TRAVEL buyers will have a new hotel booking platform to shop on when Travelport Rooms and More rolls out progressively in markets worldwide from July.

The one-stop site pulls together content from over 20 aggregators and online travel agents, with more than 200,000 properties represented.

A new and improved version of existing online leisure portal Travelport Leisure, Travelport Rooms and More allows agents to compare deals across aggregators – thanks to meta-search technology from Sprice.com, which was acquired by Travelport last May.

The site can also be accessed via a single sign-on, with commissions from multiple sources collated and paid out monthly. Commissions are roughly between five and over 10 per cent.

When asked how the online platform compared to its GDS offerings, group vice president, global hospitality, Niklas Andréen told TTG Asia e-Daily that although the GDS served the business travel community well, leisure and mixed travel agents needed a tool that offered efficient access to information on amenities, consumer reviews and pictures.

“It is not one replacing the other, but rather each solving different problems,” he said.

Andréen said the classic GDS product was only meeting 10 to 15 per cent of the hotel needs of leisure and mixed travel agents, while the figure was 60 per cent for business travel agents.

Agents do not have to be Travelport GDS subscribers to use the new service. GDS users, however, would have the added benefit of integrating their air bookings with hotel purchases.

Travelport expects to have as many as 50 aggregators by year-end, having already secured a range of leading hotel and car content providers. These include Agoda, Kuoni Connect, LateRooms.com, Transhotel, Ctrip, Zuji, Cleartrip and TUI Cars. An arrangement with GTA, which Travelport sold to Kuoni, is being worked out.

This move is part of Travelport’s drive to grow its hospitality arm, having recently invested in a larger, dedicated team and created new helpdesks for hotel and car supplier customers (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 18).

THE KOREA MICE Expo (KME) opens today at Coex Convention and Exhibiton Centre, with some 205 domestic and 100 international buyers, and 175 South Korean and Japanese exhibitors in attendance.

Last year’s edition saw 205 buyers, of whom 87 were from overseas, and 131 exhibitors.

This is the second consecutive year that KME is being held in Seoul (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 10), after the Seoul Tourism Organisation (STO) secured rights to organise the event for three years.

Before 2010, KME had been held in various South Korean cities on a rotational basis.

Maureen O’ Crowley, Seoul Convention Bureau (SCB) vice president/MICE & international marketing department, told TTG Asia e-Daily that it is yet to be determined which city would host KME next after STO’s stint.

She said however, that SCB would “try to keep the show in Seoul”, as attendance had grown substantially since it started being held there.

THIS year’s edition of Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo (TIME), the country’s annual B2B travel mart, will be held in Bandar Lampung, the capital of Lampung province on the southern tip of Sumatra.

Entering its 17th year, TIME showcases Indonesian tourism to international markets, and helps promote the host city and province to travellers from around the world.

TIME 2011 steering committee chairman, Meity Robot, said: “The shifting of TIME to Lampung is aimed at promoting Lampung to international markets, and will attract more tourist arrivals to the destination.”

“It will also speed up the development and improvement of infrastructure, tourism facilities and tourism attractions, and encourage more investors to develop new hotels as well as tourist attractions in the region.”

The event will take place at the Novotel Lampung from October 12 to 14, and will coincide with the holding of Festival Krakatau, an annual cultural event that ends with a tour of the active Krakatau volcano.

BANGKOK hotels continue to receive forward bookings for this week and next, but the travel trade is taking a cautious approach as Thailand counts down to the July 3 general election.

Hoteliers and tour operators are unsure about what will happen after the elections, with last year’s prolonged political protests against the Democrat-led government still fresh in their minds (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 17, 2010 & April 27, 2010).

“We will have to see if the election result will be respected, said Destination Asia CEO and group managing director, James Reed.

Go Vacation Thailand managing director, Christoph Mueller, said European clients were still booking trips to Bangkok, as most of them were unaware of the upcoming election. “But let’s wait and see after the election,” he said. “I don’t think the situation can be worse than last year.”

Bangkok Marriott Resort and Spa sales and marketing director, Ludovic Gallerne, said the property was on track to reach its 80 per cent occupancy target for this week and next, up by 18 to 20 per cent over the same period last year, when the Thai capital had just resurfaced following the political turbulence.

Pullman Bangkok King Power general manager, Marc Begassat, also reported high to peak occupancy at the hotel for this week and next. He said forward bookings were from all markets. “Hong Kong business and regional corporate meetings remain very strong,” he added.

Accor director of Thailand operations, Paul Stevens, reported a status quo on this week’s bookings for the chain’s 26 hotels and more than 7,000 rooms in Bangkok, but added that there was a slight dip in next week’s business for some properties, from regional and domestic markets.

CCT Group president, Vichit Prakobgosol, said the political uncertainty in Thailand had so far not affected his business from the Chinese market. “The business is even better than last year. Barring any incident after the election, we can expect phenomenal growth on the Chinese market this year.”

