In the news: Higher Living with onefinestay; STB partners with Grab to provide seamless experience to visitors; 250 airlines on board with Travelport’s merchandising tool
HOSPITALITY: onefinestay launches new personalised concierge service
Higher Living in any of onefinestay’s properties (Image credit: onefinestay)
For your next stay at any onefinestay’s properties you will experience a taste of ‘Higher Living’ – a new concierge programme recently launched by the luxury vacation rental operator.
To launch in March, Higher Living is the company’s first formal guest relationship programme and, as it describes, a “first-of-its-kind for the industry as it is available to guests for a whole year after their stay.”
After their first stay guests can access Higher Living with a mobile app that will enable them contact a concierge. The mobile concierge is developed leveraging the expertise of John Paul, onefinestay’s sister company.
Guests will have the service of the concierge to attend to their needs such as restaurant and theatre tickets reservations, chef or in-home entertainment booking or any other request. excursion coordination.
The new service is free for the first year with additional cost for experiences and services. The more a guest stays at a onefinestay property, the service becomes more tailored to his/her individual tastes.
“Higher Living is cut from the same cloth as our renowned luxury service, which is beloved by guests, and emblematic of our overarching vision: to unlock a whole new level of living for all of our guests,” said Javier Cedillo-Espin, CEO of onefinestay. “Guests love us because we’ve always set out to bring special experiences to their stays, and now we’re extending our service outside of their travels, and into their lives.”
This programme is the first initiative launched by onefinestay since its merger in 2017 with TravelKeys and Squarebreak, which brought its portfolio of homes from 2,500 in nine cities to over 10,000 in 200 destinations around the world.
PARTNERSHIP: STB and Grab roll out GrabPay and spearhead transportation initiatives
Visitors to Singapore can soon go cashless with GrabPay (Image credit: Grab)
The Singapore Tourism Board is making it easier for visitors to experience the best of the city-state by collaborating with ride hailing company Grab in a number of initiatives that will be rolled out in stages.
The two companies have inked a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide cashless experience to visitors, as well as offer mobility services to business travellers and STB’s partners in the MICE industry.
In line with the nation’s push to go cashless STB will roll out GrabPay, the ride-hailing service’s cashless platform, at tourist hotspots such as hawker centres, dining establishments, cultural and lifestyle precincts, shopping centres and tourist attractions. Tourists will also be able to redeem GrabRewards points through the Grab app to discover other experiences and events.
The companies will also launch a joint study to better understand visitors’ behavioural patterns and preferences for transport modes to get around Singapore. The insights will help both Grab and STB to tailor relevant offerings to visitors.
To facilitate easier access to travel information Grab will share its booking APIs in phases through STB’s Tourism Information & Services Hub (TIH). This allows select tourism businesses to integrate Grab’s various tools into their own digital platforms. This will visitors to better plan travel routes by providing easier access to information about estimated fares and waiting times.
Quek Choon Yang, chief technology officer at the STB, said Grab’s extensive presence in the Southeast Asia contributed a large share of visitors to Singapore. “We are confident of reaching a sizable audience through the multi-faceted touch points offered through the Grab app. Together, we will create a travel experience that is both seamless and personalised to the needs of our visitors.”
DISTRIBUTION: 250 airlines (and counting) flying with Travelport merchandising tool
250+ airlines on board with Travelport merchandising tool (Image credit: XavierMarchant/iStock-Getty Images)
Travelport said it has reached a ‘milestone’ when announcing that more than 250 airlines are now using its Rich Content and Branding merchandising tool to search for and book branded fares and ancillaries.
Launched in 2014, Rich Content and Branding allows network airlines and low-cost carriers to differentiate themselves through strong visuals and detailed descriptions of their products and services.
“This gives OTAs, travel agencies and bookers a real understanding of each airline’s offering and an excellent service to their customers when booking,” said the travel commerce platform in a statement.
It added that in passing the 250 mark it is now “offering richer content to five times as many airlines as its nearest competitor.”
Airlines using the tool include British Airways (branded fares across its domestic and global network), Air France/KLM (branded fares as well as bags, sports equipment and pets), Lufthansa (branded fares and several ancillaries such as bags and unaccompanied minors), as well smaller and low-cost airlines such as Jetstar Group and Thai Lion Air
Travelport added that Singapore Airlines, using the merchandising platform, was able to roll-out the recent introduction of their new fare families to all Travelport agencies simultaneously.
“Travelport’s Rich Content and Branding helps Avianca stand out against our competitors. It has helped us improve our ability to sell more than just a seat. Its graphics, just like you’d see on our website, are a great way of showing a product to the agency channel,” said Mario Cruz, director revenue management and distribution carrier of Colombia’s flag, Avianca.
Commenting on the expansion in the number of airlines Travelport’schief commercial officer, Stephen Shurrock, said: “In an era when agencies and airlines receive and send content over multiple channels, Rich Content and Branding continues to stand out as a highly effective means of selling and upselling products – from branded fares and ancillaries such as paid seats to the recently introduced no bag fares on long haul services.”
Last month Travelport was recognised for its innovative initiatives when it was certified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as a “Level 3” aggregator under IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC).
• Featured image credit: artisteer/iStock-GettyImages
