If you have been following the viral video feats of travel search engine, ixigo, the name Aashish Chopra doesn’t need a second introduction. Be it getting recognised for the most shared brand post on Facebook in Asia or winning the DMAi Content Marketer Of The Year Award, he has done it all.

We recently spoke to him on the opportunities for content marketers and the changing face of Digital India. Here’s a short video from our conversation with Aashish Chopra. To learn more about him, visit his personal website http://www.aashishchopra.com/.

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Hong Kong is a major tourism destination and potentially the next big hub for travel startups. With the travel & tourism industry gaining momentum fast in the region, businesses are increasingly shifting their focus on specific industry segments and defining their niche. Events like ITE and MICE offer the travel brands an opportunity to connect with the right audience and open up the possibilities for new business associations. We spoke with Mr. K.S.Tong, Managing Director, TKS Exhibition Services, the organizer of ITE & MICE to learn more about the event. Here is an excerpt from the conversation:

What changes have you observed in the nature of exhibitors over the previous events?

Majority of our exhibitors co-exhibiting in official pavilion, and they include travel agents, hotels and resorts etc. It seems change is less in profile than in the purposes and strategies!

Mr. K.S.Tong, Managing Director, TKS

More are exhibiting independently, especially among those who also conduct direct sale to FIT and mass promotions in public days of ITE in addition to channel sale and trade promotions in trade days. FIT is getting more popular especially among the well off, and FIT contributing an increasingly larger share of business to the travel trade. Of course, there remain significant numbers of exhibitor focusing only on trade days but the growth of interest on FIT has been gathering speed.

Growing popularity of traveling in FIT shall not be considered as all loss for travel agents, as interestingly our survey found 39 of public visitors have booked FIT products with travel agents, though much smaller than the 71% online.

Also, more exhibitors promote theme travels, which are popular with both trade and public visitors. Our latest survey found 65% of the public visitors interested in two or more travel themes, and the table below summarizes the findings.

* Question not included in trade visitor survey

What industry segment brings the most participation to the event?

The three largest groups of trade visitors, who total 11874 with 25% from abroad, are respectively Agents / Operators at 52%, MICE and Corporations at 21% and Media at 8%. The three largest exhibiting segments are Travel Agents and Operators, Tourism Boards and Organizations, and Hotel & Accommodation.

What opportunities do you think the event holds for the participants?

ITE & MICE offers participants opportunities just like other established trade fairs and public fairs, but more. There are separate days for trade and public visitors, and admission in trade days requires registration with business cards, so ITE & MICE is really two fairs in one venue.

Instead of covering every opportunity possible, let us focus on one case which demonstrates FIT business commensurate well or even stimulate channel sales. Promoting mainly aurora tour, this independent exhibitor comes from way north and east of Hong Kong. Judging from the number of attendees in its public seminars and ads by travel agents locally in different years, we can say this exhibitor got good responses with FIT in early years but lately getting good channel sales too. It still exhibits in ITE & MICE, and conducts its own public seminars, which draw well over 200 audiences in one session.

We heard one explanation. When the early FIT returning from their aurora trips, they posed photo on web, facebook and they talk. Yes, the word of mouth activities, then sooner or later may generates enquiry at travel agents and stimulate their interest to stage such tours.

For your info, public visitors who total 78000 are well educated (45% university & 24% post-secondary) and traveled frequently (65% traveled two to four times & 15% five times or more in past 12 months). They are likely opinion leaders on travel among friends and relatives.

The region is emerging as a favourable destination for tech startups. What do you think is the prime driving factor?

For tech startups, in my view, the prime driving factor is the market or the adoption of tech products by the public which can be greatly facilitated by education. It is common among Hong Kong senior citizens like our public visitors who are educated to use WhatsApp and Facebook etc in their mobiles. Also, Hong Kong is a wealthy society so many citizens can afford new tech products.

With so many promising travel tech startups coming up, how do you plan to attract more young entrepreneurs to be a part of the future events?

We are already seeing more travel tech exhibitors, and we have also been working with related organizations to promote theme travels, through special displays, demos & seminars etc, some of which can be well served by new tech products. For example, portal on sport tourism and apps on hiking in Hong Kong, etc!

TKS will be hosting the ITE and MICE 2016 in June this year. The event will be open for trade visitors on June 16 and 17, 2016 while it will be open for public on June 18 and 19, 2016. You can find more details here.

