TRUMP Hotel Collection is eyeing a slice of the burgeoning hotel market in Asia, setting sights on China, Thailand and Singapore.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, Andreas Oberoi, general manager of Trump SoHo New York, said the Asian market is “definitely a part of the world” Trump wants to enter.

Oberoi said: “Trump is a brand that stands for quality and luxury, and we see a big interest and potential in these parts of Asia.”

He added that China had been identified as a top priority in the region.

As part of the Trump Hotel Collection’s strategy to gain a foothold into the Asian market, the company newly opened a representative office in Shanghai in March this year, its first in Asia.

Trump Hotel Collection, an international luxury hotel management company owned by the renowned developer Donald J Trump, has hotels and resorts in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Toronto and Panama, but none in Asia.

Oberoi said to attract the Chinese market, the company has also started to offer a fully compatible Chinese language option on the Trump SoHo New York website less than two months ago.

He explained: “This will create an easier online experience for the people who speak only Chinese.”

As plans to expand into Asia are still in its “early stages”, Oberoi said: “We are now looking closely into this area and of course, we will not be able to see the Trump hotels coming up overnight, but there are definitely plans.”

TRAVELPORT today rolled out its Travelport Mobile Agent app for Apple and Android devices in Asia, almost a year after it was first launched in July 2012 (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 26, 2012).

Travel consultants using the Galileo GDS platform across Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan can now download the app, which allows them to access and modify bookings any time and anywhere.

The app will be available to Worldspan GDS users in Asia on July 15.

Travelport Mobile Agent was developed by TTS – Travel Technology & Solutions, and one of the first products to be released globally as a result of the Travelport Developer Network launched in November 2011.

Patrick Andres, vice president and regional managing director, Asia-Pacific, Travelport, said: “Travelport Mobile Agent is an incredibly useful tool for travel agencies and travel consultants that want to be competitive in an industry that never sleeps, where immediate response and customer service are a must for business success.”

LONDON Stock Exchange-listed Lo-Q has partnered Australia-based themed attraction designer and developer The Sanderson Group to bring its virtual queuing system to Asia.

Lo-Q specialises in a virtual queuing system that helps theme parks and attractions take visitors out of queue lines to rides and shows, allowing them instead to browse shops, have a meal or rest before their turn.

Theme parks and attractions can implement the system through Q-bot palm-sized devices, Q-band waterproof RFID wristbands – loaned to visitors who pay a premium price for the convenience – or Q-smart, a new feature for smartphones that allows visitors to obtain information on the attractions, buy tickets and book their rides ahead of time.

Lo-Q CEO, Tom Burnet, said the system had been installed in 40 theme parks and attractions worldwide, such as SixFlags Great America in Chicago and Legoland Windsor in the UK, with eight of them being among the world’s top 10 attractions, and used by more than a million visitors.

“When people are trapped in a queue line, they cannot do anything else and that includes spending money. If you can get visitors out of the queue and let them do what they desire, be it to shop for souvenirs or get a drink, they can spend more money at the theme park. When visitors get to do what they want, satisfaction level rises, complaints go down and repeat visitorship grows,” he said.

Asked how much more revenue a theme park or attraction was likely to see with the implementation of the system, Burnet said: “According to data collected in the US, each person spends an average of US$5 per hour in a theme park or attraction. A person may stand in line for four or five hours for several rides and shows throughout the day. Imagine how much more each visitor could potentially spend if he could get out of a queue,” he said.

Burnet believes that Lo-Q’s virtual queuing system and especially Q-smart will take off well in Asia, where mobile technology is widely adopted and its people are “inquisitive about how new technology can improve their life”.

AIRASIA’S Philippine subsidiary this week announced it would be curtailing the frequencies of its Clark services as part of its operational realignment, effective June 15.

The LCC is cutting its Clark-Kuala Lumpur service from 10 times weekly to thrice weekly, with the remaining frequencies to be operated by AirAsia Malaysia instead.

Clark-Hong Kong flights will be trimmed from 10 times a week to a daily service. Meanwhile, the airline’s Clark-Singapore service will be reduced from daily to thrice weekly, and its Clark-Taipei frequency from daily to four times weekly.

Affected customers will be notified by their registered member email account and an SMS notification on the options open to them, including a full refund for their ticket, a credit shell for the value paid with a 90-day validity and the option to change their flight date to another within 30 days of the original scheduled flight, free of charge and subject to availability.

FAR East Hospitality (FEH) has embarked on a new branding exercise that will see the hotels and residences in its Village portfolio rechristened and refurbished.

In order to draw attention to the precinct each Village hotel or residence is located in, FEH has renamed each property to reflect its locality, effective immediately.

The name changes are as follows: Landmark Village Hotel is now Village Hotel Bugis; Albert Court Village Hotel – Village Hotel Albert Court; Changi Village Hotel – Village Hotel Changi; Central Square Village Residences – Village Residence Clarke Quay; Riverside Village Residences – Village Residence Robertson Quay; Hougang Village Residences – Village Residence Hougang; and West Coast Village Residences – Village Residence West Coast.

FEH will also debut its Peranakan-inspired Village Hotel Katong, the flagship for the village brand, later this year (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 18, 2012).

