FRESH from launching its fourth integrated resort (IR) in Macau, Las Vegas Sands (LVS) is planning to grow its network of IRs across key Asian destinations including South Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

In Macau, LVS already operates Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, Plaza Macao and Sands Macao, in addition to the Sands Cotai Central which opened in a grand affair yesterday. It also operates Marina Bay Sands (MBS) in Singapore.

Besides plans for another 3,600-room property next to Plaza Macao, the fourth tower of Sands Cotai Central is also under development. Due to open after 2013, the fourth tower will house a St. Regis-branded hotel and serviced apartments, adding to the IR’s existing Holiday Inn, Sheraton and Conrad offerings.

Outside of the former Portuguese colony, LVS is looking to expand in North Asia and South-east Asia, with cities such as Seoul, Busan, Tokyo, Taipei, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in the crosshairs.

Speaking at the opening of Sands Cotai Central, LVS chairman and CEO, Sheldon Adelson, said: “We are looking to build two (IRs) each in Japan, South Korea and Vietnam.”

Asked why LVS was targeting these destinations in particular, LVS president and COO, Mike Leven, said: “We are looking at places which have the characteristsics to be successful (in supporting IR development), and are either relatively mature or emerging markets. We need places where there will be people to fill the resorts, where the tourism infrastructure is capable…places where people will want to visit for both MICE and leisure.”

“Our long-term strategy is to have IRs in every Asian capital, using Singapore as the model,” he added.

Meanwhile, Leven confirmed that LVS was in discussions with the Singapore government to develop additional rooms and MICE space on another plot of land adjacent to MBS, a suggestion that was first mooted at the start of last year.

“Marina Bay Sands will run out of space within a year and a half, but it’s going to take a long time (before we get the approval for expansion in Singapore),” he said.

WITH the opening of Sands Cotai Central yesterday, Macau has welcomed the addition of three international hotels brands – Conrad, Sheraton and Holiday Inn – to its hotel mix.

The trio, located within the integrated resort, will offer a total of 5,800 rooms. They are also the largest in the world for each of the three brands.

The Conrad Macao, Contai Central, which is the brand’s fourth hotel in Greater China, occupies a 39-storey tower, with access to leisure and entertainment facilities on the Cotai Strip. The hotel offers 636 rooms and suites, as well as four restaurants and bars including Conrad’s signature restaurant, Dynasty 8, which serves high-end Chinese cuisine.

Martin Rinck, president, Asia-Pacific, Hilton Worldwide, said: “The opening of the largest Conrad hotel to date signals our firm intent to extend and deepen our presence in Greater China.”

The Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central offers 1,224 guestrooms including 65 suites.

Keith Barr, CEO Greater China, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), said: “With the opening of Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central, we are targeting the growing Chinese middle-class and mainstream consumers. This particular market segment wants consistency, a high quality product at a good price and value, and they want international standards. We believe that the price positioning of the Holiday Inn product is a great fit for the middle-class in China, and will address the lack of value positioning in Macau previously.”

Barr pointed out that Holiday Inn was among the first international hotel brands “to make its debut in China, and has been here for the last 28 years”. There 57 Holiday Inns in Greater China, offering 17,938 rooms. Another 41 hotels are in the pipeline.

Barr added: “China is the fastest growing market for IHG globally. We have about two million loyalty programme members in China alone.”

The last of the trio to open is the 4,000-room Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central, which is slated to welcome guests in September this year. It will have extensive meeting and convention space spanning over 20,000m², with one of the largest ballroom in Asia that can cater for up to 4,000 guests.

Josef Dolp, the hotel’s managing director, said, “Macau will now have an edge with the additional rooms and MICE facilities combined in one location.”

Additional reporting by Deborah Cornfield

THE RELAUNCHED Sofitel Plaza Hanoi on West Lake will be unveiled on Thursday, after its most significant overhaul since opening in 2001.

Renovations throughout the 317-key property range from rooms to dining venues and meeting facilities. Luxury Club Rooms have been remodelled and given technological upgrades; the Summit Lounge rooftop bar redesigned with a new outdoor wooden deck; open kitchens and VIP rooms added to the flagship Chinese restaurant; the business centre rebuilt in a new location; the Plaza Ballroom redecorated; and a new meeting space on the ground floor carved out.

As part of its repositioning, the hotel also carried out a fresh round of service training for employees across all levels, with emphasis on developing Vietnamese employees to play greater roles.

Antoine Lhuguenot, general manager, Sofitel Plaza Hanoi, said: “This renovation is about fulfilling the potential of this magnificent lakeside property, in a way that we always knew was possible. There is a new outlook, a new energy within the hotel that was brought on by this renovation, and so far guests are responding enthusiastically to the changes.”