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Business travel is growing exponentially worldwide. This is bringing in a huge amount of business travel spending. According to Amadeus’ report, by 2025, the corporate travel spending in Asia Pacific region will become more than double from the current $400 billion to $900 billion. Observing the rise in the number of international business travellers, many organisations have come to the forefront to fulfil their requirements.

The Ascott Limited offers efficient premium services to the business travellers so that they can relax, enjoy and work comfortably in a luxurious environment. Mr. Jean Keijdener, Ascott’s Country General Manager for Thailand, has many years of progressive experience in the international hospitality operations, service & real estate – development & asset management – industry. Recently, we had a conversation with him to learn more about Ascott and its business association with TripAdvisor.

What is the role of TripAdvisor in managing hotel’s reputation?

Nowadays, people tend to do more research on accommodation, dining, activity selections prior their trip. Undeniably, travellers’ reviews on one of the biggest online travel communities like TripAdvisor are having a big impact on the fellow travellers. Especially in a high competitive market as Bangkok, the higher ranking you are on TripAdvisor meaning the more visibility and more opportunity for potential guests to choose you over other thousands of Bangkok accommodation choices.

Having good reputation on TripAdvisor not only helping Ascott properties in Bangkok in term of revenue but it’s also helping the properties to better understand the customers’ point of view. Whether it’s positive or negative review, each one of them is motivating and encouraging the team to keep delivering service excellent. Of course, everyone loves to hear positive feedback from guests. However, the negative feedback is also beneficial in some way. Guests’ complaints help the properties to learn the areas that needed to improve. Hence, the properties can address their action and use TripAdvisor space to apologise and explain the situation. Managements’ respond is not just a message to the particular reviewer, but it’s also showcasing how well the properties can handle their complaints.

Mr Jean Keijdener, Ascott’s Country General Manager for Thailand, said: “At Ascott Thailand, we understand the power of ‘word-of-mouth’ on the current online world. We pay close attention to the reviews on TripAdvisor as well as other review websites. Each review is checked, thoughtfully responded by high-level management and shared to the team for further actions.”

This year, Ascott properties in Bangkok have been recognised again with ‘TripAdvisor® Certificates of Excellence 2015’. Eight of our properties have received the prestigious award whilst three properties have been inducted into the ‘Hall of Fame Winners 2015’, for being recognised successfully for five consecutive years earning their annual ‘Certificate of Excellence’. The above prestigious awards are part of the fruitful results of how much effort Ascott Thailand puts into the TripAdvisor.”

Mr Jean Keijdener – Ascott’s Country General Manager for Thailand

How are you leveraging Twitter & Facebook page to create the awareness of the property?

Ascott is using the social media channels eg. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin to build awareness of its properties and also to create instant two-way communication channels with the guests and potential customers.

The Ascott social media channels are managed by the corporate online marketing team in Singapore. Ascott Thailand online marketing team as well as other local online marketing teams are feeding interesting local content to the corporate online marketing team to be featured on these channels.

One of the main benefits of using the brand social media channels is; the fans and followers can receive the news and information of Ascott properties in various locations across over 25 countries which might be their next holiday destinations or relocation cities. In addition to content sharing on the social media channels, Ascott Thailand is also encouraging its guests and corporate clients to help building brands awareness via check-in and hashtag features on social media channels as well.

For example, the recent social media campaign that used the #GoGreenAscott hashtag to create awareness on green features and initiatives from Ascott properties worldwide, which received about a thousand Go Green posts on the Instagram platform. Another example from Ascott Thailand is to use the social media campaign to tie-in with corporate events, which encourages the corporate clients to share their experiences and happy moments during the corporate events and activities on their social media platforms via #thelinkclubTH hashtag.

Ascott

The building of Somerset Sukhumvit Thonglor Bangkok

The pool view of Somerset Park Suanplu

Ascott Sathorn

The evening view of Somerset Sukhumvit Thonglor

A room in Somerset Lake Point

TBEX 15 was conducted recently which drove participation from a number of travel bloggers. Have you been working with travel influencers to amplify the visibility for Bangkok property?

Travel Blog Exchange event (TBEX) is the world’s largest gathering of travel bloggers, writers, new media content creators, and social media savvy travel industry professionals. This year, the TBEX was conducted in Bangkok and it brought together a number of travel bloggers from around the world to Thailand. Ascott Thailand took this great opportunity to work with the international travel influencers who came to join the TBEX.

