The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Japan Travel and Tourism Association (JTTA) and Gurunavi have released the new UNWTO Report on Gastronomy Tourism: The Case of Japan. The publication includes 18 different case studies of successful gastronomy tourism in Japan.
Meliá Hotels International, the leading Spanish hotel group, today announces to deepen the strategic partnership with Ctrip and to launch a flagship store on the leading online travel agency's Chinese website and mobile app.
The awesome rise of Google's meta and the launch of Booking.basic, make rate leakage the #1 challenge for hoteliers in 2019 and 2020 - and certainly the most requested topic at the Direct Booking Summit this year.There is no escaping the cost of undercutting today - our data suggests direct bookings drop 30% when hotels are undercut.
There is a very simple solution to the rate leakage menace: 1) Subscribe to a rate parity monitoring solution like RateGain or OTA Insights to catch in real-time rate leakage offenders; 2) Investigate quickly each instance of rate leakage; 3) In case of the property working with multiple wholesalers, “put two and two together” to trace the source of the reservation and see which of the wholesalers is the offender; 4) Immediately cancel your agreement with any rate leakage offender.
Given the transparency of the Internet and the growing role of metasearch in the travel distribution process, rate leakage is a challenge that hotels can no longer ignore. Although it might be painful in the short run, AMPUTATION is the only solution that will work!.
The South East Asia Hotel Investors' Summit returns for its third edition in May and will again feature top executives from both hotel owning groups and management companies addressing issues facing the regional hospitality sector. In Thailand, the past couple of years have seen a big rebound in the results of hotels, hostels and serviced apartments. Can it continue? There are some definite challenges ahead for the Thai owners and developers who build these properties:
Messe Berlin (Singapore), one of the world's leading trade fair companies, announced that it will be organising the inaugural MICE Show Asia 2019 in Singapore. The 3-day business-to-business travel trade show will take place from 16 - 18 October 2019 at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre at Marina Bay Sands. MICE Show Asia is under ITB Asia's umbrella of events.
Taking to the skies, the world-exclusive Flying Triggerfish is the first customised DHC-6-300 Twin Otter airplane by Four Seasons, and one of the most luxurious and Instagrammable seaplanes ever to grace the Maldivian skies.
There is an inherent value in brands as a way of reassuring guests of a certain quality due to standards imposed by brands. Especially when going to an unknown location. While online reviews have helped independent hotels for some time it is hard to know what standards the reviewer had.
The activity in the market today looks to be more of a 'land grab' for major multi-brand operators. The logic being that if I have enough brands across a broad range of the market from a quantity and quality perspective then I increase bargaining power and also exposure to an existing and future customer base.
The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), South Asia's largest hospitality company, today, announced the launch of a new hotel brand - "SeleQtions", which is a collection of named and distinctive properties.
Hilton (NYSE: HLT), together with the United States Embassy, jointly held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Embassy's U.S. liaison office in the capital city of Myanmar today. The groundbreaking ceremony took place in the presence of Ambassador Scot Marciel and Union Minister U Kyaw Tin, Union Minister for International Cooperation, Myanmar. When it completes in 2020, the U.S. liaison office will be housed within Hilton Nay Pyi Taw, which represented Hilton's entry into Myanmar when it opened in 2014.
My view is that it's not a simple topic and there are several aspects to consider. 1 - On moving in to hotel space, this is a natural progression when tracking all of the existing OTA's. Over time all of the third party players will broaden their capabilities into other markets, although all will be secondary to search engine powered travel platforms such as Google.
AirBnB is clearly a phenomenon that is disrupting the hospitality industry as we know it. I am not sure if this can be classified as a “friend or foe” but to me it is clear that the dramatic rise of this type of lodging should pose some real questions to hoteliers.
Looking at competition from the standpoint of how it is hurting profits is never a great way to look at it. That rates can't be raised is a good thing for guests. The question of the acquisition and Airbnb's intention is: what can it bring to the customer.
The company has bowed to industry pressure and taken action independently of any government or authority edict to waive its contracted narrow-rate parity.
Mainland Chinese tourists visiting Hong Kong tend to visit different shopping outlets to buy luxury goods according to their different motivations, conclude Dr Sam Kim of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and his co-researchers. In a recently published study the researchers revealed that mainland tourists who shop for luxury goods are motivated by "materialism, a desire for social status or to conform with others", and these differences in their nature influence not only what they buy, but where they buy.
Four minutes after they flung their doors wide open, we arrived at Hong Kong's newest hotel, the Rosewood Hong Kong, with a full entourage of hotel managers at the entrance enthusiastically welcoming their guests for the first time.
Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (Nasdaq: CTRP), one of China's largest integrated travel services companies ("Ctrip"), today signed an agreement with upscale global hoteliers Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR) to develop a global distribution strategy promoting MHR properties to Ctrip's 300 million strong customer base.
Messe Berlin, one of the world's leading trade fair companies, announced today that it will be organising the inaugural ITB India in 2020. The 3-day business-to-business travel trade show and convention will take place at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai, India, from 15 to 17 April 2020. The show will bring together key travel industry leaders and buyers from cities across India, and international exhibitors from the MICE, leisure and corporate sectors. ITB India will also have a Hosted Buyers' Programme that will cater to buyers from first, second, and third tier cities in India.
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the world's leading luxury hospitality company, today announced its first Envoy by Four Seasons collaboration for 2019. Launched in November 2018, Envoy by Four Seasons is a pioneering program reimagining the influencer space through a creative and distinctive approach to storytelling. Since the program's launch, more than one thousand world-class artists, storytellers and content creators across a variety of mediums including photography, filmmaking, music, poetry, visual art and dance have applied for the coveted title of 'Envoy', and the opportunity to use their storytelling craft to connect Four Seasons guests, and the world, to the experiences Four Seasons can create.
Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) and BTG Hotels (Group) Co., Ltd. (Shanghai Stock Exchange: 600258) announced today affiliates of Hyatt and Homeinns Hotel Group (affiliated with BTG Hotels which is also named BTG Homeinns Hotels Group) have entered a strategic joint venture to create a new hospitality brand. The brand, to be named later, is aimed at meeting the evolving needs and aspirations of a growing number of young travelers in the upper-midscale segment in China, providing them with a seamless and premium travel experience.
Torrens University Australia has announced that it is collaborating with the Australian Revenue Management Association (ARMA) to develop a formal qualification in revenue management.
Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ: YTRA) (OTCQX: YTROF), one of India's leading online travel companies, has entered into a strategic partnership with Agoda, a part of Booking Holdings (Nasdaq: BKNG), to offer its Indian hotel rooms to Agoda's global travellers. Under this agreement, Agoda, one of the world's fastest growing online travel agents (OTA), will now have access to Yatra.com's inventory of more than 100,000 accommodation options in over 1300+ Indian cities and towns.
The inaugural Direct Booking Summit: Asia-Pacific will take place in The Fullerton Hotel Singapore on February 27-28. The event, hosted by Triptease, will bring together hoteliers from across the region to discuss practical strategies to increase the number of bookings that come directly through the hotel website (as opposed to through online travel agents, or 'OTAs'). The conference will specifically address regional challenges such as the problem of rogue wholesale rates, mobile UX challenges and the struggle to maintain rate parity in a fragmented OTA market.