The capital’s two Sofitel properties are the only five-star hotels in the city that have undergone a thorough refitting of their facilities within the last three years.

COACH ticket prices for Singapore-Malaysia trips might soon see a jump, due to rising insurance premiums, highway toll charges and fuel costs.

Singapore-based coach operators said insurance premiums are tipped to increase further, especially since there is only one travel insurance provider at the moment.

Sebastian Yap, a committee member of the Express Bus Agencies Association (EBAA) and managing director of Regent Star Travel, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “In the past, coach operators had a host of travel insurance providers to choose from. Unfortunately, many insurance firms found that, owing to the complexities involved in designing cross-border travel policies and settling claims, it was simply not worth the investment, time and effort.”

To encourage competition, EBAA has been in talks with other insurance providers, although according to Yap, many remain unconvinced. EBAA is also in the midst of negotiating with Liberty Insurance to secure better premium terms for members.

Yap said that while major coach operators could probably absorb any hike in insurance premiums, it would be hard for the over 200 smaller players in the industry to do so. “They have little bargaining power and will thus be less likely to secure a good deal and they may have little choice but to pass the increase on to passengers. This could be detrimental for their business,” he explained.

“Frankly, for the larger players, (rising) fuel prices and toll increases are more of a worry than the tipped hike in insurance premiums. However, most of our members will only be able to make a decision on whether they need to up their ticket prices early next year when things are clearer and these operational costs can be factored in,” added Yap.

Malaysian authorities are now studying the feasibility of increasing toll charges for Singapore-registered vehicles entering the country. Diesel price has also risen by around 3.5 per cent in the last 12 months.

IN AN effort to capture new market segments, Indonesia’s Aston International has launched luxury brand Alana, alongside mid-market two-tiered brand Neo and Neo+.

Citing Starwood’s W Hotels as a benchmark, Norbert Vas, vice president of sales and marketing, said Alana would also be a luxury lifestyle brand.

On the other hand, Neo and Neo+ will cater to hotel developers who are keen on mid-market properties that are more playful and less standardised, with features like a garden in the lobby and communal tables in restaurants. Neo is postioned as a two-star-plus product that will cost more than Aston’s two-star favehotel, while Neo+, with larger rooms and more facilities such as a spa, will be priced higher than Aston’s three-star Quest.

Under construction are four Neo properties in Jakarta and Bali and four Alana properties in Bali, Jogjakarta and Surabaya.

Said Vas: “With the exception of five-star properties Grand Aston City Hall in Medan and Grand Aston Jogjakarta, our hotels mostly cater to the mid-market. However, many developers have expressed the need to develop luxury properties and have asked Aston to manage them.”

THE LAUNCH of two new India visa application centres (VACs) in Singapore, managed by VFS Global, received mixed responses from travel consultants, who welcomed the move but deemed it insignificant in boosting travel to India.

India’s tourism minister, Subodh Kant Sahai, said in an official statement that he hoped the VACs – located at Rangoon Road and Anson Road – would facilitate travel to India for Singaporeans. Tour consultancies handling Singapore’s outbound market to India, however, believed that the new VACs would have a negligible impact on demand.

Rajeev Kohli, joint managing director, Creative Travel India, said: “The opening of the two centres in Singapore will certainly make it easier for Singaporeans to submit applications. However, I doubt that this will heighten demand dramatically. In fact, Singapore has been on India’s visa-on-arrival list for a while but this has not translated into a significant increase in arrivals.”

“In my opinion, a similar service for core markets such as the UK would have been a more logical priority for the government, as Singapore constitutes a minute proportion of arrivals into India each year,” he added.

Ramesh Travel Service Singapore’s general manager Ram Samtani also expressed similar views that the VACs would do little to augment demand. He said: “The Indian government should focus on marketing India more actively to Singaporeans instead. Many are still unaware of tourist spots outside the Golden Triangle.”

The two new centres highlighted the High Commission’s commitment to improving its service capabilities though, said Samtani. “Previously there were five appointed visa administration bureaus in Singapore, four attached to travel consultancies and one to a courier company. This has now been whittled down to two ­ – VFS Global and BLS International Services – which are both specialists in visa processing so there’s no conflict of interest. It is definitely the right approach,” he said.

VFS Global and BLS International Services are both entrusted with accepting and processing applications for passport, visa and other consular services. All applications will continue to be assessed by the High Commission of India, Singapore.

AS tipped by TTG Asia e-Daily on February 15, US-based private equity fund manager, Pegasus Capital Advisors, through one or more of its affiliates, has entered into a binding agreement to buy Bangkok-based Six Senses Resorts & Spas for an undisclosed sum.

