FRENCHMAN Franck LaFourcade is returning to the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel for a second stint as general manager.
Previously general manager of the hotel between 2000 and 2005, LaFourcade’s homecoming follows nine years managing Sofitel properties in Shanghai as general manager and area general manager.
LaFourcade first ascended to the general manager position in Phnom Penh in 1993, and moved on to work in Singapore, Busan, Jakarta, Hanoi and Shanghai through the years.
WYNDHAM Hotel Group has named Leo Liu its managing director for China, a newly created role designed to support the company’s growth in the country.
In his new role, Liu will be based in Shanghai and be responsible for Wyndham Hotel Group’s operations and development functions as well as the coordination and execution of cross-functional brand initiatives.
Liu brings with him over 15 years of hospitality experience and was last founder and CEO of Envy Fine Art China.
Fashion, coffee and travel go hand in hand at the spacious and inviting Triways Travel Network head office
PRESENCE Triways Travel Network head office and retail front moved to its present location in Taman Tun Dr Ismail in December 2012. It is in the heart of the busy commercial and business centre at Taman Tun Dr Ismail.
I was impressed when I walked in and saw that the ground floor comprised a customer service centre for customers to make travel enquiries and bookings, and a café. Known as Triways Coffee, the café sells cakes, snacks as well as heavy meals such as spaghetti, mendy rice and roast chicken.
There was also a very cosy reading corner with various local papers and travel magazines. And if that is not enough, there was a flight of stairs leading to Triways Boutique, selling mainly contemporary Muslim fashion clothing for women, halal cosmetics and travel-related items such as luggage bags.
APPEARANCE The travel section had four customer service terminals manned by staff in uniforms. I was told the crowd comprises mainly walk-in customers who either work, shop or stay in the Taman Tun Dr Ismail vicinity. Due to its central location, working adults in the vicinity can easily make a quick dash to the store during lunch time or after work.
The service staff entertaining me was friendly and she knew her business well. I asked her where I should go while on holiday in Singapore and she rattled off a number of must-see attractions and how I could get there by public transport.
The café section with tables and chairs were also very clean. Every table had a seating arrangement for four, and the furniture could be easily moved to combine tables for larger crowds should there be a need to.
EASE There was an open air car park within walking distance of the shop, thus I didn’t have problems with parking. The shop was also easy to locate with its huge signage.
I had called for directions earlier, and the customer service told me it was right next to the Mazda showroom. This landmark was useful in helping me find the place.
On the whole, I found the store very spacious and inviting. There were television screens running showing travel destinations as well as a fashion show depicting new styles in Muslim women fashion.
SUGGESTIONS If there was an area for further improvement, I suggest that Triways Travel also include more promotional brochures and collaterals for visitors to take home. After all, some walk-in customers may just be shopping, with no concrete clue on where their next holiday destination would be.
Giving away collaterals such as bookmarks, keychains and pens with the company logo imprinted would help visitors remember Triways in the future, when they need the services of a travel agency.
DORSETT Hospitality International has launched a New Year Deal for all properties in its portfolio across China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, with an 18 per cent discount off best available rates.
To take up the offer, bookings must be made between January 2 to February 9, 2014 for stays anytime throughout 2014. The promo code CNY2014 must be quoted at the time of reservation online.
Free add-ons are also available at the various hotels, including complimentary room upgrades, late check-out until 15.00 and F&B discounts at Dorsett Kwun Tong, Hong Kong; as well as F&B discounts for Dorsett Delight Food & Beverage Programme and late check-out until 15.00 at Dorsett Singapore.
Reservations can be made at www.dorsett.com.
REGENT Singapore is partnering a host of international airline carriers for the roll out of its Winter to Remember promotion that guarantees air miles per qualifying stay.
Under the terms of the promotion, guests who stay a minimum of two consecutive nights will be entitled to 1,000 air miles per qualifying stay, a 10 per cent discount on best available rates, breakfast and the hotel’s Standard Internet Package.
Regent Singapore will also present guests with macarons in three seasonal flavours: chestnut, cranberry and cream cheese, and chocolate and spices.
