STR: Preliminary November 2016 data for Singapore
STR's preliminary November 2016 data for Singapore indicates overall performance declines.Based on daily data from November, Singapore reported the following in year-over-year comparisons:
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Wouter De Graaf has been appointed as General Manager at Sofitel Singapore City Centre
Wouter De Graaf has been appointed as General Manager of the 223-room Sofitel Singapore City Centre which is slated to open in the second quarter of 2017.Born and raised in The Netherlands, Wouter has over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry and has held senior roles at various international hotels in the USA and New Zealand.
Banyan Tree and AccorHotels announce strategic partnership
Banyan Tree Holdings today announces that it has entered into a heads of agreement with AccorHotels. Under a long-term partnership, both parties intend to collaborate to develop and manage Banyan Tree branded hotels around the world. Banyan Tree will also have access to AccorHotels' global reservations and sales network, as well as its loyalty programme Le Club AccorHotels.
Benny Chung has been appointed as General Manager at PARKROYAL on Kitchener Road
A Singaporean national, Benny’s career in the hospitality industry started at the former Hyatt Regency Singapore. With initial roles on sales and marketing, he went on to earn increasingly senior roles in operations and assumed his first General Manager role in 2008 at the Holiday Inn Hefei Downtown, China, after leading the pre-opening for the 700-room Crowne Plaza Yatai. Benny has gained reputable experience in leading teams at luxury brands including Mandarin Oriental and Langham, and was most recently General Manager of Langham Place Xiamen, having been transferred there after a successful stint with the former Eaton Luxe Nanqiao in Shanghai.
Ascott Redefines Travel For Millennials With New Brand Lyf And Targets 10,000 Units By 2020
CapitaLand's wholly owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited (Ascott) is unveiling its newest brand, Lyf (pronounced 'life'), designed for and managed by millennials who wish to experience destinations as locals do. Going beyond traditional hospitality concepts, Lyf signifies a new way of living and collaborating as a community, connecting guests with fellow travellers and change-makers.
Scandic to lecture on accessibility for tourist industry in Singapore
Scandic's Director of Accessibility, Magnus Berglund, has been invited to speak at the AccessAbility Perspective seminar in Singapore on November 22, 2016. The seminar, which has been arranged by the Embassy of Sweden in Singapore, addresses participants in the hotel and tourist industry and focuses on how the sector can improve accessibility for guests with special needs.
David Spooner has been appointed as Executive Vice President for Asia Pacific at Preferred Hotels & Resorts
Preferred Hotels & Resorts, a global provider of sales, marketing and distribution services to independent luxury hotels, is pleased to announce the appointment of David Spooneras Executive Vice President for Asia Pacific, based out of the company’s Singapore office. In his role, Spooner will drive the company’s development efforts in the region, overseeing the strategic growth of the brand in key markets and ensuring the engagement and retention of nearly 100 existing member hotels, in collaboration with a team of Regional Directors and other associates based in offices across eight gateway cities – Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, and Tokyo.
STR: Preliminary October 2016 data for Singapore
STR's preliminary October 2016 data for Singapore indicates performance declines driven primarily by supply growth. Based on daily data from October, Singapore reported the following in year-over-year comparisons:
ZUMATA expands AI-powered customer service beyond travel with IBM Watson
ZUMATA, a Singapore-based travel technology company, today announced they are working with IBM Watson to deliver more personalized customer experiences. The company will use the Watson Developer Cloud to develop and deliver conversational interfaces for a cross-section of industries, including travel, finance, insurance, and others.
‘Hotel Owners For Tomorrow’ Coalition Launches at Asia’s Leading Hotel Investment Conference in Hong Kong
Hotel Owners for Tomorrow (HOT) has launched at HICAP 2016. The founding signatories of the HOT initiative will represent the first ever high profile coalition of hotel owners in Asia committed to a fixed set of sustainable actions, supported by brands, management companies, and industry supporters.
Andrew Ashmore has been appointed as Head of Sales and Marketing at Coco Collection
With over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Andrew Ashmore brings a wealth of experience in sales and marketing to his new role at Coco Collection. Most recently, he served as Chief Marketing Officer of Hashoo Hotels, Pakistan’s largest hotel chain. During Ashmore’s time there, he was overseeing all the marketing operations of the hotel group and was responsible in developing their vision and strategy in an environment that was challenging for tourism and hospitality. Prior to that, a prominent period of his career was with the renowned Hyatt group. With a Hyatt career that began in 1985, Ashmore’s last role was as Vice President of Global and Operational Sales for Hyatt hotels across EAME and India saw his strategic role in handling and managing over 350 key global sales accounts across the region from 2011 to 2013.
Tribute Portfolio Adds Hôtel Vagabond Singapore
Tribute Portfolio, part of Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR), today debuted its first hotel in Singapore with the addition of hôtel vagabond, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel. Owned by Harpreet Bedi and Satinder Garcha, the 41-room hotel was designed by award-winning French designer Jacques Garcia, blending together traditional Singaporean hospitality with Garcia's traditional maximalist style. Marriott International's 10th property in Singapore, hôtel vagabond invites guests to Stay Independent in the Lion City, while still enjoying all the benefits of the world's most global loyalty programs.
The Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts Makes Singapore Debut
The Luxury Collection® Hotels & Resorts, part of Marriott International, (NASDAQ: MAR) today announced it will debut the brand's first-ever hotel in Singapore in early 2017. In partnership with boutique developers Harpreet and Satinder Garcha, The Duxton Club, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Singapore will showcase the island's rich history with stunning redesigns from Anouska Hempel and Jacques Garcia of traditional shophouses–a prevalent building in Singapore's architectural heritage–in the Tanjong Pagar conservation district. Both preserving the past and offering guests a contemporary luxury experience, the multi-million- dollar renovation will bring to life Singapore's roots in an authentic and indigenous way.
Online Travel ‘Reimagined’ at Web In Travel
Web In Travel (WIT) gathered speakers and participants from its first edition, to discuss, 12 years later, what changes they had seen and how they imagine the future business of online travel. The WIT pioneers spoke alongside new and emerging players from across Asia, to discuss how they are innovating and disrupting the business of travel in their geographies. WIT 2016 attracted 100 speakers, featuring senior executives from global companies such as AccorHotels Asia Pacific, Expedia, Kayak, Booking.com, Google and TripAdvisor, alongside Asian companies including as Ctrip, MakeMyTrip, Alitrip, Rakuten and Agoda. "As the online travel industry matures and technology evolves, changes are happening rapidly and we need to adapt," said Yeoh Siew Hoon, founder of WIT. "With WIT this year, we wanted to bring together people who have participated in WIT for years with mavericks who have fresh ideas and energy, to inspire everyone attending to raise this industry to its next level."Building on previous editions of WIT, the conference kicked off with a Bootcamp for travel start-ups. From a record number of entries, the most diverse in terms of geography and business models that WIT has received, seven entrepreneurs competed for the chance to present their ideas at WIT, and three emerged at the conference – Cape, Backstreet Academy and Sports Where I Am. Of the three, Cape won the Start-Up Pitch Competition for their flight-booking platform that focuses specifically on selling standby tickets, generating incremental revenue from last-minute seats sold. Cape won a place in the Travelport Labs Accelerator programme, which comes with seed funding of US$30,000 and US$120,000 worth of cloud credits under the IBM Global Entrepreneurship programme."The travel startup ecosystem is maturing in Asia," said Jason Nash, global vice president of marketing and product incubation, Travelport. "Their thinking is fresh and their ideas very innovative. Cape was outstanding in their presentation and bringing their ideas to fruition. We look forward to mentoring them and seeing their business come to life." The conference also awarded best in class in online travel with its annual WITovation Awards, powered by Sojern, which honours visionaries for their excellence in digital marketing and customer experience in travel.
STR releases preliminary September 2016 data for Singapore
STR's preliminary September 2016 data for Singapore indicates performance declines.Based on daily data from September, Singapore reported the following in year-over-year comparisons:
Michael Martin has been appointed as GM and Regional GM at InterContinental Singapore
InterContinental Singapore announces the appointment of Michael Martin as General Manager of InterContinental Singapore and Regional General Manager, IHG Singapore, Malaysia and Batam.
OUE Limited Signs Partnership with Oakwood Asia Pacific for New Serviced Residences at OUE Downtown
OUE Limited signed a management agreement with Oakwood Asia Pacific Ltd ("Oakwood") today, for Oakwood to manage the new Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore at OUE Downtown, strategically located at the heart of the city's vibrant commercial district.
Singapore Households Estimated to be World’s 7th Top Overseas Travel Spenders by 2025
The overall overseas travel spend by Singapore households is expected to double to almost US$45 billion by 2025, placing the country in the top 10 globally and in the top three in Asia Pacific, according to Visa's "Mapping the Future of Global Travel and Tourism in Asia Pacific" report. Average annual spend on overseas travel per Singapore household is projected to hit US$30,230 by 2025, almost six times the Asia Pacific household average of US$5,230 and the global household average of US$5,309.
Singapore: The Market Remains Robust - Horwath Special Market Report
Following a profound transformation into a leading hotel market in the Asia Pacific region, concerns are again at the forefront of hoteliers minds in Singapore. STR Global recently announced that in August this year, room supply increased by 5.2%, the highest since December 2013. Concerns on an ever growing supply and a recent trend of declining average room rates and hotel profitability have resulted in some negative media and talk of a need to cap future hotel supply growth. However, Horwath HTL believes that the Singapore market remains strong and resilient and that the future hotel supply pipeline does not represent the risk that is perhaps being perceived in the market. Now is not a time for Singapore hoteliers to panic and compete on price.
Laure Morvan has been named VP Development Luxury Hotels ASPAC at AccorHotels
Laure Morvan has been with AccorHotels for over 10 years working in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. Previously, she held the position of Director of Development on the Asia Pacific team. Morvan has an excellent track record in the development of the AccorHotels luxury and upscale network both in the Middle East and Asia Pacific.