HILTON WORLDWIDE has announced that members of the-Hilton HHonors-guest-loyalty programme can now receive an exclusive discount on room rates by booking directly through its brand websites, Hilton HHonors mobile app and reservation call centres, or through preferred corporate travel partners and approved travel agents. This guaranteed discount is available at more than 4,500 hotels around the world, excluding hotels in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
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By BW Hotelier ACCORDING TO the Ministry of Tourism, Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) during January 2016 were 8.44 lakh as compared to FTAs of 7.91 lakh during January 2015 and 7.58 lakh in January 2014. There has been a growth of 6.8 per cent in January 2016 over January 2015. The Percentage share of FTAs in India during January 2016 among the top 15 source countries was highest from USA (15.29 per cent) followed by Bangladesh (11.99 per cent), UK (11.23 per cent), Canada (4.87 per cent), Australia (3.97 per cent), Russian Federation (3.71 per cent), Germany (3.27 per cent), France (2.98 per cent),Sri Lanka (2.97 per cent), China (2.74 per cent), Malaysia (2.59 per cent), Japan (2.38 per cent), Rep. of Korea (1.82 per cent), Nepal (1.76 per cent) and Afghanistan (1.62 per cent). Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism during January 2016 were Rs. 13,669 crore as compared to Rs. 12,100 crore in January 2015 and Rs. 11,664 crore in January 2014. The growth rate in FEEs in rupee terms during January 2016 over January 2015 was 13 per cent as compared to a positive growth of 3.7 per cent in January 2015 over January 2014.
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By BW Hotelier THOMAS COOK (India) Ltd has inked a pilot partnership with Airbnb to target high potential market for unique outbound travel experiences. Together they will offer Indians looking to travel abroad, access to a range of unique accommodation experiences at a variety of price points. Thomas Cook India’s internal consumer research has revealed that for today’s Indian traveler, holiday accommodation goes beyond merely hotel categories or room types. Over 25 per cent of the Company’s individual traveler segment has stated their growing preference to explore authentic local stays and a desire for deeper engagement and an immersion into the destination, its culture and its people. Hence, in an initiative to tap this increasing market potential, Thomas Cook India has signed a pilot agreement with Airbnb to leverage first mover advantage over this yet untapped segment. Thomas Cook India intends to offer significant value and flexibility to families, ad-hoc groups of friends and business-cum-leisure travelers via access to Airbnb’s unique stay options- across apartments, private rooms, castles, boats, manors, tree houses and private islands. Madhavan Menon, Chairman & Managing Director, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, (see photo) said, ’The Indian traveler is evolving rapidly and for many, standard stays no longer find favor. Our partnership with Airbnb for outbound Indian travelers, aims to address this viable and yet untapped market need.’ He added, ’Our strategic focus is to target high potential growth opportunities via innovation in products and partnerships and our tie-up with Airbnb reiterates delivery of this intent.’ Varsha Rao, Head of Global Airbnb Operations, Airbnb, said, ’We are excited to work with a leader in India’s travel market to give Indian travelers the opportunity to have unique and truly authentic local experiences by staying in one of our more than two million properties around the world.’
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By BW Hotelier THE HOTEL and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has welcomed the State Government’s recent directive to scrap all police licences required to run hospitality businesses. A Police circular to the effect states that now hotels, permit rooms and swimming pools within city limits will no longer require a police licence to operate a hotel establishment. The association had been strongly advocating this move since a long time along with the need to implement a single window licence clearance for the hospitality industry. With this decision, the industry is showing renewed enthusiasm and is hoping for the State to take progressive steps towards ease of doing business in the coming Financial Year. ’In a single stroke, the Chief Minister brought down this colonial rule. It goes to show that the government not only has acknowledged our woes but also has committed to eliminating them. The move also goes to reaffirm that the state is clearly looking at promoting tourism. Most importantly, it is an indicator of optimism and we feel positive that the following Financial Year would bring in a better time for hoteliers,’ said Bharat Malkani, President, HRAWI (see photo). While the government has taken a step towards plugging a hole in the system, hospitality is an industry that is tangled in a web of bureaucratic red tape. There are over 121 licenses that a hotel establishment needs to obtain and keep renewing each year to either start a new business or keep the operations running. ’This move clearly is progress and an important step. We are thankful to the Chief Minister for making this possible. We had been making several representations to the State at various levels indicating how many of the prevalent laws were in fact either obsolete or in some cases plain regressive. With the case of police licences and permissions being taken out of the way, some of our concerns have been addressed. We are hopeful that in the near future single window licence clearance will become operational. In most progressive countries hospitality sector besides being one of the key revenue generators also acts as a driver for business and tourism growth,’ concluded Kamlesh Barot, past-President, HRAWI.
