MELIÁ Hotels International has signed an agreement with Vietnam’s Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) Group on April 30 to manage the five-star Meliá Yangon.

Owned by HAGL, the 429-room hotel will be part of the mixed-use Hoang Anh Gia Lai Myanmar Centre and is one of HAGL’s largest real estate projects, with a total investment capital of US$440 million.

The 23-storey hotel will debut under phase one of the project, which will also see the completion of a 27-storey commercial centre and two office buildings.

CEO of HAGL Group, Vo Thuong Son, said the hotel will come equipped with modern facilities, such as a convention centre, conference halls, entertainment and sport areas, and European, Asian and local restaurants.

“As our tourism sector progresses on track, Meliá will support the shortage of hotel rooms for the rising number of tourist arrivals to the country,” said union minister of hotels and tourism, Htay Aung, at the signing ceremony.

The Spanish hotel chain recently signed two more Bali hotels and is planning to open hotels in Vietnam and China as part of its Asian expansion.

SPAIN says it hopes to see direct flights launched soon between Shanghai and Madrid, following face-to-face talks between industry and tourism minister José Manuel Soria and China Eastern Airlines’ president, Yang Min Li.

According to news agencies and confirmation by a tourism ministry spokesperson TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to, the two parties reached an outline agreement during talks to offer a thrice-weekly service.

Soria, who was visiting Shanghai, said China Eastern had already been studying the potential of the route for several months.

While Air China currently operates eight flights a week from Beijing, this is not sufficient given the rapid growth in both commercial ties and incoming tourism from China, said Soria.

An added incentive for China Eastern could be a codesharing deal with Spain’s second regular airline, Air Europa, which briefly operated China flights in the past. Both airlines are members of the SkyTeam alliance.

There will be no TTG Asia e-Daily tomorrow, May 1, as we all take a much-deserved rest for our labour on this public holiday.

Hurray for long weekends!

TRAVEL agencies in Asia-Pacific can now access relevant booking data and business insights that will aid decision-making through a new feature of the Travelport system.

The technology solutions provider unveiled Agentivity yesterday. The web-based product is fully integrated with Travelport and can therefore update itself continuously with the latest activity of the travel consultant and travel agency.

Users will not have to install software or adopt a different workflow.

 Agentivity was developed by UK-based Inside Group to give travel agencies actionable insights on all aspects of business, including daily operations, booking trends, additional revenue opportunities, emergency notifications and individual consultant productivity, among others.

Mark Meehan, managing director of Travelport Asia-Pacific, said in a press release that Agentivity is “incredibly useful” to travel agencies.

“(It) enables them to fully exploit the business opportunities we offer through our Travel Commerce Platform and concurrently upgrade the professional competency of their own operations.”

BRINGING two more accommodation options to Malaysia is Thailand’s Onyx Hospitality Group, which will open the select-service Ozo Medini and Shama Medini serviced residence in 2018.

 Both projects will open as part of the mixed-use UMCity Medini Lakeside complex in Medini township in Iskandar.

Ozo Medini will offer 198 guestrooms, breakfast area Eat, grab-and-go outlet Eat2Go, a swimming pool and a fitness centre.

The 232-unit Shama Medini will feature a restaurant, kids’ club, fitness centre and a rooftop garden with an outdoor barbecue.

“We are thrilled to continue the expansion of our brands in Malaysia. As a Thai company, having a presence in one of our closest neighbouring countries has always been priority for us,” said Peter Henley, president and CEO of Onyx Hospitality Group, in a press release.

Onyx has one more project already in development in Malaysia – the Amari Johor Bahru.

Said Henley: “The latest projects are particularly significant for us, as upon completion, they will mark the first time all three of our core brands, Amari, Ozo and Shama will be present in one region anywhere in the world.”

THE trend of same-day hotel and airline bookings looks likely to grow in the future and travel agencies must consider how to stay relevant and value-add in such a climate, said speakers at Travel Tech 2015.

Though such travellers who book arrangements on the day of travel are in the minority, the number of last-minute bookings for hotel search queries are on the rise, said Marc Woo, Google Malaysia’s head of e-commerce & travel at yesterday’s conference in Kuala Lumpur, organised by the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA).

This indicates that consumers are driven by the availability of platforms and technology, and the ease of doing searches on mobile devices on-the-go, Woo added.

GfK global director, travel, Laurens van den Oever, said he believes the trend for same-day bookings is aided partly by the oversupply of hotel rooms and airline seats, which drives hoteliers and airlines to use platforms that could absorb excess capacity.

However, he felt that it would be difficult for intermediaries, such as travel consultants, to add value to same-day bookings.

On the sidelines, Nigel Wong, MATTA’s vice president – research & technology, disagreed and told TTG Asia e-Daily that it would depend largely on whether a travel agency is flexible enough to allow execution of same-day bookings.

He elaborated: “It depends on what types of services are provided by the travel agency. If it is a city tour, all you need is a vehicle and a guide. But if it is a package with limited inventory, for example accommodation on Mount Kinabalu, then this may not be possible, as the agency will first have to contact the accommodation provider before confirming the booking.

“Undoubtedly, those with an online platform with capabilities for same-day bookings and instant confirmation will be able to take advantage of instant engagement with clients.”

Wong, who is also managing director of Kuala Lumpur-based Urban Rhythms Tours Adventures & Travel, is partnering with Borneo Trails Tours & Travel to create WonderfulBorneo.com.

The mobile-friendly portal will allow same-day bookings of tours within Sabah, and is scheduled to go live in mid-May.

AFRICA is proving to be the next frontier for Thai hospitality groups buying, building or acquiring properties on the continent.

In the latest announcement, Minor Hotel Group (MHG) said yesterday it has acquired the Cheli & Peacock Group of Companies and its six camps in Kenya –Elsa’s Kopje, Elephant Pepper Camp, Joy’s Camp, Tortillis Camp, Kitich Camp and Lewa Safari Camp.

To come under MHG’s Elewana Collection, which already consists of eight other properties showcasing the highlights of Northern Tanzania, Kenya and Zanzibar, the Cheli & Peacock camps will nevertheless continue to operate independently under the guidance of founders Stefano and Liz Cheli.

 Earlier this month MHG also said it is partnering Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company for two Anantara resorts in North Africa – the 93-key Anantara Tozeur Resort in south-west Tunisia and the 230-key Anantara Al Houara Tangier Resort in northern Morocco. Both are scheduled to open in 2017.

MHG is also going to add a fourth brand to the continent when it rebrands Essque Zalu Zanzibar to Per Aquum later this year. In total, MHG has 25 properties in seven countries in Africa across the Anantara, Avani and the Elewana Collection brands, and owns the Radisson Blu Hotel, Maputo, in Mozambique.

At the same time, fellow Thailand-based hospitality group Dusit International also celebrated the grand opening of dusitD2 Nairobi late last month.

The first Dusit property in sub-Saharan Africa, the dusitD2 Nairobi is the company’s second venture into Africa after the Dusit Thani LakeView Cairo in Egypt in 2009.

Chanin Donavanik, managing director and CEO of Dusit International, said in a press release that the launch is “only the first of many projects for Dusit in sub-Saharan Africa” as the group looks to solidify its presence in Africa.