Mr Kenneth Rogers joined The Ascott Limited (Ascott) in 2006 as the General Manager of Somerset Palace Seoul in South Korea before taking up the position of Country General Manager in Indonesia, which he has held since July 2008. Mr Rogers’ role has recently expanded to incorporate Australia in early 2013, he now oversees the […]
Tag: Australia
Julian Clark, CEO, The Lancemore Group
The Lancemore Group is Victoria’s pre-eminent Boutique & Conference Hotel group. They operate four iconic hotels in Regional Victoria – Mansion Hotel & Spa at Werribee Park, Lindenwarrah at Milawa, Lindenderry at Red Hill & Lancemore Hill at Macedon Ranges. Never a group to be boxed, the Lancemore Group also run a multi-award winning winery […]
Joel Fisher, Director of Display Advertising Sales, Asia Pacific, TripAdvisor
Joel Fisher is the Director of Display Advertising Sales for Tripadvisor in Asia Pacific. Based in Trip Advisor’s regional headquarters in Singapore, Joel is responsible for driving the growth of its display-based advertising business, leading the sales team across Asia Pacific, including India and Japan. Joel has 20 years of experience across sales, advertising and […]
It’s terminal: TigerAir Australia shut down for good by Virgin Australia
Virgin Australia (VAH) has finally killed off its low-cost carrier Tigerair Australia, according to multiple media reports. The carrier, which has been grounded since late April, was originally going to be mothballed by VAH and resurrected when travel recovered post-COVID. But in a customer email obtained by Yahoo Finance, Tigerair Australia yesterday confirmed it will no longer […]
Georg Ruebensal, Managing Director, Expedia
As Managing Director Expedia ANZ, Georg Ruebensal has overall responsibility for Expedia’s businesses in Australia & New Zealand, with full P&L ownership and strategic direction. Part of the original launch team for Expedia.com.au in 2005, Georg moved into an regional APAC role in 2006, setting up the Expedia Inc. operations (for all three brands) for […]
BridgeClimb brand to continue under new owners
The BridgeClimb brand will live on under new owners Hammons Holdings who won recently won commercial climbing and tourism rights for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. BridgeClimb is the incumbent company and its contract expires at the end of September. In mid-August Hammons Holding bought BridgeClimb’s assets and today confirmed the iconic brand would continue, appointing Scenic […]
Anthea Hammon, Managing Director, Scenic World; Director Hammons Holdings
Anthea Hammon, who is speaking at Travel IQ 2018, is the Managing Director of Scenic World, a third-generation family business which has been operating in the Blue Mountains for over 70 years. As Australia’s most visited privately owned tourist attraction that welcomes over one million visitors annually, Anthea has led the company through a strong period of growth and […]
All hail Captain Cook: New disruptive ferry service for Sydney
Captain Cook Cruises has launched AHOY, Australia’s first ‘ferry hailing’ app. The first on-demand route started yesterday and covers Elizabeth Bay to Garden Island and Circular Quay in Sydney for a cost of $7.50, much cheaper than a cab, Uber or water taxi. “Like popular ride sharing services, AHOY allows customers to locate their ferry, […]
‘Thredbo’ is not owned by anyone, says Federal Court Judge
The decision by management at the Thredbo mountain resort to own the name ‘Thredbo’ sparked a series of events that backfired spectacularly yesterday when the Federal Court determined they could do no such thing, ruling in favour of businessman Glenn Smith, who operates numerous local accommodation businesses and websites including Thredbo.com. Thredbo, which has been […]
Viator smashes it: big profit after years of losses
No pain no gain. That could be the mantra at tours and activities business Viator, which has staged an incredible turnaround over the past 12 months due primarily to the hard-headed vision of Dermot Halpin, who has shaken the company up and made it profitable – literally tens of million of dollars in the black – […]
Vail Now Resorts dominates Australian skiing with latest buy
Vail Resorts now owns three out of the five major Australian ski fields following its acquisition of Mount Hotham and Falls Creek for $174 million from Merlin Entertainments last week. Both resorts are located in Victoria about a five hour drive from Melbourne. Vail has owned Perisher, Australia’s largest and most popular resort, since 2015. […]
Sydney Airport to raise $2bn as business struggles with COVID
Sydney Airport is raising $2 billion to pay down debt and increase liquidity during the toughest period in its history. The company revealed that passenger numbers during the second quarter were down 96.6% over the previous corresponding period, contributing to a $53.5 million loss for the half year to June 30. Total passenger numbers for […]
Rachel Wiseman, Chief Investment Officer, NRMA Group
Rachel Wiseman was appointed Chief Investment Officer in November 2016. Rachel is responsible for the NRMA Group’s commercial interests, including corporate development, investments, partnerships and growth, public policy and research, community investment as well as the corporate legal and company secretariat functions. Before joining the NRMA, Rachel held the role of General Manager Corporate Development […]
New short term rental laws in NSW include guest and host bans
The NSW Government says unruly guests and bad hosts will be banned from the short term rental (STR) industry for five years under a new mandatory Code of Conduct it announced yesterday. It’s part of a legislative initiative which also requires that all STR properties are registered with Fair Trading NSW by June 1, 2021. […]
Highly profi table Stayz.com.au finally reveals financials
Stayz.com.au has revealed its financials for the first time. Australia’s most popular holiday house site made a profit of A$13 million before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation on revenue of A$23.1 million in the 2012 financial year. This makes it Australia’s #2 accommodation booking site behind Wotif.com and gives Stayz a whopping gross margin of 56.3%, […]
Global marketing refresh for HotelsCombined
Meet Max, the somewhat cynical, not so cuddly bear that meta-search company HotelsCombined has chosen to unify its site branding and also help consumers through the booking process. Max now appears on all HotelsCombined owned properties, including several newish market-specific sites – DetectaHotel.com (Latin America), Biyi.cn (China) and RoomGuru.com (Russia). It’s another step in the evolution of HotelsCombined, which is now […]