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By BW Hotelier SAMHI HOTELS Pvt. Ltd, India’s leading hotel Asset Company, today announced acquisition of Ascent Hotels Pvt Ltd. Ascent owns the 220 rooms Hyatt Regency hotel in Pune as well as 102 serviced apartments operated under the same brand. Ascent Hotels Pvt. Ltd. is owned and managed by the real-estate and hospitality conglomerate, RK Jatia Group. Following successful addition of 6 new hotels to its operating portfolio in 2015 including two acquisitions, this allows SAMHI to strengthen its portfolio which will continue to expand during 2016 both due to pre-scheduled openings as well as new opportunities for acquisition. Ashish Jakhanwala, Founder & CEO of SAMHI (see photo) commented ’with acquisition of Ascent we get a high quality hotel asset in a key metropolitan centre such as Pune and also strengthen our partnership with Hyatt Hotels. Pune has right ingredients for growth and we are confident of leveraging those with a high quality hotel asset’. Speaking about the new development, Adarsh Jatia, Managing Director of RK Jatia Group shared, ’While the market for hospitality remains bullish in Pune, the sale of Ascent Hotels reiterates the decision to focus resources and bandwidth on our marquee development in Mumbai. After the success of the Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai, the new project marks the expansion of the Four Seasons’ footprint in India. We are developing two 55 storey towers - The Four Seasons Private Residences, the first branded and serviced hospitality led residential development in Mumbai, which will be ready to launch later this month; and another Four Seasons hotel and serviced apartments tower with a luxury retail component.’ Vascon which is an existing shareholder in Ascent will continue to be an investor through convertible debentures. "We are excited about improvement in performance of Pune hotel market and partnership with SAMHI will help us add value for our shareholders" commented R. Vasudevan, MD of Vascon. The sale is consistent with the RK Jatia Group’s focus on developing luxury mixed-use formats under the aegis of Provenance Land Pvt. Ltd. - India’s first bespoke lifestyle developer. Provenance Land (formerly Magus Estates) has created and managed luxury hospitality and real estate projects since 1980. Mr. Jatia aims to consolidate presence in Mumbai, where Provenance Land is executing a $250 million expansion to the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai at their prime 6-acre land-parcel in Worli. In addition to this, the company is also working on other Greenfield projects which will be announced in 2016-17. Five year old SAMHI, which recently announced INR441cr equity investment by Goldman Sachs has rapidly expanded its portfolio of branded hotels across India and boasts of over 2,500 rooms in 16 operating hotels with a total portfolio of over 4,500 rooms by end of 2016. The Company is one of the few hotel asset companies to have attracted high quality institutional capital including from investors such as Sam Zell led Equity International, International Finance Corporation (member of the World Bank Group) and GTI Capital besides the latest round from Goldman Sachs.
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By BW Hotelier THE WESTIN Chennai Velachery announced the formal launch of their Chinese a-la-carte restaurant, christened-Five Sen5es. Reflecting the contemporary elegance and bringing out undiscovered facets of Sichuan cuisine, the restaurant is best suited to provide a complete and distinctive dining experience. Located in the upper lobby level overlooking the courtyard, Five Sen5es gets its legacy from EEST, a signature Pan Asian restaurant. The venue offers a delectable range of dishes providing an unforgettable Chinese cuisine to savor the taste buds with delectable Dim Sum and appetizer assortments along with select Japanese, Thai, Indonesian cuisines as well. Executive Chef Yatendra Rawat, The Westin Chennai Velachery said on this occasion, he said ’We are excited to introduce Five Sen5es, where one can indulge in an array of uncomplicated yet authentic dishes that offer a modern spin on traditional recipes from China. We look forward to creating a distinctive dining experience for our guests’ Shrikant Wakharkar, General Manager, The Westin Chennai Velachery said, "Five Sen5es is yet another impeccable addition to the Westin Chennai Velachery, the restaurant has an inviting look and has been created keeping in mind the traditional touches while maintaining the contemporary feel. Five Sen5es is one of the successful specialty dining concepts of the brand Westin Hotels & Resorts and is inspired from nuances of contemporary Asian dining. We are pleased to be the first Westin Hotel in India to introduce the restaurant.’