Under the terms of the deal, Pegasus will acquire all of the Six Senses and Evason branded resort and spa management contracts and related intellectual property rights and operate them under a new company managed by Pegasus and its affiliates.

Bernhard Bohnenberger, currently the president of Six Senses, will be continuing in that role and heading the Six Senses’ Bangkok office.

In a statement, Craig Cogut, founder, Pegasus Capital Advisors, said: “Going forward, the new Six Senses will be a debt-free company with committed capital for expansion into new and within existing international markets. We are confident that our president Bernhard Bohnenberger and our strong management team will continue to build on its legacy as a recognised leader in luxury hospitality.”

The Soneva brand and resorts, as well as the company’s real estate assets and holdings, are not included in the transaction and will continue to be led by Sonu Shivdasani, the former founder and CEO of Six Senses, who will serve as chairman, CEO and principal shareholder of The Soneva Group.

“This transaction will allow me to focus solely on the development of the Soneva portfolio of resorts and real estate assets, and allow the Soneva and Six Senses brands to flourish independently of each other,” said Shivdasani. “For myself and Eva, my wife, this means we can devote all our energies to our first love – the development of the Sonevas. Soneva will continue to operate its philanthropic arm, The Slow Life Trust, and remain dedicated to achieving environmental goals and a corporate commitment to sustainability.”

The transaction is expected to close within the next three months.

INDUSTRY observers concur that Singapore will continue to be a hotel investment hotspot for now, given that room rates are anticipated to resume their bull run for the foreseeable future.

“Occupancy rates should remain around the 80 per cent mark in the next couple of years, and this should keep rates relatively buoyant. Prior to the opening of the integrated resorts in 2010, Singapore room rates were lower than they should have been and now hotels are making up for lost time,” said Robert Hecker, managing director, Horwath HTL.

Some 10,000 rooms are coming on-stream in Singapore across all categories between now and 2016, raising the country’s total room inventory by 20 per cent and bringing room count to just over 50,000. Average room rates are expected to rise by five to 10 per cent from 2011. Hotel industry analyst CB Richard Ellis expects occupancy to hover between 83 and 86 per cent in 2012.

Eric Levy, managing director of Tourism Solutions International, said investors were drawn to Singapore because “it is a safe bet”.

“The yield per square footage in Singapore is better than most other markets in the region. Singapore offers hoteliers and investors ample opportunity to secure modest, but guaranteed returns, as tourism arrivals should remain relatively robust given the onslaught of new tourism infrastructure anticipated in the next couple of years.

“In fact, the main problem hotel investors face is actually finding a suitable property or piece of land in Singapore to put their stake down in the first place,” added Levy.

Hecker remarked that hotel investors in Singapore were also keen to gain a foothold here, as the country offered not only “good levels of revenue and profit, but high capital appreciation as well”.

However, he warned that escalating price inflation in Singapore could potentially erode margins. “On top of escalating land costs, operational costs are rising, and this will inevitably eat into the bottom line,” he said.

IATA will introduce a new weekly payment system in India from June 1, 2012, a move that is likely to impact Indian travel consultants the most.

The association recently informed travel consultants of the new remittance frequency in the India billing and settlement plan (BSP), which will see ticket sale proceeds remitted to airlines every week, instead of the current fortnightly arrangement.

Indian travel consultants who are already in dire straits due to reduced commissions and direct bookings have expressed their unhappiness over the move. The weekly payment system is expected to hit mainly the small- and medium-size consultants – comprising more than 80 per cent of the business segment in India – who often give long credit periods to their clients.

On the other hand, the increased frequency is expected to improve cash flow to struggling Indian carriers. Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher were reportedly instrumental in securing the approval from IATA to change the billing cycle.

According to sources, the weekly payment system was first mooted by the national carrier Air India back in 2009. IATA approved a resolution to change the billing cycle in India at its conference in October last year.

Reporting by Divya Kaul

NARITA International Airport Corp has announced plans to build a new terminal for budget carriers by March 2015, in anticipation of the fast-growing LCC sector in Japan.

This will be Japan’s second LCC-dedicated air terminal after Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, which is currently under construction.

The new budget terminal will be converted from an existing building, and will feature simple interiors and infrastructure, such as boarding stairs instead of aerobridges, to keep costs down. When completed, it is expected to handle some 7.5 million passengers and up to 50,000 flights per year.

Meanwhile, Narita airport has also begun building additional facilities such as bus gates and check-in counters in preparation of the new LCCs debuting this year.

Jetstar Japan will commence flights from July 3, while AirAsia Japan is expected to launch its first flights in August.