QATAR Airways will progressively increase its services into Singapore, from its current daily service to twice a day by early November.

Currently operating nonstop daily flights from Doha into Changi International Airport using its flagship Boeing B777 aircraft, the airline will phase in an additional three weekly flights from May 1, with a further three weekly flights to be introduced from October 1. An extra weekly flight will be added from November 3, taking frequency up to double-daily.

Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker, said the addition of a second daily flight to Singapore was a key component of the airline’s growth strategy for the Far East.

“Singapore has been one of our best-performing routes in the entire region for a long time, with load factors consistently in the high 90s. The addition of a second daily service will allow Qatar Airways to grow the passenger market for inbound and outbound travel to Singapore,” said Al Baker.

ACCOR has unveiled a new Novotel room design in seven years and expects the four-star brand to grow as fast as its economy Ibis in Asia-Pacific.

The new-generation Novotel room is 26m2 in size, stays true to the brand’s DNA (simple, efficient and modern), with the redesign focusing on areas such as improved living space and comfort.

The contemporary midscale turf has been the hardest to innovate, with many hotel groups in recent years trying to come up with the best prototype to win over a new generation of mobile, value-conscious travellers.

Frederic Josenhans, Accor’s senior vice president marketing and brands development, said consistency was a key to staying ahead in the four-star sector. “We want to have more consistency than Holiday Inn or Courtyard (the main competitors of Novotel). This is why the product is very standardised. We may have fewer hotels than them, but we want to be more consistent.”

There are now more Novotel rooms in Asia-Pacific than there are in France. Of 74,106 Novotel rooms worldwide, 29 per cent are in Asia-Pacific, versus 21 per cent in France and 37 per cent in the rest of Europe. Accor Asia-Pacific chairman and COO, Michael Issenberg, said he would be disappointed if there were not more Novotels in Asia than in Europe in 10 years.

At present, there are 86 Novotel hotels in operation in Asia-Pacific and an additional 36 in the pipeline.

Asked whether such a standardised product could have the flexibility to cater to the Asian market, Issenberg said: “The room size can go up to 28m2. The colour schemes have been adapted to Asia – the first colour schemes were muted; in Asia, there are more bright colours.

“For investors, the advantage is you can build a small room that is more cost-effective and we consider that as one of the great advantages of Novotel, particularly in the future when the midscale and economy become dominant. Traditionally in Asia, a lot of the development has been in the upscale, but more owners and developers are actually attracted to the midscale and economy and here’s where an economical size Novotel has the advantage.”

The new room is already in nine Novotels worldwide. In Asia-Pacific, it is found in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei and Sydney. The entire Novotel network is expected to be retrofitted within the next five to seven years.

– Read more in TTG Asia, Hotels Guide – Expansion Plans, Midscale Sector, March 11 issue

CHANGE is anticipated at Accor as former president of McDonald’s Europe, Denis Hennequin, settles in as chairman and CEO.

One of his first moves was to rope in a new chief marketing officer, Grégoire Champetier, who worked with him at McDonald’s France and then McDonald’s Europe, where he contributed to McDonald’s transformation. Champetier is responsible for brand strategy, distribution and innovation and design.

Hennequin, 52, replaces Gilles Pélisson, who left on January 15.

“Anytime you have a new CEO, you’re going to see significant change. I expect significant change, but it is too early to say exactly what that’s going to be…it would be different,” said Michael Issenberg, Accor Asia-Pacific chairman and COO, when asked by TTG Asia e-Daily what sort of change he would expect of a new CEO who engineered McDonald’s success in France – home to haute cuisine – and made it the largest Europe market with more than 1,000 restaurants after Britain and Germany.

“I’ve been with Accor for a while, seen CEOs, and the great thing is they all brought great ideas. Every company needs to evolve and Accor has changed a lot through its 40 year-plus history and will continue to change.”

“Gilles changed our brands’ architecture significantly; it is now very segmented, we have standardised, non-standardised brands. He’s also a great believer in Asia, committed Accor to invest particularly in China and India, so it was an exciting period. Denis is equally committed to Asia and brings in fresh perspective,” said Issenberg, who was launching the new-generation Novotel to the international media in Bangkok yesterday.

TTGmice has won a PATA Gold Award 2011 for its cover story, Rebuilding the Team, in the November 2010 issue.

The article examines how teambuilding is enjoying its day in the sun as companies find solutions to rebuild their teams, which were torn and tattered by the big freeze of the global financial crisis.

It was written by group editor Raini Hamdi, with reports from Prudence Lui, S Puvaneswary, Karen Yue, Sirima Eamtako and Mimi Hudoyo.

Excerpts of the award-winning article are in the Editor’s Pick (see section on right, below).

SHANGRI-LA Hotels and Resorts launched last Friday its new Kerry Hotels brand with the opening of Kerry Hotel Pudong, Shanghai, targeting business travellers.

Located in the new Kerry Parkside complex, the 31-storey hotel has 574 guestrooms and suites, with seven floors devoted to Club accommodation that offer round-the-clock butler and Club concierge services, as well as exclusive access to the Club Lounge.

Connected directly to the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, Kerry Hotel Pudong, Shanghai claims to have the city’s largest portfolio of hotel meeting and banqueting facilities at over 7,300m² with two ballrooms, 26 multi-purpose function rooms, a balcony garden, 16 offices and four meeting rooms.

