PHM Hospitality has launched its first budget property, THE BnB, with the grand opening of THE BnB Jakarta Kelapa Gading last Sunday.

The 171-room hotel comprises 138 Urban Rooms of 19-22m² and 33 Urban Deluxe Rooms ranging from 26-29 m². Each Urban Deluxe Room has a connecting door to a twin-bedded Urban Room, enabling the hotel to cater to families.

Hotel facilities include a restaurant managed by Kaffein, free Wi-Fi in its guestrooms, public areas and five meeting rooms.

In collaboration with sister transportation company, White Horse Group, the hotel provides shuttle services to the retail venues such as Mall of Indonesia, Kelapa Gading Mall, Mal Artha Gading and ITC Cempaka Mas.

PHM Hospitality director of marketing and communications, Hera Nitihardja, said: “THE BnB targets the simple urban explorer and the independent traveller who like things that are new, simple and value for money.

“They are the (new generation of) affluent corporate travellers and individual businessmen who are doing business in Kelapa Gading and the surrounding areas. We also provide small, compact meeting facilities for them here.”

The hotel’s launch price is Rp499,000 (US$50) for Urban Room and Rp699,000 for the Urban Deluxe.

TRAVEL consultants in Sri Lanka are mired in a dispute with IATA over the shortening of credit cycles from the current 10 down to seven days, with IATA “threatening” to withdraw its payment programme should the industry not comply.

According to the trade, the shortened credit cycle would throw the entire industry off gear.

Travel consultants say in the case of more than 200,000 Sri Lankans who annually go abroad for work, the air ticket is often issued even before they obtain a visa. “The employer does not pay for the ticket until they arrive for employment at their destination. These payments are made weeks later and sometimes after more than a month,” one consultant said.

Sasi Ganeshan, CEO, VMS Group of Companies, remarked: “We would have to provide a bank guarantee to each and every airline and hire more staff to maintain more accounts while the airlines would also have more work.”

In a statement released over the weekend, the IATA Agents Association of Sri Lanka (IATA-AASL), said: “If the payment cycle is reduced to seven days, it would make it impossible for travel (consultants) to conduct their business.”

Praising the Sri Lankan government, IATA-AASL said in the same statement: “Even though its own rules require it to comply with government action in each country in the application of the rules of that country, IATA is threatening the government with withdrawal of the entire programme unless the directive is withdrawn. Such discrimination by IATA (against) Sri Lanka should not be tolerated.”

Sri Lanka joined IATA’s payment scheme six years ago, which allowed all travel consultants to provide a single bank guarantee to IATA. Without such a plan, travel consultants would need to put up bank guarantees to each airline.

Despite IATA’s announcement in March that it wanted credit cycles reduced to seven days, members of IATA-AASL unanimously agreed to continue with the 10-day payment cycle.

IATA has also since written to the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka to say that the shortening of the credit cycle must be approved by a mail vote of all airlines worldwide.

IATA-AASL has challenged this, pointing out that IATA is insisting on implementing the seven-day credit cycle although only four airlines have voted against the original 10-day cycle.

IATA had not responded to TTG Asia e-Daily’s request for comments by publication time.

MALAYSIA Airlines (MAS) will expand its network further in the coming months, with a new connection to Kochi and a reintroduction of Darwin-bound flights.

Beginning September 1, MAS will operate daily flights linking Kuala Lumpur and Kochi in India.

Luxury Tours Malaysia manager, Ganneesh Ramaa, said: “MAS’ new flights to Kochi will complement AirAsia’s services (on the same route). With increased seat capacity and a premium airline servicing the Kuala Lumpur-Kochi route, it will be easier to promote Malaysia to business and MICE travellers from Kochi.”

From November 1, MAS will reinstate services to Darwin, having ceased services to Australia’s Northern Territory in 2002. The airline’s 160-seater Boeing 737-800 will be utilised for the five weekly flights between Kuala Lumpur and Darwin.

MAS had earlier announced it was reviving its daily Kuala Lumpur-Dubai services on August 5 (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 27, 2013), which it had suspended in January 2012.

