Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has rolled out a new eponymous travel lifestyle brand that will bring together the Cathay Pacific, Marco Polo Club and Asia Miles schemes.
The “premium” brand, Cathay, will also unveil a range of new offers in spending, dining, shopping, hotels, and wellness over the coming months.
Cathay’s new travel lifestyle brand will bring a wider range of products and services to the airline’s customers
The first of these – a new Cathay co-branded credit card – will be launched in Hong Kong soon. These will all culminate in a refreshed customer relationship programme to be launched in 1H2022. While the airline has made the Cathay brand initially only available in Hong Kong, it plans to gradually expand the brand to other markets.
The global airline also stated that the Cathay branding will help to simplify how their customers interact with them, including how they earn status and make use of miles.
The pandemic has exacted a toll on the hospitality industry, with more hotel owners putting their properties up for sale at below market rates, providing an opportune time for investors to make their move. Amid such a climate, hotels in Malaysia have attracted growing interest from investors.
Listings of Malaysia hotels for sale on Zerin Properties has increased by 40 per cent year-to-date, with rising interest from investors, both local and overseas.
More investors are looking to acquire hotels assets in Malaysia at below market rates amid pandemic
Zerin Properties managing director and CEO, Previndran Singhe, shared that one of the reasons for the uptick in investor interest for hotel assets in Malaysia is that asking prices for these properties have dropped between 10 to 35 per cent as compared to pre-lockdown. As well, he added, the ringgit is very competitive in comparison with Singapore and US dollars.
He said: “Our investors are also strongly looking at Vietnam and the Philippines. Ownership structures in Thailand and Indonesia make investments a bit more challenging as compared with Malaysia.”
Previndran added that Malaysian-based investors are eyeing properties and making offers on hotels in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi. Meanwhile, foreign buyers who have always shown interest in properties in Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi are now also looking at Kota Kinabalu and Johor, especially Johor Bahru and Desaru.
He said: “Interest is driven by the strong domestic rebound after the movement control order 1.0 last year, as well as robust markets overseas that have proven travel is still in demand. In Malaysia, travel recovery might take awhile but they are prepared to wait. Once 70 to 80 per cent of the population is vaccinated, I anticipate travel bubbles will be formed within South-east Asia first before extending beyond.”
Previndran: Growing investor interest in Malaysia hotels driven by strong domestic rebound post-lockdown
The number of new Covid-19 cases has been increasing rapidly in the country to the point that the healthcare system is on the verge of collapse. This has resulted in the government imposing a ban on interstate travel nationwide since early 2021.
Insufficient assistance and support from the government coupled with harsh lockdowns that prevent hotels from accepting leisure guests, offering dine-ins at their restaurants and renting event spaces to organisers, have threatened the survival of hotel businesses this year.
Previndran shared: “We are seeing more and more hotel owners approaching us to sell their hotels over the past two months.”
Istana Hotel Kuala Lumpur had given notice to its associates last month that it would close on September 1. With the current harsh business environment, Previndran anticipates more hotel closures this year, across all locations in the country.
Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners executive director, Shaharuddin M Saaid, concurs with Previndran’s view and reveals two possibilities – hotel owners may choose to close temporarily and reopen when the business environment improves, or they may close for good and look for a buyer if the lockdown and ban on interstate travel continues indefinitely with no certainty of business recovery.
He has seen an increased number of enquiries from overseas investors seeking information on hotel properties, especially three- and four-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur.
He said: “Some property owners that have listed their properties for sale last year, but were unable to dispose of them, have lowered their asking prices. This is a good time for investors looking for a good deal.”
According to the Hotel Industry Survey Report by the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH), as of mid-June, out of 320 hotel respondents, two have permanently closed and 91 have shuttered temporarily. By percentage, almost 71 per cent are still operating, most of which are dependent on quarantine needs, while others are catering to guests from essential service sectors.
MAH’s CEO, Yap Lip Seng, said: “With (Covid-19) cases breaking new records these past two weeks and insufficient assistance and support from the government, I don’t see things improving anytime soon.”
He shared that the key to moving forward is highly dependent on the National Immunisation Programme, aimed at achieving herd immunity in the country.
There may be over 300,000 square kilometers of coastline boasting some of the world’s best islands and dive sites but there is still so much more to the Philippines than its postcard-worthy beaches. Make your trip extraordinary with a different kind of adventure. Here are just a few of the must-do experiences you should include in your itinerary to this Southeast Asian archipelago.
HIKING Mt. Pulag, Benguet
Step foot into what is known as the Philippines’ “Playground of the Gods”. Mt. Pulag, the third highest in the country, is a popular trek in Luzon for professional climbers and even for non-hikers due to its famous sea of clouds.