Working with trustable online travel influencers is one of the best ways to amplify the visibility for Bangkok properties and it’s worthwhile for all parties; the brands, the influencers and the fellow travellers. Great marketing content which created by prominent travel influencers will help building up an online reputation for the brand. The influencers themselves are also having good chances to exclusively experience the products and services from the brands at fewest or no cost. This marketing content is also helping fellow travellers to have in-depth information about the destination and the brands, especially in the hospitality section.

Bangkok’s hospitality market is becoming more and more intense. Having a good reputation in the online world helps to make Ascott brand and its properties in Bangkok stay ahead in the market. Aside from working with the travel bloggers from the TBEX, Ascott Thailand has also been working with many prominent travel influencers recently. This is not only limited to the form of blog posts but including vloggers and social media influencers as well.

There are many hotels which have dedicated mobile apps, handy phones and keyless entry for check-ins. What are you doing in this direction to cater to the smart travellers?

The Ascott Limited has recently entered into an exclusive partnership with Samsung Asia Pte Ltd, a unit of Samsung Electronics (Samsung) to jointly develop smart home technologies customised for our serviced residences to offer our guests a seamless ‘Smart Living Experience’.

Ascott aims to test bed the new technologies at selected Ascott serviced residences by the first half of 2016, with plans to roll out to its properties across over 25 countries globally in phases.

In the new age Ascott serviced residence, guests will be able to use customised settings on their mobile devices or smart TV to control one or multiple devices simultaneously no matter where they are — turning on air conditioning or monitoring laundry cycle, for example – while inside or outside the serviced residence, or even while travelling abroad.

Ascott will work closely with Samsung to co-innovate and test customised hospitality solutions, with some initial development work done at Ascott’s Innovation Hub in Singapore before testing at its properties. Guests will get to try out the new smart technologies and appliances in specially designed Samsung Experience suites or residents’ lounges in selected Ascott properties for a trial period. In addition, Ascott will explore the application of automated technologies such as robotics at its serviced residences to enhance its employees’ productivity, so that they can focus on ensuring that guests have a memorable stay at its serviced residences.

Headquartered in Singapore, The Ascott Limited provides 26,000 operating serviced residence units in cities of the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Gulf region and has another 16,000 units under development. It has 30-year industry track record and serviced residence brands under it that enjoy recognition globally.

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Opened in 1981, Changi Airport is the 7^th busiest international airport of the world. It serves around 100 airlines flying to about 320 cities via 80 countries and territories globally. Often termed as the Best Airport in the World, Changi Airport has received multiple awards supporting the statement. The airport offers hassle free experience and wide range of entertainment options for the travellers and keeps innovating to further enhance the travellers’ experience.

We spoke with Mr. Ivan Tan, Senior Vice President, Corporate & Marketing Communications for Changi Airport Group to learn more about the factors driving the airport’s growth and the group’s future plans. Here is an excerpt from the conversation:

You are witnessing a stupendous growth compared to last year. In a year that marks SG50 celebrations, what’s the biggest attributer of this growth?

Changi Airport handled 45.5 million passenger movements in the first ten months of 2015, a 2% increase from the same period last year. During the year, travel demand was affected by market-specific as well as environmental factors like the haze situation in Southeast Asia. In addition, the weakening of regional currencies, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, against the Singapore Dollar has made travel to Singapore more expensive for a number of our key source markets.

But despite the challenges, we continued to make good progress with our efforts to woo new airlines, increase flights and grow Changi’s connectivity. During the year, a slate of new airlines joined the Changi network, such as Air New Zealand, Batik Air, Thai Lion Air and Myanmar National Airlines. At the same time, many existing airlines have been adding new flights to both current and new destinations. We have seen Singapore-based airlines like Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Tigerair and Scoot adding new flights, including to India. For instance, Tigerair has commenced its new service to Lucknow in December, and Singapore Airlines increased services to Mumbai. Other airlines, including ANA, EVA Air, Garuda Indonesia, Malindo Air, Qantas, Qatar Airways and Xiamen Airlines, have also added flights to Changi.

