Hilton Melbourne Little Queen Street has named Jeremy Healy as its new general manager.
With more than 35 years in the industry, he was previously stationed in Hobart overseeing both the Movenpick Hotel, Hobart and Ibis Styles Hobart.
Healy has also worked with a number of Melbourne Hotels, including The Como Melbourne MGallery and Sofitel Melbourne on Collins.
Brought to you by BWH Hotel Group
With 19 brands under three distinct concepts – WorldHotels Collection, Best Western Hotels & Resorts, and SureStay Hotel Group – BWH Hotel Group (BWH) heralds an exciting new era of international hospitality in Asia, with an expanding collection of world-class hotels and resorts across the region.
Covering every segment of the market from economy to upper upscale, with locations from gateway cities to beach resorts, cultural hubs, and more, BWH sets the scene for the next Asian adventure.
Explore Asia with the latest destinations
The growth in 2022 was led by Vietnam (21 signings) and Pakistan (five signings). Two hotels were also signed in Thailand and Indonesia.
Key properties include Asia’s first SureStay Collection by Best Western property, Seekers Finders Rama IV in Bangkok and Asia’s first SureStay Studio by Best Western property in the Philippines.
Moving from strength to strength in 2023
The Group will continue to augment its regionwide portfolio of hotels and resorts in 2023, while initiating attractive promotions and leveraging the strength of Best Western Rewards, its global loyalty programme, to attract new and returning guests.
The expansion will focus on a series of key strategic markets, including Thailand and Vietnam, while also introducing more of its 19 diverse brands to the region.
Key openings in Vietnam this year will include Executive Residency by Best Western Cen Riverside Hanoi, which will mark the debut of its extended-stay Executive Residency by Best Western brand in Southeast Asia, as well as Venezia Binh Chau, BW Premier Collection by Best Western, a spectacular new development on the country’s southeast coast.
In Thailand, the Group recently opened Best Western Plus Carapace Hotel Hua Hin and will open Best Western Chatuchak and Best Western Ratchada Hotel over the next couple of weeks, followed by Best Western Click Sathorn 11 Bangkok, a modern midscale hotel in the heart of the Thai capital.
Multiple new openings are also planned in Indonesia, and exciting new concepts will be introduced to the Philippines, including Cebu’s first SureStay Plus hotel.
WorldHotels will also expand across Asia this year. In December 2022, the 160-key Villa Fontaine Premier Haneda Airport, Tokyo, was added to the WorldHotels Elite collection, and this will soon be followed by its sister property, the 1,553-key Villa Fontaine Grand Haneda Airport – the largest convention hotel at Japan’s busiest airport.
In the third quarter, La Green Resort will open its doors near Bangtao Beach to become the first WorldHotels member in Phuket. This 420-key eco-friendly resort will join the WorldHotels Distinctive collection.
All three new properties offer WorldHotels Rewards, the industry-leading loyalty programme which offers guests exclusive members-only offers and benefits.
Powering ahead
In Vietnam, BWH signed Best Western Premier Senla Boutique Saigon and Best Western Premier Sky Hue which will debut this year and 2025 respectively.
Its first branded residence, Best Western Premier Sunshine Diamond River, Vietnam, is also set to welcome guests in 2024.
As a pioneer in Pakistan, the Group will open three properties in the country’s breathtaking mountains in 2025 and 2026.
For more information, please visit www.bestwesternasia.com.
Vote for your favourite travel brand to win at TTG Travel Awards 2023, Asia-Pacific’s Most Prestigious Travel Industry Accolade
Vote Best Western Hotels & Resorts (BWH Hotels) for Best Mid-range Hotel Brand here.
JLL has named Nihat Ercan as chief executive officer of Hotels & Hospitality Group, Asia-Pacific.
Bringing over 20 years of experience to his new role, Ercan will be responsible for JLL’s market-leading hotels and hospitality platform in the region, with oversight for investment sales, advisory and asset management services, and client management across 14 markets in Asia-Pacific.
Mike Batchelor, who previously held the position of chief executive officer will assume the role of chairman of JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group in Asia-Pacific.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) joined forces with global marketplace WebBeds to hold the inaugural Impact Summit, held at Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld on February 8.
The high-level event saw senior executives from the TAT and WebBeds present industry updates – including Thailand’s strategic direction and the current booking data and trends.
More than 500 hoteliers attended in person while over 400 other partners live-streamed the summit from around the world.