Partnering airlines include Cathay Pacific Airways, Asiana Airlines, Japan Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines, KLM, Air France, Eva Air, Singapore Airlines, Air China and China Airlines.
The promotion is valid from December 1, 2013 to February 28, 2014, but blackout dates apply.
Bookings can be made online at www.regenthotels.com/singapore.
TRAVELLERS ushering in the New Year in Taipei can expect to shell out 217 per cent more than usual for a hotel room or an estimated S$564 (US$446), making the city one of the more expensive destinations to celebrate 2014 in Asia-Pacific.
Based on German hotel search and price comparison site Trivago’s Hotel Price Index, Taipei has recorded the largest difference between December 31 and regular room prices of the 10 Asia-Pacific destinations ranked.
Following Taipei are Sydney, which has seen a 162 per cent increase over its monthly average; Pattaya, 104 per cent; Hong Kong, 82 per cent, Bali (Kuta), 80 per cent; Tokyo, 72 per cent; Singapore, 39 per cent and Shanghai, 13 per cent.
Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur were the only cities out of 10 to have rates decrease over the New Year period, with Bangkok prices dropping seven per cent and Kuala Lumpur, 21 per cent.
Comparisons were based on average price per night in Singapore dollars for a standard double room.
However, Taipei cedes its top position to Sydney in terms of absolute room rates for New Year’s Eve. While a room in Taipei costs an average of S$564, travellers to Sydney can expect an average of S$676.
Right behind second-place Taipei is Hong Kong, with a price tag of S$507 a night. Meanwhile, pricey Singapore is charging S$338 a night.
“Hotel price increases over this New Year’s Eve are not too marked in Singapore and its neighbouring cities – an ideal situation for Singaporeans looking for a short getaway or a staycation to ring in 2014,” said Haryati Afendy, spokesperson for Trivago in South-east Asia.
TTG Asia’s editor – Indonesia, Mimi Hudoyo, was yesterday conferred The Special Award: Life Time Achievement by Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy for her contributions and dedication to the nation’s tourism sector.
The Indonesia Tourism Journalistic Awards 2013 took place at the Ministry’s office yesterday afternoon, where Mimi was celebrated for her achievements in the travel sector.
Award recipients were chosen by panel of judges comprising representatives from the Ministry, travel industry associations, the media and tourism observers.
Elly Hutabarat, president of the Association of Air Ticketing Companies in Indonesia and chairwoman of the panel, said: “(Mimi) has produced so many journalistic works on tourism from the time of the legendary magazine Travel Indonesia, then the Media Indonesia daily and now with TTG Asia, an Asia-Pacific title. She has been dedicating her career of almost 30 years without fail to writing about Indonesian tourism.
“She, in fact, has not just been observing and reporting on tourism, but she has also been involved in national tourism development efforts by consistently taking part in various tourism events by becoming a host, speaker and also co-founder of the Tourism Dialogue Forum (about 20 years ago).”
Deputy minister of tourism and creative economy, Sapta Nirwandar, in his speech on the importance of media to the development tourism, said: “Journalists are ‘influencers’. When a journalist like the one whose surname is Hudoyo…for example, writes a story, it will have an impact on the readers.”
Mimi joined the TTG Asia family in 1998 and was promoted to editor-Indonesia in 2011.
Technology has had another impressive run this year. Industry experts pick the top apps, gadgets and websites that were eyeball grabbing
Patrick Andres
Vice president & regional managing director, Asia-Pacific
Travelport
The Museum of Modern Art in New York City launched a scavenger hunt on Foursquare, inviting people to find and check into modernist architectural sites across the city for rewards. The use of technology to mix e-commerce and gaming is an effective way to engage consumers, particularly the Gen Y and Millennials. At the same time, the social engagement aspect of this was brilliant, as it made people experience art within the city before even entering the museum.
Christian Lukey
Commercial director, Asia-Pacific
HRS – Hotel Reservation Service
I would like to highlight DriveNow, a car-sharing app developed by BMW and Sixt in Germany featuring BMW i, Mini and BMW vehicles. I used it in Germany and I love it because it is practical and pleasant to use, catering to the new needs of mobile users. This modern application is user-friendly and a real innovation – perfect for savvy mobile consumers.
