MOVENPICK Heritage Hotel Sentosa in Singapore is on track to launch its new 63-suite Heritage Wing on November 1.

The Heritage Wing will join the hotel’s existing Contemporary Wing, which opened in March 2011 with 105 deluxe rooms. An additional 19 onsen suites, three executive suites and two penthouse suites are also scheduled to open progressively.

Raymond Ang, Mövenpick Heritage Hotel Sentosa general manager, said the Heritage Wing would add to the hotel’s portfolio of event venues, which now comprises a ballroom, and a boardroom in the Contemporary Wing.

The new wing will house three meeting rooms, a 30-seat rooftop venue and two private dining rooms, as well as an all-day dining restaurant, a whisky bar and a cigar lounge.

“We intend to hold culinary workshops for guests in the Heritage Wing, as one of the function rooms will feature a show kitchen,” said Ang. “Hotels on Sentosa must provide such activities to encourage guests to extend their stay on the island. For the same reason, we have also introduced a whisky bar, which will carry many unique whisky labels.”

While the hotel has been drawing mostly leisure travellers – a segment that makes up 60 per cent of overall bookings, Ang said the new wing would allow the property to tap the high-end corporate segment.

According to Ang, the hotel has experienced a pick-up in corporate travel bookings, from one to two per cent in the past, to 15 per cent now.

“Hotels in the city are getting too expensive, and businesses have realised that it is quite convenient to accommodate their travellers in hotels on Sentosa. We provide a shuttle service for guests to business areas such as Shenton Way and Orchard Road,” he explained.

WITH its rebranding and hotel portfolio expansion strategy in place, China’s Jin Jiang Hotels Group has started to rev up sales and marketing efforts to strengthen its position in the minds of customers.

A new website will go live on August 8, sporting the company’s refreshed logo in a rich gold tone, as well as greater content and friendlier user-interface. Visitors to the revamped website will be able to browse details of all Jin Jiang properties and submit requests for proposals, among other things.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily yesterday in Singapore, where a showcase of the group’s hotels was held for corporate buyers and travel consultants, Jin Jiang International Hotel Management Company CEO, Bernold O Schroeder, described the new website as offering “a different feel and much greater functionality”.

The website will be enhanced further by September, with “more content on hotels and the corporate side”, said the company’s senior vice-president marketing & sales, Cinn Tan.

Schroeder said: “We have also established a stronger presence at trade events and roadshows. We (exhibited) in ITB Berlin for the first time this year, and will be doing the same at ITB Asia. Since the second quarter (of this year), we have taken roadshows to (markets such as) Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, and will be going to Taiwan next.”

“We were most recently in Tokyo, and now we are here in Singapore. We cannot overlook Singapore. More than two-thirds of the requests for proposals we receive (for Asia-Pacific movements) are from Singapore, as it is here where most regional headquarters of international companies are based. Singapore will be critical to our success.”

Jin Jiang’s strategic partnership with Spanish hotel company Sol Meliá, forged early last year to jointly promote each other’s properties in China and Europe, has also been successful, and Schroeder is keen to “do more with Sol Meliá, possibly through joint management”.

The hotel group has also debuted a loyalty programme called Jin Jiang J Club, which leverages on Jin Jiang Group’s diverse business units including restaurants and car rental. Since its launch in June, the loyalty programme has garnered 4.4 million members.

THE Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is keen to collaborate with Myanmar to promote tourism between the two countries in the lead up to ASEAN being sold as a single destination.

“Thailand would like to promote Myanmar as a destination. We have been developing our tourism industry for about 50 years and we believe there is also a need to promote neighbouring countries. This will be important in 2015 when ASEAN is promoted as a single destination,” said Siriges-a-nong Trirattanasongpol, chief, market action plan section, TAT.

She made the statement during the annual Amazing Thailand Products presentation at Yangon’s Chatrium Hotel on August 27. The event included representatives from eight Thai hotels, four tour companies, two amusement parks and two airlines.

“Discussions about tourism began recently between the governments of Thailand and Myanmar, while TAT has been working with private-sector organisations in Myanmar for the past five or six years. This is already quite a long period of cooperation,” she added.

She said that the number of Myanmar tourists visiting Thailand was “slightly increasing each year”.

Figures from Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports show that 53,271 Myanmar tourists visited Thailand between January and May this year, the lowest number of arrivals from an ASEAN country after Brunei.

When asked whether Thailand would extend its visa-on-arrival programme to cover Myanmar tourists, she said it was a decision for Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the country’s embassy in Yangon.

However, she said TAT is keen to see Myanmar travellers made eligible for visa-on-arrival and said it could be possible by 2015.

Lail Seth

LALIT Sheth, the 56-year-old owner, chairman and managing director of Raj Travel World in Mumbai, allegedly committed suicide yesterday by jumping off the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in the Maharashtra state capital.

According to local authorities, heavy economic losses exacerbated by the slump in international tourism may have driven Sheth to end his life.

