Category: Buy2Greece

Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Worldwide’s flagship brand with more than 550 properties across six continents, has launched a new phase in its “Our Stage. Your Story.” marketing campaign, focusing on social media engagement – and offering fans the chance to win a two-night stay at any Hilton Hotels & Resorts property around the globe.

Every week from now through October 26, Hilton will award a two-night stay to a lucky traveler who shares an image from their own travels using #HiltonStory each week. Entries may be posted to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Whether it’s a family trip to Florida, a girls’ weekend in Cabo San Lucas or a romantic visit to Whistler, Hilton is asking consumers to dig up photos from their favorite trips and share their best memories.

“Travel is all about finding new experiences, and #HiltonStory gives travelers the opportunity to share highlights of their adventures – and maybe earn the chance to make more great memories with Hilton,” said Nancy Deck, Vice President, Full Service Brand Marketing, Hilton Worldwide. “For travels big and small, Hilton sets the stage for memorable experiences around the globe, and we are thrilled to give our loyal customers an opportunity to share theirs in a new way.”

To help promote #HiltonStory and “Our Stage. Your Story.,” Hilton will create engaging YouTube videos that feature inspiring travel photos the brand has collected from its consumers, marking the first time the brand has included user-generated content in a marketing campaign. While the contest is open to residents in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico, Hilton encourages travelers all over the world to submit their stories that could be featured on the brand’s social channels. “Our Stage. Your Story.” content and the official rules may be found on the campaign’s landing page, accessed via a dedicated Facebook app.

To further inspire travelers to share their stories, Hilton is partnering with a phone case design company Casetify, formerly Casetagram – a first-time hospitality partnership for the brand. Each week, Hilton will randomly select #HiltonStory participants to receive a phone case from the exclusive Hilton x Casetify collection, featuring Hilton’s #HiltonStory imagery. The limited-edition #HiltonStory phone cases will also be sold on Casetify’s website, http://www.casetify.com/hiltonhotels, from early August to late October.

“Our Stage. Your Story.” is an integrated brand campaign that Hilton launched in February 2014. Using print, digital and social media, the campaign is designed to showcase unique travel stories that underscore travelers’ passion and thirst for new and exciting experiences. The #HiltonStory social media campaign follows several strategic partnerships and distinctive new platforms for the brand to showcase how its more than 550 properties worldwide serve as the stages for cultural and sometimes iconic stories. Partnerships include exclusive concerts with SpinMedia, a digital radio campaign with iTunes Radio, an integration with Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla film and sponsorships of events including the GRAMMY Awards and some of the world’s most prominent LGBT Pride Festivals.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for June showing a modest deceleration in demand growth compared to the prior month. Total revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rose 4.7% over the year-ago period, which was below the 6.2% year-on-year increase recorded in May 2014. June capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased by 5.0%, causing load factor to slip 0.2 percentage points to 81.5%.

“June traffic growth at 4.7% is encouraging even though it is a slight weakening on May’s performance. Earlier signs of a softening in demand are dissipating. While that’s good news there are many risks in the political and economic environment that need careful monitoring,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

Jun 2014 vs. Jun 2013 RPK Growth ASK Growth PLF
International 5.5% 5.7% 81.4
Domestic 3.4% 3.8% 81.7
Total Market 4.7% 5.0% 81.5

YTD 2014 vs. YTD 2013 RPK Growth ASK Growth PLF
International 6.4% 6.4% 78.7
Domestic 5.1% 4.3% 80.3
Total Market 5.9% 5.6% 79.3

International Passenger Markets
June international passenger demand rose 5.5% compared to the same month last year, with airlines in all regions except Africa recording growth and the strongest gains among Middle East carriers. Capacity climbed 5.7% and load factor dipped 0.2 percentage points to 81.4%.

European Airports are going to get greener. Greener in terms of lesser carbon emission and lesser energy costs. Researchers in Europe have used the funding from European Commission to develop a new software and sensor system that will monitor carbon emission and reduce energy costs by 20%.

The pilot testing of the system is currently taking place at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, and Milan’s Malpensa Airport in Italy. The new system, called Cascade, is said, will save these Italian airports at least 6000 megawatts per hour, which equates to 42,000 tonnes of CO2 and €840,000 a year. Partners in Germany, Italy, Ireland and Serbia are jointly working on the new system, supported by €2.6 million of EU funding.

