Travelport campaigns use of code that alerts airlines to disability needs

March 5, 2019

Team_Jordan_arriving_at_the_Special_Olympics_MENA_Games_2018 — Team Jordan arriving at the Special Olympics MENA Games 2018

With the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2019 round the corner, Travelport has launched a campaign to improve awareness and use of the DPNA Special Service Request (SSR) code, which can be used by travel agents and others to alert airlines when a passenger has intellectual or developmental disability and needs assistance.

The campaign was initiated after Travelport observed “exceptionally low use” of the code on bookings made through its GDS. Despite registering more than 250 million flight bookings through its GDS globally in 2018, and an estimated 200 million people worldwide having an intellectual disability (2.6 per cent of the global population), the code was used just 4,309 times (approximately 0.0015 per cent of total flight bookings), according to Travelport. A poll of 136 of travel agents, conducted by Travelport, revealed just 24 per cent know the code exists.

Travelport’s six-month long campaign will reach more than 100,000 travel agents in over 30 countries. It features electronic direct mails (EDMs) as well as sign-on-alerts and graphical prompts delivered through the company’s flagship Travelport Smartpoint tool, which is used by travel agents, among others, to search and book airline seats, hotel rooms and more.

The EDMs and sign-on-alerts are being shown to its travel agent partners globally, while the prompts are activated when a consultant is at the booking stage of a flight to over 30 of the most popular destinations in the world such as London, New York, Sydney and Delhi.

The prompts are also being shown when any flight is about to be booked to or from the UAE, the country hosting the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2019 this month.

Travelport has also created a campaign webpage providing guidance for travel agents on talking to travellers about intellectual disabilities and associated assistance.

The digital media used to reach travel agents during the campaign is typically sold by Travelport to travel providers as advertising space. The company has allocated over US$100,000 worth of slots for the DPNA SSR code awareness campaign, which will run until August 31, 2019. Content from the campaign will be displayed to travel agents more than 3.5 million times, making it one of the biggest digital media campaigns the company has ever executed, the company said.

Gordon Wilson, president and CEO of Travelport, said: “Travel can be a particularly challenging time for people who require special assistance, so once we discovered such low use of the DPNA SSR code, we decided to take action… We hope this campaign will not only make a difference in the travel industry but act as a catalyst for other organisations to investigate how their industry or the industry they serve can better support people with intellectual disabilities and make improvements where needed.”

SSR codes are used in the airline industry to communicate traveller preferences or needs, such as requests for wheelchair assistance, to airlines. They are delivered through standardised four-letter codes defined by IATA.

Linda Ristagno, external affairs manager at IATA, said: “We introduced the DPNA SSR code to assist persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We are delighted that Travelport has launched this awareness campaign and encourage all our member airlines and travel agents to properly use this and all the other IATA disability codes to ensure that the appropriate support to our valued passengers is provided.”

Extending support to Travelport’s campaign, Asim Arshad, group CEO at Orient Travel and Tourism Agency, said: “We are happy to act on this initiative and ensure that all of our consultants, as a standard part of the booking discussion, ask customers if any of the travelling party has an intellectual or physical disability and needs special assistance from the airline. Asking the question is the first step to ensuring appropriate support is provided. We encourage all travel agents across the world to follow suit.”

Linda Celestino, vice president, guest service and delivery, Etihad Airways, the official airline partner of the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2019, said the airline will support the use of the DPNA Special Service Request.

She added: “In preparation for Special Olympics team travel across the Etihad network, our teams have received additional training on how to best support guests with intellectual disabilities.”

The Special Olympics World Summer Games 2019, which starts on March 14 and runs until March 21.

AirAsia withdraws sales from Traveloka after ‘unexplained disappearance’ of flights

By Mimi Hudoyo

March 5, 2019

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AirAsia has announced the permanent withdrawal of sales of all its flights from Traveloka, a move arising from the “unexplained disappearance”of AirAsia Indonesia flights from the OTA for the second time in the past two weeks.

