Oakwood has opened its sixth property in Thailand, the Oakwood Suites Bangkok, which is also the second residence launched under Suites product.
Located along Sukhumvit Soi 24 in the Phrom Phon district, the building features a total of 232 studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments. Most of the living spaces boast a private balcony with views of the local neighbourhood. All units are also equipped with a well-furnished kitchen featuring top-of-the-line appliances, a Nespresso Coffee maker, and an in-room entertainment system.
Oakwood Suites Bangkok
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Infinity pool
One Bedroom Executive Apartment Living Room
Facilities on-site include an outdoor swimming pool, a fitness centre, a children’s playroom and a resident’s library. In addition, Restaurant Alice Café & Bistro, Oakwood Suites Bangkok’s restaurant, will also feature Asian-fusion cuisine, alongside an array of international classics.
Following its South-east Asia debut in Singapore, US-based Leisure Pass Group (LPG), which runs multiple attraction pass platform Go City, has made its entry into Bangkok with Go Bangkok.
The flexible pass offers savings of up to 63 per cent on entrance tickets to 23 of the city’s most popular attractions and experiences, including the Grand Palace, Emerald Buddha Walking Tour, Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Chao Phraya River Dinner Cruise, as well as more unique experiences like the Tuk Tuk Night Tour and Go Bangkok Bicycle Tour.
Go Bangkok Mobile Pass
There are two options for the Go Bangkok pass, each one designed for a different type of travel style.
The All-Inclusive pass targets sightseers who want to tackle as much of the city as possible. Passes covering two to five days are available, with rates starting from S$157 (US$113) for a two-day adult pass.
On the other hand, the Explorer pass is designed for travellers who prefer to take their time with only a few select attractions. This pass covers three to seven attractions which the traveller can choose. Prices start from S$101 for a three-choice adult pass.
The company will be launching a Pattaya add-on to the Go Bangkok pass, as well as more key cities around the region in the coming months, according to Jon Owen, CEO, LPG.
Go Bangkok passes can be purchased online at www.gocity.com/bangkok or on the Go City Pass app from App Store or Google Play.
The general public will not be able to attend this year's airshow; the 2016 edition pictured
Several tradeshow organisers have put the brakes on projects that are due soon in Asia amid the ongoing Novel Coronavirus outbreak, with Beijing InfoComm China 2020 and the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit (SAALS) 2020 being among the latest to make the decision.
In a press statement issued on Monday, Richard Tan, executive director of the Beijing InfoComm China 2020 organiser, InfoCommAsia, explained that the decision was made with the “safety of all our exhibitors and attendees” in mind and in an effort to support the Chinese government’s efforts to contain the spread of the virus. Originally scheduled for March 26-28, 2020, Beijing InfoComm China 2020 will be moved to a later date.
Organisers of the Singapore Airshow have cancelled the leadership summit, but have indicated that the exhibition will proceed as planned
Meanwhile, the high profile SAALS 2020, which is part of the biennial Singapore Airshow by Experia Events, has also taken a hit. The event, which typically involves around 300 government officials, civil aviation authorities, airport operators and airline executives, has been cancelled.
The summit’s cancellation is the latest in a series of withdrawals that has beset the air show. As of Monday, 16 companies – 10 of which are Chinese – have confirmed their withdrawal. However, Experia Events, the airshow’s organiser, said the biennial event will “proceed as planned”.
For now, the outbreak-induced event impact is hardest felt in China. The Design Shanghai trade fair, scheduled for March 2020, has been postponed to May while the Festival of Design architecture conference, also due to happen in the same month, will skip an edition to return in 2021. Both are international events that draw a global audience from the design and architecture sphere.
The co-organisers of IT&CM China and CTW China, Singapore-based TTG Asia Media and China-based CITS MICE, have also decided to push the March events to August.
A statement issued by Design Shanghai echoed the cautious messaging adopted by other organisers whose events have been impacted by the virus outbreak and travel restrictions into and within China. It said: “We have made this decision based on advice and information from government and local authorities in China and consultation with our partners, venue and local team. The safety of our customers and team is our first priority.”