After a period of negative growth, the Thailand market has bounced back strongly, continuing to show healthy growth. Meanwhile, markets such as China and Vietnam have also continued to perform well due to their strong travel fundamentals. If economic and market conditions remain stable, we are optimistic that Changi Airport will continue to register positive passenger traffic growth for this year.

You have digital initiatives such as photo-booths to capture a traveller’s experience of airport’s services. How are these assisting in a better airport altogether?

At Changi, we do not just think about how we can meet our passengers’ needs, but our philosophy is to go one step further to delight them, by making the airport experience engaging and memorable. With the advent of social media and mobile connectivity, sharing travel photos has become almost a must-do for every leisure traveller. Our Social Tree at Terminal 1 was introduced as a fun way of letting our passengers capture their moments at Changi, for the dual purpose of sharing on social media, as well as storing this image on the interactive installation. The Social Tree acts as a time capsule from which passengers can retrieve their images taken at Changi, even years later when they revisit. This is just one example of the many facilities we have at Changi to give our passengers an enjoyable time, which include our themed gardens, movie theatres and swimming pool. We also organise activities for passengers and visitors to enjoy, such as this year’s Star Wars themed year-end festive celebrations that are ongoing right now. Together, these serve to make Changi Airport the magical start to one’s holiday, rather than an inconsequential stop in their travel journey.

You also run periodic campaigns such as the ‘#UnlockCelebrations this Diwali with Birds In Flight’ to engage with the Indian diaspora/visitors from India. What’s the purpose behind these campaigns?

With India being one of the key markets for Changi Airport, we see a growing increase in India passenger traffic for both the Singapore market and also positioning Changi Airport as a regional air hub. The campaign – #UnlockCelebrations is targeted at both young and family travellers. The campaign offers an opportunity to travel during the festive Diwali season and uses the occasion to bring friends and families together. Also, in capturing the insight on Indian travellers desiring a fly-cruise vacation, the campaign also offers various fly-cruise packages through partnering with a renowned cruise operator – Royal Caribbean International.

Ivan Tan, Senior Vice President, Corporate & Marketing Communications, Changi Airport Group

On the digital front, Changi Airport has been leading with its mobile applications, state-of-art website including variants to welcome visitors from countries such as India. What’s the overall role they are playing in enhancing passenger experience?

India is a fast adopter in technology and we see a lot of online activities pertaining to travel bookings, reviews and forums. Being proficient on social networks as well, there is strong media consumption among the top-tier India cities and we see Indian travellers taking to the Internet when it comes to travel intent. By deploying our messaging, contests and bookings on our geo-targeted Changi Airport website, we have witnessed a strong take-up in terms of contest participation, social engagement as well as booking conversions.

As we step into 2016, what are your thoughts and ideas on an airport experience of the future?

As travellers get increasingly sophisticated, the bar for the perfect airport experience gets higher. At Changi, we are cognisant of the need to continually refresh and reinvent what we offer, in order to retain our attractiveness as an air hub. To this end, we have a number exciting projects in the pipeline, which will take the airport experience at Changi to the next level when they are completed before the end of this decade.

Jewel Changi Airport, one of our key projects that are currently underway, will significantly enhance Changi’s appeal as a destination. Sited at the heart of the airport in front of Terminal 1, Jewel is a world-class lifestyle complex that will offer a wide range of leisure attractions, attractive retail offerings, as well as travel-related facilities for airport passengers. These include a huge five-storey garden, housing one of Singapore’s largest indoor collections of plants in Singapore and a breathtaking 40-metre high central waterfall, complete with play and dining facilities integrated within the idyllic surroundings. Designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, Jewel’s stunning dome-shaped glass façade is envisaged to become an iconic landmark in the airport landscape.

This iconic project will add to Changi an exciting tourist destination, providing our passengers with a myriad of refreshing experiences that they never imagined would be possible in an airport.

There is always something new going on at Changi Airport. You can learn more at changiairport.com. For campaigns and deals specific to Indian travellers, head to in.changiairport.com.

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The travel and tourism industry is a major influencer in Hong Kong’s economy. With 270,000 people employed in this field, Hong Kong tourism industry accounts for 7.2% of the total employment. Thanks to the plethora of market opportunities, Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem has witnessed phenomenal growth over the past few years. It is one of the fastest growing startup hubs in the world.