AirAsia Indonesia president director Dendy Kurniawan said: “The omission of our flights has certainly hurt cooperation between AirAsia and Traveloka. Traveloka has not acted in good faith. They have refused to provide an official explanation despite our repeated attempts to seek their clarification.

AirAsia removed its flight listings from Traveloka after the latter was unable to explain how they disappeared

“The exclusion of several AirAsia Indonesia flights by Traveloka is a clear display of preferential treatment and an act of favouritism. We observed through social media messages how customers who enquired about the unavailability of AirAsia flights were recommended by Traveloka to book with other airlines instead. Therefore, in solidarity, AirAsia Group withdraws sales of all of its flights from Traveloka effective immediately.”

AirAsia is now advising travellers to book directly from the airasia.com website or the mobile app.

AirAsia said its flights first disappeared from Traveloka on February 14-17, coinciding with its network-wide system upgrade on February 16. Traveloka had cited the 13-hour system downtime as the reason for AirAsia flights disappearing from their website in response to queries from customers, according to the airline.

However, AirAsia flights disappeared from Traveloka for a second time on March 2 without clarification, well after the successful system upgrade by AirAsia.

Dendy added: “Competition should be free and fair to ensure consumers benefit from the best deals. We should not let monopolies kill competition at the expense of the travelling public.”

It is unclear which competitors AirAsia was pointing fingers at, but Dendy said: “Competitions should be free and fair so that customers get the benefits from better offers. Don’t let monopoly kills competition.”

In response, Traveloka spokesperson Sufintri Rahayu said in a statement: “As South-east Asia’s biggest travel and lifestyle technology company, we highly take priority in sustainable cooperations with all stakeholders, including business partners.

“Traveloka therefore regrets the decision made by one of our airline partners, AirAsia, to withdraw their ticket sales on our platform. We are making our efforts to enable clients to enjoy all airline choices which have been available again.

According to Sufintri, Traveloka has been requesting a dialogue with AirAsia since last weekend “to achieve the best solution for both parties”.

Naumi Hotel’s room 210 to become canvas for local design students

By TTG Asia

March 5, 2019

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As a satellite programme partner of Singapore Design Week (SDW) 2019, Naumi Hotel is inviting local design students to create a new concept for one of its rooms every quarter.

Project #210, named after the room number at Naumi, the Singaporean-owned hotel will provide up-and-coming talents from local design institutions with a blank canvas to create their vision.

Singapore hotel Naumi partners with local businesses on new student design initiative

The initiative is supported by Goodrich Global, XTRA, Guerilla X and Matsushita.

The first team to win the opportunity is Nurul Hanis, Nia Astira, Nuri Khairiyyah and Tracy Lim, who are final-year Retail & Hospitality Design students from Temasek Polytechnic.

The opening concept for Project 210, which will launch during SDW, is inspired by Tyler The Creator, a creative personality in music, TV and fashion. The concept hopes to catch the attention of the next generation of travellers with its bold style using colour-blocking, lightings and designer furnishing from Muuto. Much of Tyler The Creator’s work is taken from 1970s street style, hip hop and skate culture, and a result the designers are looking to create a vibrant, and above all, playful space.

For the duration of SDW from March 4-17, 2019, the Project 210 room will be bookable at S$250++ (US$185) per night (inclusive of breakfast for two).

The pop-up room will join the current inventory of four designer-themed rooms available at the hotel.

Amid evolving threats, IATA urges greater public-private collaboration to keep aviation secure

By TTG Asia

March 5, 2019

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IATA is calling on industry stakeholders and governments to work together more closely to keep aviation secure in the face of evolving security threats and the anticipated doubling of passenger demand to 8.2 billion by 2037.