The TAT’s deputy governor of international marketing for Europe, Africa, Middle East & Americas, Siripakorn Cheawsamoot, and executive director for the East Asia Region, Chuwit Sirivajjakul, spoke at the even to help delegates understand the tourism environment and how to align their own business plans with the actions of the TAT.
Providing insights on industry trends, consumer habits, key markets, trends and opportunities were WebBeds’ CEO Daryl Lee and president for Asia-Pacific KS Sun, along with other commercial presidents from around the world.
During the summit, Cheawsamoot shared the TAT’s vision for its longhaul markets, which includes a focus on high value and sustainable tourism, as well as its action plan which focuses on attracting more flights and greater capacity with airlines, expanding Thailand’s source markets to more major urban centres around the world, working with new strategic partners, including airlines, airports, tour operators and travel agencies, and making Thailand an all-year-round destination for a wider variety of market segments.
Sirivajjakul also shared information about the TAT’s 2023 marketing campaigns and activations for East Asia, with a focus on the reopening of mainland China, as well as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. He also revealed how consumer behaviour has changed over the years and what opportunities lie ahead for hoteliers targeting these important markets.
Daryl Lee, CEO of WebBeds, commented: “This event marked our first Impact Summit and the fact that we chose Bangkok as the host city reflects the importance of Thailand as a global tourism powerhouse.
“This was the first of many Impact Summits and we look forward to collaborating with our esteemed partners in the months and years to come, to help forge a strong and sustainable future for the entire industry.”
SiteMinder reveals global traveller confidence is reaching new heights post-lockdown in its new analysis of more than 100 million reservations – booking behaviour trends from 2022 showed decreasing cancellation rates and increasing booking lead times, even with rising hotel room prices across key travel destinations.
SiteMinder’s new Hotel Booking Trends report has revealed travellers booked their trips on average eight days earlier, and cancelled their bookings 17% less year-on-year in 2022, despite a 24% increase in the average daily hotel room rate.
Including the most popular channels travellers used to book hotels in 2022, SiteMinder’s report also reveals the performance of OTAs, wholesalers, global distribution systems, tour operators, destination management companies and hotel-owned websites (direct booking engines) as revenue-driving channels for hoteliers across the world, with 11 new additions joining SiteMinder’s Top 12 lists for the first time.
In 2022, analysis from SiteMinder’s Hotel Booking Trends showed:
SiteMinder’s Hotel Booking Trends report comes following the removal of travel restrictions in mainland China, triggering an acceleration of outbound bookings at the start of 2023.
According to SiteMinder’s most recent bookings data, outbound net reservations from China increased by 37% in February since mid-December 2022, with bookings to properties in Thailand and Vietnam increasing by 86% and 78% respectively. Tourists from China made 155 million outbound trips worth US$255 billion in 2019, making them the largest outbound tourism market globally prior to the pandemic.
James Bishop, vice president of ecosystem and strategic partnerships, SiteMinder, said: “The accommodation sector has remained a strong indicator of traveller confidence over the last three years, and we can see through SiteMinder’s new Hotel Booking Trends analysis that this confidence is certainly starting to embed across key travel markets globally.”
He added that changing traveller trends such as the blend of leisure and business trips and the acceleration of group bookings pave a strong growth opportunity for the accommodation sector within rebounding regional tourism industries.
“Our new Hotel Booking Trends analysis shows a clear shift in the accommodation industry toward a holistic hotel commerce strategy that ensures hotels are able to attract the right guests at the right time. From our Top 12 lists, we see hoteliers globally adopting new and established channels — both direct and indirect — to truly optimise their distribution approach, allowing hoteliers to be seen and booked according to evolving seasonality and changing traveller preferences,” Bishop said.
The new data demonstrates the global traveller sentiment reported in SiteMinder’s 2022 Changing Traveller Report, in which the majority of travellers surveyed reported they did not expect their travel plans to be held back by rising inflation, with 87% of travellers saying they are happier when they are anticipating travel, and 85% of travellers comfortable spending additional money on extras during their next stay. In the ‘new normal’ of travel, 80% of travellers said it was important to have the flexibility to easily modify or freely cancel their reservation.
Bishop noted: “Hotel businesses are certainly showing an openness to employ a broader, multi-channel approach as a way of connecting with more traveller segments, which reflect new expanded, multi-channel traveller booking preferences and a much more competitive hotel booking landscape online.”
