Accor has appointed Ken Wong as its new vice president sales & distribution Greater China.
In his new role, Wong will focus on providing strategic direction to drive sales and distribution performance along with Accor’s digital innovation; while at the same time expanding and reinforcing client partnerships and relationships.
The industry veteran has more than 30 years of experience, 18 of which were spent in mainland China. Wong joins Accor from Shanghai Disneyland resort, where he was vice president commercial.
Prior to working at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts for four years, he spent more than seven years with the InterContinental Hotel Group in several leadership roles including the head of sales and marketing. He has also held several senior roles with Marriott across Greater China.
Instead of keeping the brand legacy of Buffalo Tours Asia and Olympus Tours Americas, what’s the motivation to rebrand into Discova?
The plan for the “global DMC network”, as we called it back then, was to continue to grow across the world through acquisitions and organic startups. When that happens, it’s very difficult to maintain so many brands across the world as you acquire them. It also confuses our customers because the first thing they ask is, “Is it under the same company? Do you operate in the same way?”
So for us, it made sense to rebrand under a single brand to give us a platform to get onto the global stage. The name “Discova” is a little bit more international, and it’s an easy brand to take to new destinations. It’s easier to say we’re Discova Asia, Discova America or Discova Europe.
Following the merger of Buffalo Tours Asia and Olympus Tours Americas and their rebranding into Discova, managing director for Asia, Suyin Lee (above), says that the DMC will continue in its sustainable tourism efforts by working with local communities
What will Discova do differently compared with your DMC operations now?
Part of this brand change involves refocusing on our B2B partners. We’ve long noticed that a lot of DMCs look and feel a bit B2C, and even Buffalo Tours had a small B2C segment. But we’ve come to realise that our B2B partners is where we can add the greatest value.
What’s important to us is having the flexibility to lend our products and services – even our commercial models – to really suit our B2B customers, ensuring that our partners’ brand DNAs really come through across all the destinations that we operate for them.
We’re certainly able to make it a lot easier for our partners to do business with us. Olympus and Buffalo work on two completely different systems – it’s not efficient.
We can have a single point of contact and consistency in the look and feel of how we do things (worldwide). The systems that we use, the documents we produce, the way our guides are trained, even our drivers – there needs to be some consistency in our portfolio of products and services.
It will certainly be so much easier to have a single platform across the world so whether our partners are buying for the Americas, Asia or Australia they’re using the same platform. For sure it’s going to be a combination of a system and technology that we can now invest in as a single brand.
What kind of competition are you seeing from other DMCs? Are they also taking a global approach?
Currently, there isn’t a global DMC that is consistent across the world. There are some big and strong DMCs based out of Europe and Asia, but they’re not really global – they’re very regional – so this is a great space for Discova to create something different and new.
As you bring your operations global, how will you balance that with keeping your experiences local and authentic?
Some 95 per cent of our workforce are locals. We’ve grown up in those communities, so anything that happens in the destination, how it’s evolving and the new products coming up, our people are there to share that with our partners.
Working with locals to ensure sustainable tourism is an important aspect of your business. How will Discova continue in this area?
Buffalo Tours has historically been very focused on sustainable and responsible tourism, largely because our people are from these communities, and we need to be able to ensure that they continue to benefit from tourism without being exploited.
For some of the community projects that we run, we have close to 30 social enterprises in our supply chain. We constantly look at environmental impacts like plastics and wet tissues, and over time we’ve been pushing and educating our partners to swap those products out for more sustainable alternatives.
In the same way that we’ve tackled the use of plastics, we’ve decided to educate our partners – tell them that instead of going to a certain popular destination, here is an alternative. It may not be as developed, but that is its charm, and if we continue to bring people there in a responsible way, the standards of that destination will be lifted. We do need to try to help all communities, rather than just a small community.
How have your partners responded to these efforts?
A lot of our partners are from Europe and they are phenomenal in terms of environmental consciousness and responsibility. They have really taken on board things like refill bottles – in the year before, we took out about 200,000 single-use plastics. I think it’s just about changing the mindset and I think most people in our business are really on board.
I want to roll it out at a greater scale across the world, particularly in Asia. This region is quite a mature destination and we would like to (expand) these existing initiatives (here).
Sustainability does seem to be picking up more slowly in Asia.
