Malaysia Invites Saudis to Offshore Technology Conference

To enhance bilateral ties and economic cooperation particularly in trade of products and services; to increase awareness of MATRADE (Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation) roles, functions and services to Saudi’s chambers and associations, business community; to establish and renew networking with all the relevant Saudis parties; and to network with Malaysian professional that is working and residing in the Eastern province.
As part of MATRADE’s continuous export promotional activities in the Eastern Province, the program also included a visit to Abdul Rahman A. Al-Wabel, secretary general of Asharqia Chamber as well as a meeting with main oil and gas industry players, including Saudi Aramco and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC)

During the meetings, MATRADE Jeddah took the opportunity to promote Offshore Technology Conference Asia (OTC) 2014 that will be held from March 24-28 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), Malaysia. OTC exists for over 40 years in Houston and is the foremost event for the development of oil and gas technologies, and ranks among the largest 200 trade shows held annually in the United States of America (USA).
In conjunction with OTC, MATRADE has invited Saudi as well foreign companies to meet and source from Malaysian oil and gas companies and relevant industry through the one-on-one business meetings at Kuala Lumpur Convention Center (KLCC) on the two days.
This event will also be held in conjunction with the annual Formula 1 Grand Prix in Malaysia, “which will create a unique opportunity among OTC Asia participants to experience both prestigious events and the famous Malaysian hospitality simultaneously,” a MATRADE statement said.
MATRADE is the national trade promotion agency of the government of Malaysia under its Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

Source: http://www.arabnews.com

HRH Group of Hotels Diversifies Into IT with Business Software Services

HRH Group of Hotels, chain of Heritage Palace-Hotels and Resorts under private ownership announced the launch of its new line of business (LOB) in the Information Technology (IT) segment. This segment will offer Software and IT services to hotels, museums, educational institutions, healthcare and leisure industry globally.  Having multiple years of experience and a dedicated team of IT professionals combining inherited domain expertise from the parent group; a four decade old conglomerate that runs end-to-end hospitality business, HRH Group of Hotels has now decided to enter into the Software and IT Services market to serve large and small-medium-enterprises (SME) in the above segments. This venture is  being mentored by Ajay K Dhir, Chairman and Founder, Oranda Global, APAC (Asia Pacific) CXO Forum and MENA (Mid East and Africa) CXO Forum for Strategy, Branding, Talent, Processes etc. and to create reach and visibility for its Software products and services in India as well as Asia Pacific and MENA region.

Vijay Choudhary, Head of IT, HRH Group of Hotels, said, “With dedicated team of IT professionals, we have developed world class IT solutions in- house, for various verticals of the industry. The innovation is based on what the industry needs and is a driving force for creating better presence in respective markets to serve. With the vision of our Chairman Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar, we are always focused on understanding critical aspects of the business and its pain areas, and then fix it using technology solutions as a key driver.”

“We plan to diversify with our foray into software and IT services especially to serve Hospitality, Leisure, Travel, Tourism & Education industries for their different needs of process automation and achieving greater agility in their businesses. The domains would cover hotel management system, central reservations system, eCRM and sales force automation, human resources information system, museum management system and school management system and more. As the global economy is opening doors for many more markets to serve, where industry really needs high quality and domain specific agile solutions, which should support business and align technology with business objective,  our solution’s USP would be Software Solutions – by the hospitality industry, for the hospitality industry; we understand your business software requirements better !” continues Choudhary.

Ajay K Dhir, Chairman & Founder, Oranda Global, APAC CXO Forum and MENA CXO Forum said, “It is an honour and a matter of real pride for me to be associated with HRH Group as a mentor and advisor in this path-breaking initiative of transformation of an in-house IT Department into a Strategic Business Unit, serving the needs of the Hospitality, Healthcare, Education, Travel and Leisure Industry, globally. In the times to come, HRH InfoTech will be a force to reckon with and we shall make it the preferred choice for the discerning customer globally.”

