STARWOOD Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has launched SPG Pro, a new B2B loyalty programme that enables travel trade and related professionals to accumulate points earned from booking events under their personal loyalty account with the hotelier.

Speaking at the Asia-Pacific launch of the programme in Bangkok, Thailand, Alison Taylor, senior vice president sales Asia-Pacific said SPG Pro combines three previous B2B brands – StarChoice, Starwood Preferred Planner, and Starwood Pro – under the new SPG Pro, which is driven by the same engine powering the consumer Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) loyalty programme.

“It’s up to travel planners how they use the points. They can use them for the benefit of their company, to offset meeting costs, to donate to charity or for their own benefit (for free room nights),” she said. “More importantly, they can use them globally across the entire brand.”

SPG Pro focuses on individual clients rather than a corporate entity, meaning that the individual is able to keep their loyalty points even when they move jobs. The programme also hopes to deliver more value to smaller accounts.

“Currently 80 per cent of group business across the brand is from small groups who book 60 rooms or less,” she said. “SPG Pro makes it simpler for us to reward smaller groups and smaller bookers.”

B2B trade accounts for more than 70 per cent of Starwood’s room revenue, and Starwood’s top one per cent of customers deliver 40 per cent of revenue. If SPG Pro expands the top tier by another percentage point, it will deliver additional revenue of US$80 million a year.

Meanwhile, Stephen Ho, president for Asia-Pacific at Starwood, announced the company had signed two new properties in Thailand, a Sheraton in Koh Samui and W Phuket, the first time either brand has entered the respective markets. Le Méridien Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok Golf Resort & Spa is tabled to open next month.

LUXURY river cruise company Aqua Expeditions is seeing strong bookings from Australia and New Zealand for its new Aqua Mekong cruises, set to commence sailing along the Mekong River between Cambodia and Vietnam on September 30.

Aqua Expeditions CEO and founder, Francesco Galli Zugaro said forward bookings from Australia and New Zealand for the new cruise offering “are strong across the (three-), (four-) and (seven)-night sailings”.

The cruise operator’s first vessel in Asia, Aqua Mekong will keep to the luxury boutique style offered by the 12-suite Aqua Amazon and 16-suite Aqua Aria – Aqua Expeditions’ luxury cruises on the Amazon River in Peru.

Designed by Saigon-based architectural firm Noor Design, the 62m Aqua Mekong will have 20 outward-facing suites, each decorated in authentic Asian style and with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Michelin-starred chef David Thompson, who has been appointed executive chef of Aqua Mekong, will create a menu influenced by South-east Asia with such dishes as river prawns with ginger, shallots, tamarind and palm sugar served on betel leaves as well as cashew nut pudding with coconut cream. 

Meanwhile, Aqua Mekong’s Bar programme will offer a unique village-to-table concept, showcasing a rotating selection of cocktails featuring artisanal spirits, hand-cut ice and fresh ingredients from the Mekong River Basin, along with the leisurely and romantic drinking rituals of colonial Indochina.

Leisure amenities on board the cruise ship include the Observation Deck, the Outdoor Lounge with a plunge pool, a spa, a fitness centre, a library and a screening room.

Guests can also look forward to land excursions such as shopping for ingredients with the chef in Cambodia’ wet markets, watching traditional silversmiths at work or spending time amongst snakes and crocodiles at a Vietnamese riverside farm.

THE Philippine Department of Tourism (DoT) is currently drawing up national guidelines for interaction with threatened marine wildlife like giant turtles, whales, whale sharks, dolphins and manta rays in the country.

Local government units will implement the guidelines while accreditation of tour operators offering these activities will come later, said Rica Bueno, director at DoT’s Office of Tourism Standards and Regulations.

When completed within this year, these guidelines will be added to the DoT’s overall ecotourism guidelines, which will include site and product development as well as marketing and promotions, Bueno informed.

The guidelines include “no touching, no feeding, maintaining proper distance, no flash photography, no blocking of path (and) no chasing”, according to marine wildlife expert AA Yaptinchay, who is also general manager of Kirschner Travel Manila and part of the guideline working committee.

Explaining the need for responsible and sustainable wildlife interaction, Yaptinchay, elaborated: “The species subjected to tourism are mostly threatened animals and most are protected in the Philippines.

“They require special handing due to their conservation status, so we do not want tourism to be added to the list of threats already affecting them. Since interacting with them is a form of intrusion, it could affect their behavior, daily activity, biology, etc,” he added.

JOHN Keells Group’s Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts has introduced a new ‘lean luxury’ concept with the launch of the 243-room Cinnamon Red hotel in Colombo earlier this week.

