In the news: Drop in room rates in APAC cities, AirAsia’s new self service options, HRS’ properties on Travelport platform, Apple Watch app from TripAdvisor
APAC is the place to holiday in with drop in room prices
Hua Hin in Thailand saw a sharp drop in hotel prices. (Image credit: jesadaphorn/iStock)
Holidaymakers looking to get more bang for their travel buck might wish to stay closer to home, as according to Hotels.com Hotel Price Index (HPI) Asia was the only region globally to experience a decline in average room rates, with many cities seeing a dip in prices.
Asia Pacific (APAC) destinations saw some of the biggest hotel price falls in 2014. Popular beach resorts, such as Hua Hin and Pattaya in Thailand, saw the most significant tumble at -21% and -17%, respectively.
While average room rates across the Pacific remained stable year-on-year, certain parts of Australia saw a dip, specifically in Perth and Brisbane, where average room rates fell 11% each.
Katherine Cole, regional director at Hotels.com said the strengthening of the
US dollar has created a knock-on effect on the country’s hospitality sector, while the gradual depreciation of the Euro against the greenback has driven hotel prices up.
“With Asia being the only region globally to experience a price fall, we expect to see amplified interest in destinations here – further boosted by the introduction of more low-cost carrier routes that increase the affordability of travel and ease of access to the region,” she added.
Top 10 cities with the biggest fall in average hotel prices
More self-service options from AirAsia with self bag drop and home tag
AirAsia chief executive officer, Aireen Omar (third right), introduces self bag-drop feature in Senai Airport.
Budget carrier AirAsia has unveiled the self bag-drop and home tag services, which are currently being tested at Senai International Airport in Johor Bahru, making the city the first AirAsia station to offer a complete self-service experience to its guests.
Self bag-drop allows guests to check-in their baggage by themselves without having to queue at a check-in desk. Those opting for his feature can print their bag tags with self check-in at the kiosks, and then drop their baggage at an automated counter.
Home tag allows guests to print their bag tags at home together with their boarding pass. The bag tags can be printed onto a standard A4 sheet of paper and the guests simply has to fold the paper and place it into a plastic cover provided by the airline, which is then attached to the bag. The bag can then be deposited at the Self Bag-Drop counter upon arrival at the airport.
Aireen Omar, CEO of AirAsia said the airline chose Johor Bahru as the first hub to deploy this new self-service feature due to encouraging response to the self-dervice features from our guests here.
“We recorded a high percentage of up to 70% of guests using Self Check-In and Self Bag Tag in Johor Bahru, making it the most ideal hub to test a brand new feature.”
She added these new features would be introduced to Don Mueang Airport, Phuket, Langkawi International Airport, and a few airports in Indonesia in the coming months.
Travelport expands hotel content with HRS properties
Most of the HRs hotels on Travelport platform are independent properties.
Travelport and HRS, a global hotel solutions provider, have inked a multi-year global distribution agreement that sees 70,000 HRS hotels, the majority of which are independent hotels, added to Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform.
Private hotel providers will have access to Travelport’s 67,000 connected agencies worldwide. The additional independent hotel content will help travel agents provide more choice and service to leisure and business travellers.
The HRS inventory will be fully integrated later in the year into the agent’s normal workflow, eliminating the time-consuming and inefficiency of booking across different channels.
The agreement also gives Travelport-connected agents access to the HRS Business Tariff programme, which provides special corporate rates for more than 35,000 hotels globally.
HRS CEO Tobias Ragge said the agreement “gives travel agencies and companies access to new hotel properties and enables them to find the right content, all within an efficient booking process a win for all parties involved and a key milestone in our multi-channel strategy.”
Niklas Andreen, GVP of hospitality and gigital media at Travelport said the partnership “forms part of our ongoing strategy to redefine travel commerce and extend our Beyond Air offering in hotels and cars, with a particular focus on growing in both the hotel and corporate travel space.”
The agreement with HRS follows other recent Travelport announcements relating to its “Beyond Air” strategy, which include the acquisition of Travel IT in January 2015 and Hotelzon in June 2014.
A TripAdvisor app for the Apple Watch
Apple Watch will go on sale on April 24. (Image credit: apple.com)
Travel site, TripAdvisor, has launched an app for the Apple Watch that will go on sale on 24 April.
The app’s features, which are specifically designed, for the new Apple Watch are provides access to TripAdvisor traveller reviews, ratings and photos of hotels, restaurants and attractions.
The Apple Watch includes a new feature called “Glance”, which allows users to conveniently get updates from their favourite apps with a quick swipe up from the watch face.
The TripAdvisor Glance provides timely recommendations to help users discover nearby points of interest based on the person’s location (using GPS) and time of day. For example, at noon, TripAdvisor Glance will automatically find the highest-rated restaurant near the user’s current location and suggest the place to go for lunch.
“With the launch of the TripAdvisor Apple Watch app, users can now carry the invaluable insights of millions of travellers on their wrists,” said Adam Medros, senior vice president of global product, TripAdvisor. “Whether around town or travelling somewhere new, the app helps make exploring on-the-go even more elegant and effortless.”
Other features in the app includes walking directions, save feature
- Walking directions: Shows travellers their current location using GPS technology and provides directions to places of interest using Apple Maps.
- Saves: Allows travellers to save their favourite restaurants, attractions and hotels and view them later on another Apple device or on TripAdvisor.com.
- Helpful search options: Lets travellers adjust their search range for points of interest between one, five and 10 miles and sort options, such as ranking businesses according to their popularity or by distance.
The TripAdvisor Apple Watch app is available at the Apple Watch App Store beginning 24 April.
