Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition July - August 2017

Last month, prior to an upcoming holiday to Fiji, I annoyed practically everyone in the office by banging on enthusiastically about my plans for paradise. And it was amazing: perfect weather, clear blue skies, azure water, gorgeous beaches… which of course I sent pictures of to everyone. So I suppose it’s only fair, to balance the scales of karmic justice, that the flight home should have been plagued with a litany of issues: a bleary-eyed 5am hotel checkout, major queues at Nadi International Airport, broken luggage scanners, no online check-in available, an arduous security process and a two-hour onboard delay… all before a ten-hour flight in economy. Talk about coming back down to earth with a bump. (It could have been worse: at least my luggage made it to the other end,…

Previously a contributing editor for Hotel Chatter, PAUL J DEVRIES has been following the latest news in the hotel industry for the last decade. In this issue he focuses on Singapore, taking a look at the surge in hotel development that’s adding thousands of rooms to the city state (page 34). STEVE DINNEEN is a regular tech columnist for Business Traveller. Having a life that is almost entirely digitised and a job that requires frequent travel makes him vulnerable to cyber criminals, who replace crowbars and ski masks with phishing and skimming. He tells us about his favourite security gadgets to help you stay safe on the road (page 50).…

Craig Bright compiles the latest news from businesstraveller.com/asia-pacific Gulf carriers suspend flights to and from Doha AIRLINES including Etihad Airways, Emirates and Gulf Air have suspended all flights to and from Doha, following the decision by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the UAE, the Maldives and Yemen to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. In response, Qatar Airways suspended all flights to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain (until further notice at time of writing). According to reports, the four Arab countries have accused Qatar of “destabilising the region” through its support for terrorist groups including IS and al-Qaeda, a claim strongly denied by Doha. etihad.com, emirates.com, gulfair.com, qatarairways.com Marriott builds its independent hotel portfolio MARRIOTT International has revealed growth targets for its portfolio of independent hotel brands, which it says, “underscores the demand Marriott is seeing…

Guangzhou is a highly popular MICE Destination, close to Hong Kong, the centre of the Pearl River Delta Trading Zone and home of the biannual China Canton Fair Exhibition. The team at DoubleTree by Hilton Guangzhou, led by General Manager Chris Roberts and Chef Amy Zhang, are making coffee breaks and meal breaks the “main event” at the hotel’s meetings to satisfy every guest’s appetite. Gone are the days of coffee, tea and cookies. Now, guests can enjoy a wide variety of creative, delicious and fun foods and drinks to enjoy during their event breaks – from freshly made Thai iced pops, handmade steamed dumplings and whole fresh coconuts, to live-cooked mini hot dogs and freshly cooked wholemeal pancakes with local organic honey. These are just some of the treats that…

Get in touch at editorial@businesstravellerasia.com CUSTOMER DISSERVICE It is fascinating to read complaints by the CEOs of the three major US airlines about the competition from non- US airlines, in particular Middle East airlines. They have a lot to say about alleged government subsidies to such airlines but choose to ignore the support they get from their own government. They probably use these excuses to avoid talking about reasons the travelling public have to avoid their services… On a recent American Airlines flight from Miami to Los Angeles, I wanted to turn on my overhead light so that I could continue reading my book – given that no individual seat-back screens are available, even on a relatively long flight. The lights didn’t work. I asked a passing flight attendant for help, but the…

BACKGROUND United took delivery of its first B777-300ER in January this year, named the “New Spirit of United”. The aircraft began international services between San Francisco and Hong Kong in March, supplanting the regular B747 service. CHECK-IN I arrived at San Francisco’s international terminal at 1115 for flight UA869, scheduled to depart at 1300. I had already checked in online and had no problems dropping my luggage at the bag drop counter. Border security was extremely thorough, but 15 minutes later I was airside. LOUNGE Normal business class ticket holders have access to the United Club Lounge, located just a few minutes’ walk from security (open 5am-midnight). Currently construction work is ongoing – they are building a new Polaris Lounge – but there was still plenty of space, although this lounge can and…