News Roundup: New MoU inked between Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines and speculations of a SIA investment or a possible merger of the two airlines, BCD Travel acquiring majority ownership of Japan’s Hitachi Travel Bureau, rebranding for Thailand-based hotel management company BHMA, Agoda’s new solution for hotels.
Aviation: Malaysia and Singapore airlines strengthen ties in new pact – no potential merger as speculated
(Image credit – SIA’s retrofitted 777-300ER aircraft: Singapore Airlines)
Beleaguered Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) is facing a lot of turbulence the past few months – with its reported sale and other issues hanging in the air. The topic of selling the airline hit headlines recently when Malaysia Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was quoted in national news agency Bernama as saying “a decision to sell the struggling airline was reached after numerous measures introduced to improve its financial situation failed”.
This call is in addition to suggestions to shut MAB down, bring in AirAsia to help “resurrect” the ailing carrier and more. Despite all these the Malaysian flag carrier is rather unfazed, forging ahead with new services and products, as well as enhancing cooperation with other airlines.
In late May MAB expanded its cooperation with Japan Airlines in a joint business agreement, and on June 27 it inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Singapore Airlines (SIA) to step up co-operative ties.
Of course, both partnerships have led to speculations that JAL and SIA would buy a stake in MAB to help in its revival and bring it back to profitability.
Some analysts even observed that the latest tie-up with the Singapore carrier to “explore a wide ranging strategic partnership” could lead to a potential merger. This conjecture could be due to the fact the two airlines used to operate as a single carrier, Malaysia-Singapore Airlines, before they spilt in 1972 into separate operations.
Both SIA and MAB have not responded to such guessing, and no financials were mentioned in the new partnership. Instead both airlines stated the joining of forces would build on their existing codeshare agreement that covers flights between Singapore and Malaysia, as well as cargo and aircraft maintenance.
The pact could also include “a significant expansion of codeshare flights beyond Singapore-Malaysia routes, as well as enhancements on the frequent flyer programme front”, said the two airlines in a joint statement.
A formal agreement is expected to be finalised in the coming months subject to regulatory approvals, and will include SIA subsidiaries SilkAir and Scoot, as well as MAB’s sister airline Firefly.
SIA’s chief executive officer Goh Choon Phong pointed out that as both airlines operate in a region with a rapidly growing air travel market the MoU “expands the scope of our cooperation, increase global connectivity for Malaysia and Singapore and enhance service offerings for customers.”
Malaysia Airlines’ group chief executive officer Captain Izham Ismail said due to the strong commercial and cultural links with SIA, his team would be able “to build on that close relationship even further, this time across many areas of both airlines’ ecosystems.”
Corporate Travel: BCD Travel takes majority stake in Japanese partner
Netherland-based BCD Travel has taken a majority ownership in Hitachi Travel Bureau giving it a controlling interest in the operations of its Japanese partner.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed
Hitachi Travel Bureau is one of Japan’s leading travel management companies, employing 280 employees across its offices in Japan and China and has annual sales of more than US$330 million.
Kazuhiko Otani, the current president of Hitachi Travel Bureau, remains as president and managing director for BCD in Japan, responsible for leading BCD’s growth strategy in the country.
Greg O’Neil, BCD’s president of Asia Pacific, said the investment was “a reflection of our commitment to Asia Pacific.”
Added John Snyder, president and CEO of BCD Travel: “Our majority ownership of Japan demonstrates our aggressive acquisition strategy. We’re growing in markets where demand for corporate travel services is increasing and where our clients want us to be. This acquisition opens up new business opportunities for us in one of the world’s most unique travel markets.”
BCD’s investment in Japan follows its cquisitions of majority stakes and full ownership of travel operations for the past few years in Brazil, China, Dubai, Hong Kong, Poland and Colombia. They include US-based Acendas Travel and World Travel Services, Nordic travel agency Ticket Biz, events agencies Grass Roots Meetings & Events and Zibrant in the UK and mobile technology company GetGoing.
Hotels: BHMA renamed Cross Hotels & Resorts as it expands across Asia
(Image credit: Cross Hotels & Resorts)
Thailand-based international hotel management company BHMA (Bespoke Hospitality Management Asia) has rebranded to Cross Hotels & Resorts amid strong growth and to mark its transition into the Flight Centre Travel Group business.
BHMA was acquired by the Australian travel company, which finalised the purchase in July 2017, marking its first investment in the hotel sector.
Cross said in a statement the rebranding “paves the way for a further escalation of the company’s portfolio of rooms under management focusing on South-east Asia, Australia, Japan and the Pacific before branching into other international destinations.”
It also comes off the back of “an already encouraging growth period”, which saw the group opening eight hotels across three brands in FY 2019 and a consolidated hotel revenue increase of about 80% in the past 18 months.
Peter Lucas, CEO of Cross Hotels and Resorts, said the group was building off a very strong base having increased its operating portfolio of hotels by 39% and entering three critical target destinations ‐ Phuket, Vietnam and Bali – over the past 12 months.
The new openings include the X2 Bali Breakers in Uluwatu and Away Bali Legian Camakila (Indonesia); X2 Vibe and Away branded properties in Phuket and the newly opened high-design X2 Oceanphere Residences in Pattaya (Thailand).
The company currently operates 25 hotels across three brands – X2, X2 Vibe and Away – in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia
“The future looks very exciting as we continue our growth objectives expanding our footprint in key capital gateway cities and thriving visitor destinations globally,’’ added Lucas.
Cross Hotels & Resorts has made key managerial appointments over the past six months as part of its growth plans – Paul Wilson as executive vice president commercial and Jens O. Reichert as chief development officer.
Technology: New marketing solution from Agoda to boost sales for hotel partners
Global digital travel platforms Agoda has launched the AgodaVIP programme that it described as “a new marketing solution designed to further support increased room night sales for its accommodation partners around the world.”
The programme will provide better visibility for participating hotels among a targeted group of Agoda’s frequent quality travellers.
It also enables participating properties to offer exclusive discounts to Agoda VIP status customers. According to Agoda, they are categorised as VIPs “because they have made a minimum of five bookings on Agoda in the past 24 months, and are less inclined to cancel bookings.”
Elaborated Errol Cooke, vice president global partner services of Agoda: “AgodaVIP programme aims to tackle two of the major problems that hoteliers face – high cancellation and increasing competition,”
The programme is also part of its partner services team “to help accommodation partners generate additional revenue and build a strong and loyal customer base at the same time,” he added.
Cooke said that during the programme’s soft launch its partners “have seen improvements in the number of room nights sold, higher visibility and better ranking on the Agoda platform, and booking cancellations falling by around 30%.”
Hotels that join the programme will receive VIP badges displayed on their property on both Agoda.com and on the Agoda mobile app, allowing the properties to be more visible to the platform’s VIP customers.
• Featured image credit (Malaysia Airlines Airbus A350-900 XWB): Malaysia Airlines’ Facebook page
