UNICORN Hospitality, a consultancy promising a ‘better, smarter and more people-centric’ approach to hospitality, has been launched in Bangkok.

The brainchild of Yann Gouriou, the Bangkok-based firm focuses chiefly on offering consulting to businesses in the hospitality industry, specialising in hotel and restaurant start-ups, launches and opening periods.

A key goal is to bring hospitality back to its roots as a people-centric industry. Gouriou said in a release: “In hospitality, your people should come first. Everything else follows. That is Unicorn Hospitality’s slogan and guiding philosophy. It should be axiomatic in hospitality, but so often is not the case.”

He added that he has no qualms about taking a ‘disruptive’ approach to the hospitality industry, which he claims takes itself too seriously and is often mired in outdated mindsets and methods.

Unicorn Hospitality is positioning itself as an alternative to traditional management consulting and provides a full range of operational, technical and development services for hotels, as well as assistance with recruitment, headhunting and the brainstorming of creative ideas to achieve improved brand positioning and profitability. “We are launching with lean, flexible fee structures that put our expertise within reach of young entrepreneurs and industry newcomers,” said Gouriou.

The consultancy will cater primarily to hospitality brands in Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui and Hua Hin.

Gouriou brings to his new venture a wealth of experience, including time spent as the recent former group general manager of AHMS The Collection, responsible for running four boutique resorts in Thailand as well as pipeline projects in Chiang Mai and Cambodia.

PLANS for Asiana Airlines’ new LCC is facing fierce opposition from other operators, who argue that the airline already has regional airline Air Busan under its wing.

The new airline is tentatively called Seoul Air and Asiana hopes to have the new carrier airborne in 2H2015.

Eastar Jet, Jeju Air and T’way Air have jointly submitted a letter to the transport ministry in Seoul, demanding that Asiana not be permitted ownership of a second LCC in order to maintain competitiveness in the market.

“Approval will only protect the interests of large commercial airlines, rather than expanding options for consumers,” they said.

LCCs claim that they are being forced out of competition from two fronts: international flight routes are monopolised by large domestic flag carriers, while shorthaul tourist routes are snapped up by foreign budget airlines.

Analysts, however, believe that Asiana’s influence on the domestic aviation scene will be sufficient to push the project through.

Geoffrey Tudor, an analyst for Japan Aviation Management Research, commented: “The South Korean market is much smaller than the Japanese market, so there will be concern among the South Korean LCCs that they are going to get squeezed out of business.

“And that’s even more likely if the giant Asiana is behind the new airline, especially for LCCs that are not affiliated with a major airline,” he added.

Tudor noted that Asiana would not be the first airline to own two budget airlines – All Nippon Airways has a stake in Peach Aviation and Vanilla Air – and that the government is likely to approve Asiana’s request.

“At the end of the day, it’s the consumer that counts and more competition is good for the people who buy the tickets,” he said.

TOURISM minister Arief Yahaya’s declaration that Indonesia will grant 30 more countries visa-free access was met with cheers internationally but local travel companies were nothing short of blasé.

“(Granting visitors) visa-free status is a means to increase the number of arrivals and national income from tourism,” said Arief, adding that neighbouring Malaysia and Thailand have enjoyed high arrival numbers since allowing tourists to enter without visas.

Intended to help Indonesia achieve its target of 20 million arrivals by 2019, the move was announced following a March 16 closed-door meeting with president Joko Widodo.

Some of the 30 countries on the list are China, Japan, South Korea, the US, Russia, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.

“I think it will take some time before we see it happening,” said Achmad Sufyani, COO, Panorama Destination, pointing out that citizens of China, Japan, South Korea and Russia – the first four countries Indonesia said it would allow visa-free access to – still require visas at present.

Furthermore, Indonesia’s directorate general of immigration clarified over the weekend that that visa-free status are granted to a country’s citizens on a reciprocal basis, i.e. when the same rights are given to Indonesians visiting those countries.

Only 15 countries are currently in such an arrangement with Indonesia and it is difficult to imagine countries like the US and the UK doing away with the existing laborious visa application systems for Indonesian citizens.

Industry players TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to suggested more immediate solutions that could have a similar impact, such as an online visa application system, said Umberto Cadamuro, COO Inbound of Pacto. “What travellers need is smooth travel, so (the issue is) more about services, less about the visa fee,” he said.

Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya, Bali chapter chairman of Indonesia Tourism Industry Association, agreed: “A visa is a means of knowing who is entering the country. The complaints we have been getting are more on about visa services and long queues at the airport, rather than the amount of money they pay for the visa.”

UNIVERSAL Studios Japan (USJ) is planning to open a sister park in Okinawa, in what is likely to be the first of more theme parks to come in Asia.