Source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com

Top 5 Trends in Hotel Technology

With technology adoption on a rise, the expectations of travellers have also increased manifolds. Thus a hotel’s technology offerings play an important role for guests when they are booking an accommodation.

eRevMax, the leader in hotel online distribution and channel management solutions, has unveiled an infographic to assist property owners around the world to know about the latest technology trends topping the charts this season.

One of the current trends listed by eRevMax deals with device and entertainment autonomy. A SmartBrief poll showed that 45% of hotel guests travel with two devices and 40% with three or more. Thus, ensuring guests have electronics (adequate and easy-to-reach plugs, bandwidth capabilities) and ergonomic support (seating and surfaces) becomes essential for hotels.

Another important tip by the hotel solutions provider is to leverage the billboard effect, defined as the increase in offline bookings of a property when it is listed with an Online Travel Agency (OTA). An experiment conducted by Cornell University observed that one of the participant hotels experienced an impressive 14% increase in direct bookings when it contracted with an OTA. Besides, Average Daily Rate (ADR) increased by 1.5% during OTA listing of the same property.

Accordingly to the infographic, 38% of the guests reported that Wi-Fi was the priority factor while booking a hotel. Also, a whopping 85% of travellers said they wanted access to free Wi-Fi in hotels. eRevMax suggests hoteliers to provide the service for free to guests who enrol for their select programs, for starters. Such services may be made exclusive for gold and platinum level members or accessible in lobbies of full-service properties.

These are important insights for property owners and serve as helpful reminder to get thinking about what is important to guests who want to stay connected virtually.

Source: http://www.hospitalitynet.org

HTNG Announced 2013 EMEA Technology Innovators Award Winners

Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) announced that it has recently recognized two EMEA-region hotel companies with its EMEA Technology Innovators Award for the creative and innovative application of existing technology within their hotels. The winners were Movenpick Hotels & Resorts (MH&R) and Hotel Lugano Dante Center. Professor Ian Millar, of Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, announced the winners of the 2013 EMEA Technology Innovators’ Award in a ceremony during HTNG’s recent European conference in London.

“HTNG created this award to recognize hoteliers who most effectively use existing technologies to add significant value to their business,” commented Douglas Rice, Executive Vice President & CEO of HTNG. “Even though we’ve been impressed by the vendors’ innovations we see each year, which we recognize with our Most Innovative Hospitality Technology award, we know that innovation isn’t defined only by vendor products. Sometimes it is in how hoteliers use existing technologies.”

Ian Millar, Professor of IT in Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, commented, “It was a pleasure to have taken part in the second edition of the EMEA Technology Innovators Award with yet again many outstanding submissions. What we saw in almost of all the applicants is that hoteliers are seeing how the use of technology can enhance the customer experience. They are bringing the hotel closer to the guests, which helps the hotel better understand the needs and wants of the hotel guests.”

The winners of the award for 2013 each made brief presentations about their projects during the general session of the conference. The winners, including a summary of their innovation, follow:

