Rosewood Hotel Group has introduced KHOS, a new concept for business hotels with a lifestyle orientation.
Derived from the Mongolian word meaning “pair”, KHOS is meant to symbolise the blend of work with play, people with ideas, East with West and business with lifestyle.
KHOS will establish a global footprint, matching the footsteps of its guests to capital cities and urban portals, up-and-coming business centres, and resort destinations, with the first KHOS hotels to be announced and opened in 2018.
According to Sonia Cheng, CEO of the Rosewood Hotel Group, the brand was designed to serve the needs of a “new generation of business travellers, who are constantly on the move” and “inseparable from lifestyle”.
“KHOS will fulfill the needs of a more contemporary, vibrant and collaborative work era. It is envisioned as the go-to destination for teams to unite and leaders to socialise with public spaces that are vibrant and convivial. Within each of its communities, KHOS will also act as a gathering point for people to form bonds and gain mutual inspiration with like-minded influencers, those who are curious and gain their insight and motivation from a constantly stimulating global backdrop of cultures, art, design and cuisine,” she added.
Traditional hotel facilities and services, including meeting and event spaces as well as dining options, will hence be re-conceived to create opportunities for guest interaction, flexible use and fresh experiences.
Minor Hotels has signed a management agreement with Basma Group and ARADA for a new Anantara resort in Sharjah in the UAE.
Scheduled to open in mid-2020, the 233-key Anantara Sharjah Resort will be located on a prime beachfront location in Sharjah, approximately 30 minutes’ drive from Dubai International Airport and 15 minutes’ drive from Sharjah International Airport.
Adding a resort in Sharjah will help extend the brand in the region and reach new markets
The new-build resort will offer a selection of accommodation options including Deluxe Rooms and Luxury Suites. Facilities include multiple dining options with a specialty restaurant located on a pier, a male and female spa and wellness centre, a kids’ club, a swimming pool and a ballroom that can accommodate up to 540 guests for a banquet.
Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas was launched by Minor Hotels in 2001 and currently operates 39 properties in 12 countries. The luxury brand has nine hotels and resorts in the Middle East – six in the UAE, two in Oman and one in Qatar.
Marriott International and YTL Hotels have agreed to develop two new luxury hotels in Malaysia under the JW Marriott and Edition brands.
In Malaysia, YTL Hotels’ second JW Marriott hotel will be located near Kuala Lumpur Sentral. The Edition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s first, will neighbour Kuala Lumpur City Centre, and offer 350 keys.
(From left) Marriott International’s Arne Sorenson; YTL Hotels’ Mark Yeoh; Marriott International’s Craig Smith; and YTL Group of Companies’ Francis Yeoh
Moreover, the two companies have signed MoUs for two hotels in Japan, an Edition and a W Hotel in Niseko Village, Hokkaido. This new collaboration in Malaysia and Japan expands the partnership to 15 international properties across six brands.
Separately, YTL Hotels on December 5 celebrated the relaunch of the 578-room JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur after a complete refurbishment.
Marriott International has appointed Bernhard Langer as general manager of Four Points by Sheraton Sydney, Central Park, effective February 1, 2018.
Langer will oversee and manage all aspects of the hotel’s operations, including financial performance, business strategy development and implementation of the Four Points service philosophy to ensure guest satisfaction. He will also assemble the hotel’s management team.
Langer will report to Sean Hunt, area vice president, Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific, Marriott International.
Previously the hotel manager of Sheraton on the Park, Sydney, Langer has 18 years of experience working across the Westin, St Regis, and Sheraton brands in countries such as Fiji, Singapore, Thailand, China and Japan.
Four Points by Sheraton Sydney, Central Park will open in August 2018. The property features 297 guestrooms, a bar and lounge with an outdoor terrace, an all-day dining restaurant, 550m2 of function space and a fitness centre.
Reporting from Expedia Partner Conference 2017, Las Vegas
A combination of robust growth in global travel and a digital revolution sees Expedia’s new CEO Mark Okerstrom being hugely optimistic of the company’s future despite its recent stock plunge and a third-quarter loss of US$8 million.
Addressing more than 5,000 partners attending Expedia Partner Conference 2017 in Las Vegas, Okerstrom trained their eyes on the longterm and what Expedia intends to do to grow.
He outlined three priorities: harnessing the local markets Expedia is already in rather than expanding into new ones, being more customer-centric and speeding up the pace of innovation.
The basis of Expedia’s new priorities under Okerstrom, who replaced Dara Khosrowshahi as CEO on August 29, is the combination of continued growth in travel and the digital revolution. In an “act of defiance” against terrorism, travel bans, natural calamities, people are travelling more than ever before, he said, chalking up US$1.6 trillion in travel spend in 2017 and growing six per cent year on year. International markets are growing, with countries like China, Indonesia and India showing absolutely phenomenal growth rates and bypassing laptops straight to mobile which has everything they need.