SANDBOARDING La Paz/Paoay Sand Dunes, Ilocos Norte
Sand dunes in a tropical country? Yes, the Philippines has that and you can experience it only in Ilocos Norte. Slide down the sandy cliffs using a concave board and get on a bumpy ATV or 4×4 ride in La Paz for its steeper drops or Paoay for an excellent view of the beach.
CAVING Sagada, Mountain Province
An adventure like no other awaits you in Sagada. Explore secret chambers and wade through ice-cold waters of the Lumiang Cave to Sumaguing Cave. This 3-4 hour spelunking activity is not for the faint of heart.
SKYDIVING Bantayan Island, Cebu
Adrenaline junkies get an awesome perspective of the Philippines with skydiving in Cebu. But if this is too extreme for you, paragliding is a good alternative. Head over to either Sarangani, Carmona in Cavite or Narvacan in Ilocos Sur.
SIGHTSEEING Intramuros, Manila
One of Southeast Asia’s most exciting capitals, Manila is a good starting point to discover the colonial history and the hustle and bustle of the Philippines. Take a kalesa (horse-carriage) ride to tour Intramuros, once the seat of Spanish power, then explore the city’s huge malls and taste a variety of Philippine cuisine.
Look forward to experiencing new things and making memories of a lifetime in the Philippines without worry. Your ultimate getaway is a recipient of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Safe Travels Stamp! As a globally recognized ‘safe travels’ destination, traveling to the Philippines can be safe and fun in the new normal. Currently, there are restrictions on travel. Check the latest guidelines before departure and always follow local health advice.
Get the most out of your upcoming vacation and fly to the Philippines soon! From water, land or high-altitude adventure, this Southeast Asian destination has it all. To guide your travel plans, visit www.philippines.travel now.
Bayside hotels in Singapore have seen an uptick in occupancy rates for the National Day long weekend, with this year’s National Day Parade (NDP) having a centralised physical event at The Float@Marina Bay.
The highlight of the annual extravaganza is the spectacular fireworks, and hotels near the show venue will provide a vantage point for guests who wish to catch the awe-inspiring display live and in person.
Hotels around the Marina Bay area have seen a boost in enquiries and bookings for the long National Day weekend
Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay, Singapore saw an increase in its staycation bookings following the announcement of the NDP live show. To date, the hotel’s NDP Skyline National Day Celebration package with guaranteed fireworks view over the Marina Bay has boosted bookings by approximately 20 per cent, according to general manager, Melvin Lim.
The hotel’s in-house mixologist will also be serving up special cocktails at the Skyline Bar, located at the rooftop of the hotel. Lim elaborated: “It (Skyline) is an open space, and guests who prefer to have a drink at our Skyline Bar will have full views of the fireworks.”
Federica Brugnara, director of sales & marketing at Andaz Singapore, said that bookings have doubled on the back of the NDP hype. The hotel will be rolling out special in-room picnic baskets for guests to enjoy the parade and fireworks display from the comfort and safety of their rooms.
Usha Brockmann, director of communications at Mandarin Oriental, Singapore, also told TTG Asia that they have seen a rise in booking enquiries for the long weekend period.
The hotel is located within close proximity to the venue set for the NDP, with a selection of rooms and suites facing the Marina Bay area, allowing guests to catch the National Day action from the comfort of their room, Brockmann said.
Some hotels near the bay area will remain as dedicated government quarantine facilities over the National Day period and will not be able to capitalise on the spike in interest as they are unable to accept any leisure bookings.
Radisson Hotel Group continues to extend its footprint in China with the signing of a new Radisson Blu property in Changyuan, a rapidly emerging city in Henan province.
Scheduled to open in 4Q2024, Radisson Blu Hotel, Changyuan will form part of a major new mixed-use project in Puxi, the city’s new CBD, surrounded by office buildings, retail malls, residences and conference facilities.
Artist’s impression of Radisson Blu Hotel, Changyuan
Radisson Blu Hotel, Changyuan will offer 280 rooms and suites ranging from 42 to 84m² in size, each featuring king or twin beds, contemporary interiors, and connected workspaces. Facilities will include an all-day dining destination and Chinese restaurant, lobby lounge, an indoor swimming pool, and fitness centre. For corporate and social events, the hotel will offer eight function spaces including a 1,000m² ballroom.
Being developed by Henan Xunchi Real Estate Co., part of the Yilong Group, Radisson Blu Hotel, Changyuan will become the brand’s second location in Henan, following Radisson Blu Hotel, Zhengzhou Huiji.
As tourism gradually reopens, India faces a long road to regaining its share of international arrivals in the post-Covid era, said a report by HVS.
