Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur has appointed its general manager and director of sales & marketing ahead of the brand’s debut in Malaysia in June.
The general manager post will be filled by veteran hotelier Anders Dimblad, a Swedish national with almost two decades of experience in the luxury hospitality industry.
Anders Dimblad
Prior to joining Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur, Dimblad served as vice president of hospitality in DAMAC Hotels & Resorts, Dubai. He was also previously with Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts from 2004 to 2014.
Shereen Chow has been named the hotel’s director of sales & marketing. With over 27 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Chow has held directorial positions in the area of sales and marketing at One World Hotel, The Saujana Kuala Lumpur and most recently, Hilton Worldwide’s sales office in Malaysia.
Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur will mark the brand’s debut in Malaysia. The urban resort is located in Malaysia’s capital and occupies the top seven floors of the Banyan Tree Signatures Pavilion Kuala Lumpur Building.
Virgin Australia to link Sydney and Hong Kong
Virgin Australia has announced plans to fly to operate daily return services between Sydney and Hong Kong.
Services between the two cities will start in mid-2018, subject to relevant approvals. The route will be serviced by its dual-aisle Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
VA89 will depart Sydney at 10.00 and arrive in Hong Kong at 17.40, while the return leg VA88 will depart Hong Kong at 19.50 and arrive in Sydney at 07.10 the following day.
Hainan Airlines launches new China-Austria route
Hainan Airlines has announced that it will be launching a non-stop service between Shenzhen and Vienna this coming October. The route will be serviced by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner twice a week.
This will be the airline’s third direct service from Shenzhen to Europe this year, after the Shenzhen-Brussels and Shenzhen-Madrid services.
Malindo Air to begin flying to Bali from Melbourne
Malindo Air will introduce a daily non-stop service between Melbourne Airport and Bali this coming June.
The flight will arrive at approximately 05.00 and depart at 07.00. This move will add 118,260 seats both ways on an annualised basis.
THAI ups flight frequency to Tokyo
Thai Airways International (THAI) has increased its flight frequencies from Bangkok to Tokyo (Narita) from 21 flights per week to 28 flights per week, equivalent to four daily flights.
The new flight out of Bangkok, TG626, departs the Thai capital at 23.35 and arrives in Tokyo at 07.45 the following day, while the returning TG627 leaves Tokyo at 09.45 and lands back in Bangkok at 14.15.
From all of us at TTG Asia, happy Songkran, Pii Mai, Thingyan, Chaul Chnam Thmey! May all our readers in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia have a wonderful New Year celebration.
More multi-generational families in Asia are taking to the high seas on luxury cruises and river expeditions around the region and across the globe.
“Many families are fast discovering the convenience and hassle-free experience of a cruise vacation as compared to other modes of travelling,” observed Helena Ow, managing director of Prime Cruise Asia.
Crystal Serenity (pictured) is this month sailing to destinations including South America, the Caribbean, Italy and Israel
Her agency has registered “an incremental increase in multi-generational families” opting for luxury cruises on their vacations, with popular destinations including Asia, the Mediterranean and Northern Europe.
Ow also noted that this demand is driven by “unique cruise options (that) are readily available”, extending beyond just ocean cruises to river, expedition yacht and air cruises too.
Meanwhile, Crystal Cruises, which offers all of these options, has also posted a “steady seasonal outbound longhaul demand from Asia” as well as high demand for cruise itineraries in Asia, shared Thatcher Brown, president of Dream Cruises.
TTG Asia understands that Brown will be heading the further development of sales and marketing for Crystal Cruises in Asia.
He added: “(Our guests) are seeking more immersive, authentic experiences. This is one reason expedition cruising is emerging as a highly sought-after way (of exploration). The focus continues to be more on what guests can do and experience, rather than simply see.”
With the expansion of Crystal Cruises’ fleet in Asia – which includes the refurbishment of Crystal Symphony and, in October, Crystal Serenity – the company will delve into more combinations of famous and lesser-known destinations in Asia to appeal to both repeat and new guests, said Brown.
The refurbishment of the ships will also increase the staff-to-guest ratio, enhancing personalised attention to detail and service on board.
In 2020, the company will also launch Crystal Endeavor under Crystal Yacht Expedition Cruises, marking the largest and most spacious luxury expedition yacht in the world, with 100 suites with butler-service.
Brown said: “The focus of the yacht will be the PC6 classified capability to sail to any corner of the world, including through first year ice in the polar regions.”
Universal Studios has partnered Netflix to bring Stranger Things to Halloween Horror Nights at three of its parks – Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Singapore.
With the help of Netflix, and the creators and executive producer of the blockbuster series – Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer and Shawn Levy – the parks will debut new mazes that transport guests into iconic scenes and story-lines, from the menacing Hawkins National Laboratory to the Byers home with an erratic display of flashing Christmas lights and the eerie Upside Down woods oozing a shower of floating orb-like spores.
The chittering, predatory Demogorgon from Upside down will also stalk unwitting guests while they traverse the supernatural world of Stranger Things.