Andy Muniandy, director of sales and business development at Asian Overland Services Tours & Travel, said: “MAS has been long established on the Kuala Lumpur-Dubai route and is well-known in the market. I think it will be quite easy for them to re-establish themselves in the market.

He added: “It is also a good move to reinstate this route as Dubai is a regional hub for the Middle East. Many European airlines and other Middle Eastern carriers fly to Dubai and passengers can take a direct, connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur on MAS.”

TRAVEL consultants in the Philippines have given news of Philippine Airlines’ impending launch of four-times-weekly services linking Manila and Guangzhou (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 3, 2013) a warm reception.

William Ang, COO of Uni-Orient Travel, said the new service “definitely gives travellers another option” and “gives travel agents more opportunites” to sell the two-way Manila-Guangzhou route, currently operated nonstop by only China Southern Airlines and Cebu Pacific.

Ang said it was “natural” for PAL to fly to Guangzhou, the third primary city in mainland China, as the carrier was already flying to Beijing and Shanghai.

Mary Ann Ong, China market director, Blue Horizons Travel & Tours, said PAL’s new service came at a time when inbound traffic from China was recovering, after the Philippines was blacklisted for five months last year owing to a territorial dispute (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 19, 2013).

“We’re actually quite late in going to Guangzhou,” said Ong, noting that Guangzhou had been opened to visitors ahead of Beijing and Shanghai.

But Department of Tourism assistant secretary, Benito Bengzon Jr, said the new service would “add more seat capacity for inbound Manila from Guangzhou and help in achieving our visitor arrivals targets”.

Maria Fetalvero, sales and reservations officer at Amkor Travel and Tours, agreed that business and leisure travel between the two destinations stood to benefit, and that many travellers also preferred having more travel options.

ASIANA Airlines’ CEO has apologised for the crash-landing of the carrier’s San Francisco-bound flight, which cost two passengers their lives and injured more.

In a media statement released yesterday, the airline’s top executive, Young-Doo Yoon, said: “We at Asiana Airlines would like (to) express our utmost sympathy and regret for the distress experienced by the passengers of flight OZ214 and their families as a result of this accident.”

“We apologise most deeply.”

The airline said it would continue to cooperate fully with both US and South Korean governmental institutions in the investigation into the crash, and has established an emergency response centre at its headquarters to do so.

It has also dispatched a special flight carrying Asiana staff members from Seoul to San Francisco to assist those affected by the incident.

Asiana Airlines’ OZ214, ferrying 291 passengers and 16 cabin crew, departed Incheon International Airport and met with distress upon its landing at San Francisco International Airport’s runway 28.

BANGLADESH has begun offering visas on arrival (VoA) for business travellers with immediate effect, opening the door to more foreign investment.

The new facility is available to citizens of the US, Canada, Australia, Russia, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and the European Union countries.

Valid for 30 days and free of charge, the VoA is issued at all international airports and land border posts. However, travellers may be required to show a letter of invitation from their business partners or inviting organisations, a return flight ticket, and must be able to show they are carrying at least US$500.

VoAs for transits will also be offered for US$20 at the country’s airports for a maximum transit period of 72 hours.

Mozzamat Nazmanara Khanum, deputer secretary, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, said: “VoAs will facilitate a larger number of arrivals to Bangladesh and business travel will be combined with some tourist activity too. A larger number of visitors will be exposed to our country’s cultural and tourist attractions. We believe the gateway has been opened.”

Akhtaruz Zaman Khan Kabir, CEO, Bangladesh Tourism Board, said: “VoA is a positive step towards increasing footfalls in business travel and MICE. Our infrastructure is growing to accommodate more visitors with additional branded hotels and conference facilities. We hope to see more arrivals soon.”

JW Marriott is set to open a 700-key property near Dhaka’s international airport in 2Q2014, while a 300-room Marriott is under construction in the capital.

International inbound arrivals to Bangladesh grew from 3.2 million in 2005 to six million in 2012.