Dr. Simon Galpin, Director-General of Investment Promotion, InvestHK

To further give a boost to this startup ecosystem, InvestHK is organising an event called StartmeupHK Festival from 23^rd to 30^th January next year. We spoke with Dr. Simon Galpin, the Director-General of Investment Promotion, InvestHK about StartmeupHK. Here is an excerpt from the conversation:

What’s the core idea behind the first ever StartmeupHK Festival?

The week-long StartmeupHK Festival from 23–30 January 2016 will see leading champions in the startup community (accelerators, corporations and associations) hold a series of thematic conferences and pitch events covering Internet of Things (IoT), financial technology (fintech), health technology and data analytics, sectors in which Hong Kong has distinct competitive advantages. This festival will provide a unique opportunity for stakeholders in the startup community locally and from overseas to connect, collaborate and do deals.

Over the years, Hong Kong’s reputation as a startup-friendly destination has risen sharply. What are the key factors that have contributed to this phenomenal growth?

When InvestHK launched the StartmeupHK initiative in 2013, the startup ecosystem in Hong Kong was just developing with only three co-working spaces/incubators (HKSTP, Cyberport and Nest). Three years on, the city has transformed into one of world’s most vibrant and fastest growing startup hubs in the world with over 45 co-working spaces, incubators and accelerators.

According to InvestHK’s latest survey completed in August this year, there has been a 46 per cent increase in the number of startups in HK in the last ten months with an increase of 56% in the number of jobs created. The number of work stations has increased by 60% since the first survey done in November 2014.

Hong Kong has a unique appeal as a startup hub. This is especially true for hardware startups, whether in the consumer device, robotics or medical device sector. Geographically, we are close to the Mainland consumer market and its manufacturing base in Shenzhen, the so-called hardware capital of the world. Founders can not only access the international and Mainland market via HK but can also enjoy the rapid prototyping, small scale manufacturing, just-in-time delivery and world class fulfilment set up just across the border.

The financial technology sector has also attracted a lot of entrepreneurs, which isn’t surprisingly considering Hong Kong is one of the world’s financial centres. The technological innovations that are being created here tend to focus on Hong Kong’s traditional strengths in financial services, for example in the trading and wealth management, security and cross border trade areas.

These startups, along with companies in other sectors, seek to leverage Hong Kong’s intrinsic business advantages and super-connector role. Add the context of a world class city in which to base, with a strong rule of law, dedicated and professional talent pool, and ease of doing business, and the figures begin to make a lot of sense.

How tough is it for overseas entrepreneurs to startup in Hong Kong? Are there any key elements that one should look at while exploring Hong Kong for starting up?

Hong Kong has one of the easiest business incorporation procedures in the world, which takes only one hour to be done online, with one director who doesn’t need to live in Hong Kong and minimal capital of only one Hong Kong dollar. It makes setting up particularly easy for entrepreneurs and allows founders to focus on their business rather than spending time on the incorporation process.

With thriving co-work spaces in Hong Kong, the cost of renting a work seat is very affordable at only about HK$2,000 a month. However, because competition is keen in Hong Kong, founders should have carefully mapped out business and cost models in order to be successful in the market. It is also the responsibility of the founders to make sure that their ventures are within the legal ambit in Hong Kong.

InvestHK’s StartmeupHK Festival will be organised between January 23 and 30, 2016

A number of partners such as Brinc are supporting the events at the week-long summit. Would you like to talk about their involvement?

As the first and only IoT specific accelerator in Hong Kong, the Brinc IoT Hub at PMQ (the former Police Married Quarters) provides top quality IOT startups with space, networking opportunities, training as well as access to world-class manufacturing supply chains and distribution networks.

As part of the StartmeupHK Festival, Launch, the consumer IoT Conference presented by Brinc, will include workshops, pitches by finalists of a global IoT start-up competition and exhibitors, and a conference with prominent speakers from Indiegogo, Samsung’s Innovation Center and Misfit, a new wearables company that pre-sold 250,000 devices in one day via Chinese e-tailer JD.com.

FF16 or Fintech Finals 2016, is being organised by fintech experts NxtBnk (or Next Bank) and Fintech HK. Both these organisations aim to collaborate with the community to drive change for the better in financial services through design, innovation and entrepreneurship.  FF16 will feature a startup village, the finals of a global fintech competition with heats in a number of cities, summits and high profile speakers.