• Movenpick Hotels & Resorts (MH&R) created a central ticketing platform for hotels and offices to manage guest and staff requests and issues, following an IT call-center model. The team developed a Service Centre application on a Microsoft Sharepoint platform with a separate SQL database for ticket reporting data. The ticket application itself is a joint venture between 5 Zurich based companies (from different industries), who met every 6 months to make financial and planning decisions. The project replaced a structure where each property had its own dedicated system; the new system costs about 1/10 of the prior structure and requires less staff. An analysis of guest survey data with one hotel showed that guest satisfaction increased about three months after deployment of the tool, and interaction between departments improved. Next year Movenpick plans to add a mobile app and investigate the possibility of integrating with property management systems. The award was accepted by Thomas Nievergelt, Director of Business Applications and Processes for Movenpick.
• Hotel Lugano Dante Center – Seeking to differentiate its four-star property though outstanding customer service, the hotel developed the Happy Guest Relationship Management (HGRM) tool from the ground up. Starting in 2009, the hotel distributed iPhones and iPads to all staff of the organization, to allow for full engagement with the guest. Starting from the guest reservation, confirmation, arrival, through the in-room experience and the entire customer journey, guests receive a fully personalized hotel experience. Guest can directly communicate with reception staff for any need, from check-in to guest room personalization in great detail: room temperature, pillow and bedding types, minibar beverages, amenities for children and much more – even down to personalizing the toilet paper. The relationship with the guest continues also after the stay, which has resulted in increased guest loyalty and direct bookings. There is almost no paper used by the property and most every document that used to be printed, is now available to staff member within a few seconds. Guests who use the system rate the hotel very positively in online ratings services, thus improving their brand reputation and earning the hotel the greatest number of online guest comments in Switzerland.  Both the Harvard Business School and Bournemouth University (UK) wrote up the HGRM innovation as a case study in a creative approach to customer service. Dr. Carlo Fontana, the General Manager of Hotel Lugano Dante Center, accepted the award.

In addition to this award for hotelier innovation, HTNG also manages an annual innovation competition for technology providers, called the Most Innovative Hospitality Technology Award. The award will soon open up entries for its fifth year of competition, to highlight innovations released during 2013. HTNG hotelier and consultant members will vote on the winners of this competition, which HTNG will announce at its annual North American Conference near San Diego, California on March 6, 2014.

Source: http://www.traveldailynews.com

HTNG Announced 2013 EMEA Technology Innovators Award Winners

Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG), the premier technology solutions association in the hospitality industry, today announced that it has recently recognized two EMEA-region hotel companies with its EMEA Technology Innovators Award for the creative and innovative application of existing technology within their hotels.  The winners were Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts (MH&R) and Hotel Lugano Dante Center.  Professor Ian Millar, of Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, announced the winners of the 2013 EMEA Technology Innovators’ Award in a ceremony during HTNG’s recent European conference in London.

“HTNG created this award to recognize hoteliers who most effectively use existing technologies to add significant value to their business,” commented Douglas Rice, Executive Vice President & CEO of HTNG.  “Even though we’ve been impressed by the vendors’ innovations we see each year, which we recognize with our Most Innovative Hospitality Technology award, we know that innovation isn’t defined only by vendor products.  Sometimes it is in how hoteliers use existing technologies.”

Ian Millar, Professor of IT in Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, commented, “It was a pleasure to have taken part in the second edition of the EMEA Technology Innovators Award with yet again many outstanding submissions.  What we saw in almost of all the applicants is that hoteliers are seeing how the use of technology can enhance the customer experience.  They are bringing the hotel closer to the guests, which helps the hotel better understand the needs and wants of the hotel guests.”

The winners of the award for 2013 each made brief presentations about their projects during the general session of the conference.  The winners, including a summary of their innovation, follow:

Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts (MH&R) created a central ticketing platform for hotels and offices to manage guest and staff requests and issues, following an IT call-center model.  The team developed a Service Centre application on a Microsoft Sharepoint platform with a separate SQL database for ticket reporting data.  The ticket application itself is a joint venture between 5 Zurich based companies (from different industries), who met every 6 months to make financial and planning decisions.  The project replaced a structure where each property had its own dedicated system; the new system costs about 1/10 of the prior structure and requires less staff.  An analysis of guest survey data with one hotel showed that guest satisfaction increased about three months after deployment of the tool, and interaction between departments improved.  Next year Mövenpick plans to add a mobile app and investigate the possibility of integrating with property management systems.  The award was accepted by Thomas Nievergelt, Director of Business Applications and Processes for Mövenpick.

