Peter Bellew (pictured) will replace Christoph Mueller as group managing director and CEO

CHIEF operating officer at Malaysia Airlines, Peter Bellew has been appointed the new group managing director and CEO effective today (July 1).

He will replace the current group managing director and CEO, Christoph Mueller, who is serving his notice period until September 9 following his resignation on March 10. Mueller will remain available to the company until the end of his notice period to help ensure a smooth leadership transition.

Leslie Thng, CCO for Tigerair and Scoot (left) and Lim Ching Kiat, Changi Airport Group senior vice president of market development celebrating the launch of the service

TIGERAIR has inaugurated flights from Singapore to Zhengzhou, the capital of China’s Henan province, becoming the world’s first carrier to offer direct flights on this route.

The service operates every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday on Tigerair’s Airbus A320 aircraft. Flights depart Singapore at 01.10 and arrive in Zhengzhou at 07.00. They return from Zhengzhou at 08.00, landing in Singapore at 13.40.

With the launch, Tigerair’s network in China now spans 10 cities – Guangzhou, Haikou, Jinan, Nanning, Ningbo, Quanzhou, Shenzhen, Wuxi, Xi’an and Zhengzhou.

AIR Astana is launching direct thrice-weekly flights from Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, to Tehran, Iran’s capital, which its senior vice president sales and marketing Ibrahim Canliel said would provide convenient connections to Iran to Air Astana’s CIS and Asian network, in particular to the cities of Beijing and Urumqi.

The flights will be served by Embraer 190 aircraft with nine business seats and 88 economy seats. The journey takes about 3.5 hours.

Lead-in return economy class fares, including all taxes, start at US$290, with return business class fares starting at US$930 based on the current rate.

The new service will offer added ease of travel and enhance business and cultural links between the two countries. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Republic Kazakhstan, the approximate value of trade between the two countries was US$1 billion in 2015. In addition, there are a number of Kazakh-Iranian joint enterprises in Kazakhstan, as well as cultural and scientific ties between the countries, which will benefit from the new service.

Iran, one of the oldest civilisations in the world which boasts outstanding architectural monuments, is also an up-and-coming destination since the recent end of economic sanctions.

Entrance to Noku Kyoto

ROXY-PACIFIC Holdings, which owns the 500-room Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel Singapore, is expanding beyond the Lion City with its own upscale boutique brand, Noku Roxy, which has one hotel in operation in Kyoto and two others that are being developed in Phuket and the Maldives.

After opening the first Noku Roxy in Kyoto recently, the Singapore homegrown public-listed property and hospitality group has acquired 10 villas and additional land in Phuket which it will redevelop as a Noku Roxy hotel with 90 rooms and five villas, for completion in 2018.

In the Maldives, its designers are re-working an existing property with 50 villas, 45 minutes away from Male, into another Noku Roxy.

The brand is the brainchild of Roxy-Pacific’s executive director and managing director Chris Teo, whose stints with Amanresorts and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group before helming Roxy-Pacific’s hotel ownership business helped shape his vision for a brand that could offer deep local insights and personalised service but at affordable prices.

To do that, Teo keeps Noku Roxy hotels small in roomcount, in strategic locations, with artisanal yet modern design and offering personal recommendations on the hidden gems of the place. Noku Kyoto, for example, has only 81 rooms, with handpicked art unique to each room, is located directly across the Kyoto Imperial Palace and has its own map of the Kyoto city centre that recommends favourite local haunts and restaurants, access into exclusive artisanal houses and the best sightseeing spots, many of which Teo has himself tried and tested. Guests can also reserve personalised walking tours with in-house guides, and receive itineraries or day-trip recommendations from Noku Kyoto’s staff.

Rates start from 20,000 yen (US$194.4).

Teo: bringing ‘the local experience’ back to hotels

“I always have in mind the upper-scale four-star boutique hotels as I believe there is still a lot of room in Asia for a product that offers the local character and personalised service, but at non-luxury prices,” said Teo.

A true believer of giving guests the authentic local experience, Teo said: “As a hotel, we have to be responsible and respectful of local cultures and traditions. Sometimes we lose the plot; we are so high-tech and connected all the time that we lose touch of people. In Asia especially, everyone and everything is so fast-paced.

“So we want to try and bring back the local experience. Why do you think Airbnb is booming? They do connect tourists to the place and create local experiences.”

Teo said independent hotels had more room than chains to be authentic. “The big chains have better scale and efficiencies, but the independents, being smaller, are in touch with the local environment, can make quicker decisions and are more nimble,” he said. “As a company we are not that big but we know our staff, our suppliers and we build relationships and look at things in a more in-depth fashion.”

On further expansion, he said he was always on the look-out for the right projects. It took him four years, for example, to clinch Noku Kyoto, a gem of a deal he said because of its location across the Kyoto Imperial Palace and next to Marutamachi subway station, its opening at a time Japan tourism is booming and its manageable size, being the first hotel venture outside Singapore for Roxy-Pacific.

“In selecting where to invest, I look first at the destination, as I believe people travel not to stay in a hotel unless it is  a destination hotel, but to experience a place.