Angel Gallego
President
Amadeus Asia Pacific
I love the idea of the Get Home Safe app, which tracks whether you get home safely after an activity and calls for help if you don’t.
As a father of two, this is exactly the kind of thing that can help me get rid of that persistent worry at the back of my mind. But whether you are a parent or a travel consultant with a duty of care responsibility, it has the potential to be used by anyone in any market. It’s just simple and clever.
Andreas Behrens
Director of mobile partnerships, Asia-Pacific
TripAdvisor
The innovation that wowed me most this year is Phonebloks, an open-concept modular hardware platform that enables you to set up a smartphone to your liking, with the initial idea to reduce waste but with many more possibilities. I’d describe it as the ‘Android approach to hardware’ and hence it was not surprising that Google’s subsidiary Motorola Mobility announced Project Ara, taking the Phonebloks concept to the next level. Why is this great for travel? Imagine the possibilities of replacing a smaller screen and a QWERTY keyboard that you use on your business phone with a better camera, bigger battery and an additional SIM card slot for your next international trip. The options are endless!
Robert Rosenstein
CEO
Agoda.com
I have been very interested in the varieties of wristband health monitors – I’m currently testing the Jawbone UP. You can build a personalised ‘health team’, track how much exercise you get, log your meals and even track your sleep patterns. All of this connects to your social network and helps drive motivation, gamifying your health progress. This space will be big in coming years, and important for travellers or executives who travel often and want to maintain consistency in their fitness regimen.
Craig Hewett
Co-founder & COO
Wego.com
My favorite travel site for 2013 is www.routehappy.com. Routehappy helps me to see which airlines are popular on certain routes and what are the specific features/services that make an airline popular, e.g. is the seat comfortable, is there Wi-Fi, can I charge my devices, is it a new or old plane, is there in-flight entertainment and is it good, etc. This value proposition is unique to Routehappy as such information is difficult or even impossible to find on some airline and OTA websites.
The information provided is largely objective as it comes directly from fellow travellers and not a merchant with a vested interest in selling you a ticket.
Andy Sleigh
General manager, Asia-Pacific
Skyscanner
An app that I love is Trover. It’s a really good example of how the combination of social and mobile can be brought together to enrich the travel experience in a personalised way. It’s like exploring a city with your own guide in your pocket and is a great enabler of independent travellers the world over.
Vikram Malhi
General manager of South-east Asia & India
AirAsia Expedia
As a frequent flyer, I love checking out and discovering travel apps. Mobiata, which was acquired by Expedia, develops some award-winning travel apps that have had millions of downloads. FlightTrack, for instance, has caught my eye with its comprehensive way of monitoring flight information such as weather updates, flight delays, terminal maps and more. What’s more, all their apps are incredibly intuitive, beautifully designed and are constantly breaking new boundaries.
Scene of Yangon, Myanmar
Bangkok Airways
Peter Wiesner, senior vice president-network management
The most exciting new destination is definitely Naypyidaw. As Myanmar opens up, businessmen still have to obtain permits, etc, from the ministries in Naypyidaw. Despite improving road network and more regular Yangon-Naypyidaw flights now, the trip via Yangon involves more time and expensive hotels.
We made a bold guess and launched thrice-weekly services from Bangkok to Naypyidaw on ATR72-500 on September 30. We soon realised that we hit an untapped market; within weeks we had a reasonable seat load factor and we have upgraded the service to five-times weekly flights as of November 18.
Star Cruises
Michael Goh, senior vice president (sales)
This year marks an exciting year of inaugural regional deployments for Star Cruises’ fleet. Asian holidaymakers prefer short cruises with multiple stopovers in exotic destinations. These all-time favourite cruise itineraries allow them to see at least two Asian countries in one short cruise. One of them is our SuperStar Libra, which made a 7D6N maiden voyage to Yangon from Penang on August 15, marking Star Cruises’ first return to Yangon in 10 years.