When we travel around Asia, it’s really disturbing how much plastic waste there is everywhere, on the roads and in villages. We work with many local communities to change that.
In Yangon, this incredible woman started to pay local villagers to collect plastics so she can (upcycle them) into reusable goods like handbags and tote bags. These people are making an impact because the villagers are earning money by collecting rubbish, while learning how to recycle plastics and tyres.
It’s our job to take travellers to these local enterprises. You’d need a DMC with people who live there and know about these enterprises, you can’t just pop them on your radar.
What about the issue of animal welfare in tourism?
Animal welfare is such a hot topic at the moment, (with elephant rides being a major concern now) from a consumer perspective.
We, the travel sector, (in part) created these problems of elephant camps, circuses and parks. Now to say that we’re just going to stop selling them and abandon all of these camps is impractical.
For example, in Thailand, there’s more than 3,000 elephants in captivity. What are you going to do, just let them go? If we stop supporting them in a responsible way, the elephants are not going to be looked after because the communities that benefit from tourism won’t have the money to look after them, and they’re going to have a massive collapse.
So it’s about how to work with these local communities, animal parks or elephant camps to really bring up the standards of welfare. A big focus for us at the moment is making sure that we follow well-informed guidelines, rather than just bowing to public pressure.
How does the company internally focus on such efforts?
We put a fair bit of investment and leadership support in it. We have a really great responsible travel working group with members from different parts of our businesses at all levels. They work on initiatives and we reward the best initiatives with incentive travel for the team, and we fund ideas where they’ve demonstrated the concept.
You’ve also been making leaps in glamourising tour guiding. Why is that needed?
We really take pride in developing our guides. In Indonesia, we launched a guide ambassador programme by inviting young men and women from marginalised communities to join us for six months. We pay for their living allowances and so forth, and they go through this guiding programme to get accredited before going on an apprenticeship with us.
We want to roll that out to Cambodia and Vietnam. Guiding is a bit of a dying trade, so we need to bring in fresh talent and nurture them by giving them a career path.
Some of our competitors don’t spend that kind of money because a lot of guides are freelancers. That’s where we create a stronger community among our guide base and we engage them in training whether they are freelancers or not. It’s important to show these communities that there is good living to be made in guiding, and it’s fun.
A multibillion dollar mixed-use project by AWC will soon join Bangkok’s tourism infrastructure
As Thailand projects to hit nearly 40 million foreign arrivals this year, non-traditional tourism players are looking to cash in on the booming tourism sector.
Asset World Corporation (AWC), a hotel company owned by beverage tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s TCC Group, has unveiled an ambitious hotel expansion plan to open 13 hotels worth over 40 billion baht (US$1.3 billion) by 2025 over the next six years. The group already has 14 hotels across multi brands, all under management contracts.
A multibillion dollar mixed-use project by AWC will soon join Bangkok’s tourism infrastructure
Wallapa Traisorat, CEO and president of AWC, said the new projects will expand the group’s portfolio to a total of 8,506 rooms, up from 4,960 existing rooms. This expansion into the hotel business, he said, is encouraged by Thailand’s tourism boom.
The group will also develop a US$3.1 billion mixed-use project comprising five-star hotels and retail space on Chao Phraya River, next to Asiatique the Riverfront under its management. Construction work will begin 2020.
Meanwhile, it is engaged in an ongoing feasibility study for a potential investment on a piece of land opposite Asiatique the Riverfront. In addition, it plans to invest in two high-end hotels and a commercial space in a mixed-use project in Pattaya. That development is expected to cost another US$3.1 billion.
Singha Estate, another giant beverage company, is also actively moving into the travel landscape not just in Thailand but globally. It has acquired six hotels in four countries from APAC Holdings at a cost of more than US$3.1 billion. The acquired hotels – located in Phuket, Koh Samui, the Maldives, Fiji and Mauritius – will be rebranded as S Hotels and Resorts, a subsidiary of Singha Estate.
S Hotels and Resorts currently manages 39 hotels globally, including two existing hotels in Thailand – Santiburi Beach Resort & Spa in Koh Samui and Phi Phi Islands Village Beach Resort – owned by Singha Estate.
Singha Estate is now focused on investments overseas. Currently, it is working on Crossroads in the Maldives, a mega development that will turn nine islands into an integrated resort destination. Each island will have hotels and tourist facilities. The company is set to open two hotels in the first phase by end-2019 before starting the second phase in 2020.
