Free Wi-Fi is top must-have hotel amenity

February 25, 2013

FREE WI-FI reigns as the most desired hotel amenity, according to travellers polled by Hotels.com.

Trumping free parking and complimentary breakfasts, complimentary Wi-Fi is the most crucial factor in choosing a hotel even for leisure stays, said 34 per cent of respondents. Some 56 per cent rated it the number one must-have when on business trips, while 66 per cent want free Wi-Fi to become a standard at all hotels this year.

For modern amenities, 23 per cent said they would like in-room high-end coffee makers.

For simple amenities, 43 per cent chose free bottled water as the most welcome, though travellers from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Brazil rated free power adaptors above water.

In food and beverage, 31 per cent of travellers want to see breakfast become a standard at all hotels, making it the favourite non-tech item.

Happy hours, wine tastings or any other time with free food and drinks is 42 per cent of global travellers’ favourite newly offered hotel service amenity.

Travellers voted the high-end fitness centre and/or spa (26 per cent) and designer toiletries (21 per cent) their first and second favourite amenities at luxury hotels respectively.

While 54 per cent of respondents said they would like to experience the complimentary use of a Rolls Royce Phantom as an “outrageous” luxury hotel amenity, 26 per cent and 24 per cent said they were not interested in the promotion of bath menus/bath butlers and turn down service respectively.

Survey results were based on responses from over 8,600 respondents from across 28 countries including Australia, China, France, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

Carlson Rezidor appoints new South Asia chairman, CEO

By TTG Asia

February 25, 2013

CARLSON Rezidor Hotel Group has renewed its team with the appointment of KB Kachru as chairman and Raj Rana as CEO for the group’s South Asia branch.

Both will report directly to Simon C Barlow, president, Asia-Pacific, who is based in Singapore.

Kachru was previously CEO of Carlson Rezidor in South Asia, and has been “building the company in India over the past 15 years”, said Barlow.

Rana, a US national, was most recently vice president, Radisson franchise operations, Americas, based in Minneapolis. He brings with him 22 years of experience with Carlson Rezidor.

Travel consultants to be accredited as professionals

By Paige Lee Pei Qi

February 22, 2013

THE NATIONAL Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) will officially launch an accreditation programme for Singapore agency professionals on March 14.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily on the sidelines of the NATAS Travel 2013 which opened today, NATAS CEO Robert Khoo said the programme recognised one’s ability to be a travel consultant.

In comparison, the existing CaseTrust-NATAS Joint Accreditation Scheme, run by the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) and NATAS, acknowledges the company rather than its workers.

Under the new accreditation scheme, candidates must attend training modules and sit a test in order to be certified. Said Khoo: “This programme will give recognition to those who put in the effort to improve their service and will also make them proud of themselves.”

Travel consultants TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to said the new programme would help improve the overall quality of the industry.

ASA Holidays’ head of marketing communications, Eileen Oh, said: “This will not only benefit consumers, but the company’s brand image will improve as they can announce they have certified, capable staff.”

CTC Travel’s senior vice-president of marketing & public relations, Alicia Seah, said CTC Travel aimed for all its 120 staff to be accredited under the programme by early next year. She said: “This can be a badge of honour for our staff and will help differentiate service excellence levels in this competitive industry.”

Khoo is hopeful that accreditation will soon be the benchmark for all travel and tourism industry professionals to measure themselves. He aims to eventually get at least 50 per cent of his members’ workforce certified, adding this would be “fantastic”.

Jet Airways triggers price war in Indian skies

By Shekhar Niyogi

February 22, 2013

JET Airways’ price-slashing move earlier this week has sparked a price war among Indian carriers.

IndiGo, Spice Jet and GoAir have followed suit with deals of their own after Jet Airways dropped prices by as much as 30-50 per cent on two million seats recently. Air India is also offering a 40 per cent discount on its fares.

Jet Airways’ offers are open for booking until February 24, and are good for 450 flights across 57 domestic destinations for travel until December 31, on either Jet Airways or Jet Konnect, its low-cost arm.

Airfares range from Rs2,250 (US$41) for travel up to 750km to Rs3,800 for flights above 1,400km. All prices are tax-inclusive.

Sudheer Raghavan, chief commercial officer, Jet Airways, said: “The offer will enable passengers to plan ahead and get great bargains for travel during the holiday seasons in summer, autumn and winter.”

Airlines expect the deals to push up passenger loads to 90 per cent in the high season, from an average of 73 per cent.

Spice Jet claims to have sold 700,000 tickets when it offered a million seats at marked down prices in a three-day sale for travel between February 1 and April 30.