The health tech event will be organised by AIA, alongside HKBIO, HKAPI, HKMHDIA, and in addition to showcasing the latest innovations in health technology and some of the hottest startups in this space, there will also be the final pitches by ‘emerging entrepreneurs’ in the age 8-12 age group.

KPMG, one of the Big Four consulting groups, will host the data analytics event with a special focus on e-commerce.

The event is drawing wide interest from the international media and the global startup system. What sort of expected participation are you looking at?

The Festival is expected to attract thousands of local and overseas startups, investors and business leaders to converge in Hong Kong and see the dynamism and growth of the ecosystem for themselves.  It will be a busy week for the startup community, with a range of conferences, workshops, pitch events, startup competition and social events vying for their time. Local and overseas investors can also witness the new investment opportunities HK has to offer.

Dr. Simon Galpin joined InvestHK as an Associate Director – General of Investment Promotion in 2001. His contribution in shaping the strategy and business planning process has helped establish the firm as one of the world’s leading investment promotion agencies. He is actively involved in promoting Hong Kong’s expanding start-up ecosystem. 

Also Read: Hello Startups! StartmeupHK Festival is happening in Hong Kong in January 2016

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In a short time period of 5 years, the beautiful Marina Bay Sands has become one of the top venues for business events in the region. It also plays host to a large number of vacationers as well. While the entire hotel industry faces various challenges, Marina Bay Sands enjoys close to full occupancy all year round by positioning itself well and tapping into the right markets. We had a chat with Mr. Maunik Thacker, Senior Vice President Marketing, Marina Bay Sands to learn a thing or two from their success story. Here is an excerpt from the conversation:

MBS turned 5 earlier this year, can you talk about the journey through these years.

Marina Bay Sands has become a game-changer in Asia’s tourism scene. Since our launch in 2010, our iconic design and multi-dimensional offerings have not only transformed the city’s skyline but also placed Singapore in the global spotlight, capturing the imagination of travellers from around the world.

We are constantly evolving as a property and reinventing ourselves to remain competitive. Our efforts to keep Marina Bay Sands an exciting tourist destination have paid off, with over 40 million visitors going through our doors annually for the past two years. In the third quarter of 2015, our occupancy remained high at 98 per cent and our EBITDA rose 10.8 per cent year-on-year to US$389.7 million. We were also presented the ’Business Event Venue of the Year’ and the ‘Best Shopping Experience’ awards by Singapore Experience Awards 2015 – the most prestigious awards platform in Singapore’s tourism industry. Our successful integrated resort model, coupled with the reinvestment in our property through infrastructure enhancements and new concepts, continues to keep us ahead of the curve.

MBS has played a pivotal role in revamping brand Singapore as a tourist destination. As the city continues to evolve and reinvent with newer points of interest, how MBS is gearing up for the future and what are the new initiatives one can expect?

We are humbled by the strong support and honoured to help shape the face of tourism in Singapore.

After five years in Singapore, Marina Bay Sands continues to listen to the customers’ feedback to anticipate demands. We’ve been privileged to operate such a distinctive tourism landmark, and we’ll continue to reinvest in its future so that it remains compelling, innovative and exciting.

We began upgrading our hotel rooms earlier than the usual hotel refurbishment cycle, introduced four new celebrity chef restaurants this year and are continuously bringing in new-to-market brands and flagship stores to The Shoppes. Recently-opened retail stores include Furla and Loro Piana, and shoppers will soon be able to browse through the biggest Armani Junior store in Singapore, biggest Valentino store, and the world’s leading toy retailer Hamley’s of London.

On the MICE front, we have staged 63 new-to-Singapore trade shows and exhibitions since opening. In 2016, this will include new-to-Asia shows such as Airline Passenger Experience Association Meeting and Exhibition.  Returning to Marina Bay Sands next year are also numerous key events such as Tax Free World Association Conference and Exhibition 2016, Maison et Object Asia 2016 and World Cities Summit 2016.

We want to move beyond the iconic label, where tourists only visit once, to being a destination that draws guests again and again for diverse reasons.  Whether it’s entertaining guests with live concert series Sands Live, pleasing their palates with Gordon Ramsay’s Breadstreet Kitchen, or catering to culture fans with award-winning exhibitions like Collider at ArtScience Museum, we programme Marina Bay Sands very actively to keep it fresh and dynamic at every turn.

You have witnessed 100% occupancy rate across most seasons. Can you give us some insight on the channels that drive these bookings?

