THAILAND’S Bespoke Hospitality Management Asia (BHMAsia) and Paris-based Louvre Hotels Group have entered into an agreement that aims to strengthen the management and development potential of their brands in Thailand.

Hotel management, development and consulting group, BHMAsia, will represent and expand the Golden Tulip brand in the South-east Asian country.

On the tie-up with Louvre, Anthony McDonald, CEO of BHMAsia, McDonald said: “With this partnership, we are not only representing the Louvre Hotels Group’s European brands in Thailand but also expanding our X2 design hotel brand to Asia and Europe through Louvre Hotels Group’s global network. We are initially working with them to represent our X2 brand in Indonesia and as part of our strategy to have 30 X2 (CrossTo) properties in the region by 2019. ”

Said McDonald: “We see the potential growth for the hospitality business here in Thailand as the AEC will commence in 2015, driving demand for international standard hotels and global chains.”

Mark Van Ogtrop, managing director of Golden Tulip South-east Asia, commented: “It is important that we have a trusted and professional partner in Thailand that can establish strong brand recognition and expand our business in this country. At the moment, we have over 30 projects in Indonesia and I believe that working with BHMAsia will bring similar success to us for Thailand market.”

PHUKET will welcome its first Hyatt Place property in 2016, after Hyatt Hotels & Resorts signed an agreement yesterday with Boutique Group of Companies to develop the property.

The 161-room Hyatt Place Phuket will be situated on an elevated piece of land on Patong Beach, close to the Phuket seafront while also offering easy access to entertainment, markets, dining and shopping options.

“Thailand continues to be an important market for Hyatt, both from a leisure and business travel perspective. Phuket in particular is one of South-east Asia’s premier leisure destinations, and Hyatt’s expanding resort portfolio is key to creating preference among our guests,” said Ratnesh Verma, senior vice president, real estate and development, Asia-Pacific, Hyatt.

Guestrooms at Hyatt Place Phuket, Patong will all come with balconies.

Facilities within the resort include a swimming pool, fitness centre, restaurant and bar, business centre and more than 225m2 of flexible events space.

EUROPE cannot be treated as a homogenous market online, and the customisation of digital content is key to capturing greater share across the continent’s diverse markets.

Speaking at the Digital Innovation Asia E-Tourism Asia Boot Camp in Bangkok yesterday, Hraben Suknaic, managing partner of S.T.A.R. Digital, a Swiss-based agency specialising in marketing across digital channels, pointed out that Europe is a “complex patchwork of regions”, made up of 50 countries home to 740 million people, of which 65 per cent are online.

“For example, German and Dutch are process-driven people who like to plan, and this translates to their travel bookings (often made in advance), unlike Italians who tend to do things last minute,” said Suknaic.

An understanding of a market’s booking patterns will thus enable travel players to better evaluate and decide which part of the travel chain they should appear in to increase their relevance and likelihood of converting traveller interest to final bookings, he elaborated.

Furthermore, Internet penetration and technology savviness also vary, with Scandinavia coming up tops as the most developed market – some 90 per cent of the population is connected and a person on average makes one e-commerce transaction each month. This knowledge is especially important for a destination like Thailand, where Sweden is among its top five source markets.

Travel marketers should also pay attention to regional differences, especially within bigger countries in Europe. Citing Italy’s German-speaking South Tyrol as an example, where the local population uses Italian and German media and favour local portals like Stol.it, “it would be a mistake to target them as Italians,” Suknaic contended.

Russia, in particular, stands apart from the rest of the continent with “its own online ecosystem” such as Vkontakte (the Russian equivalent of Facebook) and Yandex (top search engine), and any content published in Latin-related languages would not be ranked highly in the country, pointed out Suknaic.

Against a backdrop in which peer-to-peer networks and social content are key drivers for FITs, Suknaic stressed: “Localise, localise, localise when it comes to online content in Europe. Especially for review sites, it will help to have the local language for non-English-speaking countries.”

VIETNAM is ramping up promotions in Indonesia to amplify the market’s spike in growth since 2012, when national carrier Vietnam Airlines introduced direct flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta.

Indonesian arrivals have been on the ascent since then, numbering 60,857 in 2012, 70,390 in 2013, and 48,207 between January and August this year.

“We are happy with the growth in arrivals but the number is still quite small compared to the potential (of this market),” said Vietnam National Administration of Tourism’s (VNAT) travel industry management department director general, Nguyen Quy Phuong, who was addressing Indonesian outbound travel executives and the media during a forum on tourism cooperation in Jakarta this week.

The forum was the product of collaboration between Vietnam embassy in Jakarta and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN).

Vietnam’s tourism authorities will conduct more marketing and promotional activities in Indonesia, including fam trips for media and travel executives, as well as advertising campaigns. Jakarta’s high-end travellers are VNAT’s main target.

Damayanti Siahaan, secretary general of KADIN, said: “What is needed is more B2B activities such as this, both in Indonesia and in Vietnam.”

VNAT’s Nguyen added: “What is also important is to increase the seat capacity between the two countries, which is an issue. Vietnam Airlines’ flights are already full.”

Vietnam Airlines general manager Indonesia, Nghiem Van Khanh, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “We started flights to Jakarta four times a week in 2012 (after which flights became direct), increased this to five-times-weekly in April 2013, and daily in August that same year.