Halloween Horror Nights begins September 14 in Hollywood and Orlando, and September 28 in Singapore.
For the Singapore event, Limited Time Special Admission tickets are available now from S$50 (US$38). Universal Studios is also introducing the Infinite Fear Package which includes admission and Express Plus pass, Zombie Laser Tag, a S$5 meal voucher and S$5 worth of Hollywood China Arcade game credits. All tickets purchased during this limited time period will include Stranger Things merchandise.
Anish and Gopa on a mission to make hotels in India accessible to the visually impaired
What was initially borne out of the need to fulfil a one-off request at Hotel Ramada Ajmer has evolved into a scalable and open-source idea that can easily and quickly make hotels more accessible to visually impaired guests.
When an annual religious festival brought an influx of visually impaired guests to the town, in India’s northwestern state of Rajasthan, the management of Hotel Ramada Ajmer approached Anish Varghese, national creative director of Isobar India, and Gopa Kumar, vice president of Isobar India for help.
Anish (left) and Gopa on a mission to make hotels in India accessible to the visually impaired
The ensuing solution would outlive the festival, with the promise of reaching more hotels and even other sectors within the service industry.
“The whole idea to create the Blind Faith Upgrade, a kit that can help hotels transform any room into a blind-friendly room, came when Ramada approached us for finding a solution that can ensure a comfortable stay for their visually-impaired guests,” shared Anish.
The open-source kit consists of Braille labels, which can convert any phone into a Braille-enabled phone, reusable-tactile paving tiles to help orientate the customer in their room, within the hotel and surrounding areas and Braille literature with audio assist – a technology built into a pen that converts written language (such as on menus) into an audio description.
Gopa said Isobar has received enquiries from across the globe, but the agency has yet to sort out the if’s and how’s of bringing the concept overseas.
Instead, the agency is now looking to take the product to the next level, expanding the initiative across the tourism industry.
Gopa remarked: “Any place – be it a hotel or otherwise – should be accessible to all irrespective of their limitation and that’s the thought process that resulted in Blind Faith Upgrade.”
Yet, while the digital revolution in India has led to technological advancements that have helped democratise information and services across the country, approximately eight million blind people in India continue to be disconnected. Travelling especially can be a challenge as finding accessible tourism services often prove to be difficult, costly and time consuming.
“In India, only one in every 250 hotel rooms caters to differently-abled people and is far lagging behind the global scenario,” Anish further pointed out.
The Singapore Hotel Association Training and Education Centre (SHATEC) Global and Papua New Guinea’s Coral Sea Hotels have entered a collaboration to train local executives and senior management staff in undertaking upper management roles.
This comes in light of concerns about a lack of proper training and mentoring programmes in Papua New Guinea burgeoning hospitality scene, explained Marc Ehler, group general manager, Coral Sea Hotels Papua New Guinea.
Trainers at SHATEC Global will be imparting supervisory knowledge to Coral Sea Hotels’ staff over six modules
“The expertise of SHATEC Global will be a big contributor to developing and helping our managers deliver better guest services and commercial results in hotel management,” said Ehler.
The Coral Sea Hotels Hospitality College, which will engage institutions like SHATEC Global, has since been established with the “objective to develop, encourage and motivate nationals on a professional level to take up senior management positions, which is missing today”, said Ehler.
The six-module course begins on April 23, and will be conducted monthly for three days consecutively by trainers from SHATEC Global. Priorities in the blueprint include chef and supervisory training.
The collaboration is believed to have an impact that extends into building Papua New Guinea’s viability as a tourist destination.
Ehler said: “This can develop into a bigger issue (of significance) over time, where Singapore – with such great experience in the business of leisure tourism – can provide what Papua New Guinea really needs.
“Today, Papua New Guinea only looks at Australia (for tourism and guidance), instead of looking north to Singapore and Asia altogether. This is a good step, via SHATEC Global, to explore opportunities for wider reach and cooperation with Asia.”
Papua New Guinea is in November hosting its largest and most historical conference, the 2018 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, which will also hold organisational meetings through the year.
“We want to help local leadership come up and be at the forefront, which is what is happening in Singapore now – more and more locals are heading our hotels,” said Victor Seah, divisional director (business development), SHATEC Global.
While first-time cruisers respond well to upselling by agents when it comes to cabin types, they seem to be more less willing to put down bookings for flight and cruise packages despite showing interest in fly-cruise products, a study by the Traveltek Group shows.
The study analyses 8,878 new-to-cruise enquiries made through agents worldwide in 2017, and further compares these to quotations and bookings made through Traveltek’s CRM platform.
The study also reveals that a large portion of enquires were for two adults, and the cruise market needs to attract other demographics by being more flexible
Even though fly-cruise represented a significant 26 per cent of all first-time cruiser enquiries, the number dropped to just nine per cent of travel agency quotes, suggesting bookers were reticent to package the flight and airline components together.