Royal Caribbean Cruises
Jennifer Yap, managing director, Singapore
Yangon is an up-and-coming tourist destination that is attracting the interest of a lot of our guests for its rich, exotic cultural and scenic attractions. Overnight voyages will offer (travellers) a more immersive experience and the chance to explore the destination in greater depth, so Azamara Club Cruises will feature Yangon with two overnights as one of the key highlights on a new itinerary featuring additional regional ports of call.
Carp kites flutter in the wind in Japan
Princess Cruises
Farriek Tawfik, director of South-east Asia
The highlight is the announcement of our expanded Japan cruise programme, which will see our Japan-built Diamond Princessmake her maiden call to the Japanese islands of Ishigaki, Amami Oshima and Abashiri in 2014. There is vast potential in the growing Japanese cruise market and we believe there is substantial untapped demand for cruise vacations there.
China Airlines
Sun Huang-Hsiang, chairman
The most exciting developments for us started two to three years ago and we are just keeping up the momentum this year. China and Japan are the most exciting markets for us. Direct services (to China) started from 2009 and we have grown quite rapidly. We are now flying to 28 cities in China, expanding from zero in the period of four years. Before the (open skies agreement with Japan), we had only eight cities and about 95 weekly flights to Japan; now we fly to 12 cities and have 128 flights a week to Japan.
Temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Dragonair
Patrick Yeung, CEO
We just launched Siem Reap in October, and earlier in the year we launched Wenzhou, Zhengzhou and Yangon, etc. Each route is exciting because these are all brand-new destinations for us. Last year we also reopened some of the routes we stopped since 2008. We have just announced Penang for 2014.
Wildlife on Galapagos Islands
Silversea Cruises
Melvyn Yap, regional director (Asia)
The most exciting thing this year was the launch of our new ship,Silver Galapagos. Due to their remote location, the Galapagos Islands are home to an abundant variety of unique wildlife – species found nowhere else on earth. With this new ship of ours, you can explore this remarkable destination in a way that is unlike any other.
Illustration of All Nippon Airways’ Boeing 787 Dreamliner
All Nippon Airways
Osamu Shinobe, president & CEO
In July, we started flying daily flights to San Jose (in California) using the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. We had a difficult time with the grounding of the 787s but flights to San Jose have resumed. San Jose is the most exciting route because like the Tokyo-Seattle route started last year, these destinations were made possible by the 787s; the 777 is too big and the 767’s range is not long enough. We are able to reinforce our international network with 787s.
We will disclose our next new route – somewhere in Asia – sometime in January 2014 because we have secured new slots at Haneda International Airport.
City of Brisbane, Australia
Garuda Indonesia
Emirsyah Satar, president & CEO
The most exciting development for us is using our new turboprops to make sure people visiting Indonesia can go beyond Bali to other areas. As for new routes, we just launched daily flights from Denpasar to Brisbane in August, and we are going to add frequencies and capacity next year. Brisbane is part of our strategy in terms of having more capacity into Australia because we are capturing a very good market in Australia. Down Under, here we come!
Cruising in Antarctica
Crystal Cruises
Mimi Weisband, vice president of public relations
The most interesting new itinerary we introduced this year was the Christmas/New Year cruise in South America, which features three days of cruising in Antarctica. Due to the very understandable restrictions regarding travel to this region, Crystal Cruises had to go to great expense and logistics to make this (itinerary) happen. We had to install special boilers to burn low-sulphur fuel and other special arrangements regarding provisioning. We did all these to offer a most special holiday cruise for our guests.
Additional reporting from Lee Pei Qi
Richard H’ng
SHANGRI-LA Hotels & Resorts has appointed Richard H’ng general manager of Shangri-La Hotel, Ningbo in China.
H’ng brings to his new role a deep and broad understanding of Chinese culture and the Chinese hospitality market as well as 20 years’ experience in the industry.
A Malaysian national, H’ng has worked in Malaysia, Thailand and China, including Suzhou, Xiamen and Shanghai. He began his career at Shangri-La Hotel in Penang and has risen through the ranks to take on positions including event sales manager, senior sales manager and director of sales and marketing.
