Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2019 i Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition

Welcome to Business Traveller Asia-Pacific’s first issue of 2019 – and the first put to bed by me, your new editor. Our deputy editor Craig Bright was uninspired by Air China’s International Business Lounge in Beijing (page 65). Not only did security treat him rudely, but the lounge was overcrowded. This problem seems to extend to other airports in China. A Shanghai-based executive, who flies on average two return trips a month on Chinese domestic carriers, tells me he finds China Eastern’s Shanghai lounges in both Hongqiao and Pudong airports to be “always packed”. “All lounges in China have this problem: too crowded, and seats and facilities are not properly maintained,” he says. Okko Kuivalainen, the subject of our “Air Miles” interview (page 14), recently travelled to Guilin and tried…

BIG SHAKE-UPS are under way at two of the world’s three major airline alliances with China Southern officially beginning its departure from Skyteam at the beginning of this year. Oneworld is also bringing on board its first new full member in six years, Royal Air Maroc, in mid-2020. China Southern’s decision ends months of speculation over the future of China’s largest carrier in Skyteam, which in recent years has enhanced its collaboration with non-member airlines, notably Oneworld’s American Airlines. The process of leaving Skyteam is expected to take until the end of 2019, though it remains to be seen whether the airline would be able to join its US partner in Oneworld afterwards, considering the pressure such a move could place on Hong Kong-based founding member Cathay Pacific. That being…

THE BAR that originated the famous Singapore Sling cocktail, the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel Singapore, has given its renowned beverage a revamp as part of the hotel’s ongoing refurbishment programme, which has included giving the famous watering hole a facelift. The new take on the vibrantly coloured pink cocktail features an updated flavour profile, according to the hotel, while retaining the century-old recipe. This has largely been accomplished through the use of Widges Gin, which has been specially created for the Long Bar, that is then combined with fresh pineapple juice, lime juice, Curacao, Benedictine, cherry liqueur and grenadine to make the cocktail. Raffles Hotel Singapore is scheduled to complete its two-yearlong renovation project in the middle of this year. rafflessingapore.com…

TRAVELLERS accustomed to travelling first class whenever they can are in for a treat when flying with Cathay Pacific or Emirates, as both carriers introduce new additions to their in-flight wine lists. The Hong Kong-based carrier has begun serving Chateau Montrose’s renowned 2005 vintage from the Second Growth estate on flights between Hong Kong and London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris and San Francisco on a rotational basis. Emirates, meanwhile, is continuing its role as the “largest global partner” of Dom Perignon and will begin offering first class passengers Dom Perignon Vintage 2008 on board its flights this year. cathaypacific.com ; emirates.com…

DOZENS of chartered planes carrying celebrities flew into a sleepy airport in western India in December for the pre-wedding celebrations of 27-year-old Isha Ambani – daughter of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries’ chairman and Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani (worth around US$42 billion) – and 33-year-old Anand Piramal, the son of another billionaire industrialist. US singer Beyoncé was flown in for a private performance. Instagram and Twitter have been blowing up with photos of the celebrations. Those without a wedding invite may still find Udaipur an intriguing place to visit, however. The city has a wealth of beautiful lakes and palaces to explore. James Bond fans will be pleased to learn that a large part of 1983’s Octopussy was shot here. From Delhi, Jet Airways or Air India will get you…

COUNTLESS hotels and airlines have in recent months begun taking a stand against offering single-use plastics such as straws and stirrers. Sino Hotels has gone a step further and eschewed bottled water at six of its Hong Kong properties in favour of water stations and glass flasks in guestrooms. In partnership with advocacy group Urban Spring, the hotel group has begun installing nearly 100 smart filtered water stations on select floors, which guests can use to refill the glass flasks in their rooms, saving an estimated 1.6 million plastic bottles from 2,100 guestrooms and facilities every year. sino-hotels.com…

This month two prizes are up for grabs, courtesy of Sino Hotels. Winners will enjoy a three-night stay at one of these two properties: The Olympian Hong Kong: One of Hong Kong's smaller luxury hotels with only 32 spacious rooms and suites on the same floor. This hotel is offering a free stay for two people in a Deluxe Olympian Room with daily Club Lounge access. Island Pacific Hotel: Located in the culture-rich Western district and recently hip Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood, Island Pacific Hotel is offering a three-night stay for two people in its Deluxe Harbour View Studio with daily breakfast for two at Centre Street Kitchen. For more details and to enter, visit businesstraveller.com/competitions NOVEMBER ISSUE COMPETITION WINNERS: Chie Ling Chua (Singapore) and Winky Hui (Hong…