Origin Property, one of the leading real estate firms in Thailand, has unveiled a five-year plan with a new focus on hotel, mixed-use spaces, retail and food business. Its new company, One Origin, will handle the expansion.
Kamonwan Wipulakorn, CEO of One Origin, said the company expects to develop 15 hotels and serviced apartments with total of 4,000 units as well as more than 10 offices and retail projects mainly in Bangkok and in the east coast of Thailand.
Origin Property has already entered the eastern region with condo projects in Sriracha to capitalise on the government’s Eastern Economic Corridor initiative. Earlier, Origin had signed a contract with the InterContinental Hotels Group to manage upcoming hotels in Bangkok and Sriracha.
New Zealand Getaway and Horseplay (Auckland, New Zealand)
Having added Adventure offerings to its activities arm earlier this year, Airbnb is further widening its Experiences portfolio with the launch of Airbnb Animal Experiences, a brand-new category that seek to offer travellers “a fresh new way to connect with animals”.
The new initiative, with some 1,000 Experiences co-hosted by over 300 species and their human advocates, enables guests to “meet animals in places that allow for gentle observation and bring a sense of connection far beyond animal selfies or performances”, Airbnb said in a statement.
Airbnb's Animal Experiences
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New Zealand Getaway and Horseplay (Auckland, New Zealand)
See Released Macaws (Nosara, Costa Rica)
Tea with Naughty Sheep (Loch Lomond, UK)
Meet the Dogs of Chernobyl (Slavutych, Ukraine)
Discover Arctic Foxes (Sudavik, Iceland)
The latest venture from Airbnb follows TripAdvisor’s earlier announcement this week to end ticket sales to attractions that contribute to the future captivity of marine animals, signalling the greater attention global travel businesses are now putting on animal welfare.
Airbnb Animal Experiences, created in collaboration with World Animal Protection, is committed to protecting the welfare of animals and helping people appreciate their intrinsic value.
Airbnb’s animal welfare policy stipulates that there should be no direct contact with wild animals, including, petting, feeding, or riding them; working animals should never be overworked, and shall only carry a maximum of one rider and never more than 20 per cent of the animal’s weight; marine mammals should never be in captivity for entertainment; broader host business should not feature elephant rides, big cat interactions, illegal wildlife trade, sporting events such as canned and trophy hunting, as well as animals performing for entertainment; and no wild animals should be used as selfie props or be taught any negative training techniques.
Ranging from afternoon tea with sheep to multi-day safaris, Airbnb Animal Experiences are hosted by caring experts as an antidote to typical tourist attractions that are notorious for ethical concerns, the company said. Controversial activities like dolphin kissing or elephant riding will never be found in an Airbnb Experience, it added.
Alesia Soltanpanah, executive director, World Animal Protection, said: “We know people love animals and want to see and experience them when they travel, but we also know they most want to see animals in a setting that respects their well-being. This new animal welfare policy created in consultation with our animal welfare experts combined with the creativity and dedication of Airbnb will ensure that adventurers have many options to experience the beauty of animals in a way that considers their welfare first.”
Airbnb said that beyond helping people get to better understand animals and meet them in a new way, over 100 Airbnb Animal Experiences are Social Impact Experiences, cementing their commitment to animals in the long-term by directing all proceeds from bookings to nonprofits. Supporting causes such as conservation, animal rescue, and veterinary care, these Experiences help scale impact, foster empathy and include caring for rescued horses, seeing released macaws and spending a day with donkeys, it added.
Other notable Airbnb Animal Experiences will come to life both on and offline through an exclusive partnership with The Dodo, an American-based mobile animal-centric media brand.
Some examples of Airbnb Animal Experiences unveiled include having tea with sheep in Loch Lomond, the UK); meeting the dogs of Chernobyl in Slavutych, Ukraine; being a gibbon research assistant experience in Phuket, Thailand; and going on a safari with a Maasai guide in Nakuru, Kenya; among others.
Recognising the growth potential of Indonesia as a visitor source market, the Taiwanese government is teaming up with travel agents and airlines to build up destination awareness in the country.
At the recent Kompas Travel Fair in Jakarta, John Chen, head of Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta, revealed that the number of Indonesian visitors in Taiwan increased by 11 per cent to 210,000 in 2018, a promising figure that he sees with room for growth still.
