Credit: S Nasser

PART of the false ceiling hanging over the driveway of Hilton Singapore hotel fell off and landed atop a black vehicle yesterday at around 15.00. A nearby taxi was also hit by some of the debris consisting of plasterboard, metal frames and lighting.

According to The Straits Times, the black car belonged to a Malaysian businessman who was in Singapore with his wife and five-month-old son, while the taxi was unloading an Indonesian family when the incident happened.

While no one was crushed nor seriously injured, according to local news reports, four persons, including a passerby and a hotel staff, were sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for minor treatments and as a precaution.

Peter Webster, general manager at Hilton Singapore cited recent inclement weather as a possible reason for the ceiling collapse.

“We have the building checked on a regular basis. We had an inspection just last week and it was absolutely perfect. We have been highly commended for the condition of the property,” said Webster in an interview with Channel NewsAsia.

“Obviously it’s been raining in the past few weeks but the rains seem to be bit heavier than usual this year.”

HOTELS that provide services catered to the taste of each individual guest creates greater customer loyalty, and hotels that make use of data and technology to gain relevant insights to do so are more successful at it, according to a study by Sabre Hospitality Solutions.

The research, Customer Experience in Hospitality: Embrace Customer Data and Elevate the Guest Experience, conducted by Forrester Consulting, adds that most travellers are also willing to share personal data to ensure hoteliers can meet their personal preferences.

However, their expectation to be offered more relevant deals, discounts or loyalty points similarly increase.

“Building and maintaining customer loyalty isn’t simply about letting customers accumulate points,” stated Alex Alt, president, Sabre Hospitality Solutions.

“It’s about finding ways to make customers feel special and to recognise and honor their preferences. Hoteliers who use data and technology to elevate the customer experience will ultimately generate loyalty that drives revenue.”

The three most compelling reasons guests are willing to divulge personal information are for check-in and check-out times to fit their schedule, for room selections to be based on their likes and dislikes, and for better recommendations on nearby happenings.

Additionally, the study finds that travellers aged 55 and above are more willing to share personal data in exchange for more bespoke services compared to younger travellers.

TOURS and activities provider BeMyGuest has lived an online booking platform catered to travel agents.

Named Agents Marketplace, it offers registered users industry rates for over 10,000 products gathered from more than 3,000 travel agencies, tour operators, attractions and transfer providers from across Asia and beyond.

The principal benefit comes from nett rate pricing, which enables agents to collect gross payments from clients, allowing for immediate commissions.

Other features include instant price comparisons with normal retail prices, e-tickets sent directly via email, account wallet for payments and no requirement for integration with other systems.

“This new B2B platform is tailored to meet the needs of traditional travel agencies which account for the vast majority of bookings in the travel industry,” said Clement Wong, CEO, BeMyGuest.

“We have created Agents Marketplace as a result of numerous requests from our current tours and activities providers, who want to sell to other providers already working with us and want to tap on the industry rates which we can get as a result of our distribution partnerships.”

MARRIOTT Hotels has opened the Shenzhen Marriott Hotel Nanshan, sited on the 43rd to 60th floor of the SCC Building.

The 340-room property is a 40-minute drive to Shenzhen International Airport and a 30-minute ride to Shenzhen North Railway Station.

Guestrooms range from 40m² to 70m² with amenities including internet-enabled TVs, iPods and Nespresso machines, as well as boasting views of Shenzhen Bay and the Hong Kong border.

F&B options include all-day dining Nanshan Kitchen, Chinese restaurant Man Ho, the Lobby Lounge bar and The Café which offers freshly brewed coffee, pastries, handcrafted sandwiches and desserts.

The hotel features 2,000m² of meeting space, including a 900m² grand ballroom, seven function rooms and three boardrooms.

ACCORHOTELS is targeting to operate 200 hotels in Indonesia by 2020, up 100 from its current portfolio there.

The group had recently opened its 100th hotel, Novotel Makassar Grand Shayla City Center, in October 2015.

Speaking at a media conference in Jakarta last week, Garth Simmons, CEO for AccorHotels Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore said Indonesia is AccorHotels’ biggest growth engine in South-east Asia, and are entering into partnerships with the country’s tourism ministry, Garuda Indonesia and Telkom Indonesia as a key business strategy.

Confirmed projects in the pipeline include two Sofitel and five Pullman properties, one hotel each under the Grand Mercure and MGallery labels, over 10 Novotels and a handful of Mercure and ibis properties.

It also plans to open hotels in secondary Indonesian cities like Samarinda, Berau, Pangkalan Bun, Palangkaraya, Pekalongan, Cirebon and Gresik.

Rio Kondo, vice president, development, AccorHotels Malaysia and Indonesia, said: “We continue to look at new opportunities for hotels in eastern Indonesia.”

“The eastern part of the country offers big potential but accessibility and infrastructure are the challenge. Therefore, the opening of Novotel Makassar Grand Shayla City Center was a milestone for us, a hub to further grow in the area.”

WORK has formally begun on a 417km-long railway connecting China’s southern city of Kunming to Thailand’s northern frontier at Nong Khai by passing through Laos at key cities such as Louang Namtha, Luang Prabang and capital Vientiane.

The project is funded and led by the Chinese government and is expected to take five years to complete.

While the new link connects to China Railways’ existing high-speed rail, trains travelling on the extended route are only allowed a maximum speed of 160km/h.

Laurent Kuenzle, CEO of Asian Trails is sanguine of the development, saying: “It will not only be the foundation of creating new packages within Thailand, Laos and China, but also cross-border tour packages particularly between Laos and Thailand as well as Laos and Yunnan.”

“This is not only of interest for local tourism but also to international tourists who will be interested in exploring these new routes.”

Concurring, Siprang Srinarintranon, regional marketing and communications manager, Diethelm Travel, said: “We foresee new potential inbound clients to Thailand from the Chinese market as well as an opportunity for Thailand outbound to China.”

Travellers in the departure room of Yangon International Airport

WE have it on good authority that Myanmar’s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism is stepping up its enforcement of the outbound travel sector by making it compulsory for travel companies in the country to apply for licences to offer overseas trips for Myanmar nationals.

In general, tour companies have been offering air tickets, hotels and outbound tour packages for many years without an outbound licence. With the introduction of the new rule, many travel companies are expected to apply for the new licence, with at least one company – Myanmar Polestar Travels & Tours – already expressing the desire to do so.

Its chairman Kyaw Min Htin, who is also president of JTB Polestar, welcomes the government’s efforts to regulate the outbound travel sector and protect both customers and agents at the same time. He is also looking forward to tapping the Burmese travel interest to India’s Bodh Gaya and growing the nascent outbound market “systematically”.

At a time when Myanmar’s tourism traffic is heavily tilted towards the inbound sector, the lopsided trend looks set to reverse in the near future when it becomes easier for Myanmar nationals to travel overseas.

The door to South-east Asia’s last tourism source market is opening soon.