“We are studying the possibility of connecting Indonesia to Hanoi or Vietnam to Bali, but there is nothing to announce for now.”

Tedjo Iskandar, director of TTC Indonesia, remarked: “While Vietnam has the potential to attract Indonesia’s upmarket travellers, it can boost volume and get airlines’ attentions by offering five- to seven-day packages below US$1,000, which only Thailand does right now.”

*The article initially stated flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta still transit at Singapore, which is inaccurate. It has been amended.

HIGH-END lifestyle travel consultant John B Sutherland is giving the well-heeled a chance to dive in the watery depths of history with submarine visits to wartime sunken wrecks in the region.

For the next one year until October 2015, Sutherland is operating tours to battle sites of the traveller’s choice to view wrecks such as the warships HMS Repulse, HMS Prince of Wales, USS Saratoga and HMAS Perth. The closest sites are accessible from Western Australia and more applicable to the Asian market.

Described as “the kind of stuff you see on National Geographic“, the “very exclusive tours” offer opportunities to see first-hand a sea bed littered with aircraft, tanks, cars, personal items and ships. The tours will also attract nature lovers as it gives them a chance to observe the region’s marine life up close.

This high-end exclusive opportunity is also suitable as an incentive idea for between six and 12 people, or company directors.

Prices start at US$130,000 for three nights for up to six people, although this is also dependent on the dive location.

For more information on dates and dive locations, visit www.johnbsutherland.com

OPERATIONS have officially begun at the 329-key Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing Hotel located in the historic Wangfujing Street of China’s capital.

Managed by Marriott International but owned by China Jin Mao Group, the second Renaissance hotel in Beijing faces the Forbidden City on one side and Wangfujing Street on the other.

Each guestroom offers a range of amenities including flatscreen TVs and wireless high-speed Internet access.

Guess can choose from a range of F&B options including Hutong Place for private dining and entertainment, Qing Dynasty Palace serving imperial cuisine, Cantonese fare at Wanli restaurant, cocktails and live music at R Bar, and all-day dining Food Studio.

Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing Hotel will also offer its signature, 24-hour Navigator lifestyle hospitality concierge.

Meeting spaces at the hotel range from a 930m² ballroom to five meeting rooms. Other facilities within the hotel premises include an indoor swimming pool, a fitness centre and a spa.

To mark its opening, the hotel is promoting an introductory rate of RMB980++ (US$159) per night for deluxe accommodation. Buffet breakfasts can be added at just RMB1 for the first guest and half that price for the second guest. The deal is available until October 8.

SINGAPORE-based Premier Hotels of Asia has raised the curtains on a curated collection of independent boutique hotels, palaces, spas, resorts and homes, with its first edition focusing on Indian properties.

Titled the Premier Hotels and Resorts Collection, the portfolio of leisure establishments can be found on the newly launched www.premierhotelsofasia.com.

Experiences are divided into the following categories: luxury; palace & heritage; safari; beach & mountain; spa & wellness; city hotels; special interest eg golfing; and villas & residences.

Sujit Mittra, joint managing director and co-founder, Premier Hotels of Asia, said: “Today’s savvy travellers are seeking accommodation options that go beyond the run-of-the-mill choices. They look for unique and memorable experiences at exceptional hotels and resorts. We have carefully curated and hand-picked independent hotels that are known for their remarkable architecture, niche offerings like spa and safari, or simply for their service excellence and the way they pamper their guests.”

The collection currently comprises Ananda in the Himalayas, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand; Samode Palace, near Jaipur, Rajastahan; Samode Safari Lodge, Bandhavgarh, Madhya Pradesh; Castle Mandawa and Mandawa Haveli, both in Rajasthan.

Premier Hotels and Resorts has lined up a number of marketing activities such as focused sales efforts, online marketing, social media promotions, and tradeshow promotions to reach out to travel consultants, travel management companies and professional conference organisers to spread the word about its new collection.

SINGAPORE Changi Airport has unveiled more details of its Growth and Assistance Incentive (GAIN) programme, with rebates and incentives aimed specifically at strengthening its longhaul and transfer flights segment.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) will commit to landing fee rebates of up to S$50 million (US$39.8 million) through the wide-ranging GAIN programme first announced in June, which is aimed at lowering costs for airlines, boosting passenger traffic and improving operational efficiency at the important.

For airlines that run direct, longhaul flights to Changi, CAG is offering a 50 per cent rebate on landing fees from now until March 31, 2016.

It will also launch a Gateway Incentive, rewarding airlines operating at the airport with S$10 for every additional departing transit/transfer passenger handled. Beginning October 1, it includes passengers carried by foreign airlines interlining at Changi.

As announced earlier, all airlines operating at CAG will also receive a 50 per cent rebate on aircraft parking fees and 15 per cent off aerobridge fees from July 2014 to June 2015.

Lim Ching Kiat, senior vice president for market development, CAG, said: “The underlying fundamentals of the Asia-Pacific aviation market remain strong and attractive. We are, however, aware that airlines could be facing yield and cost pressures in the present environment. As an active and committed partner, CAG is rolling out these additional short-term measures to help airlines during this period.”

He added that longhaul flights and transfer traffic were two important segments of air traffic, and that airlines commit “significant investment” into longhaul routes.

Lim further commented that incentives to reward airlines for growing transfer traffic to Changi come on top of the Changi Transit Programme, which gives passengers attractive vouchers.