Klook launches Klook live!, Marriott Bonvoy partners and the Hotel Business Plan – why it must die (and soon).

Klook launches Klook live!
Wednesday, 23rd September 2020

First-ever interactive livestream mobile feature with encouraging success, early results observed 4 times the average uplift in conversion rates across its five pilot markets compared to in-app conversion rates on a normal day.

As part of the company's ongoing innovative efforts to boost customer engagement, Klook Live! incorporates a new form of immersive content that enables users to experience offerings from things-to-do, food and beverage, to staycations >>

JO&JOE arrives in Medellin with a new and inclusive style
23 Sep 2020 : JO&JOE, a hybrid hospitality brand part of the worldwide Accor Group, is pleased to announce its arrival in Colombia for the first time with the construction of a new Open House concept in the city of Medellín >>

Bonvoy partners with Ascenda to drive experiences
23 Sep 2020 : Ascenda and Marriott Bonvoy have formed an alliance to scale Marriott Bonvoy's global partnership network and support their mandate to reimagine rewards experiences >>

Dubai launches global retirement programme
23 Sep 2020 : The Dubai Government announced the launch of Retire in Dubai, a global retirement programme that offers resident expatriates and foreigners aged 55 and above the opportunity to enjoy the emirate’s distinctive lifestyle >>

Surge of Covid-related interest in investment migration
19 Sep 2020 : The massive volatility driven by Covid-19 has pushed the steady growth in investment migration into overdrive, with a nearly 50% increase in enquiries overall as the pandemic coursed around the globe from Jan. to June 2020 compared to the same period LY >>

HIGHLIGHT ARTICLE

The Hotel Business Plan – Why It Must Die (and soon)
Wednesday, 23rd September 2020

Global hotel chains over the past few decades of meteoric growth have taken on a similar game plan, recruiting unquestioning disciples, racking up bureaucratic organizational charts, and enslaving hotel owners under a doctrine of utilitarian standardization. The entire process has become one of abject objectification (nice eh?).

Perhaps one of the leading examples of this dumbing-down process to the lowest-common denominator is the tortuous exercise of compiling an annual business plan >>

China as the Winner of the CoViD-19 Pandemic But Service Industries Lacking Behind
Domestic tourism in China saw a bumper summer season, with hotel occupancy rates and number of flights back to 2019 levels >>

Balancing the Bad and Good News and Thinking About Survival of the Friendliest
How travel needs to form 'cross-group friendships' to find our own vaccine. The breakup of Accor Asia Pacific, affecting people whom I know really well, and whom I have watched grow the company over decades; Booking.com closing five offices – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg with more to come if borders do not open soon >>

In case you've missed it: Global eNews of September 22, 2020
'Air corridors' needed to restore business travel, US fares well, Issenberg on growing Accor APAC from 'practically nothing' and 5G is racing ahead >>