Heeding the call of the Guangdong Province authorities to restrict mass activities to limit the spread of the virus, the Guangzhou International Travel Fair moved to suspend this year’s edition. Follow-up arrangements for the event, originally scheduled for February 20-22, 2020, will come later.
Beyond the mainland, the 2020 UFI Asia Pacific Conference and Digital Innovation Forum, planned for early March in Macau, has been pushed back.
A UFI statement expressed: “Although we know that this is disappointing, of course, we always put the health and safety of our members and staff first. Like many of you faced with similar decisions, and after discussions with our hosts in Macau, we have opted to postpone both events until later in the year.”
In Singapore, the second SG Tourism Leaders Engagement Series – organised by PATA Singapore Chapter and co-presented by TTG Asia Media – will be rescheduled to a later date. The event was supposed to be held on February 11, 2020, at Changi Experience Studio @ Jewel, and had seen “overwhelming interest from registrants”.
“Despite the overwhelming registrations we have received over the recent week, we have, in view of the growing novel coronavirus concerns, decided to postpone this event to a later date when the crisis is over,” said Wong Soon-Hwa, PATA Singapore Chapter chair and PATA vice chair, who went on to describe the decision as ” a needful precautionary measure for the well-being and safety of all participants and stakeholders”.
The postponement allows us the opportunity to focus on the recovery efforts of the industry. This is what our industry would need immediately after a crisis,” Wong emphasised.
Update, February 5, 20.07: Informa Markets, the organiser of FHA-HoReCa, announced that the event will be postponed to July 13-16, 2020, due to the Novel Coronavirus situation. The original dates for the show at Singapore Expo were from March 3-6, 2020.
However, FHA-Food & Beverage will take place as planned from March 31 to April 3, 2020, at Singapore Expo, with Informa Markets stating that the “event remains robust in the current climate and visitor pre-registrations continue to pour in”.
For the FHA-Food & Beverage event, Informa Markets will continue to work closely with government authorities and agencies to put in place necessary measures, both pre-event and onsite, to help ensure the safety and confidence of the event’s participants.
Thomas Schmitt-Glaeser has been appointed as the general manager of The Sukhothai Shanghai and vice president for The Sukhothai Hotels & Resorts.
In his new roles, Schmitt-Glaeser will oversee the full operation and service delivery of The Sukhothai Shanghai and spearhead the brand expansion of the group.
With more than 25 years of experience from various hotels all over the world, Schmitt-Glaeser most recently served as the general manager of The Sukhothai Bangkok since 2016.
The hotelier spent more than 10 years with the Shangri-La hotel group before joining the Sukhothai family, where he worked in different locations including Bangkok, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing.
Beast Park is an indoor theme park in Malaysia fit for teambuilding activities
A new indoor adventure and activity park has opened – named Beast Park – within Kuala Lumpur’s Golden Triangle at JUMPA@Sungei Wang, a newly-renovated block of one of the city’s oldest malls.
The more than 2,000m2 activity park is spread over two levels, and sports a total of 15 stations involving climbing, obstacle race courses, mind games and trivia. The activity park was developed by the same team behind Camp5 – a climbing gym operator with five outlets in Malaysia – the latest one having opened in December, which is also located within Beast Park.
Beast Park is an indoor theme park in Malaysia fit for teambuilding activities
Beast Park’s co-founder, Thibault Paquin, shared: “The brains behind the teambuilding packages are all local millennials, and are suitable for groups of five people up to 150 pax.”
Paquin elaborated: “Organisers will always inform us of the amount of time they wish to spend, as well as the objectives they wish to achieve, be it teambonding, overcoming fear, improving communication skills or problem-solving. We will then design an appropriate programme to meet those objectives.”
In addition, there are two meeting spaces equipped with projectors on-site, suitable for holding workshops and private events. An in-house café operated by Artisan Roast serves locally-roasted coffee, as well as healthy Malaysian fusion food.
Since its opening last month, Paquin shared that Beast Park has attracted interest from a wide variety of customers from local corporate companies holding teambuilding activities to a church group which held a family day at Beast Park.
Currently, Paquin is also pitching the venue to international and local branded hotels in the vicinity, as well as local DMCs, emphasising that the activities come with “a Malaysian design and identity”.
