Hotel Intel | Analyzing Hospitality & Tourism Trends

Hotel CSR programmes can range from bland and 'something you just have to do', to spectacular events that really make a difference and gets everybody talking. Anantara Hotel Group's 'Elephant Polo' falls into that 'spectacular' category. In their own words': "What started out as a whimsical conversation between two quirky sport lovers and philanthropists in the late 1990's has evolved into one of the biggest annual charity events in Thailand." The event raises money from big name sponsors for research programmes and other projects that are run in villages where elephant raising is prominent throughout Thailand, to help educate in not only methods of elephant raising that are more humane and don't require punishment for the animals, to also educating in a way that provokes questions such as "Why do we actually need to domesticate elephants?" and providing new pathways so that traditional Mahouts (people who raise elephants) can start looking at new career options for themselves and their children. The whole id

Wimintra is fresh back from Thailand Tourism Forum 2018, where she presented HotelIntel's proprietary survey of what women travelers from all over world want hotels to do better. The video is posted online, and you really should watch it. It's amazing how many things hotels get wrong, which can be a big let down. In this episode, Wimintra and Stu cover some of those findings, like Bathrooms are a big issue that's often overlooked by hotel planners. According to the survey data, women want more privacy in their rooms, which stands in stark contrast to the trend of bathrooms with open floor plans, glass walls, no locks, and in some cases not even a door. So much for privacy. If your hotel is in a municipality with code restrictions that prohibit you from building a bathroom with quality lighting and electrical outlets, go the extra mile and prepare an alternative area for things like hair styling and makeup. Sharing space with the TV or standing in the foyer are not acceptable options. Be wary of using furnitu

Ever wonder why there's a bakery near the front door of many hotels? Or why casinos invest over $500K a year in scent marketing? Or how shoe companies know you'll shop longer if their stores smell of woodworking and leather? It's more than just branding. It's the science of scent marketing, and savvy hoteliers are already onboard. In this episode, Wimintra & Stu share their own personal experience with scent marketing for hotels and dig into some of the research that supports this growing trend. Listen in to learn what hotels like the Edition hotel in NYC already know, and why they are investing to make sure they please all of a guests senses. Is your hotel is already taking advantage of drastically improved "experience recall" by using scent marketing? Let us know by sending us a message on our website, Twitter, or Facebook accounts.

As the founder of HotelItel.co, Wimintra clearly loves hotels. However, hotels aren't the only option for today's travelers. Chalk it up to research if you must, but she's been spending a lot of time in a serviced apartments lately. In this episode, Wimintra and Stu have a frank discussion about the state of serviced apartments across SE Asia and their impact on hoteliers. Not only are serviced apartments spacious, but they're starting to offer some unexpected attributes and accoutrements. Things like:. The Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore offers single rooms, but much larger than what you typically think of available in Singapore. Plus they offer an on-site laundromat, an F&B outlet, and even have a great bar and club lounge. When she and Stu stayed at the Lanson Place in Hong Kong, they really enjoyed having cocktails in the library -- with real books -- and a grand piano. In Shanghai, Lanson Place Jinlin Tiandi offered her a gated community with an indoor swimming pool and study room while she enjoyed h

Hoteliers have a lot on their plates already, and social is often one more thing that gets piled on an already overworked marketing/PR department. To help shed some light on social media best practices for hoteliers, we enlisted the help of Mr. Scott Eddy. In this episode, you'll find out: Why hotels must be on more than one social media platform How hoteliers can prioritize social efforts to maximize ROI Which social media platform is an underutilized goldmine for hotels and travel brands The biggest mistakes GMs and hotels make on social media Budget-friendly strategies for creating outstanding social media content your guests want to consume Specific, actionable recommendations on changes to a hotel's marketing department to take full advantage of social media Thanks to Scott for sharing his deep knowledge in social with our audience. It's no wonder he's the premier social expert for hospitality and tourism. And yes, he's available for hire! Subscribe to our newsletter and let us know how your brand is e