Taiwan is stepping up promotional efforts to attract more Indonesian tourists (Pictured: Heping Island at Keelung City in Taiwan)
Chen targets Indonesian inbound numbers to increase by 15 per cent this year, on the back of a special visa service eligible to Indonesians who have visited certain countries such as Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, the US, Canada and the UK in the last 10 years.
Acknowledging that many Indonesians are still unfamiliar with Taiwan, Chen said that he would step up promotional efforts of Taiwan in Indonesia.
Already, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau (TTB) has set up the Taiwan Tourism Information Centre in Indonesia this July.
“We think that Indonesia is an aggressive, promising market, and we want to develop it more,” said TTB’s director Fanny Low.
TTB has recorded a nine per cent increase in the number of Indonesian travellers to Taiwan in the first half of this year, said Low. According to her, a total of 210,000 Indonesians visited Taiwan in 2018, but only around 53,000 were tourists as the majority were made up of workers and students living there.
Nearly 60 per cent of those Indonesian travellers visited Taiwan for business, and the remaining 40 per cent for leisure, Low shared, adding that “because there was no office in Jakarta (previously) that promotes leisure, most of the tourists were contributed by MICE”.
With the launch of the Taiwan Tourism Information Centre, Low expects a 12 per cent increase in the number of inbound leisure tourist arrivals from Indonesia to Taiwan this year.
Meanwhile, Taiwan has already taken incremental steps towards building a Muslim-friendly environment and was ranked by Mastercard-CrescentRating as third most Muslim-friendly travel destination among non-OIC destinations in 2019.
Not only are halal-certified food and facilities easily accessible, small mosques are also available in public facilities like the airports and train stations, said Chan.
Indonesian Muslims can also use the Halal.TW app to locate halal destinations, hotels and restaurants in Taiwan. The app, which is also available in Indonesian, can be downloaded for free in the Google Play Store and the App Store.
To attract more Indonesian tourists to Taiwan, the Taiwan Tourism Information Centre has already formed partnerships with major travel companies and airlines, such as China Airlines, Eva Air, Thai Airways and Royal Brunei Airlines, to roll out travel packages with promotional fares.
China Airlines’ sales manager Alwin Heodinata foresees that traffic between the two countries will continue to grow, as currently at least 80 per cent of seats on the Indonesia-Taiwan route is always occupied.
To accommodate the projected increased passenger traffic on this sector, Eva Air will replace Airbus A330-300 with a bigger aircraft, Boeing 777-300 ER, by October 15, according to its general manager Makmun Hamsa.
Indonesia-based ICT Tour’s ticketing manager Suandi said that the number of customers who bought its 4D3N tour package to Taiwan had increased by 20 per cent, thanks to direct connectivity and free visa policy.
He said that 90 per cent of his Indonesian clients travel to Taiwan for leisure, with a sprinkling of MICE visitors.
Suandi hopes that the Taiwanese government will step up promotional efforts in Indonesia as the fact that many Indonesians were not well-acquainted with Taiwan was a major challenge for him when selling Taiwan tour packages.
The collapse of travel giant Thomas Cook and the uncertain future of cash-strapped Cox & Kings have prompted travel companies to cast a keener eye on product and service quality, as their role in facilitating the delivery of memorable experiences that travellers crave for comes under greater scrutiny.
Trafalgar’s global CEO Gavin Tollman told TTG Asia: “Particularly in Asia, I want our agent partners to be aware of the importance that agents can play in the buying cycle. They have to do their homework and know (their customers). (Seeing) what happened with Thomas Cook and Cox & Kings, travel agents have to understand the importance of trust.”
Travel agents need to rethink experience quality for consumers: Tollman
According to Google Analytics, 49 per cent of a traveller’s online touchpoints in the four months prior to making a travel booking is spent on OTA sites, signalling the importance of OTAs in travel buying.
However, not all agencies are taking advantage of this position or delivering the full potential of a destination to travellers. A survey by The Source Research found that 89 per cent of people still find travel difficult to plan, with 49 per cent saying that experiences marketed as authentic were not genuine.
Tollman explained: “Experiences are becoming the norm, yet far too many of our agent partners are just selling based on price. They have to understand that customers would rather buy an experience for a great price, rather than have a great price without an experience. Agents need to understand the importance of a destination and adjust their thinking around it.”