Hotel Lugano Dante Center – Seeking to differentiate its four-star property though outstanding customer service, the hotel developed the Happy Guest Relationship Management (HGRM) tool from the ground up.  Starting in 2009, the hotel distributed iPhones and iPads to all staff of the organization, to allow for full engagement with the guest.  Starting from the guest reservation, confirmation, arrival, through the in-room experience and the entire customer journey, guests receive a fully personalized hotel experience.  Guest can directly communicate with reception staff for any need, from check-in to guest room personalization in great detail: room temperature, pillow and bedding types, minibar beverages, amenities for children and much more — even down to personalizing the toilet paper.  The relationship with the guest continues also after the stay, which has resulted in increased guest loyalty and direct bookings.  There is almost no paper used by the property and most every document that used to be printed, is now available to staff member within a few seconds.  Guests who use the system rate the hotel very positively in online ratings services, thus improving their brand reputation and earning the hotel the greatest number of online guest comments in Switzerland.  Both the Harvard Business School and Bournemouth University (UK) wrote up the HGRM innovation as a case study in a creative approach to customer service.  Dr. Carlo Fontana, the General Manager of Hotel Lugano Dante Center, accepted the award.

Source: http://www.hotelnewsresource.com

Book Your Next Hotel Stay on Twitter

Loews Hotels & Resorts recently showed the world that Twitter can be much more than a service to view the latest goofy trending topics or a platform for awful celebrities to go on idiotic, hate-filled rants. Twitter can also be an innovative and useful tool for multi-billion dollar businesses to transact with customers.

Only a hashtag away
Earlier this month, Loews Hotels, a subsidiary of the insurance, oil drilling, natural gas pipeline, and luxury hospitality conglomerate Loews Corporation , launched its new “Loews Hotels Social Reservation” service. This service allows potential guests to book their next Loews hotel stay directly from the Twitter app. The whole Twitter-based transaction is much simpler than calling a toll-free number or navigating a website. Tweeting the hashtag #bookloews to @loews_hotels will begin the transaction. From there, one of Loews’ travel planners will respond with a link to a secure chat conversation. Customers can then begin a private chat, book the hotel reservation, and have their payment information securely processed, all on a platform users interact with daily.

Loews was not the first Fortune 500 company to use Twitter for more than promoted tweets and social media branding.American Express got the Twitter e-commerce party started earlier this year with the introduction of Amex Sync. This program allows American Express cardholders to sync their cards to their Twitter accounts and receive special discounts for both offline and online purchases. Amex cardholders can even purchase certain items and complete transactions entirely within the Twitter platform.

Still a lot to prove
With the much-hyped initial public offering now in the rearview mirror, and the company currently valued at a market capitalization of over $22 billion, Twitter has a lot to prove to its new shareholders. Despite all the potential and promise of this popular and powerful social media platform, Twitter has yet to actually turn a profit at any point in its short history. Not only has Twitter yet to become profitable — net loss of $133.8 million for the first nine months of this year — but the company does not expect to earn a profit until 2015 at the earliest.

Losses at this stage are to be expected from a very young and rapidly growing company. Case in point: As of September, the company has over 2,300 employees, up from only 100 at the beginning of 2010. That is a lot of new hires in a very short amount of time. Clearly, the company is not afraid to make substantial investments in hopes of making a handsome profit in the future. Plus, it is moves by Loews Hotels this month and American Express in February that further legitimize Twitter as something more than an unprofitable 140-character-limit chat platform.

Twitter certainly has many factors working in its favor. In its seven short years of existence, Twitter users — 232 million actively using the service — have created over 350 billion tweets. That’s 350 billion tweets worth of information Twitter has on its users, allowing marketers to create relevant ads to engage a very specific target audience.

In five years, it would not be shocking to see Twitter more than double its monthly active user base to 500 million worldwide, and increase its advertising rate — currently $0.97 per 1,000 timeline views — to over $2.00 per 1,000 timeline views. After all, in the third quarter of this year, Twitter grew its worldwide active users by 39% and its ad revenue by 49% from the same period a year ago. U.S.-only ad rates are already $2.58 per 1,000 timeline views. If anything, 500 million users and a worldwide advertising rate of $2.00 per 1,000 views in five years might be a bit on the conservative side.