THE Muslim fasting month of Ramadan is traditionally a low period for business meetings at Malaysian hotels, but two Kuala Lumpur hoteliers and a travel management company interviewed said they were witnessing stronger demand for meeting packages compared to last year.

They credited this to the recovery of demand following the slowdown in 1H2013 due to the general elections in May (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 26, 2013).

Seri Pacific Hotel Kuala Lumpur’s director of sales-MICE, Mohan Bhanu, explained: “Many corporate companies and the government had deferred their trainings and meetings earlier in the year in anticipation of the 13^th Malaysian General Election on May 5.

“As the budget has to be used up before their current financial year ends, many are taking the opportunity to hold trainings, seminars, workshops in our hotel during the fasting month to benefit from our special meeting package promotions. This year, we are also seeing early corporate bookings, at least two months in advance prior to Ramadan.

“This year, we expect response to our meeting packages to increase by 30 per cent compared with last year, and this is based on current enquiries and bookings made.”

De Palma Hotel Ampang room division manager, L Kanthan, is also anticipating a 30 per cent increase in meeting package sales this year. He said the hotel had introduced Ramadan meeting packages where Muslim clients could forego their lunch and coffee breaks, in place of the hotel’s break fast buffet.

He added: “Take-up (has been) good, especially from our government clients who make up the bulk of our business.”

Travel management company Sutra Utama’s group managing director, Mohd Syed Razif Al Yahya, said: “Demand for business travel overseas to non-Muslim countries is as per normal during Ramadan. However, domestic meetings have slowed down a little – by 15 to 20 per cent compared with other months. In previous years, domestic meetings would see a slowdown of some 30 per cent.

“This year is different. There was a big slowdown leading up to the general election and immediately after, but meetings have started moving again.”

IN LINE with Japan National Tourism Organization’s (JNTO) shift towards South-east Asia, the regional tourism body from Kyushu is banking on its accessibility and transport options to attract more inbound arrivals.

At the Singapore leg of a two-city roadshow featuring sellers from the southern Japanese region, Naoyuki Sato, director general of the Kyushu District Transport Bureau, said in a message that South-east Asia was now “top priority for Kyushu, especially Singapore”.

Hiroyasu Konishi, manager, overseas division, Kyushu Tourism Promotion Organization (KTPO), said self-drive holidays were one form of travel the board was keen to further promote to Singaporeans.

“Singaporeans consider Kyushu a countryside destination and many families come to Kyushu for self-drive holidays. Compared to the congested roads of Tokyo and Osaka, Kyushu is easy to drive in. In Kyushu, we also drive on the same side of the road,” Konishi added.

Also introduced at the roadshow was the new Kyushu Railway Company’s Seven Stars in Kyushu cruise train, which would take passengers on a luxury 4D3N or 2D1N trip around the region and bundle in a high-end ryokan stay, from commencement of operations in October.

“Travel consultants can add such trips on to a six-day itinerary, for instance,” suggested Konishi.

JNTO data shows a total of 21,220 Singapore travellers visited the Kyushu region in 2012. In comparison, 235,160 Singapore visitors went to Tokyo and 132,320 travelled to Hokkaido.

Furthermore, KPTO has stepped up its effort to engage the trade, holding a fam trip for 36 travel consultants from six South-east Asian countries last month, and organising a roadshow in Bangkok for the first time.

However, Kyushu is still overshadowed by top-of-mind destinations in Japan such as Hokkaido.

SA Tours’ product manager, Ebonny Ng, said: “When people think of Japan, it’s still Tokyo or Hokkaido.”

He cited the example of Harmonyland in Oita, Kyushu, featuring Sanrio characters such as Hello Kitty, which was bigger than Sanrio Puroland in Tokyo but not as well known due to a “lack of awareness”.

On what else could be done to promote travel to Kyushu, Ng pointed out: “A few years ago, many Hong Kong and Taiwan dramas featured Kyushu as a setting, so there was an opportunity there (but it was not leveraged). But in Singapore, (travel) shows rarely go there.”

Ng observed that demand for Kyushu tours at SA Tours was seasonal, occurring mostly in June or December, and said that the company saw about 10 group tours to the region annually.