Sarah Keenlyside, managing dictator, Bespoke Travel Company Photo by Mark Graham
WHOA former reporter with London’s Sunday Times, Sarah Keenlyside moved to China in 2005 where she was involved with running the Time Out magazine. It was during the 2008 Beijing Olympics that spurred her to help visitors who found it hard to navigate around the city.
Bespoke Travel Company was born a year later when Keenlyside founded the Beijing-based firm as managing dictator. The company specialises in customised city experiences by expert curators on the ground, and has hosted celebrities the likes of Katy Perry, Matt Damon and Johnny Depp.
WHATEschewing package tours for personalised ones, Bespoke offers an online travel menu of all the components needed to create a personalised trip, with tours priced separately so travellers know exactly where the money is going.
For example, the traveller will see how much it costs to hire a tour guide, a car, do a taichi
class, etc, and even the hourly fees for Bespoke to customise the trip – a radical departure from the industry norm.
WHY Keenlyside believes the new creative class of traveller wants customisation, value for money, honesty and savvy tips from people in the know, hence they will also appreciate the transparency and collaborative design process in customising the packages.
She is keenly aware that sophisticated travellers want to delve deeper into the local history beyond the touristy version, enjoy memorable meals whether it is street food or fine dining, and stay somewhere fun.
TARGET The goal for Bespoke – which started in Beijing and has since expanded to Shanghai – is to offer its service all over the world. The company is looking to open offices in New York and Tokyo next, and seeks to make travel easier and more personalised for its Western and Chinese clients alike.
Cast of Captain America: Civil War poses for a picture at The Helix Bridge in Singapore with Lionel Yeo, CEO, Singapore Tourism Board and Robert Gilby, managing director, The Walt Disney Company South-East Asia
Stars of upcoming superhero film Captain America: Civil War landed in Singapore last week for a four-day festival filled with activities ranging from a cosplay competition to photo contests and complimentary Marvel movie screenings.
Interior of the Tourism Management Institute of Singapore
THE National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) will be stepping up training courses and releasing an enhanced accreditation programme for agents from June and July respectively.
The improved training courses, aimed at upgrading agent skillsets and increasing the productivity of agencies, will be conducted by the Tourism Management Institute of Singapore (TMIS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NATAS.
Meanwhile, the new three-tier accreditation framework by NATAS hopes to better recognise the skill competencies of travel agents and is aligned with Singapore’s Workforce Skills Qualifications Tourism Framework national standard.
“(Travellers) are growing to be more sophisticated and have higher expectations of what they want in a vacation. We therefore need to train the staff of travel agencies to be knowledgeable in handling these customers and be able to sell travel experiences professionally,” said Fiona Lim, chairman for manpower and training, NATAS.
Commenting on the new initiatives, Ong Ling Lee, director, travel agents and tourist guides, Singapore Tourism Board, added: “The current travel landscape is increasingly disrupted by changing consumer habits on travel research and booking.
“Within Singapore, manpower constraints also call for travel agents to remodel their business and operations to increase productivity. Thus, it is important to invest in people development to ensure our travel agent workforce has the right set of skills to transform the industry.”
SHANGHAI Hengfu Investment & Development has appointed Capella Hotel Group Asia as the operators of Capella Shanghai, Jian Ye Li, an all-villa resort in Shanghai’s last remaining cluster of historic shikumen (stone warehouse gate) estates.
The resort is expected to open in March next year, accompanied by serviced apartments also in early 2017.
Originally built in the 1930s by French real estate company Foncière et Immobilière de Chine, the estate is located within the Hengfu historical and cultural preservation zone of the Xuhui District.
The estate will house the 55-villa Capella resort, complemented by the Capella Library, the Auriga Spa, a French brasserie, event venues and the 40-apartment Capella Residences. The Gallery, a collection of niche retail lifestyle brands which forms the façade of the Jian Ye Li estate, will also be part of the development.
