Guests at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) can now enjoy more convenience via its mobile app with Smart Hotel features that allow them to skip conventional means of checking in and out at the front desk.
Available for both Android and Apple users on the MBS app, the new initiative will enable users to pre-register wherever they are by following four simple steps to complete the check-in process. They can use their mobile phones as digital key cards to access their rooms and hotel lifts, as well as request in-room amenities and order in-room dining.
At the end of their stay, guests can also verify their room bill and check out, without having to queue at the lobby or drop off physical key cards.
The app is a one-stop information portal offering customers ease of access to the latest happenings at the integrated resort, as well as ticketing engines, rewards programme, parking redemptions, and more. Users can look forward to even more enhancements in the pipeline, including in-app capabilities to retrieve and make contactless payment for valet parking, as well as view their e-tickets to attractions, among others.
Paul Town, COO, MBS, remarked that the “new mobile offerings will enable an effortless end-to-end guest experience to create new value for our customers” and the innovations will “enable our team members to take on higher-value tasks such as rendering more personal service to our guests”.
He added: “Our aim is to not only transform the conventional check-in experience, but to also allow guests to truly maximise their time and start discovering the property from the moment they arrive. We have big plans for our digital offerings and are investing heavily to enhance the overall customer journey across even more touchpoints.”
This innovation will be shared for adoption across Las Vegas Sands’ other properties.
His new responsibilities will include the continuation of day-to-day responsibility for planning, implementing, managing, and controlling all financial-related activities of the company, in conjunction with directing and overseeing all aspects of Finance, Group Accounting, Purchasing, Legal and Compliance functions of the organisation.
The online news bulletin will resume on Monday, April 10, 2023.
Location
Iriomote island in Okinawa, Japan is imposing a cap on visitors in a bid to prevent overtourism as travel returns.
Starting from this month, only 1,200 visitors are permitted to enter the island daily, equating to 33,000 annually. The local government is concerned that a rebound of tourism to pre-pandemic levels would endanger the habit of its rare and indigenous Iriomote cat.
The subtropical destination is Okinawa’s second-largest island but its population of 2,400 is concentrated around its northern and eastern shores as much of the island is covered in subtropical forest.
Its popularity was on the rise pre-pandemic, with 290,000 visitors in 2019. However, the past decade of tourism growth brought a rise in traffic accidents involving Iriomote cats.
In 2020, when the island closed to tourists, no Iriomote cats were killed on the road.
As tourists returned to the island over 2021 to 2022, eight cats were killed and several more injured, according to local government data.
Since Iriomote became part of Japan’s newest UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site (covering Amami-Oshima, Tokunoshima, northern mainland Okinawa and Iriomote) in July 2021, support has been growing to protect the habit of the islands’ rare endemic species, including the Amami rabbit and Iriomote cat.
The cat is classified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and is designated a natural monument by the Okinawa government. An estimated 100 adult cats inhabited the island as of 2007, predominantly in its subtropical forests, making Iriomote the smallest habitat of any wild cat species in the world.
The visitor cap is designed to “minimise the effects caused by tourists on nature and the local community,” according to the Okinawan department of environment affairs, which noted that the number of island sites open to guided tours will also be limited.
Although the restrictions are not compulsory, the Okinawan government is urging travel agents to comply with them.