Mamta Panjani, general manager-east, Mercury Travels, said: “This sudden reduction in fares will boost air travel for holidays and business travel as high fares last year had dampened many holidaymakers’ plans.”

Meanwhile, Rajendra Churiwala, director-eastern region, IATA Agents Association of India, said: “Passengers will benefit from this price war provided enough seats are offered on all major flights at these prices.”

AirAsia X to build multiple hubs in Asia

By S Puvaneswary

February 22, 2013

AIRASIA X plans to build multiple hubs in Asia which would enable it to feed on shorthaul AirAsia’s massive network, strengthen group presence and brand in Asia-Pacific and dominate intra-regional travel.

Azran Osman-Rani, CEO, AirAsia X, said: “We want to do multiple hubs within the next five years. We will follow the AirAsia model and create hubs in Bangkok, Jakarta, Denpasar and Tokyo – cities with AirAsia hubs.”

The carrier will increase its fleet size from 11 to 25 aircraft by next year. This year, it will take delivery of seven Airbus A330s from April and another seven A330s in 2014.

The new aircraft would be used to increase frequencies on high load routes such as Kuala Lumpur to Sydney, Melbourne, Taipei and Seoul, and to fly to new cities, said Azran.

Currently operating services to 14 destinations, AirAsia X is looking at new connections from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Busan, Xi’an, Chongqing and Wuhan.

Azran predicted these countries would dominate economic growth in the travel and tourism industry over the next five years.

At the same time, AirAsia X is taking steps to resolve technology issues with GDSs to enable travel consultants to book its seats and service offerings seamlessly, and not lose out on group and MICE bookings.

Accor in talks for a Novotel in Yangon

By Rahul Khanna

February 22, 2013

ACCOR is in talks with local partner Max Myanmar Group of Companies to open a Novotel in Yangon within a property belonging to the latter, according to a Max Myanmar spokesperson.

The proposed 366-room Novotel Hotel (Yangon) will be established in Max Myanmar’s Pyay Tower on Pyay Road.

Max Myanmar Hotel Group’s project manager, Bo Chan Tun, said 159 rooms would be located in the 14-storey Tower A and 207 rooms in 16-storey Tower B.

He remarked: “At the moment, we are facing a hotel room shortage, especially in Yangon and other key destinations. So developing a big hotel with many rooms like this will meet the current demand for hotel rooms.”

Facilities will include a ballroom, meeting room, conference rooms, a café, wine bar, French restaurant, swimming pool, fitness centre, spa and tennis court.

Earlier this month, The Bangkok Post reported that Best Western International planned to open its first Myanmar property in 2013, leveraging friendlier investment rules and the countrywide room shortage.

The hotel chain was reportedly looking at locations in Yangon and Mandalay, and were discussing franchising and ownership options with potential investors.

Best Western opens in Nha Trang

By TTG Asia

February 22, 2013

BEST Western Sea & Sun Nha Trang opened today, marking the chain’s fifth property in Vietnam.

The beachfront hotel offers 80 guestrooms and suites, many with private balconies.

“Driven by an influx of new flights, strong demand from the domestic market, and a fast-growing international reputation, Nha Trang’s golden coast will soon rival many of Asia’s more established resort destinations,” said Glenn de Souza, Best Western International’s vice president international operations-Asia & the Middle East.

Facilities include restaurants, a swimming pool, a spa, two meeting rooms with capacity for 120 delegates, free Internet access and a tour desk for local excursions.

Rajakamar names William Newley as CEO

By TTG Asia

February 22, 2013

RAJAKAMAR International Group has appointed William Newley as CEO. Newley will manage the group’s subsidiaries, which include MG Holidays, RajaKamar Indonesia, Abacus Room Deals and Byress.

Newley was most recently sales head-South-east Asia for Gullivers Travel Associates in Jakarta, and had served in leadership positions at the travel wholesaler’s Singapore and Hong Kong offices.

Dreams of a new sheen

By Raini Hamdi

February 22, 2013

Will Singapore-based Pontiac Land Group – lover of art, architecture, refined services and all things beautiful – redefine luxury hospitality with its new brand, Patina? Raini Hamdi talks to Marc Dardenne, CEO, Patina Hotels & Resorts, about creating a new sheen

Marc Dardenne, CEO, Patina Hotels & Resorts

Why does Pontiac, which owns luxury hotels in Singapore like Regent, Ritz-Carlton, Conrad and Capella, want to launch a new brand and manage hotels?
If you’ve owned successful hotels for so long and you like hotels, the next logical step is to manage them yourself. The group has incredible development expertise and has worked with different brands – which are all very good – and learned along the way, so it’s time to create our own.