Furthermore, upgrading works are ongoing at six Village properties. Village Hotel Albert Court, Village Hotel Changi and Village Hotel Bugis are in the midst of rejuvenation works on guestrooms, while Village Residence Clarke Quay, Village Residence West Coast and Village Residence Hougang will see refurbishment works to bedrooms and apartments, public areas or facades and lobbies.

Arthur Kiong, CEO, Far East Hospitality, said in a media statement: “Today’s generation of savvy guests want authentic, differentiated experiences. The Village brand has always been about providing these unique, local experiences through harnessing the strengths of the locales, and our guests have consistently told us that they appreciate the localised Singapore experience that Village properties provide.

“As a home-grown hospitality brand, the Far East brand of hospitality is one that is Singapore-inspired and we are bringing this to life by having each Village property draw inspiration from the immediate surroundings to be infused into the guest experience.”

ASCOTT will open its eighth serviced residence in the Philippines in 2017, but has more recently announced the launch of its new web and mobile booking features to enhance search and reservation on its website.

Available across its three brand websites – www.the-ascott.com, www.citadines.com, www.somerset.com – Ascott’s enhanced reservation system allows guests to view a list of all available properties, filter available apartments by price, view properties on a map and perform multi-city, multi-property or multi-apartment bookings within a single transaction.

There will also be collapsible sections for ease of comparison across various apartment types and rate categories. Customers will also be reminded of the available, optional apartment upgrades and supplementary services before booking confirmation.

Confident its websites offer the lowest rates for its properties, Ascott will give any guest who finds lower online rates a 50 per cent discount off the first night of stay and a matching rate for subsequent nights.

Separately, Ascott will launch the Somerset Alabang Manila in 2017. The 150-unit property will be situated in Alabang, a major business district in Metro Manila and within Filinvest City, an integrated development offering office, retail, residential and leisure space.

A 25-minute drive from the airport, the serviced residence is also within close proximity to the industrial parks of Laguna, Cavite and Batangas.

Residents can choose from studio, one- to three-bedroom residences and penthouse units, all of which will come with a fully-equipped kitchen and living, dining and work areas. Other facilities include an outdoor swimming pool, gym, residents’ lounge, children’s playroom, meeting rooms and a business centre.

Arthur Gindap, regional general manager for the Philippines and Thailand, Ascott, said: “We see immense potential for Ascott in the Philippines as the country continues to enjoy strong economic growth and to attract foreign direct investment.

“Ascott already has a strong foothold in Makati City, the country’s primary financial centre, with three operating properties. Hence, we are actively expanding in other business districts where foreign direct investment has generated robust demand for serviced residences.”

IN AN unexpected turn of events, AirAsia announced today that it was considering the dissolution of subsidiary AirAsia Japan, less than a year after the LCC commenced operations (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 7, 2012).

AirAsia Japan, a joint venture company set up by AirAsia and All Nippon Airways (ANA), is largely staffed by ANA employees, including its CEO and CFO.

A statement by AirAsia said that management opinions had clashed, “most critically on the points of how to operate a low-cost business and operating from Narita (airport)”.

The statement went on to say: “Since its launch in 2012, Japan AirAsia has failed to track its proposed business plan due to the inability to manage costs, but has seen customer adoption increasing as the AirAsia brand starts to resonate in the market.

“AirAsia continues to be…committed to Japan and sees the potential for a low-cost airline to thrive in the market and would not rule out any options to make this happen, including dissolution of the joint venture.”

AirAsia and ANA are exploring all available options at the moment, said the statement.

THE continuous roll-out of mid-scale hotels is predicted to bring Singapore’s pricey average room rate (ARR) down, according to local travel consultants.

Mid-scale hotels that have debuted this year include The Ramada Singapore at Zhongshan Park, Days Hotel Singapore at Zhongshan Park (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 6, 2013), Park Avenue Changi and Dorsett Singapore (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 16, 2013). The Village Hotel Katong and The Amoy will also open their doors later in 2013.

In a report by CBRE Global Research and Consulting, some 11,000 rooms are expected to enter the market in the next four years. Mid-scale hotels will supply the largest number of rooms at 4,100 (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 1, 2013).

Luxury Tours & Travel’s director, Michael Lee, said: “The entry of these new mid-scale hotels with comparatively lower hotel rates can help ease the typical high hotel rates by the bigger brands in the market.”

Sharing similar sentiments, Ramesh Travel Service’s general manager, Ram Samtan, said the entry of such hotels was “significant in this price-sensitive market” and the impact had already been manifested in the recent dip in ARR.

Preliminary estimates from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) reveal that ARR for January to April slipped 2.2 per cent year-on-year to S$253.70 (US$202.20), while revenue per available room was 2.6 per cent lower at S$217.80.

CTC Travel senior vice president, marketing and PR, Alicia Seah, noted that competition was “very stiff” among business hotels, and observed that four-star hotel rates had fallen 10-20 per cent year-on-year in Q2.

However, she highlighted that this effect was unlikely to spill over to other sectors, saying: “The five-star hotels will still hold up their rates because of their prime position and iconic status.”

Agreeing, Lee said: “These new mid-scale hotels will create more choices into the three- and four-star hotel segment, but (are) unlikely to pull traffic away from the upscale market.”

However, STB statistics also show that while room rates have softened slightly, the average occupancy rate for January to April held firm, edging down just 0.3 per cent to 86 per cent.