“So more innovations (are needed). The shift to mobile is almost old news now. We’re moving into voice, chatbots, machine learning, artificial intelligence and driverless cars,” he said.
On being global but locally relevant, Okerstrom said: “The land grab for being present across the world is largely complete and it’s time to turn our attention to be locally relevant in every market,” he said.
Okerstrom: speeding up pace of innovation
If it’s Malaysia, that means having all the local inventory, including places where Malaysians go for the weekend, being translation-perfect and speaking in their tone of voice, so “you feel you are actually working with a Malaysian travel agency”, said Okerstrom.
Expedia also recognised the need for Expedia to be more customer-centric. “In the first 10 to 20 years of travel, we’ve taken the green screen of the GDS, turning around to customers saying ‘here, you do the research, you book’, and we’ve gone from desktop to mobile,” he said.
The future sees the task going back to Expedia to anticipate customer needs. He cited an example of notifying a family while they are still in the air that they have missed their connection, re-booking them on a different flight, taking care of their accommodation needs. Egencia, the group’s corporate travel management company, is already doing this. “We want to bring more of this to leisure travel,” said Okerstrom.
Or, getting much closer to personalisation using artificial intelligence to help customers find the perfect trip. He said he takes two trips a year, one during the February school break and the other in August with a group of friends, always in the same destination and hotel – he’s just waiting for an email from Expedia recommending something different based on the use of artificial intelligence.
In man versus machine, so far man has won. In future, machines can win, he said, and Expedia wants to speed up the pace of innovation internally, he said.
But it’s no longer OTAs innovating on one side, then talking to partners, he said. The future is about joint innovations, joint success. “We are better together. You with us, we’re unstoppable.”
He said since 2010, some US$62 billion funding has been put into travel technology, half of that in the last two years. Since 2005, there have been 1,500 digital travel startups, fewer than 100 a year, but last year there were almost 250. “The pace of change is absolutely accelerating. Of course Expedia, and you, are a part of that,” he said.
Okerstrom’s address was followed by senior Expedia executives spotlighting ‘better together’. Ariane Gorin, senior vice president Expedia Affiliate Group Brand, used a Formula One analogy. In F1, the driver gets the attention, decides when to accelerate, when to overtake the competition. The race cars are masterpieces with the power to thrust them forward, and the team is the support before and during the race. “You our partners are always in the driver seat. Marketing campaigns and our platforms are the race cars and the team are the engineers that support the race – all are truly better together,” she said.
Scott Jones, Expedia vice president design and user experience, demonstrated how Expedia Innovation Lab tries to understand what customers want through electromygography. Planning travel is one of the most complicated, joyless tasks because of the time, money, uncertainties if it’s the right travel experience, plus it can’t be returned unlike other online purchases, he said. Planning isn’t the trip, making moments and memories is the trip. “There’s more we can do to put more anticipation and aspiration into experiences. I do believe we can make better memories together. We got the technology, we can mine it,” he said.
In outlining the massive growth of travel and how Expedia is positioning itself to harness that growth, Okerstrom indirectly addressed the concern of Expedia’s stock plunge and earnings loss, which it had described as short term arising from the impact of hurricanes and earthquakes, increased marketing spend at Trivago and increased technology costs at HomeAway.
Wharf Hotels has introduced a new leadership programme for its senior teams, meant to serve as a road map to help it stay viable as hotel groups become more commoditised.
The Red Ring Philosophy aims to instil a way of thinking to help leaders create an “inclusive and aspirational culture” for associates.
Wharf Hotels introduces a new leadership programme for its senior teams
According to a Wharf Hotels statement, current trends of hotel commoditisation has meant that “the growing plethora of hotel brands cannot be differentiated other than on price”, hence the strategy to be bold and seek alternative markets and initiatives that will develop new business streams.
Leaders – including general managers, executive committees and department heads – are navigated through the Red Ring Leadership Competency Model to build a creative, results-driven, collaborative and agile culture.
Explaining the two Red Ring principles, Jennifer Cronin, president, Wharf Hotels, said the Live Bold statement is applied to leadership, innovation, vision and experiences for customers; while Stay Sharp encompasses being sustainable, holistic, authentic, relentless and true to the company’s vision and mission.
“Our leaders took the principles of Live Bold, Stay Sharp beyond classrooms with Town Hall Meetings, team building activities, pre-shift briefings and problem resolutions based on the mantra of Red Ring,” Juliette Lim, vice president human resources, Wharf Hotels.
The 2017 Associate Engagement Survey results released last week have shown record employee engagement levels since the exercise began in 2010, highlighting the success of a shared leadership mindset in driving loyalty and defining the right culture, she added.
The programme has rolled out across all 16 of the group’s hotels in China, Hong Kong and the Philippines led by its headquarters leadership team, with over 400 leaders being educated on its guiding principles and competencies.
Managing director Slethaug (third from right) at the TMC's rebirth
The Swire Travel name has lived out the last days of its 69-year legacy with the regional TMC officially rebranded to Connexus by the company’s new owner.