When asked what his plans were moving forward, Paquin noted that he had plans to add more teambuilding activities in 2H2020, as well as expand regionally.
Vancouver keen to attract more incentives from APAC; False Creek in Vancouver pictured
Tourism Vancouver has appointed a new agency, GAO Group International, to support regional sales efforts in Asia-Pacific.
GAO Group will be Tourism Vancouver’s official agency offering their services to support the organisation’s Asia-Pacific corporate incentive business development programmes from the company’s head office in Melbourne and their regional office in Shanghai.
Vancouver keen to attract more incentives from APAC; False Creek in Vancouver pictured
GAO Group’s managing director and co-founder, Lindsay Goding will take the lead on regional sales and marketing efforts for Tourism Vancouver. He will be supported by business development managers, Daxi Zhang and Mirai Kirsanovs and an extended team in Melbourne, Shanghai and Tokyo.
The Asian meetings and incentive sector have been a valuable market for Vancouver but this new partnership will involve further expanding sales and marketing efforts in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and South-east Asia, in addition to continued development and strengthening of existing relationships in Greater China.
Previous corporate incentive clients include Amway Japan, Cathay Life Insurance, Hunan YanDi and Usana China.
CWT Meetings & Events has shifted total meetings management under Kari Wendel, global vice president, strategic customers, and brought in a new head for Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) strategy.
Wendel will lead the group, which will provide all services, including SMM and end-to-end meetings and events, for CWT Meetings & Events’ top global strategic clients.
From left: Kari Wendel; Monica Dickenson
She steps away from a purely SMM leadership role to embrace both SMM and meetings and events for strategic customers. In her place, Wendel has tapped Monica Dickenson as senior director of the newly-created Global SMM Center of Excellence (COE) within her team.
Under Dickenson’s direction, the SMM COE will support the entire Meetings & Events organisation to ensure advancement by country/region, continued wins with clients that are striving for SMM success, and providing thought leadership in the industry through public speaking engagements, authoring best practices pieces, and sharing information on advanced SMM principles.
Prior to joining CWT, Dickenson served as head of global meetings and events at Shire. She also previously worked with Amex GBT, where she led venue sourcing and supplier contract management strategy, and at BCD, where she worked with global clients on their strategic meetings management strategy.
Thailand-based hospitality company Dusit International has opened Dusit Thani Sandalwoods Resort Shuangyue Bay Huizhou, Guangdong, a resort in Pinghai Ancient City.
The beachfront resort comprises 350 rooms and suites within a 30-storey tower, accompanied by event facilities such as a 1,150m2 ballroom, eight multifunction meeting rooms, and a gym.
Business or corporate travellers will be able to bring along their families, for this family-friendly resort also features four different swimming pools such as an infinity pool on the 30th floor overlooking the South China Sea, as well as a kids’ club, an archery range, and a cinema.
There are seven different resturants on-site, ranging from the Fisherman’s Cave, an all-day-dining restaurant, to Luna Café, which focuses on fresh seafood and fine cuts of meat.
The city centres of Shenzhen and Huizhou are only two hours away by car, while Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, can be reached in three hours. Huizhou Airport and the high-speed train station are a 90-minute drive away.
THAI Airways is the latest airline to cut flights to China in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak
As the coronavirus continues to spread rapidly, airlines around the world are suspending flights to and from China, with some carriers extending the cancellation of all China flights until end-March.
Among the airlines cutting or cancelling flights to China are British Airways, Lufthansa, American Airlines, Finnair, Vietjet, United Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Delta Airlines, Air Asia, and AirSeoul.
THAI Airways is the latest airline to cut flights to China in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak
On Saturday, the Philippines and Australia joined a growing list of countries that are imposing full or limited China travel bans.
Australia’s Qantas Airways and Air New Zealand (ANZ) said that they were suspending direct flights from their countries to mainland China due to travel restrictions and a decline in forward bookings.
The Australian flag carrier will be halting flights from Sydney to Beijing and Sydney to Shanghai from February 9 until March 29. As well, ANZ will be suspending its Auckland-Shanghai service over the same period.
Meanwhile, three Philippine airlines cancelled flights to China, following the authorities’ confirmation of the Philippines’ first case of coronavirus.
