Accommodations spending by corporates on Airbnb properties grew 42 per cent year-on-year in 2Q2016 to US$77 million, outstripping spending growth on hotel chains, according to a study conducted by Concur.

This growth is coming on the back of a 32 per cent climb in number of companies using Airbnb for Business over the same period.

However, on a volume basis, total business travel spend on major hotels was more than 250 times greater than business spend on Airbnb, based on an analogous data set for several major hotel chains gathered by Concur.

Corporate Airbnb stays are also mostly centred around a few hotspots in the world, the three most popular being the cities of San Francisco, London and New York.

Between 3Q2014 to 2Q2016, businesses consistently spent more money on Airbnb stays in San Francisco than in any other city in the world, with London at second place but accounting for less than one-third of the spending in San Francisco.

Reasons for Airbnb’s popularity in the Californian city could be the high average cost of hotels, plus the dominance of technology companies based there that are more open to using sharing economy accommodation options for work trips.

Major events are also major drivers. Looking at daily volume of Airbnb expenses, bookings increase dramatically in San Francisco during Salesforce.com‘s annual Dreamforce conference held in October. Airbnb usage was six times higher than average during the 2015 meet.

“Concur travel and expense data shows us that while Airbnb usage is growing across all segments and industries, momentum is strongest among small and midsized businesses and in the tech and higher-ed segments,” said Tim MacDonald, executive vice president of global products at Concur.

“While hotel spend still accounts for the majority of business lodging spend, there’s an increase in business travelers exploring alternative lodging, especially during major conferences and events.”

Moe Ibrahim

Bintan Lagoon Resort (BLR) unveiled a sneak peek of future developments as it celebrated its 20^th anniversary last weekend.

Moe Ibrahim, BLR president director, said that the 300ha site, which currently houses a 500-room integrated resort, convention centre, two golf courses, a host of sporting and recreational options, its own ferry terminal and customs and immigration facilities, will embark on a five-year expansion plan.

New facilities being developed include a theme park, retirement village with medical facilities, a hospitality school, golf academy, business and budget hotels, a glamping site, warehousing facility, retail zone and connecting infrastructure.

Ibrahim added: “The master plan will be launched early next year and we are finding the right partners. The goal is to create a community and build different facilities to cater to the different customers we know who come to BLR.

“We have to evolve and make BLR interesting. Guests need to be stimulated and as a business, we have to challenge ourselves to stay relevant.”

The resort intends to garner more domestic traction as well, as many locals still do not know about Bintan and BLR, according to Ibrahim.

“Indonesians now make up 15 per cent of the market and demographically they are the highest spenders. We also want to tap more visitors from Singapore and India,” he said.

South Korea currently accounts for most of BLR’s arrivals followed by Japan and the Philippines.

Tigerair and Scoot, which came under a single holdings company earlier in May, is set to integrate under a single operating licence in the second half of next year.

Both LCCs currently belong to Budget Aviation Holdings, under the SIA Group, and in an attempt to enhance the synergies of SIA’s budget operations, Tigerair will come come under the Scoot brand name.

This is a full integration that will encompass flight scheduling and connections, as well as a common website, contact centre and check-in counters.

“(The formation of Budget Aviation Holdings) has already led to commercial and operational synergies between Scoot and Tigerair that are providing growth opportunities for both airlines,” said Budget Aviation Holdings chairman Goh Choon Phong.

Goh, who is also CEO of Singapore Airlines, added: “Following a review, we have determined that the logical next step is to pursue a common operating licence and common brand identity to enable a more seamless travel experience for customers.”

Budget hotel network operator Nida Rooms has lived its business travel solution, Nida for Business, targeted at SMEs.

The new platform allows travel managers to register their companies without pre-qualification and track and manage employee bookings, expenses and data from a central dashboard.

A key feature is the ability to change booking details or cancel bookings two days prior to the check-in date without being charged any penalties. Nida for Business is also catered especially for bleisure travel, according to Nida Rooms CEO Kaneswaran Avili.

“Nida for Business has been designed for business travellers who love to experience new adventures, that know how to combine their business skills and travel learnings to gain competitive advantages at their workplace,” he said.

“Even the benefits we offer with this service have two main aims, which are cost and time savings. We are offering an instant travel credit of RM 500 (US$118.70) for those businesses signing up before November 30.”

Nida Rooms currently has properties in four main countries, namely Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia. Next year, the hotel room network operator has plans to expand into other countries in Asia.

“For the last 13 months, since our inception in September last year, we have identified and secured more than 4,000 hotels in hundreds of locations rich with culture, traditions, host to localised outdoor activities and immersed with the local flavor,” added Avili.

Tourists listening to Khmer local guide at Preah Khan in Siem Reap

Tourism industry stakeholders have welcomed a move by the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) to bridge the tourism skills gap in Cambodia.

The MoT has estimated that an additional 200,000 trained tourism professionals are needed to cater to the anticipated seven million foreign visitors in 2020.

To achieve this goal, a policy to promote vocational training for hotel and travel services has been developed. Twelve vocational training centres will be involved, offering a wide range of courses.

According to MoT deputy director general Try Chhiv, there are currently 620,000 Cambodians working in the tourism sector. But urgent training is needed to increase this figure to between 800,000 and one million.

Luu Meng, CEO of hospitality company Almond Group, agrees that there is insufficient skilled labour.

“We lack a lot of the skills and resources needed to meet tourist demand. We need to encourage all schools to invest in proper training, especially when it comes to language skills,” said Meng, who is also vice president of the Cambodia Tourism Federation.

The government is urging companies to invest in skills training at centres that meet ASEAN Economic Community standards so that professionals will gain regional recognition as well.

Jo Crisp, general manager of Peak Cambodia, agrees with the move, provided there is a “coordinated approach” and that quality training is provided.

As well, Amy McLoughlin, co-founder of tour operator Ayana Journeys, said: “We support any efforts to up-skill the Cambodian workforce, and are hopeful to see more confident and entrepreneurial bright sparks coming out of these centres.”

Malaysian carrier Malindo Air has launched daily direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Chiang Mai, its second service to Thailand after Bangkok.

Flights depart from KLIA daily at 10.35 and arrives at Chiang Mai International Airport at 12.20 local time. The return service will then depart Chiang Mai at 13.40 and arrive at KLIA at 17.25. Flights take roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes.

A Boeing 737-800NG aircraft with a seat capacity of 162 – 12 business class and 150 economy class – will be deployed on the 1,762km route.

A third Malindo Air service to Thailand to Phuket is also set to launch on November 10.