TTG Asia will be taking a break for Vesak Day on Wednesday, May 26. News will resume on May 27.
Here’s wishing all our readers a happy Vesak Day!
Singapore hotels get busy filling bellies at home as new restrictions set in
- Hotels move in with expanded home delivery and takeaway menu and service
- Brisk business seen, as families stay safe at home
- Home delivery and takeaway revenues insufficient to mend traditional hotel business dent
As Singapore moves back into partial lockdown, disabling dining out at restaurants and limiting activities beyond homes, hotels in Singapore brought out their 2020 playbook and stepped up F&B delivery service and takeaways.
Shangri-La Singapore expanded its takeaway and delivery menu, offering 10 cuisines and more than 150 dishes for guests to enjoy in the comfort and safety of their home. To further entice customers, the luxury hotel has shaved 15 per cent off selected items, and lifted minimum spend requirements.
Fullerton Hotel Singapore, Parkroyal on Beach Road, Pan Pacific Singapore, JW Marriott Singapore South Beach and many more are doing the same, dangling gourmet treats all ready for pick-up or home delivery.
Four properties under Accor – Raffles Hotel Singapore, Fairmont Singapore, Sofitel Singapore City Centre and Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa – which are not part of the government’s quarantine hotel programme, swiftly turned all of their 20 restaurants and bars around to feed guests at home, with meals for every budget and occasion. Taste at ibis Singapore Bencoolen has meals from as little as S$8.90 (US$6.70), rivalling many meal options offered on other food delivery platforms.
Garth Simmons, CEO for Accor South-east Asia, Japan & South Korea, told TTG Asia: “We went through this in 2020, so we are better prepared and have introduced new innovations for this situation.”
These innovations include Fairmont Singapore’s online premium supermarket, Fairmontathome, as well as Raffles Hotel Singapore’s expanded Raffles Grab & Go concept.
To encourage more home deliveries and takeaways, Accor grants loyalty incentives for members of ALL – Live Limitless and Accor Plus, with discounts of up to 30 per cent and three times bonus points.
Tane Picken, general manager, Shangri-La Singapore recalled how his hotel had been just as quick last year in turning business focus to catering as travel restrictions dried up international arrivals.
“(We created) from scratch a robust online delivery and takeaway offering, which proved to be very popular among guests particularly over the festive periods,” Picken said. Demand has spiked again with current movement restrictions.
Having maintained their home delivery and takeaway service since Singapore’s Circuit Breaker lockdown in April 2020, Marriott International’s properties were able to “hit the ground running” when Phase 2 kicked in, said Anuj Sharma, area director of operations – Singapore, Malaysia & Maldives.
Guests are able to enjoy luxury takeaways from notable dining venues such as The Kitchen Table at W Singapore – Sentosa Cove, Madam Fan at JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach, and Brasserie Les Saveurs at The St. Regis Singapore, with offerings regularly enhanced over the months.
Marriott’s F&B reach was expanded in late-2020 when it entered a strategic partnership with Asian super app Grab, which brought premium hospitality experiences to consumers across South-east Asia, including Singapore.
“From all our learnings and experiences last year, we are in a stronger position today with most of our menu offerings available on delivery platforms like GrabFood for our guests’ easy ordering,” commented Peter Foreman, senior director, sales & distribution – Singapore, Malaysia, Maldives with Marriott International.
Small plug for a wide gap
While hotels are enjoying brisk business with their home delivery and takeaway service, hoteliers say this segment of revenue will not be enough to cushion the full impact of Phase 2 restrictions on hotel business over the next four weeks.
Simmons said: “Within the first 24 hours after the announcement, our teams took hundreds of calls, with most guests looking to postpone rather than cancel their plans but the impact will be significant. (The F&B pivot) would never make up for the lost restaurant, banqueting and staycation business that we would have seen ordinarily. It’s sad because just before this announcement, our bars and restaurants were performing as strongly as or sometimes stronger than they were before Covid-19, as people are desperate to get out and enjoy life.”
Anuj agrees but said that the strong takeaway and delivery demand was at least enough to help sustain F&B operations. “The global business forecast remains challenging, but we will continue to remain optimistic,” he added.
Picken pointed to critical lessons from the past 16 months that showed “the need to remain nimble and agile to respond to new measures”.
Echoing that view, Simmons said: “Our team has been amazing over this period, introducing new sources of income including new ‘workspitality’ models, delivery and take-home food and drinks, pre-prepared meal kits and online entertainment such as cooking classes, yoga or fitness sessions to help our guests get through the pandemic.”
While Simmons believes that Accor colleagues “are definitely more mentally prepared this time around”, he said successive lockdowns could take an emotional toll on industry professionals.
Kamalaya gets new GM and brand strategist
Bruce Ryde has been appointed as the general manager and brand strategist at Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary and Holistic Spa in Thailand.
