature Spa Alila.
To celebrate its opening, Alila Anji is offering a WKND Experience Package which includes a destination experience with one lunch and dinner as well as daily breakfast. The package is based on twin share for a minimum of two nights and is available for booking from now until August 31 for stays from June 1 to December 31.
Prices start from 2088 yuan (US$322) per night for a Lakeview Room or 2888 yuan for a villa.
(From left) Osamu Sakuta, general manager, JTB Singapore; Shinya Kurosawa, president and CEO, JTB Asia-Pacific; and Gino Tan, general manager, Pan Pacific Singapore
JTB has opened a lounge in Pan Pacific Singapore, its second in the Lion City, to assist tourists with enquiries and provide other hospitality services.
The result of a collaboration between JTB Singapore and Pan Pacific Singapore, the lounge was launched along with an adjacent JTB gift shop on the second level of the hotel.
The lounge will be an addition to JTB’s existing JTB Orchard lounge and bring an enhanced focus on hospitality. For example, coffee and tea will be served and complimentary Wi-Fi will be made available in the new lounge.
“The lounge is for all JTB customers and in-house (hotel) guests to relax and enjoy their private time. We want to make them feel important and satisfied with their stay in Singapore,” said Osamu Sakuta, general manager of JTB Singapore.
Gino Tan, general manager of Pan Pacific Singapore, said: “The gift shop also complements what the hotel does not have,” adding that Japan is “a very keen market” for the hotel.
The launch is taking place in the midst of SJ50 celebrations to commemorate 50 years since Japan and Singapore signed a memorandum of cooperation.
“2016 is the 50th anniversary of Singapore and Japan’s friendship treaty. There will be lots of events and projects held in Singapore,” Sakuta said.
“And for JTB, we will be offering (products such as) student tours, group FIT tours and group MICE incentive tours.”
INDONESIAN hotel owners are questioning the relevance of hotel star ratings in this digital era where travellers frequently refer to online customer reviews instead, such as the bubble ratings used by TripAdvisor.
Speaking at the hotel owners’ forum as part of the Indonesia Hotel & Restaurant Association (IHRA) workshop, Budi Tirtawisata, group CEO of Panorama Group, said: “In reality, star rating is just a formality. International hotel groups now use terms like midscale, upscale and luxury, based on market (prices).”
According to consultancy STR Global, which of those categories a hotel belongs to is based on the average daily room rate calculated over a 12-month period.
Budi added: “Many owners want to develop a hotel with four-star facilities but sell it at a three-star rate. This is not happening. Building a hotel is expensive and if you sell the rooms at a lower price, you will not get your money back.”
He said the reverse is true, where hotels are claiming to be a star rating higher than they actually are on OTA sites.
Bambang Dharma, owner of Kampung Lumbung Eco Friendly Boutique Hotel, Batu, East Java and chairman of IHRA Batu, said: “Travellers today look at the online rating, based on customer reviews. A non-star rating property like ours can be rated highly based on user reviews, competing squarely with five-star properties.”
He added that this rating could be used by hotels to determine prices.
“The reality is those who survive are the ones who are relevant in today’s market. What is relevant today are hotels which provide free WiFi and have at least four power points in the room,” said Bambang, who referred to research by TripAdvisor.
But some hoteliers still hold a firm view. Yulianti, managing director, Serfitatama, a tourism business certification body, said: “Hotel star ratings are part of the hotel business certification requirements dictated by the Indonesian tourism law. So (it is needed) whether we like it or not.”
THE state government of Pahang has launched its Visit Pahang 2017 campaign in the state capital yesterday, aiming to break past arrival records with 15 million visitors and 14 billion ringgit (US$3.5 billion) in receipts targeted by next year end.
Sharkar Shamsudin, chairman of the state tourism and culture committee, said the main target markets for this campaign are domestic, ASEAN, China, India, Japan and South Korea.
The state is also looking at attracting travellers from Europe and the Middle East for long-stay, high-income arrivals and will be joining Tourism Malaysia to promote at Arabian Travel Mart taking place next week.
The last time Pahang held a tourism campaign was in 1994, according to Sharkar, who said: “Considering it has been 22 years, we believe it is time we are more aggressive in our efforts to promote Pahang.”
Key attractions in Pahang include Genting Highlands, Cameron Highlands, Fraser’s Hill, Taman Negara National Park, Tioman Island and Cherating Beach.
The campaign will promote all of Pahang’s 11 districts through events and a newwebsite which includes videos and travelogues as well as social media activities via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The state government will also participate in international trade shows and media outreaches.