Sheth had reportedly asked his driver to stop his car on the causeway – which links Bandra and the western suburbs of Mumbai with Worli – while returning from a meeting in Bandra. He then asked the driver to proceed forward slowly while he made an urgent call. Shortly afterwards, the driver realised that Sheth had plunged off the bridge and into the sea.

Police later recovered Sheth’s body from the shore near Worli Fort, and a suicide note in the vehicle’s backseat revealing that Sheth had decided to end his life in the belief that he could no longer fulfil his family commitments.

Headquartered in Girgaum Chaupati in south Mumbai, Raj Travel World started out from humble beginnings in 1976, offering package tours to Kashmir, South India and Nepal. The company commenced international operations in 1979, offering itineraries to Bangkok, Manila and Singapore, and quickly transformed into one of India’s largest outbound tour operators.

However, the situation started to unravel in the mid-1990s, when Raj Travel World took a crack at the aviation industry and launched an air taxi operation called Raj Air. The single aircraft venture failed to take off and ended up shutting down after incurring massive debts. An India interstate bus tours foray in 2006 also failed to reap dividends, further hurting the company’s bottom line.

Raj Travel World, which currently has 79 offices and over 1,000 employees across India, is believed to owe money to several banks and tour operators, as well as IATA.

ONYX Hospitality Group has completed the groundbreaking for OZO Chaweng Samui, which is scheduled to open its doors in early 2014.

Located in the Chaweng resort area on Koh Samui, OZO Chaweng Samui will be the first OZO in Thailand and the pioneer OZO resort for the brand, which is targeted at travellers looking for insider experiences and a great sleep.

Peter Henley, CEO, ONYX Hospitality Group, said: “We are delighted to be breaking ground for the second ONYX property on the island of Koh Samui. We are confident that our select service brand, OZO, will be a popular addition to the hospitality landscape on this popular resort island, offering comfortable and good value accommodation.”

Once completed, OZO Chaweng Samui will offer 208 guest rooms and innovative communal zones. Recreational facilities will include a swimming pool, a children’s pool, two restaurants and a beach bar.

Since the OZO brand was unveiled in 2009, a number of key projects have been lined up.

The inaugural OZO property, OZO Wesley Hong Kong, will launch in 2013, a deviation from its scheduled late-2012 opening (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 5, 2012). Elsewhere, management agreements have been signed with Sri Lanka’s Sino Lanka Hotels for two upcoming properties in Colombo and Kandy (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 27, 2012).

ONYX already operates the 187-key Amari Palm Reef on Koh Samui.

THE LANGHAM, Shenzhen, the inaugural Langham property in South China, will begin welcoming guests in September 2012.

The five-star hotel will form part of a mixed-use development comprising serviced apartments, luxury retail and commercial space in Futian, the city’s new business and commercial district.

The Langham, Shenzhen will house a total of 352 guestrooms, including 19 suites. Leisure amenities will include a Chuan Spa, a 24-hour health club & gymnasium, and indoor and outdoor swimming pools.

The hotel will feature several MICE venues, including a 600m2 grand ballroom, five function rooms of various sizes, and a permanent boardroom with capacity for 10 pax.

There will also be six F&B options including a lobby lounge, a poolside bar, a chocolatier, a Chinese restaurant serving Cantonese food, a Western eatery with a wine cellar, and an all-day dining outlet serving international cuisine.

CRUISE consolidator Jebsen Travel & Tours Services has registered a 60-per cent year-on-year growth in demand from Malaysia for upper premium luxury cruise products.

The company’s managing director, Lim Chee Tong, attributed the trend to increasing maturity among local cruisers. “First time cruisers go for big and new ships. As they mature, travellers will not mind paying more for smaller cruises and more personalised services,” he said.

According to Lim, the most popular cruise programmes for Malaysians were those headed to the Mediterranean, while the average length of stay for the Malaysian luxury cruise segment had also increased from seven to 10 nights over the past three years.

Lim said that demand for cruises from corporate clients had also increased, with more companies wanting to reward outstanding sales staff with a cruise incentive holiday.

Corporate cruisers would often follow a fixed itinerary, with add-ons such as a meeting or presentation onboard, a themed dinner, or private activities, he added.

AIRASIA X is planning to raise the flight frequency on its Kuala Lumpur-Kathmandu route from the current two flights per week to three times weekly, starting September 15.

Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of AirAsia X, said the additional flight frequency to the Nepalese capital was in response to encouraging customer demand.

“AirAsia X is responding to the strong and growing travel demand to and from Kathmandu. Since we launched sales, demand has been positive. The added frequency will provide our guests better travel and flight options,” he said.

Launched in July, the Kuala Lumpur-Kathmandu service was initially introduced for sale via selected travel consultants in Malaysia and Kathmandu. AirAsia X decided to open the route for online bookings on July 10 (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 11, 2012).