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By BW Hotelier DR MAHESH Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism & Culture and Civil Aviation launched the ’24x7 Toll Free Tourist Infoline in 12 International Languages including Hindi and English’ available on the existing Toll Free Number 1800111363 or on a short code 1363 at a function in New Delhi. This project is being implemented by the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Govt. of India through M/s. TATA BSS who have been associated with the work after open bidding process. The languages handled by the contact centers include ten International languages besides English and Hindi, namely, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. A ’Live Demo’ of this multilingual Infoline Service in Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Italian languages was also presented on the occasion. The Minister also announced that very soon his Ministry will launch an ’Incredible India Mobile App.’ to facilitate tourists in a better way. Addressing on the occasion, Sharma said that the launching of this multilingual Infoline has marked the fulfillment of the promise made to the people by the present Government for according priority for safety and security of tourists. This Infoline service will provide information relating to travel and tourism in India to the domestic and International tourists/visitors and to assist the callers with advice on action to be taken during times of distress while travelling in India and if need be alert the concerned authorities. He said that now tourists traveling in or planning to travel to India can seek help and information for a hassle free experience. He said that the calls made by tourists (both international and domestic) while in India will be free of charge. The international tourists in India and also international callers who speak the aforesaid languages will be directed to the call agents proficient in the respective language. Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism in his address said that the focus will be on IEC i.e. Information, Education and Communication for the tourists followed by a helpdesk and then safety and security of the tourists. The website of Incredible India is also being revived to make it more tourist friendly. Ministry of Tourism in order to provide information services to the incoming tourists and domestic tourists has setup this Tourist info line. This service will primarily serve those who know very little about India or about travel within India, and those who do not understand Indian systems and often not even English. Srinivas Koppolu, MD & COO, TATA ’BSS gave the details of the functioning of Infoline and how will it be very beneficial for tourists. Dr. Ravi Kant Bhatnagar, Addl. DG (Tourism) dwelt upon the need for such a valuable Infoline and informed about the various aspects of it. Photo: -Dr Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism & Culture and Civil Aviation speaking at the launch of the 24X7 Tourist Infoline in New Delhi.
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By Rashmi Pradhan AFTER ROLLING out the instant booking for hotels in the US and the UK markets, TripAdvisor has now expanded instant booking for hotels to nine more English-speaking countries, including India, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and South Africa. Travelers in these markets are now able to conveniently book a hotel on all of TripAdvisor’s platforms, desktop and mobile, without leaving the site. TripAdvisor expects global rollout of instant booking for hotels in the first half of 2016. TripAdvisor’s partnership with Priceline Group, which was announced in October 2015, as well as its subsequent integration of its Booking.com inventory have helped accelerate TripAdvisor’s instant booking expansion due to the online travel agency’s extensive global property listings, localized content and quality customer care. TripAdvisor is working to integrate inventory from its other valued instant booking partners so that their supply is available to book on the platform in the near future. ’We are excited to help even more travelers around the world conveniently plan and book the perfect trip on our site as we rollout instant booking to more global markets,’ said Stephen Kaufer, President and CEO, TripAdvisor. ’The momentum we are building is remarkable and we look forward to continuing our expansion throughout 2016 with the help of our trusted partners.’ Speaking to BW Hotelier, Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, TripAdvisor India, said, ’TripAdvisor has always focused on increasing user experience and this booking feature will help the user to plan their travel better. It is an extremely exciting feature and enables price comparison as well. It is a market place for hotel bookings offering multiple brands and multiple prices to choose from. The hotel bookings is powered by Booking.com.’ He added, ’TripAdvisor allows users to not only compare prices, but now through its instant booking platform, book through hotel and online travel agency partners without leaving the TripAdvisor site. Hotels available for instant booking have a prominent ’book’ button and users that click this button can easily complete their reservation on TripAdvisor, with the transaction and customer care provided by the partner.’ TripAdvisor now works with 8 out of the top 10 hotel brands in the world and these respected suppliers have joined a growing list of more than 70 hotel chain, groups and online travel agency (OTA) partners that will power bookings on the platform. TripAdvisor’s instant booking partners include Accor, Best Western International, Carlson Rezidor, Choice Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, Langham Hospitality, La Quinta Inns & Suites, Mandarin Oriental, Marriott International, Priceline Group, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Wyndham Worldwide.
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