With more than 35 years in accommodation and hospitality, Quest Chairman Paul Constantinou is a respected industry leader. Paul founded Quest in 1988 and has built the business to be the largest serviced apartment group in Australasia. Today, Quest has more than 150 properties operating throughout Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. After gaining a scholarship […]
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WebBeds world’s top bed bank post-COVID?
Webjet aims to transform its WebBeds accommodation distribution/saler business into the “#1 B2B player globally”, overtaking the long-term bed bank market leader HotelBeds, when the world finally emerges from the COVID crisis. But what are the metrics and how will Webjet make that happen? Neither of these key points was addressed by Melbourne-based company in its announcement. So let’s […]
Stayz on the way out as HomeAway takes centre stage
Holiday rental brand Stayz, one of Australia’s online travel pioneers, is being phased out and will ultimately be superseded by parent company HomeAway. Product migration to HomeAway has been under way for the past six months and should be finished by June. Meanwhile the American company has embarked on a digital campaign headlined ‘HomeAway – The New […]
Virgin Australia disappears from view after Bain Capital acquisition
Update 18.1.21: Virgin eyes ‘former glory after major c-suite appointments Challenging times for Virgin Australia and its new owners, Bain Capital, which paid $3.5 billion for the broke and battling airline several months ago, but has given the carrier no voice or profile during Australia’s peak summer holiday season. All the talk has been left to […]
OTAs increase market share at supplier’s expense
Online travel agents in the United States now have 39% of the digital travel market and continue taking market share from the suppliers whose products they sell, according to new research from Phocuswright. Phocuswright says the OTA online US travel market share will reach 41% by 2020, with US$81.4 million in online gross bookings. Hotels […]
Qantas targets $15 billion in cost savings over next three years
While so many airlines around the world are finding their way to cut costs and keep operations running, this trend unfortunately has also impacted Australia’s most popular airline. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce expects the airline group to cut $15 billion from its operating costs over the next three years, mostly through reduced flying with just […]
TripADeal founders sell majority stake to private equity
TripADeal founders Richard Johnston and Norm Black have ceded control of the business they founded in 2011, selling 55% of the company to BGH Capital, which is in the process of buying theme park operator Village Roadshow. Like so many travel companies, TripADeal, which describes itself as an “online travel agent offering bucket list experiences […]
Bannisters Hotels keeps it simple
Hospitality has a multitude of moving parts but is, at its heart, a deceptively simple business, says Peter Bacon, GM of Bannisters Port Stephens. “If you get the basics of hospitality right then everything flows from there.” And for those wondering what are the basics, he unfolds: “Customer service: people being friendly, people lifting their […]
Australia’s Hottest 100 Travel Websites
As references change online all across the world, Australia’s 100 travel websites ranking also witnessed a significant shift: Can we say Farewell to Webjet and Adios to Wotif? Not quite, just joking, but they are no longer top of the heap. Booking.com is now Australia’s biggest and fast-fastest growing online travel agent, leaving local rivals […]
Not so happy campers as new Youcamp owner Hipcamp levies hefty service fees
Youcamp, which pioneered the concept of camping on private land in Australia, has been sold to US company Hipcamp, which in rapid succession has closed the site, migrated its content to the parent portal, rebranded it Hipcamp Australia and introduced a controversial customer service fee that can exceed 20 percent. Closing the Youcamp website has met […]