He added that doing so also involves responsible travel that minimises the negative impacts on a destination and its local communities “to prevent another Boracay from happening again”.
Responsible travel is now becoming the next experience that travellers are searching for. According to an Expedia study, sentiment is growing amongst consumers that it is the travel company’s responsibility to be environmentally accountable, and 40 per cent of consumers believe that holidays should have an environmental and social rating.
In its latest green efforts, The Travel Corporation (TTC) has pushed out its new Make Travel Matter Pledge, in celebration of World Tourism Day. Guided by The TreadRight Foundation, a joint initiative between TTC brands, including Trafalgar, the pledge cemented the company’s commitment to sustainable tourism and conscious travel.
Norwegian Cruise Line president and CEO Andy Stuart, an industry veteran with 31 years at the company, will step down at the end of this year following the launch of Norwegian Encore.
Harry Sommer, current president, international for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH), has been named as successor to Stuart, who will remain with the company as senior advisor through March 31, 2020 to ensure a smooth transition, said the cruise line.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s CEO Andy Stuart (left) will be succeeded by Harry Sommer when he steps down year-end
Stuart joined Norwegian in 1988 and held several key executive positions during his tenure of more than three decades, including president and COO; executive vice president, global sales and passenger services; executive vice president and chief product officer and executive vice president of marketing, sales and passenger services.
“Andy has accomplished everything possible in the cruise industry, including leading its most storied and innovative brand. He will leave on a high note after delivering the brand’s latest ship, Norwegian Encore, the last ship in the most successful ship class in the company’s history,” said Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of NCLH. “We are extremely grateful for his leadership and contributions to Norwegian Cruise Line, our company and the cruise industry.”
Stuart is said to be instrumental in many of the cruise line’s key achievements including the introduction of the Freestyle Cruising offering, which gives guests the choice to dine at whatever time they chose in a variety of dining venues and frees them from the then-industry norm of traditional set dining times in a single venue.
Sommer, in his current role as president, international for NCLH, is responsible for all sales, marketing, public relations and office operations for Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises in all markets outside of the US and Canada.
He previously served as executive vice president, international business development and executive vice president and chief integration officer for NCLH and held various executive positions for Prestige Cruise Holdings including chief marketing officer; senior vice president, finance and chief information officer and chief accounting officer.
Thailand-based Onyx Hospitality Group has signed a management agreement with Hong Kong-based investment firm Metropoly Holdings to open its first hotel in Japan, Amari Niseko.
Scheduled to open in 2024, Amari Niseko will form a central part of the Aruku-zaka Street mixed-use development, which will be home to a selection of lifestyle, retail and F&B offerings, residential apartments and the all-new Amari resort.
Onyx’s first hotel in Japan, Amari Niseko, is slated to open in 2024
Located in central Hirafu, in the Kutchan town of Abuta-gun district just off Route 343, Amari Niseko and Aruku-zaka Street will be easily reached via a two-hour drive or train journey from New Chitose Airport in Sapporo.
A year-round resort and a base for skiing in winter, and hiking and biking in the greener months, the 126-key Amari Niseko will offer a variety of studio, one-bedroom suite and two-bedroom suite configurations.
The resort will also offer a concept restaurant that transitions from an all-day restaurant to a destination cocktail bar come nightfall.
Onyx says that the last three years have been significant for the regional expansion of Amari, with the brand being launched in multiple new locations, including Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China and Laos.
LightBlue Environmental Consulting (LBEC) and Travel Without Plastic (TWP) are joining forces to tackle the two single biggest waste streams in hotels – food waste and single-use plastic.
Led by long-term sustainability professionals, both organisations originally set out with wider objectives in mind but narrowed down their focus to specific problem areas, and now wants to offer their services to hotels looking to tackle two of this decade’s increasingly important topics.
LightBlue Environmental Consulting and Travel Without Plastic have teamed up to tackle food waste and single-use plastic in hotels
Roughly one third of the food produced in the world, which is equivalent to 1.3 billion tonnes, for human consumption is wasted and around 300 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year, half of which is for single-use.
Aware that solving one problem should not cause another, both organisations champion a reduction in overall waste and their respective recommendations to businesses ensure that the wider picture is considered before any operational changes are made.