Commenting on the partnership, Zhu Jingsong, general manager of Shanghai Hengfu Investment & Development, said: “It is our common goal to transform Jian Ye Li into a vibrant and charming landmark that symbolises the protective utilisation of Shanghai’s beautiful historical architecture.”
THE Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) is collaborating with international attractions, hotels and airlines in an effort to entice Singaporean and Malaysian families to visit Hong Kong during the school holiday season.
“Singapore and Malaysia are strategic markets for Hong Kong with over 1.2 million visitors in 2015; making up 43 per cent of the total South-east Asia arrivals last year,” said Simon Wong, regional director, South-east Asia, HKTB.
For both markets, travellers can expect deals such as a Hong Kong Disneyland family package, and a complimentary child ticket for every two paying adults at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong and Ngong Ping 360.
Participating hotels for the promotional period include Best Western, Marco Polo and The Peninsula Hong Kong, among many others.
Promotional airfares to Hong Kong can also be obtained when flying aboard Cathay Pacific, while Singaporean travellers can additionally get discounted rates from Singapore Airlines.
SOUTH-EAST Asia online tour operator One Click to Asia (OCTA) is guaranteeing its clients 50 per cent of daily trip cost back in cash if heavy, continuous rain lasting three hours or more disrupts itineraries for holidaymakers.
This offer is valid from now to October 31 for travellers who book a minimum seven-night trip to Laos with OCTA. Unlike other operators, the refund comes in the form of actual cash given out during the trip rather than post-trip payouts or credits for future trips.
Laurent Granier, co-founder, OCTA, said that the offer is meant to instill the idea that travel during the rainy season can be a pleasant experience.
“When travellers (think of the rainy season) they immediately (imagine) monsoons, floods and ruined holidays. This means that Laos and its neighbours (Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand) all suffer a big drop in visitor numbers during the rainy months,” explained Granier.
He added that Laos, unlike other South-east Asian destinations, is perfect for travel during the rainy season because it doesn’t get the same quantity and frequency of rain. Hotel rates are also cheaper during the period, he said.
LCC Scoot will be launching flights from Singapore to the cities of Chennai, Amritsar and Jaipur this year, marking the budget carrier’s entry into the Indian market.
Daily Singapore-Chennai services and three-weekly Singapore-Amritsar services will begin from May 24 while Singapore-Jaipur services will commence October 2. All flights will be operated on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
According to a statement, Scoot will replace sister airline Tigerair’s service to Chennai, in an effort to better match capacity and demand. Both Scoot and Tigerair are owned by parent Singapore Airlines.
Those who have made advance bookings to fly the Singapore-Chennai route on Tigerair will be offered the option to be re-accommodated on Scoot’s new service.
To mark its launch in India, Scoot is offering a promotion from now till 23.59 on April 28 for one-way flights to Chennai, Amritsar and Jaipur from Singapore starting at S$99 (US$73) for economy and S$239 for business seats.
THE JacTravel Group has lived a new accommodations wholesale site for agents, www.totalstay.com, with a bookable inventory of over 100,000 hotels worldwide.
The portal is a result of JacTravel’s merger with TotalStayGroup last year, bringing together the JacHotels and ExclusivelyHotels brands under one roof.
Highlighted features of the new site include having a wide portfolio of properties ranging from five-star hotels to apartments and youth hostels, the ability to search by proximity to landmarks, by name or by location, as well as being able to book online for groups of up to 19 adults.
Additionally, agents can expect to be able to transact in 14 different currencies and languages, and utilise 24/7 multilingual telephone support via local phone numbers.
“The new website combines the ease of use of the ExclusivelyHotels site with the excellent portfolio of hand-picked properties from JacHotels,” said Stuart Ellis, chief commercial officer, JacTravel.
“Bringing it all together is a major initiative that will give our travel agents more choice and deeper availability from our worldwide hotel portfolio.”