SQUEEZING IN TIME for reading for pleasure on a business trip can often seem impossible. With your smartphone offering a world of mobile entertainment options and books seemingly a cumbersome alternative, it can be tempting to ditch tree-based reading material altogether. Introducing dwarsliggers: around the size of an iPhone, these mini-books are read by flipping the pages upwards, mimicking the experience of scrolling through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Masterminded by Dutch company Jongbloed, dwarsliggers have actually been around for nearly ten years, launching at Amsterdam’s national book fair in September 2009. The books’ small size (12 x 8cm) and›light weight (on average less than 145 grams) mean you can even read the dwarsligger holding it in one hand. Asked about dwarsligger availability in the Asia-Pacific region, a company spokesman tells…

Between September and November this year, Business Traveller ran a competition in partnership with lifestyle brand TUMI asking our readers to share with us a memorable travel experience they’ve had. Stories had to be less than 300 words, and accompanied by a receipt for a TUMI product purchased at an eligible TUMI store in Hong Kong or Macau. Having read through many great entries, we are delighted to announce the winners of the competition. GRAND PRIZE Gert Tilborghs Won return business class tickets from Hong Kong to Helsinki, six nights’ accommodation at Hotel Lilla Roberts in Helsinki, and a return cruise from Helsinki to Tallinn, Estonia. “Over 20 years ago, I was travelling by myself on a bus tour from New York to Philadelphia, Washington and Niagara Falls. I put…

AIRLINES C-02 SINGAPORE AIRLINES 2 Return Business Class Tickets from Hong Kong to San Francisco Package worth: US$26,664 Minimum bid: US$1,100 HOTELS CHINA C-03 CHANGBAISHAN: PULLMAN CHANGBAISHAN RESORT 5 nights’ stay in a Superior Forest View Room Package worth: US$1,500 Minimum bid: US$450 C-04 CHENGDU: KEMPINSKI HOTEL CHENGDU 2 nights’ stay in a Superior Room and 2 nights’ stay in a Deluxe Room Package worth: US$812 Minimum bid: US$240 C-05 CHENGDU: SHERATON CHENGDU LIDO HOTEL 3 nights’ stay in a Grand Deluxe Room Package worth: US$345 Minimum bid: US$105 C-06 CHENGDU: TIANFU SQUARE SERVICED SUITES BY LANSON PLACE 2 nights’ stay in a Deluxe 2 Bedrooms Package worth: US$390 Minimum bid: US$115 C-07 DONGGUAN: PULLMAN DONGGUAN CHANGAN 2 nights’ stay in a Suite Room Package worth: US$398 Minimum bid: US$120…

BEATING THE FIREWALL How to choose the best virtual private network (VPN) to ensure privacy and security on your devices when travelling VEGETARIANS REJOICE Buddhism has always given vegetarianism a place in Asia, but plant-based offerings are just getting better and better CHILD LABOUR CONCERNS No one quite seems able to tell us exactly where the cobalt used in aircraft engines comes from SEXISM IN THE SKY Business Traveller Asia-Pacific’s former editor Tamsin Cocks excoriates airlines that treat their cabin crew as sexual objects…

THE ROSEWOOD HONG KONG has been given an official opening date of March 17 this year, finally marking the debut property in the city for Rosewood Hotels and Resorts. The new hotel, which has now begun accepting bookings, is located next to the Victoria Harbour waterfront in the city’s Tsim Sha Tsui district. Rosewood Hong Kong fills a notable gap in the portfolio of Hong Kong-based Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, which currently doesn’t operate a property in its home market. The new hotel will take up residence on the site of the former New World Centre, with 43 of the building’s 65 storeys dedicated to the hotel and its associated residences. Overall, the property will offer 322 rooms and 91 suites, with 80 per cent of guestrooms offering views of…

MARRIOTT is the latest in a string of major companies in the travel sector to announce that hackers managed to gain unauthorised access to its databases, with the data of around 500 million of its guests having been exposed. Investigations into the breach have shown that there has been unauthorised access to the Starwood network since as far back as 2014. Sources told The New York Times that the hack was part of a Chinese intelligence-gathering effort that also hacked health insurers and the security clearance files of millions more Americans. For most affected guests, data accessed included some combination of name, mailing address, phone number, email address, passport number, Starwood Preferred Guest account information, date of birth, gender, arrival and departure information, reservation dates and communication preferences. Marriott has…

