Online travel platforms not addressing real issue

November 30, 2015

Willem Niemeijer, founder of the Khiri Group, tells online travel platforms: Consumers don’t want volume of choice. They want an experience

Technology helps us to sift through large amounts of data and present it in a way that makes sense to us. The Internet makes the results available to billions. The travel industry is heading this way too, with the mushrooming of travel platforms, all seeking to replace the tour operator or travel agent.

On current evidence, this isn’t going to happen. Here’s why.

Allowing the consumer to be in touch with the service provider is the ultimate goal. But isn’t adding value the basis of any successful business? With online travel platforms, offering a lower price is usually the only add-on that they can come up with.

Willem Niemeijer

We’ve seen this before with hotel booking platforms, which took that industry by surprise and reduced good hotel sales people to commodity peddlers. According to the platforms, the only differentiating factors between hotels are price, star rating and a bevy of facilities. This may be true for the time-poor business traveler on a specific budget, but not for the leisure traveler. For them it’s all about the experience. Choosing from a staggering 1396 hotels in Bangkok doesn’t help the experience seeker.

It makes little sense then, to take the online platform model and try to force it onto travel experiences that combine hotels, guided tours and recommended ‘do-it-yourself’ journeys. It doesn’t work because local, authentic encounters and personalised attention are still the measure of a good holiday on the ground.

Travel platforms that have knocked on the doors of Khiri Travel, our destination management company, with offers to replace its traditional clients (tour operators and travel agents) with the ‘opportunity’ to connect to travelers directly are making an essential mistake. These online platforms do not add value for the customer. They merely offer a ton of products for them to choose from. And unlike hotel booking platforms, it’s very hard – or even impossible – for the holidaymaker to see if they are getting a price advantage.

Conversion rates are a solid way to test the success of online travel platforms. Dig a bit deeper and you have the answer as to why nearly all platforms are knocking on everyone’s door saying: “Please upload your products. We’ll just take a little commission.” They are using technology to let dumb volume replace relevance and efficiency. In other words, if you have 10,000 products and a very small percentage of them attract one or two bookings a day, is that being successful or inefficient? And who bears the cost of this inefficiency?

Delivering the perfect travel product to the informed customer needs a radical rethink. It’s imperative for tour operators and travel agents to stay on top of local developments in their destinations. Some already do so by shifting their product management to trusted suppliers, leaving them to focus on customer needs.

In the travel industry, delivering on promise isn’t good enough. It’s about exceeding expectations. That is complicated, as most travel products are used once by clients, then expected again, or a variation of it, in a separate country for next year’s holiday. However, successful tour operators and their network of suppliers can and do deliver on this as they have a deep understanding of their clients which is built on trust, experience, and in-depth local knowledge of the possibilities available.

The challenge is open for technology to improve on the quality and efficiency this DMC network delivers.

By Willem Niemeijer, founder of the Khiri Group

Oakwood appoints new VP

By TTG Asia

November 30, 2015

PAUL Stocker has been appointed vice president of sales, marketing and revenue management at Oakwood Asia Pacific.

In his new role, Stocker will take charge of revenue-generating initiatives across its branded properties, reporting directly to Dean Schreiber, managing director of Oakwood Asia Pacific.

The New Zealand national was most recently vice president, revenue management and sales at Galaxy Entertainment Group in Macau. He was also the executive director of sales at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, as well as having taken positions as regional vice president of sales at Resorts World Sentosa and Meritus Hotels & Resorts.

Meaningful conservation

By Industry Expert

November 27, 2015

Les Carlisle Group conservation manager, &Beyond

There’s a very simple conservation strategy that I believe in. Essentially, it is based on making animals worth more alive than dead.

An essential part of this involves the communities that live around wildlife reserves. Having the community on your side is the best security that money can buy. This ensures that communities see the benefits that flow from conservation, whether through employment or other forms of support.

&Beyond, in partnership with the Africa Foundation, focuses on education, healthcare, enterprise development, environment and conservation in rural areas surrounding the reserves where &Beyond operates. Africa Foundation’s projects are grounded in community participation and driven by local leadership, working with the communities rather than for them.

Tip 1: Forge a long-lasting partnership with the local community.
Where many companies go wrong is expecting these relationships to bear fruit overnight. The bonds between our lodges and their neighbours are so strong because they have been forged over time.

