In the news: KAYAK’s bed guide, multiple languages on SiteMinder, 150 airlines using Travelport’s rich content tool, key appointments in Sojern
California dreaming or French cuddle? Find out in KAYAK’s bed guide
Even a comfortable bed in a grain field can give a good sleep. (Image credit: ArturNyk/iStock)
Sleepless in Seattle, London, Shanghai, Singapore or wherever you travel to? Apart from jet lag the bed you are sleeping on may be the culprit too.
Ahead of World Sleep Day on March 18, the travel experts at KAYAK.sg come to the rescue with a listing of the different bed types across different countries that could you a good night’s sleep
- Exotically named triple room beds: The research reveals the most exotically named beds are found in the United Kingdom where beds in triple rooms can have names such as Eastern King, Emperor or Caesar. Up to three hotel guests can snooze comfortably in a very spacious bed of up to 245 centimetres wide and 220 centimetres long.
- Bonne nuit in “French beds”: Double beds in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Greece – so called perhaps because the French are known for romance. These beds are also smaller than standard sized double beds, so they are quite cosy for two people.
- ‘Matrimonial’ beds: Hotels in Italy and Poland use the moniker “matrimonial” for double beds, a seemingly old fashioned presumption of the marital status of a couple.
- King of the double beds: USA is the kingdom of the biggest beds around. The Grand King Bed is the longest double width bed at 250 centimetres. Travellers can even request for a custom oversized bed that is an impressive 360 centimetres by 300 centimetres.
- Double beds with a gap : Travellers to Germany, Austria or Switzerland, who are looking for a comfortable stay on a double bed with one mattress, should check with their hotel ahead of time. A ‘double bed’ in these countries often consists of two single beds pushed together.
- Unlimited bed types: In USA or Japan a vast array of bed options awaits travellers with a choice of up to 11 bed types, depending on hotel offers and availability.
- Spacious single beds: Beds in Australia and New Zealand are all about comfort for the solo traveller, with King Singles at a spacious 107 centimetres wide and up to 204 centimetres long.
- Compact single beds: Hotels in Britain, Norway, Sweden, and Ireland offer the world’s narrowest single beds, measuring a width of just 75 centimetres. Singapore’s singles are wider, at 90 centimetres.
- California dreaming: In USA and Canada travellers can sleep on a curiously named ‘California Bed’ or ’California King Bed’. The name harks back to the bed’s origins in 1960s Los Angeles. Today, ‘California King’ can also be found in Australia and New Zealand.
- No name beds: In China beds are commonly classified and named according to their width.
Dr Kenny Pang, ENT snoring specialist of Asia Sleep Centre, advised travellers who want to get restful sleep on their travel to carry simple items such as eye masks, a good neck pillow, and warm socks/mittens before boarding a flight.
“They can go a long way in helping to improve the quality of your sleep while you’re 39,000 feet up in the air or halfway across the globe.”
SiteMinder enhances hotel user experience with multiple languages
Multi languages on SiteMinder. (image credit/hotel keys: Artistan/iStock)
Cloud platform for hotels, SiteMinder, has launched its product extranets in multiple languages for hoteliers, including Thai and Bahasa Indonesia, to help them better attract, reach and convert global guests.
The multi-language capability is available within SiteMinder’s channel management platform, Channel Manager, and TheBookingButton, wholly-branded Internet booking engine for hotels to receive direct bookings.
Hotel users can now access the complete administration behind these products in the primary languages of some of the world’s most tourist-ready markets including Thailand, Indonesia, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, and Portugal.
Users of hotel websites designed by SiteMinder’s Canvas, the website creator for independent hoteliers, can also switch between the above languages as well as Chinese and Russian. More languages are also continually added, said the company.
SiteMinder’s managing director, Mike Ford, says the development is about enhancing the hotel user experience.
“By having a hotel website that can be viewed in multiple languages, our customers can now truly tap into global markets and further increase their conversion rates.”
According to SiteMinder, hotels using its technology have generated more than 27 million reservations worth US$10.8 billion over the year ending June 2015.
150 airlines live on Travelport’s rich content tool
Scandinavian Airlines is one of the new airlines using Travelport’s rich content tool.
Travelport claimed a milestone on March 10 with the announcement that 150 airlines are now live with its merchandising functionality – Rich Content and Branding
The company said it has added over 100 airlines since the start of 2015. Among the newcomers who are now using Rich Content and Branding, including Fares Families, are British Airways, Iberia, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), and JetBlue.
The suite of merchandising products, according to Travelport, helps airlines “drive additional revenues per seat and to detail the differentiated products and services they offer that the traditional ‘green screen’ GDS cannot do effectively.”
Travelport has also added the capability for airlines to make tailored or personalised offers to both travel agencies and business corporations.
Air India, for example, allows its UK-based travel agents to offer customers who book business class flights, a limo service to the airport.
Economy class customers of TAM Airlines in the UK can pay to use British Airways’ business class lounge at London Heathrow’s Terminal 3.
Key appointments at Sojern to manage growth
Strong financial growth for Sojern in 2015.
Sojern, the travel industry’s data-driven performance marketing engine, has seen strong growth in 2015 with four consecutive months of profitability.
The company said the positive financial results were due to its flagship product, the Sojern Traveler Platform, which has averaged 150% revenue growth since its launch in 2011.
To keep pace with this growth Sojern has added 40 new employees, including three key management executives to service to support its global customers.
Mat Harris is the new vice president of product enterprise solutions. A mobile veteran, he had led product teams at both Tapjoy and InMobi.
Jim Brigden takes on as Sojern EMEA managing director. Based in London, he has served as the CEO of I Spy Marketing, The Search Works and, most recently, as chief client and commercial officer at iProspect.
To manage its APAC region Sojern has appointed Russell Young, formerly commercial director for EMEA and APAC, to managing director of APAC based in Singapore.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Sojern has regional offices in Dubai, London, New York, Omaha, and Singapore.