The new park was announced by Glenn Gumpel, CEO of USJ, who said it will reflect the prefecture’s sub-tropical environment rather than being based on films and TV programmes.

“We are doing the research and planning at the moment but it is too early for any figures or dates to be mentioned yet,” Johta Takahashi, a spokesman for USJ, told TTG Asia e-Daily.

“The company is in discussions with the prefecture for the project and no location on Okinawa has been decided,” Takahashi said.

There are suggestions that a site near Nago, in the north, might have been earmarked for the park as officials have visited the site at least three times.

Looking ahead, USJ said last year that it was considering opening at least one and possibly two new theme parks in Asia by 2020, with Jakarta, Mumbai and Taiwan mentioned as possible locations.

The USJ theme park in Osaka is estimated to have attracted more than 12 million visitors for 2014, beating its previous record high of 11 million visitors in 2001, the year the park opened.

Its most popular attraction has been the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which opened in April last year, building on the success of rides such as Jaws, Spider Man and Jurassic Park.

AN ICONIC heritage building in Hamburg will be transformed into Frasers Suites Hamburg, a five-star all-suites hotel aimed at business travellers.

Scheduled to open in 2018, Frasers Suites Hamburg is located in the city centre, next to Rödingsmarkt station. It is steps away from shopping precinct Neuer Wall and close to new CBD HafenCity.

The landmark was built in 1920 and housed the Hamburg tax authorities until 2011. As a serviced residence, it will feature 147 suites with separate living, dining, sleeping and fully fitted kitchens.

A range of business and leisure facilities, including a conference hall, meeting facilities, a restaurant, bar and wine bar, Wi-Fi and a 24-hour gym, can also be found within premises.

Fraser Suites Hamburg marks Frasers Hospitality’s entry into its 50^th city and its third property in Germany, bringing its European inventory to more than 1,600 serviced units, across Frankfurt, Berlin, Barcelona, Budapest, Paris, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Choe Peng Sum, CEO of Frasers Hospitality, said: “One of Europe’s most affluent cities, Hamburg is a thriving port city, with flourishing industries – port and logistics, life sciences, aviation, media and IT, renewable energy and maritime technologies – a choice destination for foreign investment and, a notable tourist destination.

“Establishing a presence in the key cities of Germany, which has remained among the most innovative countries in the world with high investment in R&D, has strategic significance to our global growth and particularly in Europe where our serviced residences have been experiencing strong demand since we first launched Fraser Suites Kensington, London in 2002.

“We are now anchored in the three dominant European countries – the UK, France and Germany – that continue to lead as the top destinations for investment in the region, accounting for 50 per cent of the FDI inflows in Europe.”

AIR New Zealand and Air China are keen to take their codeshare partnership to the next level with a proposed alliance that will see daily direct flights between Beijing and Auckland, opening up the Chinese capital as a key market for New Zealand.

Subject to regulatory approvals, the proposed service could take off in December.

The aim is to double the capacity between China and New Zealand, adding on to the existing codeshare on Air New Zealand’s daily Shanghai-Auckland service.

Air China CEO, Song Zhiyong, said in a media release that the relationship between China and New Zealand is entering into a new phase following the economic, cultural and political exchanges of recent years.

“We are committed to working with our Star Alliance partner Air New Zealand to provide better air connectivity between China and New Zealand in order to meet the growing demand from travellers in both markets,” said Song.

“The proposed alliance with Air New Zealand allows both flag carriers to build a sustainable air service between Beijing and Auckland and supplement the existing connectivity between China and New Zealand. This service, along with Air New Zealand’s Shanghai-Auckland service, will provide greater benefits to travellers in both countries in the coming years – an outcome which we will feel very proud of.”

KOREAN Air and Aerolíneas Argentina have agreed to codeshare on flights that will effectively link Seoul and Buenos Aires via New York and São Paolo.

The new codeshare on the route via New York will commence on March 25 while the service through São Paolo will start after April, upon obtaining regulatory approval.

Alongside Korean Air’s current routes between Seoul-New York and Seoul-São Paolo, the codeshare flights to Buenos Aires will provide greater convenience and choice to passengers of both airlines travelling to and from Argentina.

The Seoul-New York-Buenos Aires route will operate daily, departing from Seoul and New York at 10.05 and 16.10 at respective local times.

Return flights depart daily from Buenos Aires’ Ministro Pistarini International Airport and New York at 23.00 and 13.00 the next day respectively.

Flights on the Seoul-São Paolo-Buenos Aires route will leave Seoul every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 21.30, while return flights from Buenos Aires’ Jorge Newbery Airport will depart from Monday to Saturday at 07.00.