Mims takes on mammoth task of global sales at Sands
The day I met up with John Mims, the new senior vice president-worldwide sales and resorts marketing for the Sands Corp, the Marina Bay Sands was due to have its official grand opening.Mims, who just joined the group a few weeks ago, was whisked off from Las Vegas to Singapore in one of the Sands’ [...]
Meet a modern day Marco Polo with 10 phones, 3 tablets and oh yes, he tweets too
The other day I met Steve Kleinschmidt - CEO of the Marco Polo Hotel Group. He was here in Singapore with a large part of his team to talk about Marco Polo’s planned return to Singapore and to conduct a GM roadshow. Following a great chat about the Marco Polo plans, Social Media and what it me [...]
Letter from Bhutan, Pt 2: Of dogs, horse heads, phalluses and cordyceps
Day 2 in Bhutan dawns bright and clear. Fluffy white clouds floating on a canvas of brilliant blue sky. More Fluffy Dragon than Thunder Dragon, I thought as I woke up at the Namgay Heritage Hotel in Thimpu.Happiness, I thought. We had expected lots of rain and black clouds – all the guidebooks tel [...]
Reviews take hold in China as travellers contribute and consume content
The role of reviews in influencing Chinese traveller decisions is gaining in importance as more Chinese contribute reviews as well as read them as part of their travel shopping.According to PhoCusWright's recent Asia Pacific and Global Edition report, Traveler Reviews and Social Media in China, over [...]
Letter from Bhutan: Happiness is a place, Part 1
Call it premonition but somehow I knew that my baggage would not arrive with me on the flight from Punta Cana via Paris. And so I wasn’t too flustered when I was proven right.In fact, in some ways it felt good to leave the airport so light – and it made me aware that too often we carry way more [...]
Letter from Punta Cana: First feel of the Caribbean
“What are the three things I must do while I am here?” I asked the woman sitting next to me on the Air France flight bound for Punta Cana from Paris.Despite my exhaustion, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of anticipation for what awaited me in the Dominican Republic, a place I had long wanted [...]
I’m a genuine example of a social disease
I was sitting on a bus - a rare occasion for me. And for once, with a defective Blackberry, I could not connect to anything. So I decided to just pay attention to the world around me.A pair of ladies who seemed scholarly were sitting across from me and were discussing a new phenomenon. They were dis [...]
I hope they serve cosmopolitans in Cairns
There’s a young man sitting across the aisle from me. He’s big and burly with biceps bulging the way my eyes are, from stealing looks at him.There’s a tattoo of the Great Wall on his left forearm – the Chinese wonder of the world looks distended.He’s obviously proud of his Chinese herit [...]
Beyond the new logo, here’s why you must learn from Airbnb
There’s been lots written about the new Airbnb logo. Some have panned it. Some have mocked it, comparing it to bits of the human gentitalia. Some have applauded it.But beyond the logo change, there's something bigger happening, something that we in travel should watch carefully.With its new logo, [...]
Letter from the road: Golden age of the customer is upon us, deal with it
While in Penang this week, the second leg of our WIT Hospitality Roadshow, I downloaded the HotelQuickly app to quickly check what rooms were available and at what price.The company had just raised US$4.5 million in a second round of funding and they were part of our panel of speakers at this roadsh [...]