The report’s authors, Mandeep S Lamba and Dipti Mohan, called the Indian government’s recent announcement of its plan to provide free visas to the first 500,000 tourists once international travel resumes in the country as “a first step in the right direction to encourage inbound tourism”, but added that it will be a slow road to recovery for the country’s tourism.
India has been among the hardest hit destinations by the pandemic; Jama Masjid in New Delhi, India pictured
Given the significant negative publicity India received in the global press during the pandemic, the country “will have to work much harder to regain its pre-Covid share and then grow beyond it”, the authors wrote.
With safety and health being of paramount importance to the post-pandemic traveller, India would have suffered a setback to its reputation as a tourist destination from its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic even after the devasting second wave in the country.
It is, therefore, critical that the entire tourism fraternity – government, public sector, private sector, and even the citizens – come together as one to rebuild traveller confidence and put India back on the global tourism map.
The report detailed four measures to help the country regain its competitive advantage:
1. Health, safety, and adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour should be non-negotiable. Ensuring that all stakeholders, including tourists, follow the Covid-safety guidelines to the tee is of primary importance to rebuilding international tourist confidence and trust. Hotel and restaurant managers need to strictly ensure social distancing and other Covid safety measures at their premises and even refuse entry to patrons who are not following the guidelines.
2. The vaccination drive in the country has gained momentum and the government plans to vaccinate the majority of the population by the end of this year. However, the government and the private sector should collaborate to ensure that all tourism-sector employees – from hotel staff to tourist guides and cab drivers – are fully inoculated as a priority.
3. Along with creating a reboot plan, the government should introduce effective marketing campaigns, showcasing India as a ‘safe’ destination. The campaigns should communicate the Covid safety measures being implemented at tourist destinations, including the fact that all travel employees are fully inoculated.
These campaigns should also highlight that healthcare facilities, infrastructure, as well as amenities at airports and railway stations, have been augmented due to the pandemic, which will enhance the perception of India as a safe and attractive destination. It is also perhaps time for India to extend the 24×7 multilingual tourist helpline to be a ‘911’-like service.
4. Effective destination management can help reduce overcrowding. Tourists as well as the hospitality industry are eager to go back to normal, but we need to ensure that it is done in a phased manner so that we can avoid the third wave.
This is perhaps the right time for the authorities to evaluate global best practices, establish models based on international guidelines, and implement strategies for effective destination management to strike the much-needed balance between tourism and sustainability.
Thailand’s island-focused international travel reopening plan is set to roll out in Koh Samui on July 15.
Unlike the Phuket Sandbox programme for vaccinated travellers, the Samui Plus sealed-route will test the water with a hybrid approach of three days in a hotel quarantine scenario and then allowing visitors island-wide free access from the fourth day onwards.
Koh Samui to reopen to international visitors on July 15; Ang Thong National Marine Park in Koh Samui pictured
In anticipation of overseas travellers flying to the holiday island, over 60 hotels have been certified in the SHA Plus safety and health programme, according to hospitality consulting group C9 Hotelworks’ research.
Gateway carrier Bangkok Airways has confirmed three domestic daily ‘sealed route’ flights from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport starting in the middle of the month. International Samui Plus visitors will be required to fly via Bangkok and transit on these designated flights.
Koh Samui’s island economy is heavily dependent on tourism with over 600 registered tourism establishments and nearly 24,000 rooms. The impact of the pandemic can best be highlighted when looking at the airlift, comparing pre-pandemic 2019 and the onset and ongoing impact of Covid-19 which saw airline passenger traffic drop 64 per cent year-on-year.
Speaking about the process of a gradual stepped programme for accepting overseas arrivals, C9 Hotelworks managing director Bill Barnett said that “the learnings from the first week of the Phuket Sandbox will likely follow a similar pattern. Over 2,300 international arrivals have come to the island with more than 140,000 confirmed hotel nights booked in SHA Plus hotels through August. Demand has remained strong and is now demonstrated, which bodes well for Koh Samui’s chances.”
He added that “an ancillary impact of the Sandbox is the restoration of regularly scheduled direct flights between the two islands from July 16, starting with four flights a week this month and becoming daily in August. In analysing tourism, we look to the sky for answers as the logical starting point, and this increased airlift is a key driver for the tourism economy”.
Moving to the outlook for the island’s lodging industry, C9 Hotelworks’ new Koh Samui Hotel Market Update points out that the likely recovery journey will be top-down, with many travellers taking advantage of competitive rates in luxury and upscale tier hotels. C9 is forecasting the short- to medium-term impact to be in rising demand at the expense of room rates as travellers tend to historically trade up in post-crisis travel.