To view all the insights from SiteMinder’s full Hotel Booking Trends report, including the Top 12 lists of top travel destinations, click here.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) has extended its collaboration with Amadeus, where the Amadeus Altéa Passenger Service System (PSS) will continue to support all ANA international flights across reservation, inventory, ticketing, and departure control.
The collaboration will bring flexibility and personalisation capabilities to the airline, which will be implementing new digital, pricing and payment proficiencies to provide a seamless experience for its customers, such as faster check-in and the automated application of their preferences at every touchpoint during their journey.
All ANA domestic flights will also be migrating onto Altéa, including the domestic airlines currently hosted on ANA’s in-house PSS system. Amadeus’ technology will bring ANA and these airlines onto a single platform, enabling the airline to decommission its in-house PSS system by 2026.
The Altéa PSS will be the key touchpoint for ANA’s domestic and international flights operations. The airline will be able to optimise its existing and future operations, allowing ANA to achieve a higher level of customer experience management.
“This agreement is a step-change for us in our digital transformation journey to further improve our operational efficiency,” shared Sammy Aramaki, chief innovation officer, ANA.
“For the past 34 years, we have had separate passenger systems for international and domestic flights. We’ve already seen the benefits of Amadeus Altéa PSS with our international business, and we’re excited to bring our domestic flight operations onto the Amadeus system.”
Javier Laforgue, executive vice president, travel unit & managing director, Asia-Pacific, Amadeus, added: “We believe this agreement is a further step towards modern airline retailing and an example of the collaborative approach we at Amadeus take with our customers.”
Philippine Airlines (PAL) is relaunching its top routes to mainland China with the opening of direct flights to Shanghai (Pudong) on February 14 and Beijing on February 21.
Both destinations join Xiamen and Guangzhou (Canton) in the roster of PAL’s mainland Chinese destinations.
The airlines’ Manila-Shanghai-Manila service will operate initially with three flights per week from February 14, then increase to daily flights from March 26.
Starting February 21, Beijing services will depart every Tuesday and Friday.
In addition, PAL is increasing its Manila-Xiamen-Manila flights from once weekly to thrice weekly starting from February 25; and its Manila-Guangzhou-Manila services from once to twice weekly starting February 16, progressively adding frequencies to reach a full daily service by March 26.
In March, PAL will offer flights to Jinjiang on March 19, 22 and 24, then increase to daily flights from March 26; while twice weekly regular flights between Manila and Macau will be restored from March 26.
B2B hospitality marketplace MG Bedbank has achieved record levels of business in 4Q2022, with hotel sales more than 50 per cent above the same period pre-pandemic in 2019.
The strong performance was not limited to the home market of Indonesia (up 95 per cent), as bookings from across South-east Asian markets accelerated far beyond pre-pandemic levels. Star growth markets for MG Bedbank in the region included Vietnam (up 278 per cent) and Philippines (up 139 per cent).
Said MG Bedbank’s president director Brett Henry: “Our focus on technology and differentiated service has paid off, as we’ve been able to outperform the industry during the recovery. The investment we made during the pandemic to design, develop and deliver our hospitality-specific B2B marketplace platform, MG Jarvis, has been instrumental in driving this growth.”
“MG Bedbank has been a valuable partner for us,” shared Chris Legaspi, vice president commercial of Archipelago International. “Their partnership-based approach and new technology platform have allowed us to accelerate B2B sales throughout the recovery.”
MG Bedbank’s commitment to providing innovative technology solutions and exceptional customer service has been key to its success, and the company is poised for continued growth in 2023.
The Danna Langkawi Resort & Beach Villas is offering families a fun bonding time this school holidays, with a special experience for the little ones.
Book any of the resort’s special offers and upgrade to the signature Danna Jr experience for an additional 250 ringgit (US$57) per room per stay. Kids will enjoy exclusive welcome amenities, a kids’ sleeping tent with lanterns, colouring book, beach play set, plush toys, sweet treats, and access to curated kids club activities.
Have a splashing good time at the three-tiered infinity pool with a dedicated kids pool, or have a go at jet skiing, kayaking, riding the eco-friendly Ceclo electric pedal boat, or snorkelling.
Complimentary bicycles are available for guests to explore the sights and sounds of Langkawi, such as enjoying the scenery at Panorama Langkawi, visiting the bustling night markets, hiking to hidden waterfalls or going on an organised mangrove river cruise.
For more information, visit The Danna Langkawi Resort & Beach Villas.
