HILTON Hotels & Resorts launched its ninth property in Thailand yesterday when Hilton Sukhumvit Bangkok officially opened its doors.

The 280-room five-star property located in downtown Bangkok will target business and leisure travellers from within the region, especially Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Malaysia and South Korea.

General manager Chris Ehmann said he is focusing on the hotel’s F&B outlets – Scalini, an 1920s-style Italian-American restaurant and Mondo, which serves Mediterranean and Asian tapas – to build the hotel’s reputation within Bangkok.

“I really want people to say they’re going to Scalini, rather than just telling friends they’re eating at the Hilton,” he said. “We have something unique with both restaurants. They have strong identities, excellent food and they’re quite informal. So we’ll really be focusing on building their exposure to drive business.”

Ehmann said leveraging the strong identity of the property, which features a 1920s to 1930s US Prohibition-era aesthetic throughout its restaurants, bars, public areas and meetings spaces, would be key in making it stand out in the city’s increasingly competitive market.

The property is designed to maximise the use of natural light, especially at the Summit meeting facilities on the 25^th floor. Given its relatively limited space, the hotel will be targeting executive-level groups for its MICE business, said Ehmann.

“We’re looking at small-to-medium size groups for MICE,” he said. “The boardroom at The Summit can fit 14 people, so it’s ideal for quarterly meetings. The other two rooms are larger and can hold 20 to 50 people. We’re promoting The Summit as a destination rather than a meeting room. In life most business is conducted outside of a meeting room, which is why we have the kitchen and study as less formal breakout spaces.”

The hotel has seven meeting spaces of which the 250-pax ballroom is the largest.

A FOCUS on roadshows over tradeshows and spending an average of US$5-$6 per arrival for promotions and marketing are some of the key features of the Maldives’ new tourism master plan, set to be unveiled later this month.

The country’s fourth five-year tourism master plan for 2013-2017 will be launched on September 27 to coincide with this year’s World Tourism Day, said Ahmed Salih, secretary at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.

According to a draft of the report obtained by TTG Asia e-Daily, the new master plan, unlike previous ones, will articulate a five-year strategic agenda and action plan agreed on by both public and private industry players.

Sim Ibrahim Mohamed, former secretary general of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry, said the spotlight is on infrastructure development this time.

Other points in the plan include increasing the local staff ratio from 45 to 50 per cent to address demand for more Maldivians in mid- and upper-management levels, as well as scaling down on participation at trade fairs and concentrating on roadshows in order to maximise marketing dollars and target key producers of tourists.

The Maldives also aims to maintain 10 per cent annual growth in arrivals. To do this, the country hopes to grow arrivals from one million to 1.6 million visitors by 2017; increase average stay from 6.8 days to 7.2 days; up operational tourist bed capacity from 25,000 to 35,500; nurture average occupancy rate from 73 to 85 per cent; and double bed nights from 6.5 million to 12 million.

However, Sim pointed out: “There are also other dimensions of tourism that are not in the plan, like the proposal by former president Mohamed Nasheed for a minimum wage in the industry.”

He added that another point of contention is whether the government should allow more large, foreign-managed resorts on Maldivian shores versus creating guesthouses that would allow the economic benefits of tourism to trickle down to the locals.

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) will increase capacity on its Singapore-Shanghai route from October 27, the beginning of its northern winter operating season.

The airline will replace Boeing 777 aircraft currently being used on the route with the larger Airbus A380 on five weekly flights, thus raising overall seat capacity by 12 per cent.

SIA is running 35 weekly flights to Shanghai Pudong International Airport in the northern summer season and will operate 28 flights during the northern winter season.

The airline and its regional arm, SilkAir, currently operate 116 weekly flights to 10 destinations in China collectively ­– Beijing, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Kunming, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Xiamen.

SIX Senses Hotels Resorts Spas will continue to operate the Six Senses Laamu even after the property’s acquisition by new owners.

Singapore-based HPL Hotels & Resorts purchased the resort located in the southern Maldives’ Laamu atoll through its subsidiary Leisure Frontiers, and plans to enhance the 97-villa property in the future.

Stephen Lau, chairman, HPL Hotels & Resorts, commented: “As the new owners, we are extremely pleased that Six Senses will continue operating the property, which incorporates all the creativity and personal attention to detail for which Six Senses is renowned. The group’s pioneering position in the Maldives gives it a unique insight into target markets and into operating in the destination.”

In a press release issued by Six Senses, the hotel management company assured the acquisition would be “a seamless transition for trade and consumer sectors, with all programmes and commitments ongoing”.