Foolish bottom line
It should go without saying that a young, unproven company valued at $22 billion that has yet to show a single quarterly profit is a risky investment. You will find no arguments about that here. But, with that risk comes a management team that has changed the way the world communicates. That same management team is also quickly finding new and innovative ways to monetize this change in world communication. For those investors more tolerant to risk-taking, Twitter could very well be the next great tech stock to own.

SriLankan to Break Even with New Aircraft in 2014

The delivery of 10 new aircraft from next year will help SriLankan Airlines to fly towards a breakeven point in 2014, said Chairman SriLankan Airlines, Nishantha Wickramasinghe.

Speaking to the ‘Daily News Business’, he said that most of the aircraft in the present 23 fleet are high on fuel consumption and this is having a tremendous negative reflection on their bottom-line. “We will be buying six A330 – 300 and four A350 – 900 aircraft and will phase out the A340s.”

The Chairman said these aircraft will give a huge fuel saving to the airline which would reflect positively on their bottom-line.

“After taking delivery of these new aircraft the airline will be able to look at breaking even,” said Wickramasinghe. He added that they will also look at new destinations and also increase frequency to some of the existing routes.

He said that the much awaited alliance with the ‘One World’ will take place in Mattala Airport (MRIA) in April next year and they hope to have a grand finale to celebrate it. “Why we chose Mattala for this launch mainly to expose this modern and eco-friendly airport to the world, as the event would be attended by top officials of the 15 airlines and also the international press,” he said.

While adding more value to the airline, the ‘One World’ liaison would also help SriLankan to sell a ticket to any destination in the world and account for a ‘prorate revenue’ as well. It would also give additional value for ‘Fly Smile’ members as they could earn and use ‘points’. Commenting on their winter schedule he said they will increase flights in most of the European sector with London flights increasing from a daily to 12 per week. “We are also ready to introduce ‘stop overs’ for our European flights in MRIA as and when the travel industry is ready.”

Today there is a shift from ‘sun sea and sand’ to round trip and also tourists like to see wildlife and also tour Eastern province attractions.

Wickramasinghe also said that the airline in recent times has also re-invested in upgrading the catering arm, airport lounge as well as the ticket counters. “Our cargo too is a great strength to the airline,” he added. “We have also introduced new technology to the catering arm to recycle food waste and re-sell those as animal feed thus earning an additional income.” A new in-house laundry to have being introduced.

Asked to comment as to why the national carrier existed from the Air taxi service, he said that during the time they launched the air taxi service the country roads and overland transportation was very bad.

“However with the ending of the war and mammoth development taking place all over the country today the demand is different.

“Air taxi is also not our core business and when we got a good deal from John Keells we decided to exit this service. However we still have a code sharing agreement in place.”

The Chairman also said discussions are underway with a leading airline in Europe and other parties for a MRO (Airline Technical Centre) Pilot training school and an aviation academy for the MRIA. “All these will be as joint ventures,” he said.

Commenting on the budget carrier Mihin Lanka, he said the objective of setting up this low cost arm was to facilitate migrant workers, religious and pilgrim travellers. “Today the airline has gone beyond this and is also a popular airline for leisure travellers. It also attract inter regional traffic.”

“We had a major role to play at the CHOGM.” This event also helped the airline and its services to gain tremendous positive mileage. “While some of the leaders flew through SriLankan others were shown our professional hospitality at the airport.”

He said the recently concluded World Travel Market in London also helped them to meet important figures and speak on several key points. “The airline cannot grow on its own. We need the support of travel agents and tour operators and events like WTM, ITB in Berlin help us to meet and plan with them.”

He said that there was a lot of international praise and also from the Civil Aviation Authority in the successful manner in which the event was handled.

