Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2017 i Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition

To all those naysayers who said renting other people’s homes would never catch on – you’ve been proven wrong. In May 2016, a study from Juniper Research showed that“sharing economy” revenues were set to triple from US$6.4 billion to US$20.4 billion globally by 2020. For the first time, hotels and serviced apartment companies are concerned about competition from peer-to-peer rentals arranged through companies such as Airbnb and Onefinestay. In the past 18 months or so, hundreds of companies have signed up to Airbnb’s Business Travel programme – these include Google, audio distribution giant SoundCloud and cloud communications company Twilio. Last summer, after a year of 700 per cent growth, Airbnb launched a dedicated self-service portal – airbnb.com/business-travel. It offers a suite of tools to make it easier for corporates to…

Nestled in the heart of Kowloon, a minute’s walk from the Yau Ma Tei MTR, lies a true urban oasis. As soon as guests step off the busy streets into the lobby of The Cityview, they are greeted with a stunning 10-metre-long wall of living foliage. The “green screen” has been mounted with various types of plants, including pilea notata, silver-net plant, red nerve plant, codiaeum variegatum and scindapsus, creating an almost park-like feeling. In addition to providing an instant sense of calm, the leafy partition helps to block out noise and air pollution from outside. The ecofriendly feature is part of the hotel’s complete lobby revamp, which now uses natural green as the key colour tone and a simple décor theme. Behind the large, plant-mounted wall is the new…

Hong Kong’s fast-paced F&B scene means there’s always a hot new dining venue or after-work drink spot to discover. Combine this with scintillating skyline views and you’re on to a winner. Here we look at a mixture of longstanding favourites, hidden local hotspots and cool new outdoor settings, so leave the bar crawling to the masses and elevate yourself to a rooftop hop. CENTRAL Let’s start with one of Central’s stalwarts, Sevva (pronounced“savour”), located on the 25th floor of the Prince’s Building. This swanky terrace attracts a well-heeled evening and weekend crowd with its signature cocktails, sweet treats (such as the legendary caramel crunch cake) and 360-degree harbour and city views, as well as indoor fine-dining options. Do expect to pay premium prices and make sure you dress to impress…

• This month’s prizes come from Lanson Place Hospitality Management Ltd. Lanson Place properties offer award-winning service with high-end comforts and high-tech conveniences. Two prizes are up for grabs in January and February, with a three-night stay available at both Lanson Place Hotel, Hong Kong in a Deluxe room (top picture), and Lanson Place Bukit Ceylon Serviced Residences, Kuala Lumpur in a One-bedroom residence (lower picture). Both properties are members of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World collection. The competition runs until February 28, 2017. NOVEMBER’S ONLINE COMPETITION WINNER: Lenny Cheng (Hong Kong) won two round-trip Elite Class tickets from Hong Kong to North America aboard Eva Air.…

Located in Sawangan, Nusa Dua, The Ritz-Carlton, Bali is set on 12.7 hectares of expansive and beautifully manicured beach-front and cliff-top land. With 313 hotel rooms, including 34 clifftop and ocean view villas, the luxury resort offers a dramatic location along the sweeping coastline of Nusa Dua’s southern tip. Of its many memorable features, the 180-degree unobstructed views of the Indian Ocean are undeniably a highlight, with a 70-meters high glass elevator providing guests with access to the beach, ensuring views of the lush landscape and exquisite scenery are strikingly omnipresent. The Ritz-Carlton, Bali embodies the brand’s dedication to iconic service, whilst combining the warmth and spirituality of true Balinese hospitality, set to attract global affluent travellers from couples, bridal parties and honeymooners, to group, meetings and conference guests. The…

Skyteam shows off new Beijing lounge Global airline alliance Skyteam has launched its new lounge at Beijing Capital International Airport. Constructed in collaboration with Skyteam members China Eastern and China Southern, the lounge has seating for 160 people. In addition to large curved windows offering views of the airport, the lounge houses a botanical “living wall” – a feature present in all of the company’s lounges. Facilities include an all-day buffet with hot and cold Chinese and international cuisine, complimentary wifi and a business area with computers, showers with towels and toiletries, and a separate TV room, relaxation area and VIP room. skyteam.com Wanup loyalty programme launches A new loyalty programme for independent and mid-sized chain hotels in Europe has launched this month. Developed by the family behind Spanish chain…

