PRIVATE investment firm Battery Ventures has acquired IHS, parent company of hotel group Worldhotels and CRS provider Trust International.

All of the group’s shares were bought over by Battery Ventures from London-based Kings Park Capital.

A media release issued by Trust International said: “The transaction will enable IHS and its brands to build upon its customer-centric focus, drive organic growth, and pursue acquisition opportunities.”

Besides Worldhotels and Trust International, IHS also operates business units Nexus World Services, a sales management solutions provider, and IFH Institute for Hospitality Management, a training and benchmarking specialist.

In conjunction with the investment, Battery executive in residence, Steve Rowley, joins IHS as chairman and CEO. Dave Tabors and Morad Elhafed, also from Battery, will join IHS’ board of directors.

Rowley said: “Having Battery as a strategic and financial partner will help accelerate growth and continue to deliver high-quality, innovative solutions to customers worldwide. This is a large and strategic market and I look forward to working with the team to fuel both organic growth and to aggressively pursue acquisitions to expand the value we can deliver to customers.”

ENCOURAGED by growing demand from South Korea and Japan, the Philippine’s Department of Tourism (DoT) is leading the charge in tapping the English as Second Language (ESL) niche market.

The NTO is ramping up its marketing efforts by forging connections with more overseas partners, aiding foreign travel agencies in coming up with more tour packages including ESL components, and wooing students from the China, Vietnam and Russia markets.

DoT is looking to promote its ESL programme through mainland travel fairs in said countries, and last week led a sales mission to Russia.

Renee Marie Reyes, division chief for ESL niche marketing, DoT, said that the new push should help secure 30,000 Japanese, 6,000 South Korean, 3,000 mainland China and 1,200 Vietnamese students.

According to ESL schools and DoT officials interviewed, the Philippines was a prime choice for Asian ESL students due to its proximity, reasonable tuition fees, quality instruction and modules varying in length and group size.

South Korea remains the biggest market, but Reyes observed that Japan was fast gaining ground. The number of travel agencies selling ESL programmes in Japan has shot to 21, from just five four years ago.

A spokesperson from a major Japanese travel agency said the company was looking to tie up with more ESL schools and believes that Japan’s elderly population was a fertile ESL market.

However, Philippine-based travel agencies are finding it hard to tap this market. Nelya Schneider, sales and marketing planning manager for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Blue Horizons Travel & Tours, said a key problem was that ESL schools “rarely cooperate”.

“We’re not trying to get the business from them. We just need to help develop these products,” she emphasised. “They cannot get volume business without us.”

There are 34 DoT-accredited ESL schools in the Philippines, but a cursory check in Manila showed that many do not have tie-ups with travel agencies, operating their own accommodations and school trips.

DESPITE the choking smoke haze that enshrouded Singapore in June, passenger traffic at Singapore Changi Airport recorded 4.7 million arrivals, the highest number in 2013 so far.

According to Changi, June’s traffic movements measured a 6.1 per cent increase year-on-year. In terms of flight movements, there were 28,300 aircraft landings and take-offs.

Singapore’s tourism sector was affected, however, with the haze hitting record highs last month and a number of attractions shuttering temporarily to protect their employees (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 21, 2013).

Yet, at least one travel agency said it had seen a slew of last-minute bookings as Singaporeans attempted to escape the bad weather (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 21, 2013), while LCCs jumped at the opportunity by offering snap getaway deals.

June’s performance brings the total number of passengers managed by Changi to 26.2 million for the first half of 2013, a five per cent rise over the corresponding period in 2012.

Meanwhile, aircraft movements for January to June grew 4.6 per cent to 166,800. Among cities with at least 250,000 passengers during this period, Yangon, Taipei and Bangkok posted strongest growth to register 27 per cent, 19 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

SHUN Tak Holdings has raised the curtains on the group’s first branded hotel management company, Artyzen Hospitality Group (AHG).

According to a media statement from Shun Tak, AHG will develop a collection of its own luxury hotel brands catering to different lifestyles and offer management solutions to hotel owners and developers, including Shun Tak’s own properties.

AHG will be led by Rogier Verhoeven, executive director of Shun Tak Holdings, who will be supported by Robbert van der Maas, president of AHG and Jerry Huang, president of AHG Greater China.

Shun Tak managing director, Pansy Ho, had confirmed that the group was working on establishing its own management company in an interview with TTG Asia e-Daily earlier this year (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 20, 2013).

Said Ho in the statement: “The (tourism) market is gaining sophistication at such a dazzling speed that established multinational hotel brands have difficulty keeping pace. This has created a window of opportunity for us, as we have accumulated a wealth of experience in the region and insights on the consumption patterns of Chinese travellers.