“Flying is secure. But keeping it that way is not an easy task. Threats are evolving. The geo-political landscape is complex. Technology is rapidly changing. And the volumes of both cargo and travelers keeps growing. Global standards and collaboration – among governments and industry – is the bedrock of our continued success,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO, during a speech to the AVSEC World conference in Miami, Florida.

Cooperation is key to keeping aviation travel secure amid evolving threats and increase in passenger demand

IATA urged stakeholders to focus on global standards, information-sharing, risk-based analysis and emerging threats to secure aviation for decades to come.

“It’s been 45 years since Annex 17 was added to the Chicago Convention. Still, far too many states are struggling to implement the Annex 17 baseline requirements. A weakness anywhere in the system affects everyone. The goal is 100 per cent implementation. There is an urgent need for developed countries to provide more comprehensive assistance to developing countries to ensure the baseline security measures are met,” said de Juniac.

Stressing the importance of information sharing, de Juniac said: “Threats will continue to evolve and become ever more complex. Those wishing to do aviation harm have no state allegiance; they cross borders to share information and collaborate to refine their methods of causing chaos and destruction. The focus of governments must be on protecting people. And that cannot be done with insular thinking. We must get better at sharing information.”

Moreover, with investment in aviation security having grown exponentially since 9.11, de Juniac acknowledged that flying has “no doubt” been made more secure. However, he argued that the efficiency of the system needs to be constantly challenged. “Governments need to pursue risk-based security concepts that focus resources where the need is greatest,” said de Juniac.

Some critical areas in need of addressing include vetting the millions of airport and airline staff who have access to aircraft, ending extra-territorial measures that often require airlines to take on government responsibilities, and improving the security experience for passengers.

IATA further called for greater government and industry attention on emerging threats, including cyber threats.

“The digital transformation of the airline industry holds immense promise. But we must ensure that our aviation systems remain safe, secure and resilient against cyber-attack. Constructive dialogue and timely information-sharing among industry, technology providers and governments will be critical if we are to achieve this,” said de Juniac.

IATA is working with airlines, industry stakeholders and other sectors to deliver a strategy early next year that will be a step-change in how the sector addresses the cyberthreat challenge.

Holiday Inn Express to open near Don Mueang airport come 2022

By TTG Asia

March 5, 2019

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The 228-room Holiday Inn Express Don Mueang Airport is set to open in 2022 as the first international brand hotel directly connected to the airport, according to InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).

The hotel will be built next to the Lak Hok Train Station, one stop away from Don Mueang International Airport and 20 km from the city centre. As part of the Thai government’s expansion plans, the new Terminal 3 at Don Mueang Airport is scheduled to open in the same year, and has been designed to service the growing number of passengers.

It will offer free Wi-Fi in guest rooms, Free Express Start Breakfast or a Grab & Go option, self-service laundry room, 24-hour fitness centre and a
meeting room.

The new Holiday Inn Express is the outcome of a management agreement with Ambience Rangsit U.

IHG now has six Holiday Inn Express hotels open in Thailand with 10 in the pipeline.

New skills make the hottest souvenir: TripAdvisor

By TTG Asia

March 5, 2019

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Classes and workshops, as well as wellness experiences, are the top activity categories global travellers are booking, according to TripAdvisor data.

TripAdvisor’s 2019 Experiences Trends Report revealed that globally, traveller bookings for classes and workshops grew by 90% year-over-year. This was even more so for travellers from Singapore, as bookings for classes and workshops doubled (+102%).

The Roman Gladiator School experience topped the charts last year

French travellers are leading the way worldwide, with bookings rising 137% over the previous year. A Roman Gladiator School: Learn How to Become a Gladiator became the world’s most booked class and workshop last year. Samurai School in Kyoto: Samurai for a Day, surf lessons at Sydney’s Bondi Beach and a Cambodian pottery class were also featured in the top 10.

Health and well-being is high on the list too. Global traveller bookings for wellness experiences jumped 69% year-over year, with New Zealanders leading the way in the quest for wellness, as bookings for wellness experiences by Kiwi travellers jumped a whopping 362% year-over-year.