By Sirima Eamtako

MICE industry leaders in South Korea say the development of two new major convention and exhibition venues in Seoul will provide welcome relief from overflowing demand for large event spaces in the capital.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza and Exhibition Centre, a futuristic venue designed by architect Zaha Hadid, will open in Seoul’s leading fashion district on April 5, 2013. The Seoul Station Convention Centre (also referred to as Korail Centre) will open in 2015.

Korea Convention Society president, Kim Chulwon, said: “If South Korea wants to meet its tourism arrivals target of 200 million by 2020, there must be sufficient MICE facilities and hotels to cater to these people.”

“MICE demand from Japan and China is growing, and Seoul does not have enough facilities to accommodate these groups and events. The additional facilities will not only help to serve the growing demand, but their novelty will also build greater awareness of Seoul and South Korea as a whole.”

Esmond Oh, president of Korea MICE Association and president – business strategy, Ioconvex, said the lack of convention and exhibition space was not limited to Seoul. He explained that there were only 12 convention centres across South Korea, offering 200,000m2 of space.

However, Malaysia-based DiscoveryMICE president/CEO, Lee Choon Loong, is hoping that Seoul will upgrade its software as well, pointing to service standards and suppliers’ attention to details that are “sometimes not on par with other MICE destinations”.

MIKE Annetts, a founder of TTG Asia, passed away last week in the Gold Coast, Australia.

Former TTG Asia editor, Yeoh Siew Hoon, said in a blog post: “Mike was the man who brought TTG Asia to the region and gave me my break in travel journalism, the one who gave me that first job back in Kuala Lumpur as correspondent for TTG Asia.”

“I don’t think Mike got the credit he ought to for bringing an English travel trade newspaper out to Asia in those days, when the travel industry was just developing, and Asia was an infinitely foreign market,” she added.

Darren Ng, managing director, TTG Asia Media, remembers Annetts as “a very focused, hands-on person when it came to editorials”.

“But we remember him more as a polished gentleman, who had a presence, a lot of gravitas about him, and one who certainly enjoyed a tipple every Friday,” Ng added.

PREFERRED Hotel Group are set to soft open their 8 on Claymore Serviced Residences today, the first property under their Summit Serviced Residences brand to be unveiled in Singapore.

The serviced residence, which will launch officially in September this year, is managed by Royal Plaza on Scotts (TTG Asia e-Daily, April 25). The property will offer accommodation ranging from studios to two- to three-bedroom residences, and a three-bedroom penthouse unit.

Facilities include an outdoor pool with an open-air deck, cabanas and a barbeque area, a state-of-the-art gym with Technogym equipment, and a children’s pool.

FIREFLY will gradually take over the Kuala Lumpur-Sibu route from Malaysia Airlines (MAS), its codeshare partner, from July 1.

Firefly will use B737-800 aircraft to offer the same twice-daily services as MAS, which will withdraw from the route effective August 1.

Firefly’s managing director, Eddy Leong, said the airline was working to address concerns of travellers and travel agents from Sibu, on the unavailability of passenger and baggage through-check for those with onward flights via Malaysia Airlines.

Leong said: “On September 1, our departure control system upgrade which will allow passengers to through-check their baggage on multiple flights to their final destination will be operational.”

“Unfortunately, for the interim period until the upgrade is completed, passengers on the Kuala Lumpur-Sibu flight with onward journeys on Malaysia Airlines, will have to bear the inconvenience of checking out and recheck-in at the check-in counter.”

AGODA has entered into a partnership with Cathay Holidays Limited, the travel agency arm of Cathay Pacific Airways, through which Cathay Holidays will distribute agoda.com’s hotel product.

Cathay Holidays provides inventory to CathayPacific.com and creates tailored package trips featuring the carrier’s key destinations, including Hong Kong, Japan, Seoul, Beijing and Shanghai.

With the deal, travellers booking a ticket through CathayPacific.com will now have access to agoda.com’s worldwide instantly-confirmable inventory, while Cathay Holidays will be able to provide up-to-the-minute rates and promotions in more than 100 countries.

Wilfred Fan, managing director – North Asia at agoda.com said: “Agoda.com’s wide footprint of global hotels overlaps with Cathay’s extensive international routes, and both our companies can service customers in many languages.”

Vincent Li, managing director of Cathay Holidays Limited, said: “Agoda.com’s global coverage, promotions and instant confirmation will help us continue to add value for our loyal customers.”

BEST Western International has added the Best Western Bangkok Hiptique Hotel to its portfolio in Thailand.

The 50-key hotel, located in the heart of the Sukhumvit-Nana shopping, business and entertainment district, is the chain’s 13th property in Thailand, and will target both business executives and leisure travellers.

Facilities include a swimming pool, the Allure restaurant, and a rooftop bar.