NAMED AND SHAMED Southwest Airlines was forced to apologise after one of its passengers complained that a member of staff mocked her five-year-old daughter’s name, Abcde (pronounced ab-si-dee) and posted an image of her boarding pass online. FULLY EXPOSED A United Airlines pilot has found himself facing criminal charges for indecent exposure after he was spotted standing nude in front of the window of his room at the Westin Hotel at Denver International Airport by travellers in the terminal – something of which the pilot claims he was unaware. HAVE A WHIP-ROUND Passengers on a recent LOT Polish flight from Beijing to Warsaw found themselves having to pay for repairs to their aircraft using their own cash after the mechanic refused to accept any form of electronic payment. The airline…

Q&A with Okko Kuivalainen, risk management director at aircraft lessor DAE Capital’s Singapore office Most unusual place you’ve been? It’s hard to pick one, but Djibouti, Tajikistan and Yakutsk in Russia stand out. In Yakutsk, my boss ordered a dish consisting of frozen pieces of fish. It was absolutely disgusting. You’ve flown 290 airlines. Any highlights? In February 2015, I flew on Canadian airline Buffalo Airways’ Douglas DC-3 from Yellowknife to Hay River in the Northwest Territories. That aircraft had been active during World War II. In 2014, I also flew the world’s shortest scheduled passenger flight lasting around one minute between Westray and Papa Westray in Scotland’s Orkney Islands. What is the most important thing about airline service to you? I’m always curious to see any airline’s product at…

ANTI-AMERICANISM About a year ago I wrote a letter to Business Traveller Asia-Pacific expressing my views on North American carriers’ complaints regarding Middle Eastern airlines. The views I expressed then about passengers preferring Middle Eastern carriers (and basically anything other than US carriers) have just been confirmed and underlined by the experience I had a few months ago flying from Miami to London Heathrow with American Airlines. Having arrived in Miami from St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, I had a scheduled connection time of 1 hour and 40 minutes until my flight to London – perfect! The connection time was just enough for me to catch a quick snack. Arriving at the announced boarding gate, I was advised that the gate had since changed. Then, after getting to…

HOTEL AIR CONDITIONING POST MONTYSAURUS I often find great difficulty in setting the air conditioning in hotel rooms for a number of reasons: I’m getting on a bit; they rarely come with instructions; they rarely work as the pictograms, if provided, suggest; they have varying fan speeds, which seem to bear little relation to what is either desired or occurs; they sometimes have other symbols that have no explanation; some, but not many, allow me to set the temperature I want, but many more show the number of degrees that I may want to increase the temperature by, but still show the current temperature. I am tempted to discount the first reason, as I can manage technology reasonably well given that I am a chartered engineer. In my car I…

n intense jet of flame bursts into life a few feet A above my head with a deafening roar. As a wave of heat blankets my entire left side I begin, slowly, to rise up off the ground. It’s just past 6am and, amid the morning twilight, a lone hot-air balloon rises into the sky above the Sonoma Skypark in California with me and five other people huddled inside its wicker basket. Drifting with the rising air currents, we’re given stunning views over the towns, hills and famed wineries of the Sonoma Valley. But after about half an hour, our pilot directs our gaze below to a small plot of land atop a hill, upon which sits an empty swimming pool and the bare outlines of what was once a…

I have finally succumbed to signing up to Airbnb – not for any reason besides research, you understand. And it has been an education: as a “host” (Airbnb’s term for someone who lets out their house or rooms) I’m expected to be an upright citizen who offers great experiences in my home. Having registered and considered what my prospective guests might like to enjoy as an added attraction to the cold drizzle of suburbia where I live, I come to the exciting part: I discover that a room in my London house can rent for anywhere between £60 (US$77) and £85 (US$108) a night on Airbnb’s platform. At peak demand times, it’s a handsome £245 (US$313). For that much money, you’d think I was annexed to the Dorchester. The persuasive…

DAVID PHELAN London-based David Phelan has been analysing the latest gadgets for around 20 years, during which time things have changed quite a lot – although less than you might think. He regularly travels to tech launches, including recently in San Jose, New York and Las Vegas. In this age of constant connectivity, business travellers must stay online whenever and wherever they can, making protecting one’s data while connected more important than ever. David dives into the world of virtual private networks on page 44. CHRIS DWYER Hong Kong-based freelance food and travel writer Chris Dwyer contributes regularly to publications including CNN.com, BBC Travel and the South China Morning Post. With a particular interest in produce, he has reported on jamón ibérico in southern Spain, caviar in China, pufferfish in…

