Outrigger sets new brand direction with focus on resorts and vacation condos
Outrigger Hotels and Resorts celebrates its Founder’s Day on 20 September to commemorate the day when the hotel group’s founders, Roy and Estelle Kelley, opened their first hotel in the Hawaii resort destination of Waikiki in 1947.To celebrate this special day the hospitality company unveiled it [...]
South Asia and Southeast Asia lead APAC’s tourism boom
International visitor arrivals into Asia Pacific destinations grew by 4% year-on-year in May 2011, with South Asia and Southeast Asia recording particularly strong performances for the month.Preliminary results released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) showed South Asia had a 15% incr [...]
The Wrap: Tune Hotels targets Chinese travellers in first foreign deal with Plateno
In the news this week: It’s all about partnership this week as Tune Hotels collaborates with China’s Plateno, Ryanair partners with Amadeus, Travelport renews agreement with BCD Travel, and AirAsia BIG teams up with Hilton Hhonors. Tune Hotels targets Chinese travellers in first foreign deal wit [...]
Online hotel bookings in Asia predicted to grow by more than 20%
A summit of more than 160 leading Asian hotel industry professionals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has found that the rise in popularity of social media and online review sites across Asia is having a significant influence on how hoteliers operate and their ability to attract guests.More than 90% of re [...]
Travellers will pay higher rates for hotels with better reviews, study shows
TrustYou, the inventor of the Meta-ReviewTM, working in conjunction with Donna Quadri-Felitti, Academic Chair and Clinical Associate Professor at NYU, Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism, has developed a study to understand the link between reviews and hotel conversion rates and [...]
Online travel leaders set tone for the future
At the WIT conference, we sat down with online travel leaders from Agoda, Hotels.com, Yatra and Elong to discuss OTAs and what the future holds for them. Times are good now but competition is increasing and the challenges are mounting. Are they ready? The discussion touched on what role would m [...]
Tourism Western Australia launches YouTube Channel
Tourism Western Australia has launched a new channel on YouTube.Tourism Minister Kim Hames said the Tourism WA YouTube channel was a perfect tool for sharing footage of Western Australia’s extraordinary destinations and experiences which hopefully would inspire viewers to visit our State. “Thes [...]
The New Gen Renter: A threat or opportunity to hotels?
I came home from walking the dogs the other day to find a notice left on my door by my estate management. I sometimes feel they’re there to keep me in my place rather than keep people out.Anyhow, the gist of the memo was to tell me that they’d discovered that at least one of the residents had do [...]
Starwood ups the loyalty ante with launch of SPG Pro
Starwood Preferred Guest®, the 15 year-old loyalty programme from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, will be getting a revamp from October 15, 2014, as it extends its sights to its business-to-business customer base.The new, comprehensive loyalty programme will target meeting and travel prof [...]
Easy Taxi targets corporates in next move to monetise and expand
Soon as I had finished a ride with Easy Taxi, I got a call on my mobile asking how the ride had been. The other day, when a booking failed to materialise, for some reason, I couldn’t get the app to work, I receive a call asking me if there had been a problem and could they help? Such is the speed [...]