“Creating our own hotel brands now makes sense as it naturally complements our existing businesses, with the various real estate and hotel investments in our pipeline.”

Shun Tak has also since come onboard as an equal-share investor in Jetstar Hong Kong, joining Qantas Group and China Eastern Airlines (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 7, 2013).

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) is stepping up India services by introducing a third daily flight to the country’s capital of New Delhi.

With the beginning of the Northern Winter season on October 27, the carrier will launch the additional flight with Boeing 777 aircraft.

From October 27, SIA and SilkAir will operate a total of 107 weekly services to 11 destinations in India.

Destinations served include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi.

BEST Western International has signed a franchise agreement with local Eden Palace Company for a new hotel project, the 205-room Best Western Premier the Grand at Nay Pyi Taw.

The hotel, due to start operations by 2Q2014, will become one of the first international-brand hotels in the city, which is also the seat of Myanmar’s government and one of the world’s fastest-growing hotel markets.

Glenn de Souza, vice president international operations-Asia and the Middle East, Best Western International, predicted Naypyidaw would experience a surge in business and leisure tourism in the coming years.

With the new Best Western Premier hotel, the hotel company would be perfectly placed to help the city grow.

He commented: “Being an American hotel, we are glad that the sanctions were lifted and we see Myanmar as a country with a lot of opportunities for tourism business. We are seeing a huge influx (of arrivals) but not enough international hotels. So that’s why we are here.”

U Tin Htwe, chairman of Eden Palace Company, pointed out that the hospitality industry in Myanmar was booming due to the reforms of late.

“The existing number of hotel rooms is not sufficient to meet the influx of tourist arrivals in Naypyidaw. Therefore, we have decided to develop an international-class hotel to plug this gap,” U Tin Htwe said.

Best Western earlier this year announced it would take over the management of and rebrand an existing hotel into the Best Western Green Hill Hotel (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 22, 2013).

According to de Souza, the company is looking at opening an upscale hotel in Yangon.

“We will probably have two hotels in Yangon. The owner of Green Hill Hotel is giving us the second hotel, which will have 100 rooms, in the Chinatown area, and (development) will take six to eight months to complete,” he shared.

Bagan and Mandalay were other cities the group is currently eyeing, he added.

THE Malaysian Association of Hotels Training and Education Centre (MAHTEC) will introduce its hospitality course in Brunei for the first time, as the association explores new international markets for its programmes.

MAHTEC commences its one-year Diploma in Hotel Management course for staff of The Empire Hotel & Country Club, Brunei on July 29.

“Twenty employees of the hotel have enrolled for the course,” said Reginald T Pereira, director, MAHTEC.

He added that the course was part of MAHTEC’s initiative in developing human capital within South-east Asia and beyond.

The association is also exploring the possibility of offering its range of hospitality courses in Vietnam, India and Mauritius.

In January this year, MAHTEC announced its collaboration with the Lao Hotel & Restaurant Association and its training partner, V Serve, to run the Bartender Management Certificate Programme in Laos (TTG Asia e-Daily, November 27, 2012).

DUSIT Fudu Hotels and Resorts has launched its first China project, the dusitD2 Fudu Binhu Hotel Changzhou.

The soft-opening is also the first Dusit-brand hotel in China, managed by the joint venture hotel management company between Thailand-based Dusit International and China-based Changzhou Qiao Yu Group (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 24, 2013).

Located within the Wujin Hi-Tech Industrial Zone, the hotel is 30 minutes from Changzhou Benniu Airport and railway station and 15 minutes from downtown Wujin.

Rooms at dusitD2 Fudu Binhu Hotel Changzhou range from 35-105m² and feature floor-to-ceiling windows for views over West Taihu Lake.

The hotel offers three F&B outlets, including Tian Xiang Lou Chinese Restaurant, for authentic Cantonese and Huaiyang cusines; Coffee Garden, serving international fare from its signature open-plan kitchen; and The Deli, an all-day bar.

MICE planners can make use of the hotel’s 518m² pillarless ballroom or any of the four multi-function rooms or the 100m² foyer.

To mark its opening, the hotel is dangling a 30 per cent discount on all room types when booking through d2bcrsvn@dusitfudu.com, until August 23.

VETERAN hotelier Philip Randolph Hill has died on Monday, July 22 at his Sanur residence in Bali after battling a long illness.

Hill, aged 60, had held management positions at numerous international hotels that took him to Jakarta, Bali and most recently, the Kima Bajo Resort & Spa in Manado, reported Balidiscovery.com.

In a career spanning more than three decades in the hospitality industry, the US national also worked in China, Singapore, the UK and the Middle East.