Tag: Hotels

Kenneth Rogers, Regional General Manager of Indonesia and Australia, The Ascott Limited

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 […]

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 […]

Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin says business travel down 10% long term

Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin believes business travel will “never return to the new normal” and that in the long term corporate numbers likely sit around 10% less than they were pre-COVID. Short term, until mid-2021, he estimates business travel will be down 25% to 30%. “Longer term, my expectation is going to be it will […]

‘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 […]

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 […]

Coronavirus hits Australian hotel performance

Australian hotels have been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and related bans on Chinese travellers. STR data shows Melbourne and Brisbane were the only two major Australian markets to report  year on year RevPAR growth between 24 Jan and 9 Feb, 2020, a two week stretch encompassing Chinese New Year. All other markets were […]

Rachel Argaman, CEO, Toga Hotels

A visionary leader who believes in “encouraging the heart,” Rachel is currently the CEO of Toga Hotels. With over 20 years international experience at senior management level in the travel and hospitality industry, Rachel has a passion for creating a results-oriented, responsive and market-driven culture within companies. This is backed by a driving belief that the […]

Will Deague, CEO Art Series Hotel Group

William Hunter Deague is the Chief Executive Officer of Asian Pacific Group (APG), the parent company of Australia’s hottest hotel group – Art Series Hotel Group. Educated at Melbourne Grammar, Will holds a Domestic Builders Licence (unlimited) and a private fixed wing and helicopter licence. Joining APBC in 1996, Will worked on a range of […]

Time for 8Hotels to grow: open to outside investment

Paul Fischmann, the founder and owner of boutique accommodation operator 8Hotels,  says is he open to outside investment in the company he started 10 years ago. “We need to corporatise  – it’s time to grow up,” he says. “I think we’re sitting on a very exciting opportunity and it’s time to take this business to the […]

2020 worst year ever for Europe, US, Asia Pacific, Middle East and African hotel markets

COVID-wracked 2020 was the worst year ever in terms of performance for the Asia-Pacific, US, Europe, African and Middle East  hotel markets, according to industry analyst STR. Asia Pacific Occupancy: 44.5% (-35.6% compared with 2019) Average daily rate (ADR): US$74.99 (-22.2%) Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$33.39 (-49.9%) Each of the three key performance metrics […]