FANS of Hong Kong’s casual cha chaan teng-style (tea restaurant) eateries will be happy to hear that they can now get their favourite dishes when flying out of the city on board almost all of Hong Kong Airlines’ flights. The carrier’s new menus, which are available to passengers travelling in economy class, include such favourites as satay beef wok-fried instant noodles, chicken curry with steamed rice and seasonal vegetables, and pork belly in tomato and onion sauce. hongkongairlines.com…

ANYONE who’s ever looked out of an aeroplane window will know how incredible landscapes can look from the air, and Macanese photographer Chan Hin Io has taken this idea to heart with a new exhibition featuring pictures of Macau’s landscapes, construction sites and reclamation zones that he’s shot using drone technology. The result is images like the one to the right, titled New Urban Zone (District A) 2017, which are designed to “turn recognisable, eye-level street views into uplifting abstract compositions”. Chan’s artwork is on display at the Taipa Village Art Space in Macau until February 8. taipavillagemacau.org.mo…

ASCENT AIR CHINA is set to go triple daily on its nonstop Beijing-London Heathrow service from March 31, with its newly acquired Airbus A350-900 aircraft also set to take over one of the daily flights from February 1 onwards. AIR NEW ZEALAND will fly its own metal between Christchurch and Singapore next northern winter with a five-times-weekly Boeing 787-9 service that will complement joint-venture partner Singapore Airlines’ existing year-round daily Airbus A350-900 flights on the route. CATHAY PACIFIC has yet to launch its non-stop flights to Seattle but already it has plans to boost the service from four times weekly on March 31 this year to once per day starting July 1. QATAR AIRWAYS is going double daily on its Doha-Ho Chi Minh City route on March 31 with a…

THE COLLECTIONIST HOTEL SYDNEY Described as Sydney s first choose your own adventure” hotel, The Collectionist Hotel Sydney has flipped the traditional room selection model on its head. The Camperdown district property has just 39 individually designed suites; however, instead of simply allocating rooms to guests in advance, the hotel invites guests to take a look at their available rooms upon arrival and pick the one that best suits their preferences. collectionisthotel.com.au FOUR POINTS BY SHERATON SYDNEY, CENTRAL PARK Situated in Sydney s bustling Chippendale district and just a few minutes away from Darling Harbour, Broadway and Chinatown, the new Four Points by Sheraton Sydney, Central Park is part of the city’s Central Park mixed-use development. The hotel focuses primarily on rooms as opposed to suites, with just two of…

AMERICAN AIRLINES RESPONDS: We apologise to Mr Carswell for the mechanical delay to his flight from Miami to London which caused him to misconnect for his onward journey to Copenhagen. As this is the first we have heard of his complaint, our customer relations team will be contacting the customer direct to discuss his feedback further regarding our onboard service and the maintenance delay. IN THE HOT SEAT While civil aviation technology has increased by leaps and bounds in the past few decades, the technology controlling air conditioning in aircraft cabins is still stuck in the 20th century. On many occasions when travelling on a long-haul flight aboard a wide-body aircraft, I have had trouble sleeping due to the temperature. When I’ve complained to members of the cabin crew about…

ExpressVPN ExpressVPN stands out because of strong server speeds and great versatility; that is, it functions on lots of devices. It has over 2,000 servers in 94 countries. It works (currently) with Netflix and iPlayer, though not in every country, and is compatible with PC, Mac, Android, iPhone and BlackBerry. There’s no free trial, but a 30-day money-back guarantee applies. It’s US$12.95 per month or US$8.32 a month if you commit for a year. expressvpn.com Tunnel Bear The cutely designed Tunnel Bear is simple to use and if you’re a low-data user, the free plan may suit, though you’ll hit the free ceiling quickly if you’re streaming video. Speeds are not noticeably slower than non-VPN traffic. It has been blocked by iPlayer but works, sometimes, with Netflix and is compatible…

FOR THE PAST 13 YEARS BUSINESS TRAVELLER ASIA-PACIFIC has been proud to work alongside the Chi Heng Foundation (CHF) in bringing together our many partners in the hotel and airline industries to make a real difference to the lives of thousands of AIDS-impacted young people in China. CHF’s commitment to providing educational sponsorship and psychosocial support to these children, from primary school through to university, has remained strong over the past 16 years. Despite the challenges involved in bringing aid to a large number of students spread over a vast geographic area, CHF ensures that all funds are distributed directly by its own staff and volunteers rather than intermediaries, ensuring quality and continuity within the programme. To date, the foundation has cumulatively sponsored more than 23,000…