On the decision to drop the legacy of Swire, Connexus Travel managing director Gloria Slethaug said: “It was not an issue of whether to give up the brand, it is about providing Connexus Travel with the right platform and resources, i.e. a new brand name to excel into the future. Since the change pertains only to the name we operate under, we will retain our license number (350001) and remain the first travel agent registered in Hong Kong.”
Managing director Slethaug (third from right) at the TMC’s rebranding ceremony
Without a recognised brand name, the company’s key challenge today is building up brand awareness and brand performance, added Slethaug.
“We have already launched a series of campaigns since early November, which includes print and outdoor advertisements, online banners, etc. to build up our brand awareness,” she explained.
She also stressed that management teams, as well as the company’s core values of customer centricity and professional service remain unchanged.
“So far, there is no loss of corporate accounts due to change of ownership. In fact, we continue to have new clients using our service. Moreover, we are also enabled with Concur, and have been supporting a lot of clients in rolling out corporate online booking solutions in the region.”
A spokesperson of the Swire Group said: “John Swire & Sons (H.K.) Limited completed the sales transaction of Swire Travel Limited and its wholly owned subsidiaries to JMI Global Limited in May 2017. The decision is in line with the strategy to refocus management resources on Swire’s core businesses, including property, aviation, beverages, marine services and trading & industrial.”
Swire Group had handed the reins of Swire Travel to new owners as part of a strategy to refocus resources on core businesses and maximise the TMC’s growth potential. Swire Travel shareholdings have been transferred to a private company owned by the founder and chairman of KWG Property Holdings Limited, Kong Jian Min.
Japan Airlines (JAL) and Boom Supersonic have partnered to bring commercial supersonic travel to passengers.
As part of the agreement, JAL has made an investment of US$10 million in Boom, which is developing a new-generation supersonic aircraft said to be able to fly at Mach 2.2 and cut flight times in half.
Japan Airlines invests in US supersonic flight startup Boom
JAL also has the option to purchase up to 20 Boom aircraft through a pre-order arrangement.
In addition, the Japanese airline will collaborate with Boom to refine the aircraft design and help define the passenger experience for supersonic travel.
“We’ve been working with Japan Airlines behind the scenes for over a year now,” said Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic. “Our goal is to develop an airliner that will be a great addition to any international airline’s fleet.”
“Through this partnership, we hope to contribute to the future of supersonic travel with the intent of providing more time to our passengers while emphasising flight safety,” said Yoshiharu Ueki, president of Japan Airlines.
AccorHotels will bring the Raffles Hotel & Resorts brand to Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah beach in 2020.
The outcome of a management agreement with Dubai-based developer Nakheel, PALM 360 will be a two-tower development on Palm Jumeirah comprising the Raffles The Palm Dubai Hotel and Raffles Residences PALM360.
(From left) AccorHotels’ Sébastien Bazin and Nakheel’s Ali Rashid Lootah
AccorHotels says the 260m-tall towers will be the tallest structure on Palm Jumeirah, with a 155m-long sky pool connecting the towers 170 metres above ground.
The hotel component will offer 125 hotel rooms and suites, while the 359 branded residences – including 16 branded penthouses that will each have their own private infinity pool, gym and cinema – will be available for purchase.
PALM360 will feature two rooftop restaurants, a speciality restaurant, lobby lounge, private beach club, fitness centre, the Raffles Spa, a health club, tennis court, and a fully-supervised children’s club. Guests will also be given direct private beach access.
Residents will also be able to enjoy services including concierge, private transportation and in-residence dining, in addition to enjoying global VVIP status through an exclusive Ownership Benefits Program.
Located on Palm Jumeirah’s 11km crescent Boardwalk, PALM360 is close to upcoming attractions such as The Palm Promenade, The Pointe and Nakheel Mall.
Raffles The Palm Dubai and Raffles Residences PALM360 joins 11 Raffles Hotels & Resorts around the world, including Raffles Dubai.
Best Western Hotels & Resorts recently concluded it 11th Asian Members’ Meeting, which gathered the company’s executives, hotel managers and owners from across Asia for two days of meetings, discussions and networking opportunities.
Running under the theme BW & Beyond, this year’s event cast a look into Best Western’s future, with the company having launched eight new brands since 2015.
The meeting allowed executives, owners and managers to come together to share ideas to drive the business forward
At the upscale Montien Riverside Hotel in Bangkok (which will soon become a Best Western Premier hotel), Ron Pohl, Best Western’s senior vice president and COO, delivered the opening address; while Olivier Berrivin, managing director of international operations – Asia, provided updates about the company’s ongoing regional expansion.
Delegates were also given an update on technological developments by guest speakers from Google and Agoda.com. Best Western’s hotel owners and procurement company also addressed the meeting.
The meeting concluded with a glittering farewell dinner in the hotel ballroom, and an award ceremony to honor Best Western’s best performing hotels in Asia.