Positioned as the first below-five-star property by the Sri Lankan hotel chain, the hotel aims to tap mainly Indian travellers, currently Sri Lanka’s top source market, but will also target Asian and European visitors on short-term stays in the capital.

“We want to attract the leisure and corporate traffic in Colombo,” said Terrance Fernando, general manager, Cinnamon Red.

Centrally located at Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, the hotel features a reception cum tea and coffee bar on the seventh floor, a restaurant on the eighth floor, plus an infinity pool, rooftop bar and fitness centre on the 26^th floor. It does not have any conference or banquet facilities though.

Asked if the company would launch more mid-market hotels, Fernando said it would depend on the success of Cinnamon Red.

Cinnamon Red is currently running special limited-time room offers at US$75 per night for the month of September.

THE five-star Lotte Hotel Hanoi, which just opened its doors on September 2, has joined the Worldhotels global portfolio, following Lotte Hotel Seoul – Downtown, Lotte Hotel World Gangnam and Lotte Hotel Busan.

Occupying the upper floors of a new skyscraper located between the city’s Old Town and New Business District, the 318-room Lotte Hotel Hanoi is the highest hotel in Vietnam. Guest rooms are decorated in contemporary style with subtle Vietnamese touches, complete with complimentary high-speed Internet access.

Drawing inspiration from the European Alps, the Evian Spa is equipped with its own executive suite, a luxurious pool, a salt studio and six treatment rooms.

F&B options at the hotel include Top of Hanoi, the open-air rooftop brasserie featuring stunning city views and live kitchen;
 Tim Ho Wan, the first Michelin-starred Hong Kong dim sum house in Vietnam; while Pharaoh`s Bar & Upper offers cocktails and views of the city on floors 63 and 64.

Being only 15 minutes by taxi from the Hanoi National Convention Centre, the hotel is also positioning itself as an attractive venue for meetings. Three large function rooms, including the Crystal Ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,200 pax, make up the hotel’s MICE facilities.

Roland Jegge, Worldhotels executive vice president Asia-Pacific, said: “Lotte’s decision in choosing Worldhotels to represent the spectacular new Lotte Hotel Hanoi is testimony to the benefits that we have delivered to our three Lotte Group affiliates in South Korea. We look forward to realising the full potential of its unique resources and positioning.”

BEST Western International (BWI) has launched the 191-key Best Western Premier The Hive in the Greater Jakarta region, making it the second hotel under the luxury Best Western Premier brand and the group’s 11^th property in Indonesia.

“Indonesia is one of BWI’s fastest-growing markets,” said Glenn de Souza, BWI’s vice president of international operations for Asia & Middle East. “This is part of a new era of Best Western hotels being developed in key business and leisure destinations across Indonesia, and the broader Asia-Pacific region.”

The company has firm plans to add a further 20 hotels across the country in the coming years.

Located in East Jakarta, close to the bustling Cawang business district and the recently opened Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, the Best Western Premier The Hive offers 191 rooms and suites spread over 15 floors, with sizes ranging between 32m² and 80m². Offering either pool or city views, all rooms come equipped with large LED televisions, plush beds and free Wi-Fi, while suites will also feature premium coffee machines.

Corporate guests will have a choice of seven meeting rooms seating between 20 and 300 pax, plus a fully equipped business centre. Other facilities include the Heather Resto restaurant, an outdoor swimming pool, a fitness centre and the Bhuvana Spa.

THE challenges of traversing South-east Asia’s transportation networks owing to challenges in language, currency and obtaining schedules online have led one start-up to create a platform issuing multi-modal tickets including bus, rail and water transport.

Launched earlier this year by Singapore-based founder and CEO Alexey Abolmasov with a main operation office located in Bangkok, 12Go.asia has so far been rolled out in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Brunei, with over 100 transport operators on board.

Tickets are available for purchase via the website or iOS and Android mobile apps. Payment methods include credit cards, PayPal and counter service like 7-Eleven in Thailand.

“We are pretty similar to Agoda, except that we operate in the transportation world,” said Guido Neil, business development director of 12Go.asia.

The platform will soon expand to include air transport, featuring regional carriers such as Lao Airlines, Kan Air and City Airways, Neil informed. “We will open up a new search engine for (smaller aviation players).

Asked about how it is different from AirAsia Thailand and Nok Air, which offer combined flight-and-ferry tickets too, Neil explains that 12Go.asia functions more like a “consolidator” that seeks to connect service providers and consumers.

“The vast majority of users are foreign backpackers from Europe, America and Australia,” he said.

Vietnam and Indonesia offer “interesting potential” for 12Go’s expansion, although Myanmar is not yet on the radar, said Neil.