Philippine Airlines said it would cut the number of flights between Manila and China by more than 50 per cent, starting this month. It would continue to serve Filipinos and Chinese nationals returning from the Lunar New Year holidays, said the airline in a statement.
Cebu Pacific said it would also be cancelling all flights between the Philippines and mainland China from February 2 to March 29. Fellow LCC, Philippines AirAsia, said its flights to and from China, including Hong Kong and Macau, would be suspended until March 1.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways is reducing capacity of its flights to and from mainland China by 50 per cent or more, from January 30 to the end of March.
Indonesia’s Lion Air Group said on January 29 it would suspend all flights to China from February. The airline has suspended six flights from several Indonesian cities to China so far and will suspend the rest next month.
Two days later, Singapore Airlines announced reduced capacity on some of its routes to mainland China in February. The cuts include flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xiamen and Chongqing, some of which are flown by regional arm SilkAir.
Scoot, SIA’s low-cost subsidiary, said it was suspending all flights between Singapore and China from February 8, according to media reports.
Jetstar has decided to temporarily suspend services to Hefei, Guiyang, Xuzhou, Shantou and Haikou until March 31, 2020. All scheduled services from Haikou to Singapore will operate from February 1, with the final flight scheduled for February 8, 2020. A reduced number of services from Shantou to Singapore will operate on February 1, 5 and 7 with the final flight on February 7, 2020.
Over in Malaysia, Sabah has temporarily suspended all scheduled and chartered flights from China to the state with immediate effect until further notice. However, the federal government has no plans yet to suspend all flights from China to Malaysia, according to media reports.
Malaysia has ordered a temporary suspension of incoming flights from Wuhan and Hubei province until the situation returns to normal.
As well, Vietnam has suspended all air travel to China, with national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget carrier Vietjet suspending all flights to and from China from February 1. The airline continues to operate services to and from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Earlier, Air India said it was cancelling its Mumbai-Delhi-Shanghai flight from January 31 to February 14.
THAI Airways (THAI) said today it has adjusted its flight frequencies to China in order to match with current changes to flight demand.
Its Bangkok-Beijing-Bangkok route has been cut from twice a day to one daily flight, from February 8 to 29; while its Bangkok-Shanghai-Bangkok route has been reduced from two flights per day to once daily, from February 10 to 29.
Meanwhile, the carrier’s Bangkok-Guangzhou-Bangkok route has been slashed from two daily flights to one flight per day, from February 8 to 29. Its Bangkok-Chengdu-Bangkok route has been cut from seven flights per day to five flights per day, from February 6 to 27.
As well, THAI has reduced its Bangkok-Kunming-Bangkok route from seven flights per day to three flights per day, from February 6 to 29. On the Bangkok-Xiamen-Bangkok route, services have been reduced from four flights per day to two flights per day, from February 6 to 27.
China is facing deepening isolation from widening travel bans and flight suspensions, as total fatalities from coronavirus reach 304 as of Sunday, with the Philippines reporting the first case of death from the virus outside China.
In light of the ongoing Novel Coronavirus, organisers of IT&CM China and CTW China have decided to defer the 2020 event in consideration of the well-being and safety of all delegates and stakeholders.
The new dates for the tradeshow are August 3-5, 2020, subject to the recovery and control of the outbreak.
The bustling showfloor at last year’s IT&CM China
This course of action of deferring mass gatherings including large-scale exhibitions and conferences is in line with advisories by health and government authorities (e.g. WHO) to prevent, contain, and mitigate spread of the virus. Further, as the status of the outbreak is constantly evolving, the postponement of the event is deemed to be the most appropriate step at this point when travel risk to and within China is heightened, and health and safety are immediate concerns on the top of everyone’s minds.
Co-organisers Singapore-based TTG Asia Media and china-based CITS MICE will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide further updates when necessary.
In a press statement, the organisers advised delegates and partners that have confirmed their attendance for the event to watch for communications from their TTG liaison officer.
Corporate Buyers and Sponsors may continue to reach out to CTW China Sales & Marketing partner TriStar at ike.zhang@tristar-china.cn.
Other contact channels that can provide additional information and assistance are:
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