Among his new responsibilities, Ryde will work with the hotel’s founders to grow the brand through an online platform, Kamalaya Connect, and a retail arm, Kamalaya Essentials.
Ryde has a long hotel history both operating hotels and leading global brands in Asia-Pacific. The Australian was most recently managing the luxury brand strategy for Marriott International’s brands, as vice-president Asia Pacific.
Prior to that, Ryde held the same position with IHG, overseeing the InterContinental brand as well as the launch of the Hotel Indigo and Kimpton brands in Asia-Pacific.
A by Adina Sydney hires new GM
TFE Hotels has appointed Amanda Cottome as hotel general manager and brand experience manager at A by Adina Sydney.
Prior to this, Cottome spent more than five years working with Ovolo Hotels Australia as general manager of Ovolo 1888 Darling Harbour; and most recently, as group director of brand experience & culture for Ovolo nationally, where she drove and managed the strategic operational brand experience for the Ovolo group.
An experienced hospitality professional, Cottome has worked in many operational and management roles for major hotel groups in Australia, including Accor’s Mercure Sydney, the Wynyard Travelodge (SPHC), Urban Hotel Sydney St Leonards and Mirvac Hotels & Resorts.
Princess Cruises to resume cruising in Alaska this July
Princess Cruises is preparing to return to service in the US with a partial season of Alaska sailings from Seattle, with departures scheduled for July 25 through September 26, 2021.
The round-trip, seven-day cruises will be operated by Majestic Princess, and sale begins today.
The cruises will call at signature ports, glaciers and attractions in Alaska, including Glacier Bay National Park; Juneau where guests could sight humpback whales; Skagway, a Gold Rush-era town; and Ketchikan, a quaint seaside port that is known as the salmon capital of the world.
Presently, dining, entertainment and shore excursion details are being finalised and will be communicated in the coming weeks.
These cruises are available for guests who have received their final dose of an approved Covid-19 vaccine at least 14 days prior to the beginning of the cruise and have proof of vaccination.
Qatar Airways launches two-way conversion programme with Grab
Qatar Airways Privilege Club has struck a deal with Grab that allows its members to convert their Qmiles to GrabRewards points, and vice versa.
Through this partnership, 1 Qmile can be converted into 1 GrabRewards point and used to pay for Grab rides or orders. Privilege Club members can also convert 1,200 GrabRewards points into 100 Qmiles, further enabling members to reach their travel goals and enjoy an array of exclusive benefits, including flight rewards, cabin upgrades, extra baggage, Cash + Qmiles, and more.
Qatar Airways CCO, Thierry Antinori, said that its partnership with Grab allows its Privilege Club members “to tap into food delivery, ride-hailing and cashless payment services with their Qmiles”.
He added: “As the world continues to overcome the global Covid-19 pandemic, many people are planning to travel and now is the time to start collecting as many Qmiles as possible for upcoming travels. This new partnership between Privilege Club and Grab helps our members reach their future travel goals and return to the skies even sooner.”
Marriott adds Malaysia hotel to Tribute Portfolio
Marriott International has signed an agreement with Malaysian property developer IOI Properties Group to rebrand the current 151-room Palm Garden Hotel in Malaysia into a Tribute Portfolio hotel.
Located in the 318ha IOI Resort City and on the edge of the Palm Garden Golf Club, the hotel will undergo a renovation and begin operating later this year as the Palm Garden Hotel, Putrajaya, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, under the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio.
The hotel will feature a signature Thai restaurant, an alfresco bar, two large swimming pools, and a recreation centre with obstacle courses and various team-building facilities. For events and meetings, there will be 11 multifunctional event spaces including a ballroom with over 550m².
Vaccination is only the first step in this journey towards travel resumption
Over the last six months, we have seen travel gain hope with gradual reopening of borders and travel bubbles which then lead to a complete shutdown once again, as the second wave of infections hit more fiercely in some regions. At the centre of all these changes has been the focus on streamlined vaccination drives on which hinges the future of a safe and healthy global community.
While vaccination is the first step towards furthering a robust system that can help bring back the lost hope in travel, it will be necessary to keep more layers of checks at every step of the travel cycle even after the world is vaccinated, with the intention of keeping safety at the heart of the travel journey. In this light, travel and health credentials could play a game-changing role if integrated effectively in cross-border journeys.
To fulfil the promise of getting travel back on track, countries have not only streamlined the vaccine rollout, but they are also preparing a robust system on how the credibility of vaccination can be embedded in helping movements across borders with the help of the right credentials.
Governments continue to assess the effectiveness of digital identification modes like vaccine passports, digital green certificates planned by the European Commission, etc. to ensure that the future of travel is not just ready, but also safe.
Going beyond robust vaccination drives
For the past year, the advancements in health and travel tech were largely limited to screening and planning of travel. However, as the virus continues to pose more challenges, the question remains as to how sustainably the industry can address the anticipated rebound.