Barangaroo takes its name from a formidable 18th-century female Aboriginal leader Sydney has added two new areas to its already formidable range of lifestyle developments, both within easy reach of the Central Business District. In years to come, Barangaroo, located behind the Harbour Bridge, is almost certain to be part of any business-related itinerary, given that the ambitious and expansive complex is targeted at the corporate world, with gleaming office towers and, by year-end, a range of upscale restaurants. A casino-resort is also planned for the gigantic site, which features parkland, walkways, fast-food outlets and coffee shops. Chippendale Creative Precinct is a rather less grandiose project – more a gentrification of a once-seedy suburb at the top of the main George Street thoroughfare. It now hosts art galleries, boutiques, noodle…

January marks 60 years since J Willard Marriott and his wife Alice opened their first property. The Twin Bridges Marriott Motor Hotel was launched in January 1957 in Arlington,Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington DC, where the couple had started the Hot Shoppes restaurant chain with a root beer stand three decades earlier. The 365-room property had a view of the Capitol from its sixth floor. Their son, Bill Marriott (now the company’s executive chairman), recalled in his Marriott on the Move blog in 2013: “Check-in was outside so the clerk could see how many guests were in the cars. Clerks would then take the guests to their room by bicycle.” Single occupancy room rates started from US$8, with each featuring a“private bath”, a 21-inch TV, a hi-fi radio,…

Twenty years ago the international business traveller’s choice of accommodation in Beijing or Shanghai was relatively limited. Luxury international-brand hotels did exist, but the general consensus was that these were rarely five star by Western standards. Head out of those two cities and you’d be lucky to find a familiar hotel name or satisfactory accommodation experience. How times have changed. As the following pages show, hotel quality is now right up there with the best in global standards, from Chengdu in the southwest to Shenyang in the northeast. For the business traveller heading to first-, second- or even third-tier cities, the range of brands from which to choose is comprehensive. Read on for a selection of reviews that prove the point. There is no executive lounge as everyone is treated…

Many people in my peer group (I am in my mid-30s) use Airbnb both for holiday and work, so I decided to try it on a recent trip to Stockholm. I was going for three nights – two days’ work plus the weekend for sightseeing. I wanted somewhere well located and with attractive Scandi interiors. It also needed to be cheaper than an equally attractive hotel room. THE SEARCH I created a profile on the airbnb.co.uk/ business-travel portal and verified my ID by uploading a photo of my driving licence. At first I thought all the properties in this part of the site had been curated by Airbnb, but in fact only about 10 per cent of the 300-plus listings had a suitcase icon to indicate it was “business travel…

Patrick Mesterton has a microchip embedded in his hand. The chief executive of Epicentre, Stockholm’s first “house of innovation”, he was one of 60 members to voluntarily have RFID (radio frequency identification) tags implanted into their bodies last year. The size of a grain of rice, they are inserted under the skin with a syringe. “It hurt,”Mesterton says. The microchip works like a contactless debit card or office ID pass. With the swipe of a hand, members of the 8,000 sqm Epicentre co-working hub can pay for snacks from vending machines, open electronic security doors and activate photocopiers.“Every quarter we do a ‘chip and beer’ event so members can use our systems,” Mesterton says.“For example, by using your chip you can print on-demand, instead of sensitive documents coming out when…

As Business Traveller Asia-Pacific enters its 11th year of association with the Chi Heng Foundation (CHF), we are proud that our efforts, and those of our many partners in the hotel and airline industries, are making a real difference to the lives of so many young people in China. At the same time, we are humbled by the hard work and dedication of CHF’s staff and volunteers, who deserve our greatest respect and admiration. Over the past 14 years, CHF has fulfilled a long-running commitment to provide educational sponsorship and psychosocial support to AIDS-impacted children in China, from primary school through to university. In spite of the large number of students spread over a vast geographic area, Chi Heng doesn’t use intermediaries, preferring to disburse funds for the children…

1 JIANG BY CHEF FEI, MANDARIN ORIENTAL No journey should start on an empty stomach, so first head to the Mandarin Oriental, Guangzhou for lunch in one of its outstanding dining outlets. For a local flavour, Jiang by Chef Fei serves Cantonese cuisine directed by Chef Fei, voted the“Best Chef in China”in 2015 by Lifestyle Magazine. The restaurant has a contemporary design with a palette of grey, brown and cream, while wooden floors, patterned carpets and exquisite Oriental artwork add a sophisticated touch. The new menu (available until June) includes signature dishes such as Xisha Island crayfish with garlic sauce (RMB188/ US$27) and black pepper Alaskan crab (market price). (389 Tianhe Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510620; mandarinoriental.com/guangzhou ) 2 CANTON TOWER From the hotel, take a ten-minute taxi ride to…