Thanks to the partnership that &Beyond Phinda Private Game in South Africa has with the community for almost 25 years, we have rarely lost a rhino in the reserve in spite of the country’s poaching crisis.

Tip 2: Share knowledge, combine efforts and resources to achieve more.
One of the most valuable lessons that I have learnt is that there is no universal solution to conservation issues. The only thing that works is to implement locally crafted solutions to local problems. Factors that affect this include government regulations, existing expertise and local conditions. However, this doesn’t mean that conservation knowledge should not be shared – in fact, it should be.

In 2011, &Beyond was able to help Indian conservation officials carry out the country’s first successful mass translocation of animals – by adapting the techniques that we used to move buffalos at &Beyond Phinda – to reverse the local extinction of Indian bisons in Bandhavgarh National Park.

The end goal is larger than any one company. Partnerships with Rhinos Without Borders, a shared initiative by &Beyond and Great Plains Conservation, allow us to achieve much more than we would individually. Working with the governments of Botswana and South Africa, Rhinos Without Borders has already translocated one batch of rhinos from high-risk poaching areas to a safer environment and plans are in place for the movement of another batch. In total, the project aims to move 100 rhinos.

Tip 3: Do not be discouraged, press on.
If you don’t get the results you are looking for, try doing things differently. Every action that contributes towards conservation is valuable.

The biggest thing that gets me out of bed every morning is the ability to make a difference. For me, it’s important to see what the end goal is and to stay focused on it, regardless of the hurdles faced. Conservation is not something that happens in a day – it is long term.

CEB’s low Guam fares a stimulant, agents say

By Rosa Ocampo

November 27, 2015

THE Philippine travel trade welcomes LCC Cebu Pacific (CEB)’s inaugural flights to the under-served Guam-Manila route, saying this will make travel between the two destinations more affordable and accessible.

CEB will offer four weekly flights to Guam, its first US destination, beginning March 15. CEB president and CEO Lance Gokongwei said the inaugural fare of 2,500 pesos (US$53) is 83 per cent lower than other airlines’.

“Fares this low can only mean more tourists to both countries, more Filipinos visiting home, and more opportunities for everyone,” Gokongwei said.

Ritchie Tuano, general manager, AsiaReps Travel, said air fares from Guam to anywhere are very expensive. There is a sizeable market in the American territory as nearly 30 per cent of Guam’s population are Filipinos, Tuano added.

Arjun Shroff, managing director, Shroff International Travel Care, said that as the first LCC to fly to Guam, CEB will make trips to Guam more affordable apart from the destination being a gateway to the US.

Bernadette Y de Leon, general manager, Amiable Intertours, said: “Guam will be more saleable and people will not have second thoughts anymore about going to Guam.”

For Filipino travellers, there will be another Philippine airline to choose from apart from the Philippine Airlines. “It will be a good start flying with your LCC at minimal cost. That means they can go and see Guam anytime,” and tourists from Guam can also be encouraged to visit the Philippines, she said.

Singapore Airshow 2016 fields new segments

By TTG Asia

November 27, 2015

THE next Singapore Airshow, to be held from February 16 to 21, will showcase new and enhanced segments including Business Forums, a Feature Country and new and improved exhibition zones on top of its mainstay events, according to its organiser, Experia Events.

The Business Forums will focus on the latest developments and business opportunities in the aerospace and aviation markets and provide insights on key aerospace and aviation markets. The show will feature France for its “strong and thriving businesses in the aerospace, defence and aviation sectors”. Meanwhile, new and improved exhibition zones include the Training and Simulation Zone and Aerospace Emerging Technologies Zone.

Singapore Airshow will also bring its Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit, A*STAR Aerospace Technology Leadership Forum and Singapore Aerospace Technology and Engineering Conference to its fifth edition.

Asia’s fleet size is expected to be the largest in the next 20 years, with nearly 40 per cent of new aircraft deliveries, compared with 21 per cent and 19 per cent for North America and Europe respectively.

Organisers claimed a confirmed attendance of more than 1,000 participating companies from 50 countries, constituting over 90 per cent of the exhibition space.

Chinese and Indian corporates rule Asian corporate travel

By TTG Asia

November 27, 2015

RESEARCH by East & Partners Asia (E&P Asia) shows a consistent increase in China and Indian corporates’ travel budgets but static spending in the mature markets of Singapore and Hong Kong.