There is no doubt that going forward, the industry as a whole will require a more holistic approach towards the revival of travel that aligns with the realities of the constantly evolving scenario. Keeping this in mind, several stakeholders have introduced initiatives that incorporate an almost futuristic approach to travel – where human interventions and physical touchpoints can be reduced to curb the spread of Covid-19.
These include cloud lockers that allow safe storage and sharing of documents, e-passports, and eVisas that enable digital alternatives to travel documents, and lastly, the need for travel health credentials and their integration in global travel processes. These changes are slowly moving beyond concept stage and becoming a reality with the industry coming together as a binding force.
An interesting example of this includes an initiative by the World Economic Forum called Known Traveller Digital Identity (KTDI) that brings together a global consortium of individuals, governments, authorities, and the travel industry to enhance security in global travel. KTDI allows people to manage their profile and collect digital ‘attestations’ of their personal data, allowing them to consent to what data to share and when. The more attestations a user shares, the better it is for authorities to process travel seamlessly and smoothly.
Awareness will take us a long way
Understanding travel processes and being mindful of Covid-19-related requirements that vary from country to country beforehand will be critical. To help manage this, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently announced a Destination Tracker in preparation for the restart of international travel.
The Destination Tracker is the result of both organisations joining efforts to boost confidence and accelerate recovery of the tourism sector when borders reopen. It is a free online tool that allows governments to provide information on Covid-19 requirements for travel and the measures in place at the destination. This can allow potential travellers to have a well-researched travel plan in place beforehand, with all the information verified by trusted bodies.
While these efforts aid the travel-planning journey, another critical intervention in international travel rests in the visa application process. As we move forward, adopting solutions such as eVisas and ePassport gates that allow essential travel documents to be digitally processed with added layers of data security, will only bring us closer to a digital-first future.
Although these are shifts to be considered at a governance level, collaborating and outsourcing these credential services will only see an upward trend as governments look to best optimise safety. A recent example of the same is the collaboration that VFS Global led with the technology company Accredify to issue health certificates that allow seamless travel from Indonesia to Singapore, providing for a safe bubble transit. The hope is to extend that model to more ‘safe travel’ corridors.
Undoubtedly, the introduction of travel-health credentials and verified information channels will help restore tourism in a seamless and well-screened manner. However, the revival of tourism will need to move beyond singular efforts and adopt a holistic approach that can help streamline the entire process of international travel with minimum risks to the traveller in the new normal.
ForwardKeys rolls out DMO-specific dashboard
ForwardKeys has launched a new data platform to help tourism boards and DMOs use big data and air ticketing insights in real-time and in actionable ways to speed up the process of recovery planning.
Destination Gateway is an intuitive dashboard and provides for users and business departments with different skills to reach their respective business goals.
Tourism boards and DMOs can monitor their destination’s performance, marketing efforts, and air connectivity at the click of a mouse. A new feature has recently been added to monitor travel recovery more effectively due to the ever-changing travel restrictions and regulations.
“At all stages of development and testing, we included a handful of our DMO clients and partners for their additional perspective, making Destination Gateway unlike many other products available in the market,” said ForwardKeys’ CEO and co-founder, Olivier Jager.
Luis Millan, market researcher and co-developer of Destination Gateway, added: “Nowadays, it is very easy to get overwhelmed by the variety of data and tools out there for tourism bodies. The pressure to be a data-driven organisation is strong. So, this is why I think Destination Gateway will quickly become a favourite as it combines so many aspects relevant to DMOs in the one place and it is not hard to navigate and pretty enough to show in presentations and reports too.”
Shangri-La Group has launched family experience brand Fam.ily that will focus on creating experiences for multi-generational families and supporting guests on their parenting journeys.
The Fam.ily brand logo comprises two parts: ‘fam’, the shortened word for ‘family’, and ‘ily’, the abbreviation for ‘I Love You’, connected by an infinity symbol. At the centre of the symbol is a heart-shaped knot, symbolising the love shared by family members and the strong ties that bind them.
Through Fam.ily, guests can take part in a wide variety of activities that have been specifically designed to encourage learning through play and shared experiences through co-discovery across generations.
Pilot Fam.ily programmes will be rolled out at four properties across Mainland China this summer. Additionally, families can stay in themed family suites that have been thoughtfully designed to accommodate multigenerational groups.
To support customers in their parenting journeys, Fam.ily strives to build a supportive community where parents can connect and exchange experiences through multiple channels, such as online chat groups and family events. Thought leaders and experts in parenting and child development will also be engaged to share their knowledge with the Fam.ily community. These experts will share ideas and tips for fostering bonds across generations and achieving work-family balance.
Accompanying the launch of Fam.ily is a UGC campaign on Weibo and Red that invites followers to post a short video capturing an authentic reaction from their family when hearing “I Love You” using the hashtag #香亲香爱我爱我家 for the chance to win prizes.