With an emphasis on helping guests “combine work with leisure”, extensive facilities for recreation are also part of the offerings.

These include a three-level sports club featuring a 24-hour gymnasium, a heated indoor swimming pool, an outdoor basketball court and tennis court, a roof garden with a jogging track, a children’s playground, and a wellness day spa that will open in April.

The second Kerry Hotel will open in Beijing after a multimillion-dollar refurbishment of Shangri-La’s Kerry Centre Hotel that is scheduled to be completed by early 2012.

THAILAND’S Ministry of Tourism and Sports is seeking a 134 per cent increase in budget for next year, or about 38.2 billion baht (US$1.25 billion) in total, to catapult the kingdom to regional hub status for tourism and sports.

TTG Asia e-Daily understands the ministry intends to use the money to develop Thailand as the tourism and sports nerve centre of ASEAN and Asia by next year and 2016 respectively.

Under the proposal, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has reportedly sought 8.3 billion baht, a 58.6 per cent increase over this year, to increase arrivals from regional markets and offset the anticipated slowdown in longhaul markets.

Thailand recorded 15.9 million visitor arrivals last year, a 12.4 per cent increase over the previous year. The travel trade, however, noted that hotels experienced a 15 to 20 per cent drop in business due to last year’s manifold crises.

The country welcomed 1.79 million arrivals in January, up 11.6 per cent over the same month last year.

VETERAN PATA member Bill Calderwood has been appointed interim CEO for PATA, which has not been lucky so far with its search for a CEO.

Calderwood will step in when Gregory Duffell leaves end-February and ensure a smooth handover.

A member of PATA’s Executive Board, he will arrive in Bangkok on February 25. Meanwhile, the CEO search committee, with the professional assistance of an external recruitment agency, will continue to seek a fitting candidate for the CEO position.

Calderwood was Head of International Operations for the Australian Tourism Commission, and has run large membership-based organisations, tourism attractions and major travel retail and wholesale operations. He is currently managing director of The Ayre Group Consulting.

Said Calderwood: “It is an honour for me to act as interim CEO, and ensure and contribute to the smooth day-to-day workings of the association. Meanwhile of course, the CEO search committee will continue to examine various profiles and will select the best candidate as a more permanent incumbent of the position.”

INDONESIA-based Kompas Gramedia Group is expanding its venue portfolio with the development of a string of convention and exhibition centres around the country.

The group currently owns and operates the Gramedia Expo in Surabaya, and is working on the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC) that will open in May and the Gramedia Expo & Hotel Santika Medan, slated for a year-end opening. It also plans to build an exhibition hall and sports centre in Senayan, Jakarta.

Kompas’ hospitality arm includes Santika Indonesia Hotels & Resorts and Dyandra Promosindo, a leading PEO in Indonesia.

BNDCC president director Danny Budiharto, who is also spearheading the group’s other properties, said: “There are potential destinations in Indonesia and the (regional) governments are calling for MICE development, but none of them are providing facilities to move the industry. Therefore, we are taking the initiative to build venues to stimulate the market, although we realise it is a long-term investment.”

For example, when Gramedia Expo Surabaya opened, Dyandra Promosindo organised its own exhibitions there, which later spurred other local events to choose the venue, he said.

Similarly, Budiharto was confident that BNDCC would be able to kickstart the market for exhibitions in Bali.

THE NEW Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC), which will triple the island’s MICE capability from May, intends to compete head-on with counterparts in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia for international events.

BNDCC is equipped with facilities double the size of existing competitor, Bali International Convention Centre. It will have a convention hall with up to 5,000 theatre-style seats, 14 breakout session rooms, three boardrooms and a plenary hall with 1,800 seats. A sizable exhibition hall and cultural centre is also in the pipeline within the next two years.

Kompas Gramedia Group COO and BNDCC president commissary Agus Adiprasetyo said: “Building a venue of this scale in a city like Jakarta will not give it as significant an impact as if it was built in Bali. It can now leverage on the island’s rich cultural, natural and leisure environment for competitive advantage.”

Bali Tourism Development Corporation executive managing director I Made Mandra said BNDCC would meet the need for additional MICE space on the island.

“It is true that Nusa Dua receives the highest number of international conventions (in Indonesia), but on the Asia-Pacific map, it is only 2.5 per cent of the total number,” he said.

OUTBOUND travel agents strong in Egypt and Middle East packages are turning their hopes towards other destinations, in anticipation that holiday demand for the region will be low for the next two quarters due to the unrest.

Mayflower Acme Tours deputy general manager Abdul Rahman Mohamed said the company had removed Egypt from its product line-up for the upcoming MATTA Fair in Kuala Lumpur, which begins on March 11.

He said: “We are monitoring the situation, and we’ll make sure the destination is safe before we promote it again. Otherwise, it would be a financial risk for us.”

Abdul added that demand for Jordan and Dubai had also dropped.

The company will put more emphasis on regional destinations in South-east Asia. It will also promote a new tour package that combines Russia, Denmark, Sweden and Finland in a 10-day/seven-night programme.

Malaysian Harmony Tours & Travel CEO, Cooper Huang, said he expected holiday-seekers who had been saving for a trip to the Middle East to opt for Europe because of similar prices.