Done every quarter, the Asia Corporate T&E market report was compiled after interviews with CFOs and corporate treasurers at Asia’s Top 1,000 corporates by revenue in 10 markets, excluding Japan.

The report shows a growth from US$1.52 billion to US$1.62 billion this year in the travel and entertainment expenditure of the Top 1,000 corporates from 10 Asian markets. India and China’s Top 100 still rule with an increase in their average expenditure from US$102.3 million to US$118.3 million for the former and from US$139.6 million to US$165.56 million for the latter this year.

These two countries are likely to remain the strongest T&E growth markets going into 2016, said E&P Asia.

Seven in 10 Chinese corporates said their expenditures would increase by an average of 7.6 per cent next year, while 65 per cent of Indian corporates are expecting a 7.7 per cent increase.

On the other hand, only a third of Singapore and Hong Kong corporates are expecting to see an increase in the T&E expenditure next year. Although Singapore and Hong Kong corporates continue to have the largest T&E budgets, growth remains flat overall.

On the radar: Flight Centre ups the sell with VR

By Dannon Har

November 27, 2015

As virtual reality (VR) technology becomes increasingly commonplace, the travel industry too hopes to leverage on the exciting potential it affords. Dannon Har goes on a virtual trip to Japan, Vietnam and Australia in a span of 10 minutes, and tells us what his experience was like.

Why
Flight Centre Singapore is boosting its storefront retail experience with VR headsets equipped with 360-degree video content that showcases destinations around the world.

The headset was made available on November 25. While it is currently available only at its headquarters at 137 Cecil Street, there are plans to roll out the headsets to its other two stores in Singapore in the coming weeks.

What
This is the first time a travel agency in South-east Asia is employing the use of VR as a mainstay sales and marketing tool, and probably one of the few in the world to do so.

As of now, customers can be transported to three destinations – Tokyo, Hoi An and Cairns – upon donning the Samsung Gear VR headsets, which uses the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone as the video storage and playback device. This is the same technology used by Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts which launched its own major VR initiative just last month.

How
The experience of putting on one of these VR headsets is novel and exciting as it is a reactive system which portrays real-life vision, in a sense that as you swerve your head, your entire vision sways with you to capture different parts of the panorama. This also means that videos have to be watched multiple times in order to see everything completely.

It is cool to see yourself looking out at the landscape from a hot air balloon in Cairns, hear food sizzling as it is being wok-fried in Hoi An, and watch as Tokyoites wave affectionately at you wherever you look.

But novelty is a resource that wears off fast. This is only my second time using a VR headset to experience travel destinations, the first being the aforementioned Shangri-La’s VR tool, and already the fun-factor has markedly subsided.

Luckily, these devices weren’t designed merely to entertain, but to flaunt and highlight travel locales. To that end, it is a highly successful apparatus of content marketing. It is the second-best thing to actually travelling to these featured destinations.

As Suyin Lee, managing director of Flight Centre Travel Group, puts it: “It enhances the discovery process and provides a try-before-you-buy option for customers. It never really replaces the real thing of course, but it does give people inspiration to try a new destination. It evokes emotion, stimulates interest and provides assurance as to what one might expect.”

Verdict
Employing VR in an accessible manner for Flight Centre’s brick and mortar customers is a definite boon and goes in line with the agency’s expansion strategy to erect a greater number of physical stores islandwide.

Not only do walk-ins have an inventive option to find out more about a destination, the mere creation of 360-degree video content also opens up avenues for monetisation such as content sales.

Name: Flight Centre Singapore

Contact details
Tel: (65) 6692-9778
Website: www.flightcentre.com.sg

Trisara turns guests into movie directors

By Raini Hamdi

November 27, 2015

TRISARA Phuket has launched a digital studio to help guests create compelling stories of their holiday in photo, video or even virtual reality formats – a first in the industry.

Resorts must come up with new points of differentiation to please younger clients and face up to today’s disruptors such as Airbnb and OTAs, said Kitt Pattamasaevi, son of Narong Pattamasaevi, chairman of Montara Hospitality Group which owns the luxury resort.

The Director’s Den (D-Den), equipped with the latest equipment and manned by an in-house team of professional producers and digital artists, will make movie directors out of guests. Its former purpose as a library has given way to this new value.

“Most people do not have the time, expertise and resources to master the art of producing top-quality photo, video or VR keepsakes. Plus, most people today do not just want to consume content, they want to create it,” Kitt said.

