Eugene Lee
EUGENE Lee has joined Howard Johnson Resort Sanya Bay as general manager.
Lee has over 28 years of international hotel management experience working for hotel chains such as InterContinental Hotels Group, Days Inn China, and Meritus Hotels & Resorts.
His most recent position was general manager of Holiday Inn Resort Sanya Bay.
Joe Masi
THE SHANGHAI JC Mandarin has appointed Joe Masi as general manager.
Masi was most recently director of transitions and openings for Interstate Hotels & Resorts China, which is the management company for the Shanghai JC Mandarin.
He has over 25 years of experience with Marriott Hotels & Resorts, and previously served as the general manager for Marriott properties in San Francisco, Michigan and Florida.
MYANMAR is sourcing for local and foreign investors to fund development of a second airport serving the country’s largest city Yangon, as it gears up for an influx of tourists in the wake of political reforms.
Located 77km north of Yangon, near the city of Bago, the planned Hanthawaddy International Airport will occupy approximately 3,642 hectares, an area nine times the size of Yangon International Airport.
Hanthawaddy will be the country’s fourth airport suited to handling international flights, after Yangon, Mandalay and the capital Naypyitaw.
Construction work on the new airport, which originally began in 1994 but ceased in 2003, is slated to pick up again next June. Due to be completed by 2016, Hanthawaddy is anticipated to handle up to 10 million passengers a year.
Meanwhile, Yangon International Airport is currently undergoing an expansion that will boost its handling capacity from 2.7 million to 3.8 million passengers a year by end-2012 or early-2013 (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 19, 2011).
FOLLOWING the opening of Thailand’s first two Tune Hotels in Hat Yai last December and Pattaya in February (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 16, 2011), Tune Hotels is planning to launch its inaugural Bangkok property on October 1, 2012.
Located on Sukhumvit Road, Tune Hotel Asoke will be the chain’s third property in Thailand, and will offer 130 keys comprising double, twin-sharing and disabled-friendly rooms.
Mark Lankester, group CEO of Tune Hotels, said: “Tune Hotel Asoke is very important to us as it marks our presence in Bangkok. With thousands of home-grown and international hotel brands spread across the city, it’s everyone’s ambition to be part of Bangkok’s thriving tourism industry.”
Lankester added: “Our central location on Sukhumvit Road provides easy accessibility for shopping, entertainment and dining. We anticipate a great response from visitors to Bangkok, especially from Asia and Europe, where guests have become accustomed to our brand and concept.”
After the launch of the Bangkok property, Tune Hotels is targeting another opening on Patong Beach in Phuket by the end of the year.
STARTED on May 11, Hainan Airlines’ new flights from Singapore to Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, via Haikou (Hainan), have boosted the Lion City’s connections to China’s interior.
An extension of the carrier’s existing Singapore-Haikou route, the twice-weekly Singapore-Haikou-Taiyuan flights are operated using Boeing 737-800 aircraft with eight first-class and 155 economy-class seats.
CTC Travel senior manager (China planner), Cui Xin, said: “Previously, tours (from Singapore) to Shanxi were only conducted upon special request. With the debut of Hainan Airlines’ service, we have created an eight-day Shanxi package featuring attractions such as Yungang Grottoes, Xuankong Shi (Hanging Monastery) and Mount Wutai.”
“This package is more suitable for repeat travellers to China who would like to explore lesser-known Chinese provinces,” she added.
Meanwhile, Hainan Airlines is currently hosting a Shanxi fam trip for Singapore travel companies from July 2-6.
According to Ryan Ren, Hainan Airlines sales manager, plans are also in the pipeline for a fam trip to Singapore for Shanxi Tourism Bureau representatives and Shanxi-based tour operators, to foster the growth of Chinese outbound travel to Singapore.
To entice travel consultants to sell the Singapore-Taiyuan route, Hainan Airlines is offering discounted fares from S$300 (US$238) per pax, excluding taxes, for group tour bookings.
LAS Vegas Sands (LVS) is thinking of opening its next Asian integrated resort in South Korea, adding to the four it has in Macau and the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the Seoul MICE Forum yesterday, Marina Bay Sands president & CEO, George Tanasijevich, revealed that LVS was already in discussions with the South Korean government and private entities to enter the market.
According to Tanasijevich, South Korea had the characteristics to be successful in supporting IR development due to its geographical location, robust infrastructure, positive image among travellers, and educated work force.
Even though he declined to reveal which locations LVS had its sights on, Seoul and Busan are believed to be on the shortlist (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 12, 2012).
Industry players whom TTG Asia e-Daily spoke to were enthusiastic that the opening of an IR in South Korea would generate more international MICE business.