GAZETTED national monument Lau Pa Sat has shut for a facelift, as part of plans to rejuvenate the 119-year-old food centre’s physical structure and offerings.

Singapore’s The Sunday Times reported that the S$4 million (US$3.1 million) makeover will result in better ventilation, a new internal walkway, a stage for live performances, a repaired clock tower, while leaving Lau Pa Sat’s Victorian-era cast-iron structure intact. It will reopen in November.

The shakeup also extends to the food centre’s tenant mix and numbers. New restaurants will make their debut and offer diners more al fresco seating, while the total number of tenants will be reduced to create more space.

However, Boon Tat Street’s seafood restaurants and satay street’s hawkers will remain.

Alden Tan, managing director of Kopitiam, which owns Lau Pa Sat, was reported as saying that local food would continue to account for 80 per cent of the fare served there.

The company is also looking into having more pushcarts to hawk a greater variety of street food.

MÖVENPICK Hotels & Resorts has opened the first of four hotels in its China pipeline, reportedly the first international five-star hotel in Enshi, Hubei Province.

Located close to the convention centre in the city’s business district, Mövenpick Hotel Enshi is a short drive from the train station and offers quick access to the newly built airport.

The hotel comes with 240 guestrooms, including 27 suites and one presidential suite, all boasting Tujia and Miao ethnic art to reflect the local culture.

Guests can choose from a range of F&B options such as the Lotus Garden Chinese Restaurant, serving local and Cantonese cuisine; the all-day dining The Chef Theatre for European fare; and Dessert House for Mövenpick ice cream and home-made chocolates.

Other facilities include an outdoor swimming pool, a fitness centre, The Flower spa with nine therapy rooms, a hairdressing and beauty salon, a 515m² grand ballroom, a 250-pax banquet hall, eight meeting rooms and a private club lounge.

Jean Gabriel Pérès, president and CEO, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, said: “We are proud to become the first five-star hotel in the city of Enshi. By 2020, China is poised to become the world’s most visited tourism destination and the largest outbound travel market, and we are excited to be growing our presence here. Establishing a new five-star hotel in Enshi is a significant step forward for showcasing the Mövenpick brand to a new generation of Chinese travellers.”

Three more Mövenpick properties are slated to come online by 2015 – a 380-room resort on Phoenix Island, Sanya; a 350-key hotel in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia; and a 300-room hotel in Jiading, Shanghai.

TUNE Hotels’ fifth Indonesia hotel, Tune Hotel Solo, began welcoming guests last week.

The 159-room property is located on Jalan Sopomo in the heart of Solo, within minutes of the city’s historical and cultural attractions and shopping options.

Mark Lankester, CEO, Tune Hotels Group, said: “Tune Hotel Solo represents the first hotel in Central Java, a city steeped in history with a fast-growing tourism industry as well as a booming middle class offering a huge potential for rapid growth.

“With four hotels currently operating in Indonesia, there will be an aggressive expansion of six more Tune Hotels in development, which are scheduled to open over the next 18 months (in destinations such as) Makassar, Bekasi, Surabaya, Bandung, Jakarta and Palembang.”

With the group’s latest opening, Tune Hotels has a total of five properties in Indonesia, 11 in Malaysia, five in the UK, four in Thailand, five in the Philippines, and one each in India and Japan.

Tune Hotels will also open another property in Australia this year, while projects for the Middle East, Europe and Africa are currently under development.

EUROPE’S economic crisis does not mean an end to longhaul travel from the region as the UK is still a viable market provided travel consultants know whom to market to, said speakers at the Luxperience Thought Leaders forum yesterday.

Sandra Leach, founder of the London-based Sandra Leach Company, a travel marketing consultancy promoting Australia and the South Pacific to Europe, pointed out that the UK is no longer in recession, with its economy expected to expand one per cent in 2013.

She advised travel consultants to focus on the UK’s 50-69 age group that represents a quarter of the UK’s longhaul holiday market.

Furthermore, luxury travel and the VFR market are recession-proof, she added.

Likewise, Helen Logas, CEO of Luxperience, noted that the luxury sector has been a “saviour” in the UK.

Leach explained that Britons have turned to all-inclusive packages as they know how much the total holiday spend will be, with 50 per cent of the market now choosing to purchase package holidays as compared to 37 per cent in 2010.

As holidays booked with travel consultants afford consumer protection in case a company collapses, UK travellers have also rediscovered the value of agencies.

To tap this sector, Leach urged companies to aim for a clear section of the market, be visible to tour operators, invest in partners to create long-term working relationships, utilise B2C marketing and throw in as much additional value to holiday packages as possible, such as Wi-Fi and onsite tours.