Hotel chain offers a first: air tickets-29 September, 2009

Hotel chain offers a first: air tickets

Offering new meaning to the phrase, “the sky’s the limit,” InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced its newest reward: Flights Anywhere.

The offering is the first of its kind, according to IHG.

“This new program lets members redeem Priority Club® points, or combine points and cash, to book flights on more than 400 airline carriers worldwide without restrictions on availability,” the chain says.

“Our customers are looking for ways to stretch their wallets when they travel; with Flights Anywhere they can now pay directly for airline tickets using Priority Club points,” said Don Berg, vice president, Loyalty Programs, IHG. He added:

“They’ll never have to worry about seat availability or blackout dates when redeeming Priority Club points for flights.”

IHG has more than 4,300 hotels worldwide.

It says the program is “the first and only hotel loyalty program to offer the flexibility to redeem points and cash for flights.”

Priority Club points can be redeemed for the entire cost of an airline ticket (including all taxes and applicable fees), or combined with cash for a ticket, enabling consumers to “buy” a ticket at a discount.

Also, there are no blackout dates or limits on available tickets.

By David Wilkening

Vietnam Airlines up to 70% discount Oct1 -Jan 31

Vietnam Airlines has announced that it will offer a discount, of 60-70 per cent on all domestic and international flights scheduled from October 1 - January 31, the carrier's largest promotion to date.

Tickets for Vietnam Airlines flights must be purchased from October 1-20. Requests for flight delays or cancellations will not be allowed.

The airlines southern director, Nguyen Thi Minh Yen, said the promotion, which begins on the same day as the International Travel Expo (ITE), would help to shore up tourism during tough economic times.

The ITE, the country's largest and most important tourism fair, will be held from October 1-3 at the Phu Tho Exhibition Centre in HCM City's District 11.

Tickets for Vietnam Airlines flights must be purchased from October 1-20. Requests for flight delays or cancellations will not be allowed.

At the tourism fair, 300 exhibitors will be showcasing the tourism potential of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia to 150 participating travel agencies from 25 countries, including the US, Russia, Germany, mainland China, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

Exhibitors are players in the hospitality industry, including governmental authorities, tour operators, transportation companies, hotels, restaurants, insurance companies, publications, business and conference facilities and recreation services, among others.

La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the city's Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism, said the event would familiarise guests with the "three countries in one destination" concept, which was agreed upon by the tourism ministers of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia in 2007.

Boasting several UNESCO World Heritage Sites each, the three countries will offer tours that include stops at major sites like Cambodia's Angkor Wat, Viet Nam's Ha Long Bay and the former imperial city of Luang Prabang in Laos.

Deputy director Khanh said that despite the economic downturn, this year's event had managed to attract 50 more international buyers compared to last year.

"The event was carefully prepared down to the last detail," said Nguyen Van Tuan, director of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's representative office in HCM City.

The event also features an investment conference that brings together top tourism officials in the three countries and international investors to discuss strategies to develop Indochina's tourism potential and enhance its competitiveness.

The Tourism Alliance Award (TAA) will be also launched for the first time at the exposition.

A board of judges including industry experts will select 10 winners out of 100 nominees across 10 categories, including the best hotel, resort, restaurant, air carrier and tour operators, among others.

The awards aim to increase the overall standards of the hospitality industry in the region and to raise benchmarks to greater heights, according to the three countries' tourism associations, which are the organisers of the event.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

You can fly almost anywhere in Europe for $490 round-trip (taxes and fees included) from locations in the eastern U.S.

And the near-unbelievable claim in our headline can be confirmed by simply placing a few test bookings into Orbitz, as one example. Thus, Chicago to Frankfurt, leave March 26, return April 8, $231 round-trip, plus fees and taxes bringing the entire round-trip to $490, on American Airlines. New York to Paris, making one stop along the way, leave March 26, return April 8, $258 round-trip, plus fees and taxes bringing the entire round-trip to $572, on Lufthansa.New York to London, leaving March 26, returning April 8, $332 round-trip, plus fees and taxes bringing the entire round-trip to $490, on numerous airlines. This is obviously a fine time to make that trans-Atlantic crossing, using an airfare structure that has virtually collapsed.

Tourism companies make haste to announce promotions

Tourism companies enlisted as members of the four working groups catering to specific tourism markets made final discussions on detailed incentives in HCMC on Wednesday so as to announce the exact discounts for foreign travelers visiting the country.

Rex Hotel in HCM City.Nguyen Thi Khanh, deputy head of the hotel and travel division of HCMC’s Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism, told the Daily on Tuesday that the meeting was aimed to flesh out the common program agreed upon earlier.
“The companies have met each other before to yield a common program. But they have made the agreement merely in principle and now need to spell out details to offer discounts for tourists,” she said.
These companies – from hoteliers to airlines and travel firms - converge together under working groups for key source tourism markets like Southeast Asia, Western Europe, Australia, and Japan. Khanh said that after the meeting, the groups’ members would sign detailed agreements late this week or early next week for each market.
In a meeting in late December, some 30 hotels in the city agreed to slash their list room rates by at least 30% so that tour operators can mark down tour prices for international travelers this year.
The promotions being discussed is part of the grand sale program named Impressive Vietnam, which was announced by the national tourism authority on Monday. The program is aimed at wooing back international travelers by offering discounts of between 30% and 50% for visitors buying packaged tours to the country or using separate services like accommodation, shopping, and air transport, effective from January through September.
Before the program was launched, some hotels had responded to a call from the national tourism body by submitting their proposed discount plans to the authority, making it possible for tour operators to bring out promotions for tourists.
Nguyen Minh Quyen, deputy head of Ben Thanh Tourist Travel Service Center, told the Daily on Tuesday that his company was proposing discounts of 30% to 50% for some tours under the Impressive Vietnam program.
“It’s just a proposal. We need concrete pledges from hotels and transportation firms to make exact discounts for tourists,” said Quyen, whose company is lead manager of the working group for the Australian market.
Tran Thi Van Anh from the sales and marketing department of Six Senses Resorts & Spas said that the group’s Six Senses Hideaway Ninh Van Bay Hotel also joined the program by making discounts in its own style.
“During the program, international guests staying at the hotel for three nights will pay for two only. The discount level on a par with the level announced by the country’s tourism authority,” she said.
Up to on Tuesday afternoon, around 37 travel firms and some 60 hotels across the country are promoting discounts via the website http://promotours.gov.vn/. In addition, 14 shopping venues in HCMC, transport companies and other service providers have offered special discounts to visitors.
(Source: SGT)