The hotel industry is going through a fundamental shift. Internal marketing departments and PR teams have seen their budgets slashed as they reduce their reliance on traditional media, shifting those dollars to something called influencer marketing. This week's guest is a true influencer in the hotel, travel, and tourism space. Over the years, Mr. Scott Eddy has carefully cultivated a social audience of almost two  million people who love to follow his travels around the world. But that shift to influencer marketing comes with problems, as hotels and destinations struggle to keep up with the changes in social media. One of the biggest challenges is identifying quality influencers and finding productive and profitable ways to work with them. In this episode, we ask Scott to help address some of the crucial issues hoteliers must understand when embarking on influencer marketing campaigns. Things like: How hotels and tourism brands "rent" the audience of influencers What makes influencer marketing differen

Hotel Intel is pleased to announce Benjamin Krieg, General Manager of Novotel Bangkok Sukhumvit 20 as our Hotelier of the Month. This 1-year-old property is making waves in the Bangkok hotel scene and has much to offer guests in terms of new dining concepts and flagship luxurious and comfortable yet approachable vibe here in Sukhumvit. Brian Greco sits down with Mr. Krieg to discuss his career background, sources of inspiration, and approach to hospitality.

What does it take to create excellent guest experiences in Asia? What is going on at the newly updated Amari Watergate Bangkok? What are the elements of a successful multi-cultural and multi-talented team? Brian Greco sits down with several leaders of this central Bangkok hotel to hear insights on these questions and more.

Based in Bali and greater Indonesia, Louka Taffin is a young hotelier in millennial hospitality who is making waves with the unconventional fun, funky vibe of his brand Le Pirate Beach Club. The experiences Le Pirate offers their guests in the outer islands of Bali are built around adventure, community, and sharing the experience of travel. Le Pirate has reached remarkable success through its social-driven strategies with millennials as well as Gen Z and is growing rapidly. Louka is at the forefront of leading the brand into new and undiscovered parts of Asia and beyond. Brian Greco (B) for Hotel Intel sat down with Louka (L) in Bali to learn more about his vision.

The name Bill Heinecke evokes different things for different people in this part of the world.  Born in the US, the now naturalised Thai citizen's name may cause other things to spring to mind including;  billionaire, successful businessman, shrewd, determined, diverse, food and restaurant chains, private jets (MJET), and plays to win. While Heinecke first entered the hotel business in 1978 with The Royal Garden Resort in Pattaya, Thailand, now more than ever as you travel around the globe, through his Minor Hotel properties, the Heinecke name has become an international benchmark when it comes to luxury properties and global hospitality. In this episode of Hotelintel.co's podcast, Wimintra Jangnin speaks candidly with Bill Heinecke about how much influence he still actually exerts on business decisions within his multi-faceted empire, what factors are considered when going into a new market and we also hear about his philosophy of If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em that seems to be

In this podcast we speak with Miners Hospitality's CEO Mendes Cavin about why so many 'out of work' hoteliers seem to think that opening a 'Hotel Management' company is a good way to overcome unemployment. Mendes has beaten the odds and after years as a hotelier, shares his inspiring story with us and let's us in on the secrets of how he has successfully designed, opened and run several amazing properties throughout Asia including Thailand, Burma and Indonesia.

In this episode, Wimintra speaks with Prakhun Phornprapha of Chao Hostels about how hostels have evolved, along with the success of his higher end 'Chao Hostel' and how they're persuading guests to stay with them over traditional hotels. What kind of coin do people who stay in hostels really have? Will hostels ever be a real threat to hotels? Why would someone choose a hostel over a hotel if they had enough budget to stay in a nice hotel?

IIn this episode of our Hotelintel.co, Gavin Vongkusolkit who amongst other successful businesses, is well known for his popular serviced office brand 'Glowfish', shares with Wimintra how the skills developed in managing 'space' on a corporate level, provided all the framework needed to build and run a new hotel brand 'Ad-Lib'.

On this episode, Wimintra speaks with renowned movie producer and world traveller Anusorn Soisa-Ngim about LGBT travellers and what they look for in a hotel when travelling.

On October 2, 2014 Bangkok's largest hotel, the 1251 key iconic Imperial Queens Park property closed its doors, and the property promptly became a chrysalis for the next two years. The closure took months of preparation, and Bangkok's hospitality industry received a flood of talent that all had to be let back into the labour market. In 2016, the doors opened of the brand new Marriott Marquis property that emerged from the chrysalis, headed by veteran hotelier Bob Fabiano. In this episode Bob shares his experiences and insights with hotelintel.co and we learn just what it takes to re-brand and iconic monolith in the heart of one of the worlds most bustling and colourful cities.