“Next comes the software – the people, how you run the hotel and what value add you bring. Today, you can create an authentic hardware anywhere as you can bring in the materials and hire great craftsmen, but at the end of the day it’s trained people who will make the difference,” said Teo.

Scott Brennan, CWT’s executive vice president and head of global supplier management

MARRIOTT International’s acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts worries Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) which has urged corporate travel buyers to think how it will change their travel programmes.

It pointed out that in 14 of the world’s top 20 cities, the new hotel group will have nearly a third of the corporate travel hotel spend, rising to half in some places. Also, CWT’s analysis suggests Marriott, more than any other chain, has chosen not to take part in corporate travel RFP processes, it said.

Scott Brennan, CWT’s executive vice president and head of global supplier management, said: “The implications are potentially huge. We think the new Marriott/Starwood group is going to have a lot of say in the market, which could alter the way corporate rooms are bought and sold. We don’t yet know the full impact and because the new group won’t be finalised in time for the negotiations this year, we won’t know until the 2017 negotiating season, in September next year.”

A further consideration is travel policy compliance, travel buyers’ key negotiating tool as they can drive volume to preferred properties. However, CWT’s analysis shows 22 per cent of non-compliant spend is with Marriott and nine per cent is with Starwood.

Brennan continued: “According to a 2015 GBTA survey of corporate travel managers, hotel chain loyalty programmes is one of the underlying reasons for non-compliant hotel spend. We don’t yet know what changes, if any, the new Marriott will make to its and Starwood’s loyalty programme. But whatever happens, the new group already accounts for a large share of non-compliant spend.

“The combination of the new Marriott’s increased market share and the pulling-power of its loyalty programme means it will be in a very strong position. After all, volume drives the discussion in the hotel industry. On top of that, where a player the size of the new Marriott goes, others will follow.”

CWT suggests corporate travel buyers take four steps now to start building their negotiating position:

1. Assess key markets: look at share by top chain within key cities or areas within a city, assess alternative hotels and potential savings
2. Prepare to have a more flexible approach for 2017, incorporating alternative suppliers as required
3. Adapt your travel policy to ensure compliance
4. Communicate to travellers, engage them in corporate objectives and create shared ownership in the results.

A NEW study by management consulting firm Oliver Wyman seeks to dispel common misconceptions about Chinese outbound travellers, including views they are more trouble than they are worth, or group travel is being replaced by FIT.

Based on a survey of 1,750 Chinese people who had travelled abroad in the past year, it hopes the findings will help global destinations sharpen their appeal to the changing market.

And the common myths:

Myth 1: “They go abroad only to shop”
While nearly all travellers shopped during their trip, less than 15 pe rcent of Chinese travellers it surveyed cited shopping as the main reason for their trip, in contrast to 63 per cent who specified sightseeing as their top motivation.

In Hong Kong, where slow growth in Chinese travellers and their spending has seen retail sales fall 12.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 and a slump in 2015, the city will need to become less dependent on shopping by mainland visitors and encourage spending on other activities, pointed out Hunter Williams, Oliver Wyman partner and author of the report.

Myth 2: “They spend indiscriminately”

Chinese travellers relatively spend large sums while abroad, on average, US$3,000 per person, roughly the equivalent of a month’s household income. It is also true that they spend a lot on shopping – about US$1,200 – which may have helped to fuel the misconception that they spend indiscriminately. However, only around half of the spending is on themselves. More than 32 per cent is to purchase gifts for others, and 19 per cent is for resale back home. “Chinese travellers have sophisticated needs, so retailers need a segmented approach that emphasises unique value – it’s no longer enough to offer a blanket approach,” said the report.

Myth 3: “They are always in groups” or “Independent travellers are quickly replacing groups”

Both the number of tour group travellers and independent travellers are on the rise, showing both individuals and groups will continue to be important segments for some time to come.

Independent travellers are not replacing group travellers, but are complementing them. For example, Hong Kong and Macau rank close to the top for the percentage of independent trips, while Taiwan ranks close to the bottom. At the same time, over the past few years group travellers have actually accounted for a larger share of all travellers, dispelling the misconception that groups are gradually being replaced by individual travel. However, Chinese travellers surveyed considered tour operators to be the single least useful source of information, showing tour operator relationships are no longer enough.

Myth 4: “Chinese travellers are more trouble than they are worth”

As a result of cultural misunderstandings, Chinese tourists can often be misjudged. For example, there is no tipping culture in China and it is often socially acceptable to eat food on public transport. Explaining service charges upfront and the proper usage of facilities can reduce miscommunication. Similarly, rules, and penalties for breaking them (such as cleaning fees for smoking in non-smoking rooms), should be clearly communicated. Open two-way communication is the surest way to avoid misunderstanding.

“Today there is no such thing as the archetypal Chinese traveller as this group is complex and multi-faceted,” said Williams. “If consumer-facing businesses make broad generalisations and buy into the misconceptions, they will miss key opportunities. Businesses need a cohesive Chinese traveller strategy, where the realities of each region and destination must be considered separately.”