Habit is the biggest challenge for both organisations, compounded by today’s hectic on-the-go lifestyles. Hotels where guests would normally sit down for breakfast now offer to-go cafes, fuelled by single-use packaging that caters for city breakers and business clients who are rushing out to the office.
Over the past six years, LBEC has consistently measured that up to 50 per cent of all food purchased in volume never makes it to the buffet or the restaurant table. “Pre-consumer food waste is composed of roughly 40 per cent of non-edible items, and the remainder is related to inefficient storage systems, unskilled trimming, overstocking or over production. Kitchen waste is generally given less attention when discussing food waste, while buffet waste is commonly mistaken as the biggest source of food waste”, said Benjamin Lephilibert, managing director of LightBlue.
Similarly, TWP sees that an average of 15 per cent of single-use plastic is often purchased purely out of habit, with no regard for whether the product adds any value to the guest experience. Where hotels are invested in positive change, up to 68 per cent of single-use plastic waste can be reduced by following effective recommendations and implementing innovative communications that encourage guests to be part of the solution.
Needless to say, both approaches can create significant cost savings. When environmental concerns are not the main motivator, the bottom line usually triggers action.
Both businesses operate globally and can offer on-site and off-site support to hotels and other hospitality businesses interested in being part of the solution. The ideal next step would be to engage a number of hotels in Asia and Europe who are happy to lead by example and introduce a multi-tasking approach to both waste streams, potentially generating huge savings in terms of waste reduction and costs, both companies said in a joint statement.
Interested parties are encouraged to contact LightBlue Environmental Consulting at contact@lightblueconsulting.com or Travel Without Plastic at info@travelwithoutplastic.com.
The Adnate, Australia
The latest Art Series hotel, belonging to the Accor family, has opened in Perth and features Australian street artist Matt Adnate’s works. Two original canvases and up to 650 reproductions of 30 of Matt’s most recognised works from around the world adorn the walls and halls of the 250-room, 27-storey hotel.
The Adnate will also be home to a restaurant serving Mediterranean cuisine and cocktails, where the venue will be centred around the hotel’s pool area on level one. Other facilities include a gym and function room, as well as smart cars and bicycle for hire.
Andaz Seoul Gangnam, South Korea
Hyatt’s Andaz brand has marked its entry into the destination with this property. The hotel houses 241 guestrooms, all offering a bird’s-eye view of downtown through floor-to-ceiling windows. Facilities on-site include the all-day cafe A’+Z; Jogakbo, a space which meshes three F&B venues in one; and The Summer House, a wellness facility with a 16m-long pool surrounded by a whirlpool, and cold and warm baths.
Functions can be held in the four flexible event spaces, which can cater to groups of up to 250 people, or the 163m² Gangnam Penthouse Suite boasting its own entertainment terrace, bar and dining area that can accommodate up to 20 people, a TV den and a luxury bathroom.
The property’s overall concept has been inspired by bojagi – a traditional Korean wrapping cloth used in significant ceremonies and as gift wrap to preserve good luck, according to traditional Korean folklore.
Four Points by Sheraton Bali Ungasan, Indonesia
This property features 270 rooms and suites, where some rooms come with private balconies, private terraces, garden or pool access. Elsewhere on property is Evolution, the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant, where guests can find local and international favourites; while The Garden Pool Bar serves local craft beers on tap. Other facilities include an infinity pool, a fitness centre, a spa, wedding chapel, and a family pool and kids’ club. There is also 1,694m² of flexible indoor meeting space, the largest of which is a pillarless ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,200.
Radisson Blu Hangzhou Xintiandi, China
The first Radisson in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, features 265 rooms and suites equipped with multimedia connectivity. For Club and Suite guests, the top floor Executive Lounge provides a range of bespoke business services and all-day refreshments. The 18-storey hotel also offers facilities such as a 450-pax grand ballroom, four function rooms, an indoor swimming pool, fitness centre, and Thai-style spa. The hotel is home to several F&B outlets, including a Chinese restaurant with nine private dining rooms.
Hotel Gracery Osaka Namba, Japan
This 170-key property situated in the Namba area lies within walking distance to Osaka hotspots Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi. Guestrooms start from 18m², and feature separate toilets and bathrooms. Other facilities in the hotel include the Bonsalute restaurant, and a self-service cloak room.
