In the news: New portfolio of boutique hotels in APAC, AirAsia’s online store rebrands, Roomorama goes Indonesian, easyJet apps win.
SilverNeedle Collection debuts in APAC
Singapore-based SilverNeedle Hospitality launched its newest venture,SilverNeedle Collection, on October 17. This is a group of independently owned and branded luxury boutique hotels, each selected for its uniqueness and attention to detail and ranges from intimate nature retreats to urban havens in the city.
The Collection debuts with three distinctive properties in South East Asia – 137 Pillars House in Chiang Mai, Thailand; Riva Surya in Bangkok, Thailand (pictured left), and Kiridara Luang Prabang in Laos.
Iqbal Jumabhoy, MD and Group CEO of SilverNeedle Hospitality, said flexibility was the key to operate the hotels under the group.
“From pre-opening to post-opening and beyond, owners can choose from a selection of operational and management services offered by the SilverNeedle Collection.”
The company also tailors solution according to the hotels’ specific needs, while connecting them to SilverNeedle Hospitality’s sales and marketing platforms that include its GDS and booking engine. It is on track to reach its goal of 15 hotels under the SilverNeedle Collection banner in the Asia Pacific region by 2016, Iqbal added.
SilverNeedle Hospitality is an integrated hospitality, investment, development and management company that focuses on mid to upscale hotels and resorts. It currently operates over 4,000 keys in the Asia Pacific region.
Brand new look for AirAsia’s online store
AirAsia has revamped its online store, AirAsiaMegastore.com, giving it a newer, fresher look and, at the time time, tied up with SimplySiti, which is the cosmetics brand founded by Malaysian songstress Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza.
On the partnership with SimplySiti, AirAsia Berhad CEO Aireen Omar said, “As an Asean company, we are always keen to support other Asean brands to grow and the partnership with SimplySiti is a testament to that. Since the products are now available through AirAsiaMegastore.com, the SimplySiti brand is now available to be purchased in other parts of the world.”
Pictured: Aireen Omar (right) with Siti Nurhaliza at AirAsiaMegastore.com’s relaunch, Oct 23
The partnership with SimplySiti expands the range of products on both its online store and physical shop (AirAsiaMegastore) that include AirAsia merchandise, as well as fashion and lifestyle products such as cosmetics, perfumes, watches and electronic gadgets. Customers worldwide can purchase these products via the online store.
The newly revamped online store also has enhanced features and provides a more personalised shopping experience for customers. They can now save items in the wish list where friends and family can also view them, and surprise the customers with the perfect gift or compare items that are available at the store.
The online store together with the physical shop were launched in 2010.
Roomorama.com available in Bahasa Indonesia
Online short-term rental platform, Roomorama.com, is now available in Bahasa Indonesia, on top of the 12 other languages that users can select when browsing the website.
With the latest language travellers in Indonesia, who are seeking hotel alternatives for their travels, are able to easily access the 60,000 properties on offer worldwide.
Jia En Teo, co-founder and COO of Roomorama.com, said the inclusion of Bahasa Indonesia to its global website would enable the company to offer its wide database of accommodation options to the growing market of Indonesia.
“This is a key milestone for us in South East Asia and definitely just the beginning of our efforts to make Roomorama.com more accessible to the people in the region.”
Currently Roomorama has over 1,200 properties located within Indonesia, most of which are situated in well-populated areas like Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Lombok. Bali is the most favourable destination among both Indonesians and foreign travellers, with an average of 1,000 travellers booking accommodationon the website every month.
easyJet apps are winners
The iPhone and Android apps of British airline, easyJet, have won the “Best Mobile Application”at the Travolution Awards in London on October 23.
Acording to Mobile Travel Technologies (MTT), which developed the two apps, they are a “showcase of excellent design, usability and scalability for airline mobile applications. They were developed with a strong emphasis on ensuring simplicity and speed of usage to ensure a great user experience for easyJet’s customers.” They enable the airline’s customers to book a flight on more than 600 routes in less than 30 seconds.
Both apps have received exceptionally high user ratings; in the UK iTunes store the average rating is 4.5 and the Android app has equally high ratings with 4.5 stars. Since their launch in December 2011 they received over 400,000 downloads and £1 million in flight bookings in the first month after they were launched in December 2011.