Source: http://www.dailynews.lk

LeoNovus to Turn Hotels Into Virtual Data Centers with Smart Set-Top Boxes

The next time you stay in a hotel, that set-top box you’re not using to watch TV could be moonlighting as a … data center.

LeoNovus has struck a deal with hotel management and real estate firm 360 Vox that will turn hotels into virtual data centers. That might sound crazy, but LeoNovus is taking a creative, if zany, approach to solving the problem of modern society’s insatiable demand for web-connected computing power.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based LeoNovus has a plan to distribute free set-top boxes for hotel rooms. Normally, the hotels have to pay for these boxes that connect to the TV to movies and games. But now the hotels can get them for free and even make money from them. In exchange, the hotels let LeoNovus use the unused computer power inside these boxes. LeoNovus marshals these resources into what it calls a “distributed data center.” It then leases these so-calls distributed data centers to other companies that need computing power.

“LeoNovus’s unique technology allows us to take what is currently considered a cost center and move it into a profit center, increasing the overall asset value of the hotel,” said Robin Conners,” the president and CEO of 360 Vox. “We are delighted to have partnered with LeoNovus to scale this worldwide.”

360 Vox is a global real estate company with hospitality services. It manages hundreds of thousands of hotel rooms around the world.

LeoNovus has created set-top boxes with an attractive user interface for hotel guests. The boxes will provide in-room information and entertainment. People can use it to access the Internet, e-mail, Facebook, and other local happenings. The companies are targeting hotels in both Canada and the U.S. to start, but they declined to name any particular hotel chains at the moment.

Source: http://venturebeat.com

HeBS Digital Recognized for Excellence in Digital Marketing with Eight HSMAI Adrian Awards

HeBS Digital, the leading digital technology, marketing and online channel revenue optimization consulting firm for the hospitality industry, was recognized for excellence in digital marketing with eight HSMAI Adrian awards this year. The HSMAI awards highlight the best in advertising, public relations, and digital marketing in the hospitality and travel industries and are judged annually by industry leaders.

“The Adrian Awards recognize top achievements in hospitality marketing and we are honored to have received eight awards this year,” said Max Starkov, President and CEO of HeBS Digital. “Developing innovative digital technology and marketing applications, campaigns and websites that target and consistently surpass our clients’ business goals and result in impressive ROIs is possible thanks to our proprietary in-house technologies and in-house creative talent. HeBS Digital continues to be a leader in hospitality digital technology and marketing, and we are proud to share the success these awards represent with our clients.”

The Adrian Awards are presented by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI), an international organization representing all segments of hospitality, travel and tourism. The winners will be honored February 24, 2014 at the Adrian Awards Dinner Reception & Gala in New York City.

Source: http://www.hospitalitynet.org

Incredible Connection Partners with Maxwell Technology

The partnership seeks to implement high-speed broadband connections in areas where there is limited or no data coverage, and MaxConnect has been made available through selected Incredible Connection stores throughout South Africa.

MaxConnect, which is a broadband solution, is powered by Avanti Communications, a global satellite operator, and was designed specifically for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) within the hospitality and agricultural industries.

According to Marco van Niekerk, chief executive officer (CEO) of Incredible Connection, the company’s goal is the provision of a wide range of technology solutions in line with customers’ needs.

“We certainly differentiate ourselves on the basis of exclusive and innovative products as well as providing excellent customer service and support,” said van Niekerk.

Incredible Connection turned to satellite technology because it assists in overcoming terrestrial network limitations, geographic barriers, and other restrictive infrastructure problems.

Therefore satellite broadband is a viable solution for those who do not have access to any other broadband alternatives.

Kallie Carlsen, Maxwell Technology’s director, said: “Satellites provide a flexible, universal, reliable as well as quickly deployable means to address a wide range of communications needs, especially in the rural areas.

“Maxconnect is perfect for customers who live in underserviced areas. Through Incredible Connection, customers can now select an always-on broadband package that suites their needs and their budget, no matter where they live in South Africa.”

Source: http://www.humanipo.com