Our website is our key customer acquisition channel where we offer the best online rates and various seasonal promotions, although our network of online travel agents also brings in a steady stream of bookings. Group sales come in through traditional channels such as physical travel agencies.

MICE has been another key driver of our hotel rooms. Big-scale MICE events such as Interpol World 2015, CommunicAsia, Sibos and ITB Asia bring in many delegates and industry professionals from all over the world, many of whom choose to stay at Marina Bay Sands. For instance, we provided over 11,000 rooms during Sibos 2015 in October and will be providing over 1,500 rooms to host officials and athletes as the Official Games Village for the upcoming 8th ASEAN Para Games in December. We believe that our customers are looking for a one-stop premier destination when they travel and Marina Bay Sands delivers this in a large way.

What role does the website play in enhancing the reputation of the hotel?

We are focused on being mobile first, and this extends to our customer engagement strategy when they are on and off property. Our website is often the first touch point for guests to discover our offerings and services, usually through their mobile devices. We are in the midst of enhancing our website through a content refresh to focus on a simple yet engaging user experience. Recently, we expanded our digital presence in China through WeChat, a popular social media platform. This allows us to reach Chinese mobile consumers with relevant content and deepen their engagement with our brand. The journey continues when they are on property, through a designated app which gives guests easy access to information, such as the mall directory and an online property map, using their mobile phones.  Through this continuous loop of digital experiences, we aim to better serve the specific needs of guests and create personalised experiences for them.

There are a huge number of conversations taking place about MBS online from Tripadvisor to Blogs and on social media platform like Twitter. Can you give us a perspective of the team which works to ensure a happy customer experience?

Social media has redefined the way brands communicate with people; and vice versa. The always-on ecosystem of blogs, social networks and forums has created unprecedented opportunities for Marina Bay Sands to lead the way in engaging communities and build direct relationships with our clients. Our social media team aims to drive long-term social engagement whilst demonstrating commitment and involvement to our customers.

On a day-to-day basis, the Social Media team creates content for various platforms, manages all the interaction and engagement with fans, ensures that all feedback are responded to in a timely manner. We also strategize, develop and execute social media engagement, processes, content creation and outreach to ensure that all business units meet their goals.

Apart from daily social engagement, the team also utilises social media for Branding, Marketing and Communication, Customer Service, Recruitment and Employee Recognition.

Through the successful efforts of the team, our social media accounts have grown rapidly. As of 16 October this year, the Marina Bay Sands Facebook page has received over 511,000 likes, a 58.4% increase since January whereas Twitter and Instagram have gained 23,756 followers and 19,990 followers respectively, a steep rise of 58% and 250% compared to their figures at the beginning of the year. Recently, Marina Bay Sands beat other global contenders to win HOTELS’ 2015 Social Hotel Award for the Best Facebook Page, Property.

By leveraging social media, we continue to cultivate a strong bond with our customers and allow ourselves to be more accessible from all parts of the world.

You can discover more about Marina Bay Sands on their website.

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The hotel industry is facing many challenges and undergoing major transformation worldwide. The travellers are evolving with penetration of internet & mobile and the hotels are adapting fast to this change. They are embracing technology and experimenting with newer ideas to engage with guests. Starwood, with its multiple brands is expanding the network of hotels rapidly in Asia-Pacific to cater to the fast growing tourism market in the region.

We had a chance to have a quick chat with Stephen Ho, Starwood’s Asia Pacific President about his role and the group’s plans in APAC.

Stephen Ho, President, APAC, Starwood Hotels

Stephen heads over 300 hotels of the group across 26 countries while around 260 hotels are in pipeline in the region. He has been associated with this industry for over three decades.

Talking about the changes he has seen over this long period, he said, “In the early days, there was no technology in this industry. Our customers have changed a lot and we see large number of younger travellers now. The way they book hotels has also changed and the bookings now come from different sources. Earlier people either walked into a hotel or booked through conventional travel booking agents. Now with the internet penetration, markets like India and China have shifted towards mobile devices. The expectations of guests have gone up significantly and we have to constantly keep evolving and innovating to offer the best experience.”

Of course with all the new travel startups and major brands coming up, it has become tougher for hotel industry to find the best talent. According to Stephen, “In old days this industry used to attract some of the best talent but now you have to compete with multinational companies as well as local startups. So the playing field is very different now. There can be long hours at times, especially if you are on the service side. There are talented people with strong passion for this business and such people make great team for us”.