Traveller bookings from Singapore for wellness experiences rose 68% over the previous year. A Széchenyi spa experience was the most booked wellness experience among global travellers, while a trip to Thermae-Yu Hotspring in Shinjuku and luxury spas in Phuket also ranked among the top 10.

Sightseeing and iconic attractions are a mainstay, but experiences must cater to the whole family, TripAdvisor observed. Family-friendly activities have become a firm priority for travellers worldwide as bookings shot up over 200% year-over-year.

While tickets and tours to the world’s top attractions, like a Faster Than Skip-the-Line: Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica Tour, remain the most-booked experiences globally, there’s a growing focus among travellers to have such experiences cater to the whole family. Experiences like a Waitomo Glowworm Caves Guided Tour and Disney on Broadway Behind-the-Scenes Walking Tour are among the 10 most-booked family-friendly experiences.

Catch ’em all at SE Asia’s first Pokemon Go Safari Zone in Sentosa

By TTG Asia

March 5, 2019

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Limited time registration for South-east Asia’s first Pokemon Go Safari Zone – taking place from April 18-22, 2019 – is now open.

Interested players will need to register their interest and select their preferred date of play on the event website: safarizone.sentosa.com.sg from now till March 7. Fans can bid for places as an individual or in a group of up to three applicants. Over 100,000 places will be available for free across the five-day event, and a ballot will be held to select participants.

Here’s your chance to try and catch them all

Organised by the Sentosa Development Corporation in collaboration with Niantic and The Pokemon Company, Pokemon Go Safari Zone, Sentosa will see players hunting their favourite Pokemon, including region-exclusive Pokemon, through the island’s beaches and past the island’s attractions, from the Sentosa Boardwalk to Tanjong Beach.

In a statement, Sentosa said fans can expect multiple PokeStops where they can stock up on supplies, as well as rare Pokemon such as the region-specific Tropius, shiny Shuckle, Unown and more.

While on the journey to catch ’em all, players can snap photos with Pokemon at various photo points across the island. At team rest areas, they can mingle, swap tips, trade Pokemon with fellow trainers from Instinct, Mystic and Valor.

Selected trainers will receive a notification email from March 11, 2019, and another email on a later date containing a QR code that serves as a ticket to the event. Participation in the event is limited to the day stated in the confirmation email, in order to give as many trainers a chance to take part.

For trainers living in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, travel agencies JTB and Panorama-JTB will be providing 3D2N Stay & Play tour packages which come with a guaranteed ticket to join Pokemon Go Safari Zone, Sentosa!

For each day of the event, 200 packages will be up for grabs on a first come first served basis. For more information on these packages, visit JTB Philippines, JTB Malaysia, Panorama-JTB, and JTB Thailand from March 7.

Trainers without a QR code can still enjoy normal gameplay at Sentosa during the event period.

MICE veteran takes up DOSM role at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali

By TTG Asia

March 5, 2019

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The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali has promoted Saraswati Subadia to director of sales & marketing, after working in a parallel capacity for the past year as the resort’s assistant director of sales & marketing.

Saraswati first joined the resort in 2013 when she assumed the position as director of sales MICE, where she was significantly involved in securing a number of high-profile events such as the Annual Meetings 2018.

Balinese born and bred, Saraswati started out in the hospitality industry working as a guest relations officer, and then as an assistant tourism advisor for a division of the World Bank.

She then joined Tour East travel agency in 2001,followed by a succession of managerial appointments for international hotels, including Hard Rock Hotel Bali and InterContinental Bali Resort, as well as managing director MICE with Smailing Tour.

No dilution but synergy, Best Western says after Worldhotels acquisition

By Yixin Ng

March 4, 2019

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David-Kong- — Kong: trends toward soft brands, plus access to Best Western's loyalty programme and customer base will fuel dramatic growth in Worldhotels portfolio

It’s not a long shot to expect a doubling of the Worldhotels portfolio in the next few years, without tradeoffs to its independent hotels-centric identity, Best Western CEO David Kong said following an acquisition of the company.