STR’s area director for Asia Pacific Jesper Palmqvist noted that since the start of the crisis in 2Q2020, there has been three hotel peak periods in Koh Samui – mid-October 2020 during the long weekend, New Year’s Eve, and the Songkran holiday where occupancies reached close to 50 per cent. “These spikes in demand came from the domestic market and once the international factor comes into play, more stability will evolve,” he said.
While Thailand’s tourism fortunes remain highly focused on islands, Barnett highlighted that “it’s important to remember that Koh Samui and Phuket remain only small pieces of a bigger puzzle” and that “until the entire country gets better, the sandbox remains a relatively small stage”.
Seek Sophie, a Singapore-based experiences booking platform, has launched a campaign to support small local travel businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, by inviting creatives based in Singapore to help these businesses grow and gain awareness through content creation.
Seek Sophie said that it has been offering free photography and content marketing to their partners throughout the pandemic, and through that, some have seen a 20 to 30 percent increase in booking enquiries, which helped them to stay afloat during the pandemic.
Seek Sophie on the hunt for creatives who can help Singapore travel businesses grow through content creation
Hence, the team is now seeking to involve the wider community of creators, and is calling out to anyone based in Singapore who enjoys trying out new experiences and creating content.
Selected applicants can expect to go on these trips for free: yacht trips, kayaking adventures, pottery classes, yoga wellness classes, various creative workshops and more, valued up to S$1,500 (US$1,109).
All creators need to do is simply capture and share their experiences on Instagram via photos and/or videos. Depending on the experience, creators may also be able to bring along a friend for the ride.
Applicants will need to possess a passion for storytelling, photography and/or videography skills, and a keen eye for detail. They must also be comfortable on and off camera.
This Seek Sophie Creators campaign will be launched on July 15, 2021. Applications are open from July 15 to 29, with the actual campaign commencing in August 2021. Those who are interested will need to apply via the Seek Sophie Creators webpage. All applicants will be contacted via email within one week of the application end date.
BWH Hotel Group will debut its lifestyle brand, Aiden by Best Western, in the Australian market in the form of a boutique property located in the Pyrmont precinct of Darling Harbour, Sydney.
Slated to open in September 2021, Aiden Darling Harbour will be housed in a remodelled 1930s Art Deco building and will feature a collection of 88 luxe and compact rooms, in addition to a combined lobby, cafe and bar.
Aiden Darling Harbour will join the brand’s 14 properties across the world, including Aiden by Best Western Cheongdam in Seoul, South Korea (above)
The property overlooks Pyrmont Bridge and Darling Harbour. Rooms will offer a pillow menu, a meditation channel, double-glazed windows and blackout blinds, and adjustable lighting.
The Aiden brand entered the market in 2018, representing a new lifestyle offering for the mid and upscale segments. Since then, Aiden has expanded to 14 properties located in the US, Germany, Austria, South Korea, France and Italy.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has appointed Pamudji Slamet as director of development, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Pamudji joins Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ Asia Pacific division, which has a portfolio of over 1,500 hotels across 20 markets and territories. He reports directly to Matt Holmes, head of development, South-east Asia & Pacific Rim.
In his new role, Pamudji will be responsible for growing the company’s portfolio through new development and conversion opportunities across franchise and management agreements in Indonesia and the Philippines. Pamudji will focus on establishing new relationships and partnering with key owners and property developers to drive the continued growth of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts presence in both markets.
The Indonesian possesses than 30 years’ experience in the hospitality sector, which includes both operational and development roles where he managed conversions, mergers, acquisitions, rebranding of hotels through franchise, management, hotel lease, as well as manchise agreements. He is also adept at property development across a wide range of segments from luxury to economy hotels to condotels and branded residences.
Prior to joining Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, he was director of development, Indonesia, with Accor. His decades-long experience also included stints at GHM Hotels, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, Discovery Hotels & Resorts, Horwath Asia Pacific, and JLL.
Radisson Hotel Group continues to extend its footprint in China with the signing of a new Radisson Blu property in Changyuan, a rapidly emerging city in Henan province.
Scheduled to open in 4Q2024, Radisson Blu Hotel, Changyuan will form part of a major new mixed-use project in Puxi, the city’s new CBD, surrounded by office buildings, retail malls, residences and conference facilities.
Radisson Blu Hotel, Changyuan will offer 280 rooms and suites ranging from 42 to 84m² in size, each featuring king or twin beds, contemporary interiors, and connected workspaces. Facilities will include an all-day dining destination and Chinese restaurant, lobby lounge, an indoor swimming pool, and fitness centre. For corporate and social events, the hotel will offer eight function spaces including a 1,000m² ballroom.
Being developed by Henan Xunchi Real Estate Co., part of the Yilong Group, Radisson Blu Hotel, Changyuan will become the brand’s second location in Henan, following Radisson Blu Hotel, Zhengzhou Huiji.