Is there a need for yet another luxury hotel brand?
Yes, there is some white space. The established brands are outstanding in their service delivery. They have the right processes, are consistent and, though expensive, you know what you are going to get, so the value is there. But there is something lacking; the experience, energy or the lifestyle aspects. They are a little conservative, maybe even boring, for the new traveller.

On the other hand, the lifestyle hotels are wonderful in their energy, exciting, have great design, but lack service delivery and product consistency. So we want to take the best of the two worlds and build some wonderful hotels.

You launched the first Armani Hotel in Dubai, The Address Hotels + Resorts and At.mosphere, the world’s highest restaurant in Burj Khalifa. How lucky to be involved with a lot of firsts.
Yes. I joined Pontiac because the Kwee family has fantastic reputation in the industry, there are common values, the vision for luxury is the same, the chemistry works and, in life, you don’t get too many chances to develop something from ground up.

But each (experience) is different. Armani is a fashion brand, never a hotel brand, so it’s about taking the DNA of a successful brand and moving it into the hotel space. The Address is a new product, but we had existing products and had to work with those. Here, with Patina, it’s a white sheet, so it’s exciting.

Established brands have years of experience behind them, and do great things, but there is always a certain legacy that you have to deal with. Here, I can start afresh with new ideas and new ways of doing business.

But there is legacy with Pontiac, which is used to Ritz-Carlton, Regent, etc. Won’t this influence Patina?
Not at all. Patina is a fresh brand. The other brands manage the hotels on Pontiac’s behalf.

When you came in, were there already some thoughts about the brand from the Kwee family? How white is the sheet and do you have a free hand to create Patina?
I think everyone has thoughts about it. We kind of all listened to each other, brainstormed, thought out of the box.

What were some of the thoughts?
We knew we wanted to be in the luxury segment – five-star plus, six-star, ultra-luxe. My background is luxury, that’s what I like to do, and the Kwees have always been in the luxury space – look at all their hotels. Some, like Regent, are ahead of their time.

Secondly, we wanted to work with great consultants, architects and interior designers, so that part of our brand identity is developing hotels that are special and not cookie-cutters.

Third is the art component. In all (Pontiac) hotels, there is a fantastic art collection. This will be part of the DNA of Patina as well.

We also have a 360-degree concierge concept, where every team member is a host. In a traditional hotel, if a guest wants recommendations on Singapore food, he goes to the concierge. In our case, we want to prepare everyone to be ready to answer. If a guest is interested in calligraphy, our concierge could tell him a thing or two, then call Johnny in the laundry who is passionate about calligraphy. Johnny will be able to take the client out to the real heart of calligraphy. It’s an experience he will remember and will tell his friends. We want to develop specialists in different areas among our staff.

I’ve worked with different brands, so a lot of my contribution will be to cherry-pick the best of the best and create the perfect experience for the market of today.

A lot of luxury brands are also doing the same. Regent under Steven Pan, or the new So Sofitel brand, all talk of architecture and experiences.

Yes, there is a clear trend towards the new luxury. Everyone is trying but time will tell who will do the best. It’s all about the execution. We feel we have the right DNA, team and backing. What’s also important is a long-term approach. Hotels and brands take time to build, and the group has a long-term view. So, while we want to be aggressive in development we want to make sure we do it right.

Which luxury brand today do you feel is doing it right?
I feel nobody has been able to fill the gap yet and hopefully Patina will, with all the best practices.

So in today’s prices, how much would it cost to build Patina, what would you be charging and what are the development plans?
It’s pretty much in line with luxury hotels such as Ritz-Carlton.The first Patina will be in Singapore (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 8, 2012) and we’ll announce the full details this quarter. We’re working on projects in China – Shanghai, Beijing and Sanya; a couple in South-east Asia – Bangkok, Phuket, Bali, Manila, Palawan; and the Maldives, which would be a fantastic location for Patina. India and Sri Lanka are also interesting. As well, the Middle East – Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi.

Our strategy is to focus first on Asia all the way to the Middle East, but Patina really is a global brand. I can see Patina in Europe and the US at a later stage. But we have to walk before we run. And we want to be very quality focused. If we say we must have five, or 10 hotels, we’ll run into the danger of pushing some projects we’re going to regret. The key for us now is to over-deliver on our brand promise.