The US hotel chain giant last week bought over WorldHotels for an undisclosed sum, and the two are now part of a newly established parent company, BWH Hotel Group. WorldHotels properties will be positioned in the upper upscale end of the group, while Best Western will occupy the midscale.

Kong: trends toward soft brands, access to Best Western’s loyalty programme and customer base, and revenue improvements will fuel dramatic growth at Worldhotels

Combined resources under BWH Hotel Group
An alliance between the two companies was in talks three years ago, when “Worldhotels recognised that loyalty programmes is going to become more important and want to have access to that and our customer base”.

While an alliance did not pan out, what the two now have is “better than an alliance”, Kong remarked. “Now, we’re under one company, BWH Hotel Group. It’d be much easier for us to leverage the talent that work for both companies. There is so much knowhow and experience within the Worldhotels team here.”

Unlike some of the bigger mergers in the hospitality industry in recent times, Kong stressed that integration of the two companies is “not about streamlining the staffing, but about cross-pollinating ideas and leveraging talent”.

Kong added that Worldhotels brings value in the form of good sales relationships with corporate buyers and travel agents, on top of a relevant portfolio of luxury properties.

Perhaps, this is also a sign of Best Western’s Asian ambitions.

Roland Jegge, Asia-Pacific president, Worldhotels, pointed out that the company brings to the table a sizeable Asian presence as Best Western looks to increase its regional footprint – both in terms of hotels and sales offices. Some 80 out of Worldhotels’ global portfolio of over 300 hotels are in Asia, while Best Western has about 50 locations in the region.

A better proposition to agents, corporate buyers
While the merger brings together distinct midscale and upscale brands, there will be “no dilution, but synergy and added value”, Kong stated.

“Big companies have different travellers with different needs. Executives can stay at (more upscale) Worldhotels properties, but there could also be a lot of (travellers who would stay) at a Best Western. Bringing all those options and solutions to companies can make us more desirable as a one-stop shop. To present a travel manager with the ability to make a contract with one company while (taking care of different needs) is a very good selling proposition,” Kong explained.

Although the two will present a combined portfolio in B2B sales, WorldHotels properties will be separated from Best Western’s consumer-facing marketing efforts, allowing WorldHotel properties to retain their identity, Kong shared.

“Additionally, while WorldHotels will be part of our loyalty programme, it will be branded separately as WorldHotels Rewards.”

Under BWH Hotel Group, Worldhotels members will be held to the same criteria and inspection requirements to uphold standards as before, Jegge added. Hotels will continue to fall into a three-tier classification system, with Luxury at the top end, followed by Distinctive and Elite. Hotels will still have to meet independent LRA criteria to be classified in the Luxury tier, Jegge confirmed.

“Worldhotels’ (emphasis on) independence and self-identity is hugely important, so we have to protect that. It’s all about how we can create value for TMC customers and simplify the job of the travel manager. When we provide a whole suite (of distinct brands), that happens,” Kong stresed.

A hunger for soft brands
This is the latest in a string of soft brand activity in the hospitality industry involving companies that were traditionally focused on branded chains.

“The trend is there and the universe is huge for soft brands. Hotels are moving away from long term contracts with big hotel companies,” Kong observed.

Indeed, WorldHotels has seen accelerated expansion particularly in its Asia-Pacific portfolio in the past three years, said Jegge. The demand for a soft brand solution is coming both from owners de-flagging hotels when management contracts come to expiry, as well as from those wanting to independently brand new-builds.

Against this backdrop, synergies between large chains and soft brands are there for the taking, according to Kong.

While owners value their independence and don’t want the onerous branding requirements and exorbitant fees that come with being part of a chain, Kong pointed out that “they also need powerful revenue engines as an alternative to OTAs”.