Jeffrey Jones, chairman, Advisory Board of Korea Tourism Organization, USA said South Korea needed additional hardware such as hotel rooms, ballrooms and integrated properties similar to Marina Bay Sands to drive MICE business forward.
“Singapore is leading the MICE industry because of Marina Bay Sands,” he said.
Novotel Ambassador Gangnam sales & marketing manager, David Kim, said the opening of an IR in South Korea would have a positive impact on all hotels in its immediate vicinity due to spillover business.
KHIRI Travel has opened a new office in Phuket and expanded its portfolio of travel itineraries in southern Thailand.
Marc Ruffet, a Swiss national, has been appointed branch manager of the new office, which is situated near the Heroines’ Monument in central Phuket.
According to Khiri Travel Thailand general manager, Andre van der Marck, the new office functions as the company’s customer service hub for southern Thailand, and also serves as the creative and quality control centre for all regional travel itineraries offered by Khiri.
“From our Phuket office, Khiri will develop innovative new programmes such as community based tours for the South. These are being designed to show unique aspects of southern Thailand to our industry partners,” he said.
For example, Khiri is offering homestays in Chaiya, Surat Thani, which was the regional capital of the Srivijayan Empire between the 5th and 13th centuries, as well as exploratory tours to Nakhon Sri Thammarat’s Khao Luang national park – renowned for its thundering waterfalls, deep forests and mountain hikes.
Other southern Thailand itineraries, such as yacht charters, sea canoeing, Phi Phi Island excursions, and trips to the Khao Lak beach resort area and Khao Sok forest park in north Phuket, are also available.
A GROUP of Air India pilots engaged in a 58-day standoff with the national carrier finally bowed to government and judicial pressure and called off their ‘sick leave’ strike yesterday evening.
The faction of roughly 500 pilots who fly international routes had been demanding exclusive rights over their counterparts from former state-owned Indian Airlines to operate Air India’s new Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
The strike forced Air India to curtail its international operations by switching to a truncated interim schedule for May-June 2012 (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 28, 2012).
Air India and Indian Airlines merged in 2007, but have been beset by integration issues – mostly with regards to parity in the employment status of both airlines’ flying staff.
Sheila Leong
PATA has appointed Sheila Leong as COO, effective July 3, 2012.
A PATA staff member since 1998, Leong assumes the newly created role of COO to consolidate all operational activities at PATA. All regional directors and representatives will now report directly to her.
PATA CEO Martin Craigs said: “Sheila has massive experience with PATA and is widely respected in the travel industry across Asia-Pacific and beyond. Her appointment will enhance the delivery of PATA benefits to members around the globe.”
Leong started her first stint at PATA in 1998 as director of North-east Asia, based at the association’s regional office in Singapore. In 2000, she assumed the role of director-events and relocated to PATA’s headquarters in Bangkok.
Last October, Leong decided to leave the organisation to set up her own events consultancy, with PATA as her first client (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 7, 2011).
Meanwhile, in other developments, Stu Lloyd, PATA’s senior director-marketing and membership services has left to explore new opportunities elsewhere.
WORLDHOTELS has enhanced its Resmaster hotel booking engine to provide hotel affiliates with greater control and flexibility, as well as added online sales opportunities.
The upgraded Resmaster V3 features easy-to-use configuration options, filters for tailored results, a price slider and multiple room-booking capabilities. It can also be integrated into Google Maps and Hotel Finder.
“A hotel’s website is often the first (point of) contact any new guest will have with that property,” said Paulo Salvador, global vice president, marketing and sales of Worldhotels. “Resmaster V3 has all the tools needed to convert a casual looker into a loyal guest. This helps our hotels to take charge of channel management and drive bookings via their own websites, thus making them less dependent on third parties.”
Roland Jegge, vice president Asia-Pacific, Worldhotels explained that these “third parties” were online travel agencies “whose costs were prohibitive, and who were eating into the margins of our hotels without adding much value to the booking process”.
When asked whether the upgraded booking engine accords greater booking independence to hotel affiliates, thus reducing dependency on travel expert distribution, Jegge said Resmaster V3 allowed travel expert access and offered a commission payment for bookings made.
“As well, the Worldhotels.com website, which is powered by the same Resmaster V3 booking engine, has a Be Connected dedicated section for travel experts, where they can track commission payment and insert their IATA code in order to get commission for their bookings,” said Jegge.
Jegge also pointed out that Worldhotels had maintained a “strong partnership with travel experts” for over 40 years and was “strongly committed to doing so into the future”.
More than 60 per cent of Worldhotels’ revenues generated for hotels are from travel experts.