As WTTC predicted earlier, the Chinese market is one of the fastest growing travel market and that is why Starwood has a strong focus on the Chinese market in this region. The second largest is India and due to their strong growth, these two markets take a higher spot on Starwood’s list. Stephen shared that they have already opened around eight new properties in India this year and they plan to take the number upto 10 before the end of 2015. They are also introducing the St. Regis hotel in India and will be starting the millennial friendly W Hotel next year in Goa.

In Indian market, they have to strike the perfect balance between consistency across all the brand hotels while adding a hint of local connect to match the different expectations of customers.

China comes with its own set of challenges. While in most geographies, people book directly or through conventional OTAs, WeChat is a preferable choice in China. For payments, debit and credit cards take a back seat there as Alipay accounts for close to half of the online transactions. When asked to weigh mobile bookings against desktop bookings, Stephen said that individual travellers usually rely on mobile while people travelling in groups or for business prefer other booking platforms. That is why they have to focus on all the platforms.

Stephen thinks that hotel brands should diversify their marketing towards travellers from different regions and segments so that factors like economic slowdown in some regions can’t put a dent in their business.

Staying at the forefront on technology, Starwood will be introducing the keyless entry feature across all 5 Aloft properties in India very soon. The feature was introduced earlier this year at Aloft Bengaluru.

The conversation with Stephen took place during TravelRave. You can find our other stories from TravelRave here.

The post “We have to constantly keep evolving & innovating”- Stephen Ho, President, APAC, Starwood Hotels appeared first on TravHQ.

Try finding quality accommodation on a low budget and chances are you will be lost in the maze of results which a search engine like Google will throw up. The highly fragmented budget hotel segment is at war and you have all kind of players vying in for the attention of the customer.

You know what you are booking in case of a flights, trains or high end luxury hotels but with the highly fragmented budget hotel industry, you really don’t know what to expect. The problem isn’t lack of options but an overly crowded segment. The reviews you find on OTAs and metasearch websites like TripAdvisor help to some extent but only in case of destinations that are frequented by travellers. In case of Tier2 and Tier3 cities, the problem magnifies to another level. Hotel chains that invest in their own properties stay away from these cities because of the low ROI and it is hard to find reviews for the hotels that are already present there.

Vista Rooms is a budget hotel aggregator offering rebranded and standardised hotel rooms

Earlier this year during SATTE Mumbai West, we met a new hotel chain aggregator called Vista Rooms. Similar to other hotel chains that have come up recently, they partner with individual hotel properties, standardise them and offer them tools & support to provide high quality accommodation at low prices. However the biggest differentiator lies in their approach. While most other chains are investing heavily in metro cities, they are focusing primarily on Tier2 and Tier3 cities where there are hardly any quality budget hotels.

We got a chance to have a conversation with Ankita Sheth, one of the co-founders of Vista Rooms and she shared Vista Rooms’ vision with us.

You can book a stay for your next vacation with Vista Rooms here. You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter for more updates and attractive offers.

The post TravHQ Talks: Ankita Sheth, Co-Founder, Vista Rooms appeared first on TravHQ.

Preparing for an international trip means that you have a million things to take care of before you take off and getting forex is one prominent item on the checklist. Apart from the frequently varying exchange rates and lack of awareness, there are other issues like reliability of vendor. The vendors at airports charge very high exchange rates and customers get a petty amount for their money.

During SATTE Mumbai West, we came across a startup that is trying to simplify the forex exchange process for travellers. Bengaluru based startup, Fxkart offers exhange rates from multiple verified vendors and gets everything done at your doorstep.

We did get a chance to have a chat with Mr. Ankit Anubhav, Head- Marketing & PR at Fxkart and he shared the brand’s vision with us. For the record, Fxkart.com had received Rs 12.52 cr in seed funding earlier this year.

This video also marks the start of our new conversation series TravHQ Talks. You will see more stories of interesting startups and decision makers from the industy under TravHQ Talks in the coming weeks. If you are interested to be a part of TravHQ Talks, drop us a note at info@travhq.com.

The post TravHQ Talks: In Conversation with Ankit Anubhav, Head- Marketing and PR, FxKart appeared first on TravHQ.