But apart from being a service innovation, D-Den is also a sales and marketing tool as invariably, photos, videos and virtual reality are made to be shared – these days widely on social media – with the resort actually controlling the quality of the production by offering such a service.

“We have a lot of guests for whom storytelling is important. Our clients from every single market are now younger. Four years ago, their average age typically was 50 years, today it’s 42 years. As well, we have developed new markets such as China and Korea, and these markets comprise younger people, mostly honeymooners, so we have to find ways to engage them.
Younger people take selfies, love to share their holiday memories, but often don’t have the time or patience to do so in a compelling way,” said Kitt.

So D-Den provides them the solution. If clients just want someone to identify the most instagrammable spots at Trisara, a buddy will be assigned to accompany them. If they want to rent equipment instead of using their mobile, there are GoPro cameras for rent.

Clients can then select one of the storyboards which have been prepared for them and, with the help of dedicated producers, direct how they want the story to unfold and in what format – movie, digital or virtual reality (VR). D-Den has also prepared destination footages capturing, say, a sunset or a hermit crab moving in the sand, so they don’t have to waste moments shooting those scenes.

“For special moments, such as proposals, VR is so much more engaging than photos or videos. They can almost relive every moment in 360 degree – it’s as close as being there when someone watches it,” said Kitt.

Fully launched this week, D-Den is a profit centre and charges guests different fees for the services required. In conjunction with its launch, Trisara is offering a four-night stay with the fourth night free. This package comes with perks such as daily breakfast for two, round trip private airport transfers, free Wi-Fi. Priced from 97,400 baht (US$2,722) for an Ocean Pool Room, the offer is available till March 31, 2016.

Amadeus Next seeds startups

By TTG Asia

November 27, 2015

AMADEUS has launched Amadeus Next which leverages its technology, expertise, reach and funding to evolve new and original ideas in travel.

To date, there are six travel technology startups on board, including Klook, Orahi, Triposo and TopDocs, a platform for medical tourists to book a seamless medical travel experience.

Additionally, JungleVentures, CyberAgent Ventures Techsauce and Hubba, Thailand’s startup leader in terms of co-working spaces, technology events, technology media and startup education, have joined Amadeus Next.

“For our success and to go grow quickly we need access to leading travel technology, expert advisory from a global network with funding opportunities which Amadeus is providing,” said Cassandra Italia, CEO and founder, TopDocs.

Amadeus Next offers startups:

Technology: Startups gain access to Amadeus’ technology and solutions to build and validate the Minimum Viable Product, as well as leverage decades of experience in travel technology.

Expertise: Startups can work with Amadeus experts to incubate and validate new ideas and businesses. They will also receive mentoring and guidance to navigate their way to success.

Reach: Startups will be able to connect to the right network with Amadeus’ support to test, validate and pilot new business models with Amadeus customers and industry players.

Funding: Amadeus will help startups to connect to investors and venture capital around the world. Globally, Amadeus also has a dedicated Amadeus Venture Fund which offers early stage minority investments in startups.

Simon Akeroyd, Amadeus’ vice president, corporate strategy and business development, said: “Amadeus Next is not a short-term project or a one-off investment, it’s a long-term partnership and commitment to create a collaborative travel tech startup community in Asia-Pacific. To truly shape the future of travel, we need to work together, across the industry, and with travel players big and small, to create a collaborative ecosystem with the traveller at the centre.”

Muslim-friendly hotel portal arrives in Indonesia

By Mimi Hudoyo

November 27, 2015

INDONESIA’s Archipelago International has registered more than 60 of its hotels with online hotel reference tool Salam Standard to better serve Muslim travellers.

Among them, 31 are classed as Bronze Standard, meaning they provide in-room Kiblat signs, Muslim prayer carpets and a Quran on request, while 21 hotels meet the Silver Standard requirements, meaning they offer information on Halal restaurants in the vicinity, with no-alcohol protocols in the hotel room mini-bars.

Additionally, 16 of Archipelago’s hotels meet the Gold Standard, meaning they offer the most accommodating options for Muslims, including serving Halal food within the hotel, certified by a recognised Halal certification body.

Tenaiya Brookfield, vice president of sales and marketing at Archipelago International, said: “Indonesia has the highest Muslim population in the world, making them also our largest market.

“We understand it can be cumbersome for travellers to hunt and filter through information to find the best hotel for them (while meeting) their religious needs. We hope this new standard will help to make the search easier.”