GOOGLE will be releasing a test version of its own travel assistant app next week to a select group of people, according to an email invite sent to members of the tech company’s Local Guides programme.
The email, which was sent to this editor, informs that the app will be available on both Android and iOS devices. It further requests that invitees take part in a survey, and if selected, will be informed how to get access to the new app.
Survey questions, given in multiple choice format, asked whether one had travel plans coming up in the months ahead, as well as what kind of travel it was, whether leisure or business, among several other questions.
There is little other information at the moment, other than conjecture that it could be some kind of travel buddy app that will include itinerary planning features. There is already some semblance of that in Gmail, under its Trips feature.
Most likely, the app will also incorporate Google Flights, the tech giant’s flight metasearch product, pitting it against current industry players like Skyscanner, Kayak and Wego.
Location
The 54th floor of Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre, right in the heart of Bangkok’s downtown at the Ratchaprasong Junction.
Ambience
Spanish food has been making inroads into Bangkok and the addition of Uno Mas to the city’s dining scene in late 2015 is worthy of a siesta. A terrific tapas bar and restaurant perched on the 54th floor of Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre, the venue has its feet firmly planted in the Thai capital’s pulsating downtown and heart in the Iberian Peninsula.
Decked out in hues of teal and terracotta, Uno Mas boasts a rustic yet elegant vibe with Moorish-influenced elements, glazed floor, arches and exposed wooden ceiling beams.
The restaurant is split into three separate zones: the 42-seat Wine Cellar, the 60-seat Tapas & Raw Bar, and the 78-seat Dining Deck. The Wine Cellar has tables and lounge seats overlooking the glass cellar centrepiece, while the Tapas & Raw Bar features a huge display of fresh oysters and seafood produce, with an open bar with counter seats and communal tables on the elevated wooden deck for bigger groups.
At the Dining Deck, patrons can mingle in the semi-alfresco space over feisty cavas and scrumptious tapas while observing the signature Cochinillo suckling pig roasting over the special fire pit and Josper oven. Furthermore, the chest-high glass walls wrapping the restaurant allow guests to move close to the edge for views of a setting sun over the sprawling city. The cooler winter months will definitely make Uno Mas a more desirable place to linger over drinks in Bangkok.
Spanish cochinillo asado (suckling pig)
Menu
Led by Catalonia-born chef de cuisine and restaurant manager Joan Tanya Dot, Uno Mas specialises in Iberian-Mediterranean food, ranging from pièces de résistance like the 36-month-cured Jamon iberico ham and Cochinillo roasted suckling pig to non-Spanish interpretations such as live Boston lobster tail sashimis.While we spent considerable time browsing the 40-odd tapas list, small plates hit our table minutes after our order: wild porcini mushroom croquettes, fried baby squid with aioli and lemon, and Wagyu beef and pluma pork meatballs. For main courses, we opted for fideua (angel hair prepared like paella) crowned with squid and langoustines as well as gorgeous snowfish plated with Jerusalem artichokes and Joselito ham. Fresh from the oven, the warm churros – sprinkled in coarse sugar and accompanied with Valrhona chocolate dipping sauce – rounded up the meal on a sweet note.Uno Mas also shares a two-storey, 2,000-bottle transparent wine cellar with the famed Red Sky rooftop bar on the 55th floor. An outstanding selection of 36 Spanish wines are available by the glass in 9cl and 15cl. Priced from 170 baht (US$5), drinks here are definitely a steal, considering the venue’s sky-high location in a upscale hotel setting.
Service
The crowds were visibly thinner when I visited on a Wednesday, a public holiday, allowing the staff to pay even more intimate attention to diners. I had wanted to catch the sunset but arrived too early, so the thoughtful receptionist suggested I enjoy a bubbly in the air-conditioned comfort of the Wine Cellar before proceeding to the Tapas & Raw Bar for dinner.
Verdict
No matter where one is seated, sublime tapas – and views – are guaranteed at Uno Mas.