So you’re both beach and city accommodation? What’s a good size for a Patina hotel?
We expect 40 per cent will be resorts and 60 per cent urban hotels with a resort feel. Today, there is a blurring between business and leisure – businessmen have their BB around when they are at the pool; the business centre is wherever you are. We want to cater to both corporate and leisure. If you’re a pure corporate hotel, you have lots of downtime during weekends and holidays.

A good size would be 150-250 rooms. Any larger and it will be difficult to provide the highly personalised service. With 150-250 rooms, you can ensure the room is ready and perfect when the guest arrives, you can adjust it to his preferences, etc. You will then ask, why not smaller then, 60-80 rooms? If they are villas in the Maldives that’s fine, but in general there’s a certain number you’d have to have in order to make the concept viable. You need good F&B outlets, for example, and when the resort is too small, it’s difficult to do that and bring in the right talent.

Part of the development will also be residential, and we have launched Patina Lifestyle Services where customers can choose from a menu of services or all of the services. We can take care of everything, from walking the dog to filling the fridge if they want us to. It’s a step further than the residential services available today. We hope a lot of our hotels will have a residential component as we like the concept, it works well with the hotel and Pontiac is experienced in residential development.

Is it easy for new brands to draw talent?
People say, ‘Oh, new brand, difficult to get the right people, Singapore has a talent crunch – I don’t listen to this. It’s how you find the right talent and that comes first with the selection process, i.e. how much time you spend to find the right team member with the right attitude and who can associate with the brand values. Too many times I’ve seen we make shortcuts.

Then, it’s how you welcome them and next is training, training, training.

For me, it’s interesting to see that a lot of young people are actually attracted to a white sheet. I saw this in Dubai. They feel if they join, they could contribute and not be boxed in and told what to do. When I started in the industry, I wanted to join the established companies, learn how a hotel works, know the policies and procedures. Today’s generation wants to learn too, but they want to be creative and in an organisation that is flat and listens to them. Being a new brand, I’ve a huge advantage actually.

This article was first published in TTG Asia, February 22 – March 7, 2013 issue, on page 8. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.

Middle man’s not dead yet

By Gracia Chiang

February 22, 2013

From Left to Right: Mark Flower, Director of commercial, South-east Asia InterContinental Hotels Group,Budi Tirtawisata, CEO, Panorama Group and David Shackleton, COO, Dusit International

Despite the hype about hotels going direct, the general sentiment is that travel intermediaries are alive and kicking.

In fact, at the recent Travel Distribution World Asia in Singapore, several hotel chains reported that the majority of their business continued to be derived from wholesalers.

For Centara Hotels & Resorts, 80 per cent of volume is wholesale-based, said its director of online distribution, Phensiri Charoensuk.

She explained: “The key factor is the number of rooms we have. A lot of our properties have over 300, 400 or 500 rooms…We cannot drive away wholesale because a lot of the business is not just FIT, but series and charters.”

Resort properties also continue to require support from traditional channels.

“Tour operators and wholesalers have the worst margin for us, but we still need them,” said Minor Hotel Group senior vice president, commercial operations, Michael Marshall, adding that some 50-60 per cent of his company’s business comes from this group.

Citing the Maldives as an example, he said: “At the luxury end, you often need travel consultants or someone to explain to you which island or which location to go…Often they are providing the full service, such as transfers, as well.”

This view was echoed by Panorama Group’s CEO, Budi Tirtawisata, who noted that in resort locations like Bali, some 30-40 per cent of inventory was still being filled by DMCs.

“Yes (hotels) are getting less (revenue), but there is volume and guaranteed rooms…They need their kitchens to be cooking,” he said.

Electronic, but still indirect
While such a conventional model of distribution doesn’t necessarily appeal to mammoth chains the size of Accor or InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) which have the financial muscle to invest in and promote direct channels, sales through GDSs and direct connects with OTAs and wholesalers are still proving lucrative.

IHG director of commercial, South-east Asia, Mark Flower, observed that his GDS figures for last year had risen, hardly surprising given that some of his hotels such as InterContinental Asiana Saigon, continued to rely a great deal on the corporate market.

“There are a lot more opportunities in that market to do business. Whether it’s Vietnam or Indonesia, (GDS traffic) is growing. It’s not slowing down,” he pointed out.

Flower further conceded that while some outbound markets in the region like Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia were strong in online direct bookings, there were still traditional markets like Japan and Germany which preferred using brochures.

Also attesting to the importance of the GDS was Dorsett Hospitality International’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, Philip Schaetz.

Having rebranded from Kosmopolito Hotels International last year, he shared that the company decided to turn on the GDS tap for its hotels, which resulted in incremental business from markets around the world previously overlooked.

