Help Japan travel by circulating facts
Kei Shibata, CEO of travel.jp, shares an update on the situation in Japan with WIT and urges industry colleagues to stick to, and circulate, the facts.Q: Personally, how have you and your family been and how have you copedthis past week?This past week, we have been staying in town working pretty muc [...]
Hog-ging HWY 94
Flying at 140 km/h down HWY 8 on the back of a Yamaha V-Star 950, I thought my helmet was going to fly off from all the wind gushing straight at me. I couldn't even glance sideways, for when I tried, it just pushed my whole head to the side and then it took a full neck workout to get my head align [...]
Hoteliers, own your brand spaces and take negative reviews on the chin
Social Media, Googles Places and Customer Reviews – what does it mean for hoteliers, what are the opportunities and where are the pitfalls? Frank Trampert of Circos Brand Karma shares his views.The hotel business has traditionally not been an early adopter of breakthrough trends and innovation. [...]
Hotels in Asia enjoying strong rate growth
Hotels around the world reported rate growth of 4% in the first half of 2011, which also sees the growth shifting to Asia from Europe, according to the latest hotel survey from the Hogg Robinson Group(HRG). Of the 50 cities surveyed, 33 reported a year-on-year increase in hotel rates with unexpect [...]
HotelsCombined launches iFindHotels app in Arabic
HotelsCombined.com has released iFindHotels version 1.31 for iPhone and iPod Touch, an update that enables full support and browsing for the Arabic language to their hotel price comparison app.A first of its kind to cater for Arab-speaking users, this app connects to www.HotelsCombined.com and comp [...]
IDeaS wants to be the AirAsia of revenue management
If everyone can fly with AirAsia, then every hotel can revenue manage, according to Brian Sterrett (left), vice president global sales and marketing of IDeaS, who is looking to the region to drive the company’s growth in the next few years.Sterrett, who attended the WIT Conference, said that IDeaS [...]
No wringing of hands and moaning as AirAsia soldiers on to post growth
Ours not to “wring our hands and moan” at the high fuel prices, ours “but to use our creativity” and so AirAsia gets on with it to post a growth in operating profit for the first quarter of 2011.Group CEO Tony Fernandes, said, “What is particularly significant for us is that our operating [...]
Chinese airlines get real about international expansion – it’s the rail thing
It was interesting to note that as keen as the Australians are to reach out to the Chinese traveler, so are the Chinese in growing their share of the Australian pie.The Australians have a clear goal – to make China, now its fourth largest market for visitors, its top source by 2020. To do that, it [...]
Ctrip pact to spur growth for Shangri-La, high end travel the one to watch
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts saw a 60% growth in business from Ctrip.com International in 2010 over 2009 across its entire portfolio. That was probably what spurred the Hong Kong-based brand to sign a “distribution co-operation agreement” with China’s leading online travel agency in antici [...]
Curating elite resorts for a new customer in a new age
Mark Greedy’s the first to admit that his new business, Elite Resorts of Asia Pacific, would not have been possible without the Internet.“I remember talking to my son (who is working with Greedy in Elite) about how one day we would be global and he said, 'Dad, we are global now'. It took me a w [...]