“If they are independent, most business will come from OTAs – which is problematic. Hotels want to negotiate contracts, but OTAs do so much business that hotels (basically fall to) their mercy and the OTAs dictate the terms. (At the same time), more hotel companies are launching soft brands to attract independent hotels to be part of the revenue system as they need an alternate source of business.”

With its scaleable platform and over 40 million customers, Kong believes Best Western will be able to add to WorldHotels by driving revenue and savings for member hotels, which could contribute to “dramatic growth”.

“I have huge expectations of how much Worldhotels is going to be able to grow. Once hotels see the revenue advantages, more will join. Doubling the (number of member hotels) in the next few years is not far-fetched.”

Thai Airways sticks to transformation programme after reporting net loss for 2018

By TTG Asia

March 4, 2019

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Thai Airways International (THAI) and its subsidiaries have recorded nearly 11.6 billion baht (US$364 million) in net loss for 2018, and will be continuing with the transformation plan implemented last year.

The group saw a 3.9 per cent increase in total revenue to 199.5 billion baht, coming from different revenue sources including passenger and excess baggage revenue.

Thai will press on with its transformation plan despite losses

However, total expenses increased 10.3 per cent to 208.6 billion baht, due to an increase in fuel expenses of 9.9 billion baht with 30.1 per cent increase in average prices. Non-fuel operating expense also went up by 9.8 billion baht due to the increase of aircraft maintenance and overhaul costs, lease of aircraft and spare parts, and depreciation and amortisation expenses.

Sumeth Damrongchaitham, THAI president, said that last year THAI took delivery of five Airbus A350-900 aircraft and decommissioned two Boeing 737-400 aircraft, resulting in 103 active aircraft as of December 31, 2018, three more compared to the figure as of December 31, 2017.

Aircraft utilisation was 12.0 hours, equal to the previous year. Production traffic increased by 2.9 per cent and passenger traffic increased by one per cent.

Average cabin factor was 77.6 per cent, lower than last year’s figure of 79.2 per cent. The total number of passengers carried was 24.3 million, a decrease of one per cent compared to the previous year.

This year, THAI changed the accounting treatment of the estimated residual value of aircraft and spare engines from 10 per cent to six per cent of the initial cost value, resulting in an increase of 3.1 billion baht in depreciation.

In addition, a review of the duration of sold but unused tickets, previously recognised as revenue over 24 months after the date of issue was changed to 15 months, leading to a one billion baht increase in passenger revenue in 2018.

Meanwhile, both production and passenger traffic increased while finance cost decreased by 215 million from cash management and ongoing financial restructure from last year.

THAI and its subsidiaries reported operating loss of 9 billion baht compared to 2.9 billion profit of the previous year.

In a statement, THAI said it implemented the transformation plan for the year 2018 in order to solve the negative retained earnings and enable THAI to generate future sustainable profit.

In 2019, THAI plans to “generate more aggressive revenues and make various improvements including modernised and competitive fleet, services enhancements from ground to sky, commercial strategies: digital marketing and ancillary revenues, business expansion such as maintenance eepair and overhaul at U-Tapao Airport as well as human resource improvement and appropriate financial restructuring”.

Travelport campaigns use of code that alerts airlines to disability needs

AirAsia withdraws sales from Traveloka after ‘unexplained disappearance’ of flights

Naumi Hotel’s room 210 to become canvas for local design students

Amid evolving threats, IATA urges greater public-private collaboration to keep aviation secure

Holiday Inn Express to open near Don Mueang airport come 2022

New skills make the hottest souvenir: TripAdvisor

Catch ’em all at SE Asia’s first Pokemon Go Safari Zone in Sentosa

MICE veteran takes up DOSM role at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali

No dilution but synergy, Best Western says after Worldhotels acquisition

Thai Airways sticks to transformation programme after reporting net loss for 2018

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