“Before, the GDS was completely ignored by the independent hotels. They didn’t know what it was…and we couldn’t possibly fly the sales teams to North America or Europe to turn on the markets there.”

Direct connects, which allow hotels to offer dynamic pricing and inventory, instead of giving out contracted wholesale rates that tend to be lower, have also received growing attention of late.

Flower revealed that IHG was currently in a pilot phase for around 10 direct connects worldwide, one of them being with Chinese OTA, Ctrip.

He said: “OTAs are far stronger in resorts than in city properties because you don’t have corporates. It’s a different mix.”

“Tour operators and wholesalers have the worst margin for us, but we still need them.” – Michael Marshall,  Senior vice president, Commercial operations, Minor Hotel Group

Minor’s Marshall added that his chain was in the midst of establishing direct connect with Kuoni’s GTA.

“Direct connect has been around awhile, but now it’s spreading beyond the big chains. We have to have certain technology on our end to make it happen too.” In 2012, Minor relooked its back end by launching a new booking engine and upgrading its website.

Asked how he saw wholesalers and tour operators evolving, Marshall predicted that rooms would pass through a fewer number of hands, with a certain degree of consolidation taking place.

With wholesalers starting to dabble in retail as well, he suggested that hotels set aside different kinds of inventory for their partners accordingly: traditional-style allotment at lower prices to be sold B2B and rooms at much higher rates made available via direct connect that can be sold B2C.

“A (wholesaler) like GTA, which has a lot of penetration in different markets and a lot of demand, would stop selling you if it has already sold the five rooms you alloted them, unless you are proactive in giving them more rooms. But if it has the other (more expensive) option, it can still book,” said Marshall.

Conflict of interest
However, some practices by wholesalers are sending hoteliers running in the other direction.

Centara’s Phensiri said: “Wholesalers are already online savvy. There are those that have evolved to become OTAs by putting all their tariffs online on their own branded sites. That’s a big threat to hotels.”

She highlighted that after obtaining a net rate and marking up, the final selling rate by wholesalers still undercut the hotel’s own prices.

“Some of them are selling online with their booking engine…They cannot be more appealing on their own websites. That’s why I’m not working with (some of them),” added Phensiri.

Hotels go for the jugular
That being said, it is no secret that while the role of middle men is still crucial, hotels remain committed to building up their arsenal of direct channels.

One regional director of sales and distribution told TTG Asia that since owners were acutely aware of the overall cost of distribution, they were pressuring management companies towards more direct sales.

“In certain markets like Singapore and Hong Kong where there’s enough demand, today we’re in a position to disconnect some agreements with OTAs. The client will be able to find our hotel either through a lower-cost OTA or direct channels,” said the director.

IHG’s Flower similarly expects Singapore’s first Holiday Inn Express opening in the second half of the year along Orchard Road to have 100 per cent direct distribution.

As well, smaller groups like Dusit International are stepping up their game on the direct front.

Turned off by the rising levels of commissions to OTAs, Dusit International COO, David Shackleton, said: “Based on my experience, larger hotel companies I’ve worked with are (also) desperately trying to move away from OTAs and move business onto their own websites and applications.”

Dusit is currently redesigning its website as well as mobile and tablet offerings, the first time after some four years.

Less than 10 per cent of the company’s sales now comes directly from the website, a figure Shackleton is hoping to push to double digits.

“(OTAs) are a great partner. They give you much wider distribution, but you need to manage them and you need to drive your own website,” said Minor’s Marshall, adding that his company chalked up an additional US$1.5 million from web bookings last year following the revamp of its website and the launch of its new booking engine.

He said while hotels paid around 10 per cent of commission to OTAs back in 2009, this figure could be as high as 27 per cent now.

Unfazed by the competition
But technological advances made by hotels do not scare OTAs like HotelTravel.com, whose chief information officer, Olivier Dombey, said: “Although (hotels) can aim for 100 per cent direct, it is never advisable because in any business, you’ve got to spread your risk. If you have a boutique hotel with a limited number of rooms, it’s possible. But for the vast majority of hotels to have such a strategy, it’s probably costly and damaging.”

Tran Trong Kien, CEO, Thien Minh Group, which has business interest in hotels, tour operating and an OTA, agreed. “I doubt (that OTAs will disappear)…OTAs invest energy in promoting properties and handling payment for hotels, so the value is there. New hotels can compete on the same platform as older hotels, and they can sell rooms without building websites. Without OTAs, hotels will also have no real reviews.” – Additional reporting by Hannah Koh

This article was first published in TTG Asia, February 22 – March 7, 2013 issue, on page 10-11. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.