The Covid-19 Wrap is part of WiT’s “Unity In Crisis” series, a round-up of news on the coronavirus and its impact on travel.
AirAsia launches S.O.S campaign to save local businesses
AirAsia has initiated the ‘Save Our Shops’ (S.O.S) campaign to help as many local businesses as possible affected by the movement control order (MCO) enforced by the Malaysian government from 18 March to 28 April to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The low cost carrier has opened an e-commerce platform called OURSHOP hosted on its website, which receives significant traffic.
Products sold through OURSHOP will be delivered via Teleport, the logistics arm of AirAsia.
In a message about the S.O.S campaign on his Instagram page, AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said this is a hard time for everyone and the airline wants to help anyone who owns a business, especially local businesses.
“At AirAsia we are not sitting down and crying. We’re being positive and turning a crisis into an opportunity. As we have helped millions and millions of people to fly, now we want to use our infrastructure to help many retailers who are shut and can’t earn any revenue at the moment.”
The campaign will enable merchants to sign up at zero commission and zero listing fee to market their products on OURSHOP for the month of April. However, they will have to cover the banking transaction charges of 2% for each sale made.
There has been good response to S.O.S. since the campaign was announced earlier this month. Over 500 merchants have registered on OURSHOP.
Teleport is currently delivering only in Peninsular Malaysia, but will expand to Sabah, Sarawak and international markets soon.
Local businesses that are interested to be a merchant can sign up at www.ourshop.com/seller
Expedia, Hotels.com collaborate to offer discounted room rates to medical professionals
To support local healthcare professionals in the fight against Covid-19 Hotels.com and Expedia, both brands in Expedia Group, have teamed up with hotel partners to provide them rooms at-discounted rates.
This is part of the new Singapore Healthcare Heroes programme introduced by Expedia Group, which offers special rate plans through participating hotel partners exclusively for healthcare professionals.
The 14 properties taking part in the programme are Bliss Hotel Singapore, Champion Hotel, Champion Hotel City, Hotel Bencoolen @ Bencoolen Street, Hotel Clover 5 Hong Kong Street, Hotel Clover 769 North Bridge Road, Louis Kienne Serviced Residences, Marrison Desker @ Little India, Marrison Hotel, Nostalgia Hotel, Park Avenue Robertson, Park Avenue Rochester, Populous @ Bugis, and The Sultan
“We understand the concern Singapore healthcare professionals have for health and safety extends to their home, and want to ensure they have a safe place to stay if they choose to provisionally distance themselves from their families and households,” said Ang Choo Pin, senior director for government and corporate affairs, Asia, Expedia Group.
He added that the programme “reflects Expedia Group’s ongoing commitment towards supporting our hotel industry partners while supporting the frontline healthcare professionals battling against Covid-19.”
The programme is for all healthcare professionals who are employees of hospitals, clinics, home care facilities, emergency medical services and ambulance services, as well as the Ministry of Health.
The special self-book rates are available for check-in dates up to and including 31 May 2020. Healthcare professionals can search for any of the participating hotels on www.expedia.com.sg or sg.hotels.com.
Agoda introduces EasyCancel to support hoteliers
Agoda has introduced EasyCancel, which allows participating partner hotels and properties worldwide to offer their guests greater booking flexibility and the option to cancel up to 24 hours before arrival.
This initial phase will relate to all bookings made until 30 June 2020.
Agoda said it unveiled the new product in response to “customers’ desire for broader flexible booking solutions, thus reducing guests’ concerns by providing the assurance that if they book an EasyCancel room, there will be no issues cancelling their booking if they need to do so.”.
This differs from Agoda’s Book Now, Pay Later option because hotels, which normally only offer non-refundable options, can also opt in.
Hoteliers who subscribe to this new product benefit from Agoda’s ability to capture what demand there is currently available, helping improve productivity.
The programme, which was launched last month, has received strong support from partners across South-east Asia China, Japan, South Korea, India, the US and the UK.
“We want to help all our partners by attracting customers that still want to book a hotel, but are perhaps reluctant to do because of uncertainty around evolving travel restrictions,” said Agoda’s vice-president of partner services, Errol Cooke,.
“The EasyCancel product allows guests to book with peace of mind, confident that they will be able to change plans up until 24 hours before arrival if needed.”
According to Agoda, all participating properties offering the EasyCancel flexible cancellation policy will benefit from onsite merchandising and highly visible Agoda EasyCancel icons.
However, any guest’s booking cancellation received within one day before arrival date will incur the full period charge, while failure to arrive at the hotel or property will be treated as a no-show and no refund will be given, as stipulated within the property policy.
“ALL at home”: Accor’s new global digital entertainment campaign
With people stuck at home, whether the country is implementing a lockdown or movement control order to stem the spread of the coronavirus, Accor Live Limitless (ALL) has introduced a campaign to keep them entertained.
The aim is to let guests and the public “discover new experiences and live their passions while at home”.
The hotel group said with the kick-off of its new #ALLatHome social media campaign, ALL guests and passion enthusiasts can enjoy immersive, informative and inspiring content series themed around sport, food and entertainment.
Ian Di Tullio, global senior vice president, guest at Accor, explained: “As the world temporarily presses the pause button, we want our guests to continue living their passions in the comfort of their own homes through the unique digital experiences and content brought together by our amazing ambassadors and partners worldwide. We believe that in this period, we can be all together even while apart.”
Each week, through its Instagram and Facebook pages, ALL will showcase exclusive digital content and live streams to its worldwide members and guests. Activities include, among others, rigorous fitness trainer-led workouts, exclusive DJ sets playing lively beats and masterclass cooking tutorials presented by world-leading chefs – all intended to entertain, stimulate the senses and help keep the adventure spark ignited while grounded..
