The UNWTO predicts the Indian outbound travel market will account for 50 million tourists by 2020, and its total outbound spending is expected to cross the US$28 billion mark. This, coupled with the country's new generation of middle class tourists, set to grow even further, makes it a potential tourist goldmine for thousands of destinations and travel businesses.
Gaurav Sarin's primary goal as the new Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Miraya Hotel Management is to further develop Vantage Hospitality Group's Value Inn Worldwide® and Value Hotel Worldwide® brands throughout India.
The GBTA Foundation – the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association – announced today that Star Alliance has joined the "Gift of Knowledge" as a Gold Partner. Through the initiative, GBTA will be utilizing funds raised to create and deliver an innovative and comprehensive program to further develop the travel management profession in China.
Best Western International has opened its first hotel in the Japanese city of Kagoshima, where all rooms offer spectacular views of the Sakurajima volcano. Located in southwest Japan's Kyushu Island, Kagoshima is nicknamed the "Naples of the East" due to its scenic bayside location, overlooked by the stunning volcano.
Vantage Hospitality Group, a top 10 global hotel company with over 1,200 properties, is continuing its worldwide expansion by entering into an exclusive master license agreement with Miraya Hotel Management to introduce the Value Inn Worldwide® and Value Hotel Worldwide® brands to India. The announcement was made at the Hotel Investment Conference South Asia in New Delhi.
Best Western International, The World's Largest Hotel Chain®, is expanding its regional operations offices in Thailand & Turkey. The company, which operates more than 4,000 hotels worldwide, established its regional head office for Asia in Bangkok in 2001. Since then, the rapid expansion of Best Western's regional portfolio required the office to expand its coverage to oversee an Asian portfolio that stretched from the Middle East to Japan.
Hotels.com™, the leading online accommodation booking website, has rolled out a creative new online campaign aimed at putting Thailand back on top of travelers' wish lists. Named after the traditional Thai welcome gesture, the "Wai Thailand™" campaign invites Thais of all ages and occupations – as well as past and potential future visitors – to submit their own "wai" photos via a tailor-made Facebook app.
For each culinary event, guests can choose from four different packages: the Silver Packages are priced for food only; the Gold Packages include food and free flow of soft beverages and juices; the price of the Platinum Packages include food and free flow of soft beverages, juices and house wines; and the Titanium Packages include food and free flow of soft beverages, juices, house wines and champagne.
The business tourism market is not homogenous, according to Professor Bob McKercher and Grace Ho of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in a recently published research paper. The "filtering effect" of distance influences the tourist profiles and behavioural patterns of business visitors from short- and long-haul source markets. Focusing on in-bound tourists to Hong Kong, the researchers reveal that despite general similarities, the two types of visitor have different profiles and travel, activity and expenditure patterns. Knowledge of these differences, they argue, will be beneficial to hospitality and tourism enterprises and the local destination marketing organisation.
The GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) – announces the results of its first GBTA BTI™ Outlook – India report, a semi-annual business travel outlook and overall economic analysis of India. The report, sponsored by Visa Inc., includes the GBTA BTI™; an index of business travel spending that distills market performance over a period of time.
CapitaLand's wholly-owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott), has entered into a strategic alliance with Beijing Vanke Co., Ltd. (Beijing Vanke), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vanke China Co., Ltd. (Vanke), to drive Ascott's expansion plans in China. Vanke is one of the largest property developers in the country. Beijing Vanke will leverage its significant presence and expertise to develop serviced residences in China. Ascott will in turn provide its leading capabilities in managing award-winning serviced residences.
Imagine a river. It runs pleasantly through fields that rely on it for irrigation. It quenches the thirst of people who could always use more water. Now, imagine that river is about to be flooded with rain, a sea of rain. Will the locals catch that water and contain it? Or will they be overwhelmed?
The St. Regis Mauritius Resort, which officially opened its doors earlier this year, today celebrates the unveiling of The St. Regis Villa. Spanning 1,659 square metres, The St. Regis Villa is the largest and most exclusive full-service private residence in Mauritius, offering families and groups of friends the ultimate luxury experience, combined with bespoke service and refined elegance both befitting of the destination and true to the St. Regis legacy. Located on the south-western tip of the island, the resort marks the St. Regis brand’s debut in Africa.
BridgeStreet – the leading international provider of residences, serviced apartments and suites – proudly announces a milestone achievement in India through a 20-year, tri-party agreement with JNB Group, LLC (JNB), a privately owned real estate investment and development consortium renowned for franchising and management, and Homestead, a real estate development company specializing in boutique branded residences. BridgeStreet's latest venture further expands the brand to the emerging Indian market, encompassing property and facilities management for two new luxury residences by Homestead - Michael Schumacher World Tower and Ballet by Sharapova. The agreement also entails a comprehensive long-term commitment to exclusively collaborate on future Homestead serviced apartment developments throughout the world.
Four hotel companies based in India have become new Friends of the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) at the School of Hotel Administration, and they have immediately started assisting the CHR in a comprehensive study of the hospitality industry in India. Also assisting on the study is another new friend, RateGain, which provides a diverse portfolio of hospitality technology solutions. The new hotel Friends are Historic Resort Hotels Pvt. Ltd. (HRH Group of Hotels), The Leela Palaces Hotels and Resorts, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company and The Park Hotels.
A thief who pretended to be a guest at the luxury Peninsula hotel coolly tricked staff into opening a safe and escaped with HK$50,000 in foreign currency and valuables, police revealed. The man, a foreigner, approached the front desk of the hotel in Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, at about 4am on Sunday, claiming to have lost his room key. The room number he gave was occupied by a French businessman, whose name and birth date he gave as proof of identity. The real guest and his wife were in bed in the room at the time.
Marking the partnership between two global hospitality industry players, Ms. Winnie Chiu, President and Executive Director of Dorsett Hospitality International said: "Whilst we continue to pursue our 'Chinese Wallet' strategy, we also believe it is important to focus on market segments in other continents which are of importance to us as well.
On the back of a growing China portfolio of 119 hotels and over 100 more in the pipeline, Starwood Hotels & Resorts returns strongly to Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings (IT&CM) China after a four-year hiatus from the MICE tradeshow. Being showcased at Starwood’s booth (B10 in Hall 4) at IT&CM China, which takes place from 17 to 19 April 2013, are new hotels such as the recently opened W Guangzhou – the first W-branded hotel in China, the architecturally stunning and iconic Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort, and the largest hotel in Starwood’s portfolio – Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central.
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has released the results of its third GBTA BTI™ Outlook – China 2013 H1 report, a semi-annual analysis of one of the largest business travel markets in the world. The report, sponsored by Visa, includes the GBTA BTI™; an index of business travel spending that distils market performance over a defined period.
Trust in individual employees and their merits lies at the heart of empowerment in Asian hotel management, according to recently published research from the SHTM’s Dr Catherine Cheung, Dr Alan Wong and a co-author. The researchers carried out an in-depth study of middle- and senior-level hotel managers in China to examine their perceptions and practice of empowerment.