John W. Brown is new CEO of Agoda, Rosenstein moves up to chairman
Booking Holdings announced today that Agoda COO, John W. Brown has been appointed as the new company CEO, effective from June 1, 2018. Current CEO Rob Rosenstein will take on the role as Chairman of Agoda and Special Advisor to the CEO of Booking Holdings, Glenn Fogel.
Brown has served as COO sin [...]
Raymond Blanc on how travel makes chefs greater and how old ways must change for new flavours to emerge
Raymond Blanc OBE may be French in his roots but it is his open-mindedness and curiosity that has made him the phenomenon he is today in the world of celebrity chefs.
Today one of Britain’s most respected chefs and chef-owner of Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Blanc, who was in Singapore [...]
The Wrap: Qantas’ redesigned booking platform aims to convert lookers to bookers
In the news: Qantas has a new redesigned booking platform; Frasers Hospitality partners with Duetto in managing revenue; Travelport and Sabre ink more agreements with airlines
Aviation: Qantas’ redesigned booking platform aims to convert lookers to bookers
Travellers searching for flight [...]
AccorHotels expands luxury portfolio with purchase of Mövenpick Hotels for US$567 million
In late 2016, AccorHotels increased its collection of luxury properties by buying Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI), owner of the luxury Raffles, Fairmont and Swissotel brands, for US$2.9 billion.
The French hotel giant is now expanding this luxury segment with the announcement on Apri [...]
Small in size, big in dreams: Three hoteliers carving a niche in the boutique space
They are small and they are unique. And they are finding their niche in an overcrowded space that sees new and perhaps more unique properties coming up every other month.
However, what makes the Ambong-Ambong Rainforest Retreat and Ambong Pool Villas in Langkawi, and Ren i Tang and SINKEH in Pena [...]
In Amsterdam, lessons from noodles to mobiles, and Palma to privacy
Three more weeks before I head to Amsterdam to run WIT Europe as part of Phocuswright and I am looking forward to shared experiences and lessons between our two continents.
I’ve always seen Europe as more similar to Asia than any other region – it is multi-lingual, multi-cultural and steeped [...]
Fighting back with technology: 10 tips for independent hotels to compete
How can small independent hotels, with limited resources, survive in the world of hospitality where the big are getting bigger and the small are being eaten up?
“Technology is the answer,” says Jack Tan of IdeaWeaver Consulting, who shared 10 tips at the recent WIT Indie in Penang on how inde [...]
Record turnout at WIT Seoul 2018 shows interest in digital travel at all-time high
If there was one thing WIT Seoul 2018 proved, it’s that interest, and hunger for knowledge, in the digital travel space is at an all-time high in a market where rapid technological change and changing consumer behaviour are forcing travel incumbents to wake up and smell the web, as it were.
A r [...]
AccorHotels to provide personalised experiences to Chinese travellers in partnership with Ctrip
Ctrip.com International deepens its cooperation with AccorHotels in a new deal that “will greatly enhance the growing Chinese travellers’ journey globally.”
This is made possible in a memorandum of understanding the two companies inked last week, which will give the online services of China [...]
On the circle of life, scale and experience chase each other’s tails
In many ways I feel the industry is coming full circle – on one hand, you have the giants of scale talking about local experiences and community and on the other, independents and creatives talking about scale, each knowing you need the other to thrive in a digitally-driven world.
At the recent [...]