On the other hand, first-time cruisers have no preconception of favourite cabin or the types available, presenting savvy agents with opportunities to use their product knowledge to upsell. While thirty-two per cent enquired about inside cabins, quotes for that cabin type declined to 26 per cent, while quotes for cabins with balconies increased to 29 per cent (up from 27 per cent at point of enquiry).
The study also showed that river cruising is starting to appeal to first-time cruisers, with river cruise specialist Riviera Travel featuring in the top 10 cruise lines enquired about (seventh place), quoted (seventh place) and booked (10th). In terms of top river cruise lines booked, Riviera Travel took the top slot across all three categories, followed by Avalon Waterways in second place across the same categories.
In comparison, while Africa cruise itineraries place high on the list of top 10 destinations that first-time cruisers enquired about (sixth place), they did not feature on the top 10 list of destinations quoted. For Traveltek, this suggests either that cruise lines are yet to offer many Africa itineraries or if they do, agents are not aware of them.
Meanwhile, 81 per cent of enquiries and quotes were for two adults. Traveltek opined that this highlights the need for the cruise market to attract other demographics such as solo travellers and families by offering more flexible cabin pricing and configurations.
The analysis also revealed that itineraries of between six and nine nights dominated enquiries (35 per cent), quotes (49 per cent) and bookings (46 per cent).
WorldHotels has appointed James Koh and Ganessan Suppiah as regional vice president of hotel development and regional vice president of sales in Asia-Pacific respectively.
Based in Singapore, Koh will oversee the portfolio development efforts for the region. He started his career in corporate sales at Raffles International and Grand Hyatt Singapore, before joining WorldHotels as an account manager for the membership services team in Asia-Pacific.
James Koh
He then moved to Shanghai in 2008 and stayed for over seven years to manage the group’s growing portfolio in the Greater China region. Upon his return to Singapore in 2014, Koh joined the hotel development department.
For Ganessan Suppiah, who was recently promoted to regional vice president of sales in Asia-Pacific, he will lead all sales strategies and initiatives in the region out of his base in Sydney.
Ganessan first started off as the director of sales for Australia and New Zealand in 2007, before moving to the UK for his new role as regional director of sales for the UK, Ireland, Nordic and Russia in 2016.
Both Koh and Ganessan have served WorldHotels for over 11 years.
Quantum of the Seas will undergo a refurbishment before her longest homeporting season in Singapore to date
Royal Caribbean International (RCI) has announced that Quantum of the Seas will be back in Singapore for a six-month-long homeporting season from November 2019 to April 2020.
This will be the cruise line’s longest-ever Singapore deployment for a Quantum Class Ship. With this 18-deck high, 168,666 GRT ship which can carry 4,905 guests in total, Royal Caribbean will increase its passenger capacity in Singapore by 30 per cent.
Quantum of the Seas will undergo a refurbishment before her longest homeporting season in Singapore to date
A total of 34 sailings will be offered during the six-month homeporting season, with cruises starting from four nights. Itineraries include four-night cruises to Penang or Phuket; five-night cruises to Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang), Penang and Phuket; a seven-night cruise to Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang), Penang and Phuket (with an overnight); and a seven-night cruise to Bangkok (Laem Chabang) (with an overnight) and Ho Chi Minh City.
The announcement was made by Michael Bayley, RCI’s president and CEO, at a media event held onboard Ovation of the Seas yesterday. “The Asian cruise market has seen tremendous growth over the last few years, and Singapore has been leading growth as one of the most significant cruise destinations and cruise source markets in the region,” he said.
Sean Treacy, managing director Asia-Pacific of Royal Caribbean Cruises, told TTG Asia: “We’ve been growing at a rate of 40 per cent over the last couple of years (in Asia) and I think that we’re just scratching the surface in terms of potential (the demand for cruising in the region). If you look at markets like China, Indonesia and India, less than one per cent of the population is cruising. (For) mature markets like Singapore and the US it’s like 3.5 per cent.”
Breaking the news at a press event (from left): Royal Caribbean Cruises’ Sean Treacy with Royal Caribbean International’s Michael Bayley and Gavin Smith (photo credit: Royal Caribbean)
Treacy added that while Asia has plenty of potential to grow its cruising market, one constraint is the lack of infrastructure.
“When you bring a large cruise ship like Quantum into Asia, there’s only a few ports we can go to. We need to create more infrastructure, perhaps through more joint ventures such as the extension of Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal in Penang, for us to continue to grow and meet demand,” he elaborated.
When asked what he thinks the Asian cruise market will look in 2020, Treacy opined: “I think it’s difficult to predict, but with Spectrum of the Seas coming next year, and with Ovation currently here (in the region), I can see us growing by another 40 per cent.”
Prior to Quantum of the Seas’ arrival in Singapore, she will undergo a multi-million dollar refurbishment to offer a refreshed look and enhanced amenities for guests. Current features onboard include the North Star, an observation capsule that rises 92 metres over the ocean; 18 restaurants; a skydiving simulator; and robot bartenders.
Virgin Australia to link Sydney and Hong Kong