ACI Europe, which represents more than 450 airports in Europe, has committed its support to the project, and it is expected the system will see wider use in European gateways from 2015. It is believed that 100% European airports need to become “smarter and greener”, The Cascade system shows that being sustainable doesn’t have to cost a fortune, and that actually it can save energy and money.

Vacation homes witnessed a splendid progress over the past few years. Their availability on the market was like a breath of fresh air for tourists who were sort of bored with staying in extremely professional looking hotel rooms. Not surprisingly, people gave a warm welcome to vacation homes as it allowed them the luxury of having an exotic home all to themselves. After all, basking in luxury is one of the key priorities of people during a vacation.
reception

However, as the vacation home industry is sort of established now. The freshness has faded. Expectations of tourists have grown manifold and competition from hotel is also pinching the vacation rental owners. It is high time vacation rental managers and owners take stalk of the reality and tighten their belt. To succeed the competition, they ought to bridge the gap between highly professional attitude of the hotel and the laxity associated with vacation rentals. Hence a balanced commercialization should be adopted, which does not hurt the charm of a rental and at the same time matches the growing demand of the discerning tourists.

What does ‘commercialization’ of the vacation rental really means?
It means adopting the professional attitude of the hotel and becoming more systematic in order to offer the best treatment to the visiting guests. Visitors should be made aware of the services they can expect from the vacation home. Their inquiries, requirements and feedback should be well attended to make them feel more comfortable. At the same time, vacation owners should stop short of becoming too commercial and put off tourists that choose them over hotels simply because they hate the “commercial” attitude of a typical hotel. The crux of the matter is that vacation owners must come in terms with the fact that they are doing business. Hence they have the obligation to behave as a professional.

Steps vacation home owners should take to become more commercialized
Spruce up your interiors
This does not mean you need to make expensive renovations, offer brand new furniture or adorn the walls with expensive artwork. A commercial makeover to the interiors may simply mean, having complementing sheets, pillow cases and blankets and having the same color of the bedding all through the rooms. Having an embroidered logo on the bed linens can also render a professional look to your rental that will appeal to your guests.

Get labels
Labeling stuff is another simple route to give your rental a commercial look and feel. This is especially desirable if you have a large condo or a big vacation villa. It is a good idea to have your labels laminated before they are slapped on things.

Invest in an inventory management system
A reason why people prefer hotel is that they are more organized and methodical in their approach. Albeit a small business, vacation rental can be made more systematic. Owners can take advantage of software packages which can be downloaded for free besides they can take benefit of cloud based services that make organization convenient. Being organized can streamline things to a significant extent and make life easier for the vacation owners.

Add a dash of commercialization to the bathroom
A luxurious and well appointed bathroom is highly appreciated by tourists. Vacation owners can make the bathing experience more enchanting by being commercial. Akin to the services offered by a hotel, they must offer towels (adorned with the logo of the rental), shower gel, shower caps etc to make the stay more comfortable. Dispensers on the wall of the bathroom can make life even more convenient for the guests.

Housekeeping
This one is of course highly desirable. When staying in a rental people expect the same professional housekeeping service as offered in hotels. Vacation owners should hire housekeeping professionals to ensure a comfortable stay to their guests.

Concierge service
Vacation rental owners must also offer concierge service to their guests as offered by most hotels. The service will help tourists get their bookings done for air, rail or bus and can even help to make reservations in restaurants or bookings in theaters, theme parks etc. When on a vacation tourists are in a mood to relax and enjoy, keeping their mind away from such stress is a highly desirable and vacation owners must keep this in mind.

There are many more ways through which vacation owners can give their rental a commercial makeover. This was just to help rental owners get an idea on how they can offer more professional service to their guests. A touch of commercialization through steps mentioned above will surely help visitors enjoy a more comfortable stay and gradually help your rental become more popular amongst tourists.

Sabre Hospitality Solutions today announced the certification of its Guest Connect Booking Engine with TripConnect by TripAdvisor, providing Sabre’s customers with a new way to generate incremental bookings through direct connectivity to the growing meta search channel.

With TripConnect, Sabre’s hotel customers can display real-time rates and availability from its reservations system on the metasearch section of TripAdvisor alongside other online travel agencies. Bookings are made directly using the booking engine.

TripConnect provides real-time rates and availability from the hotel’s website, which are displayed on the metasearch section of TripAdvisor alongside other online travel agencies. Bookings can be made directly using the hotel’s website.

“TripConnect certification opens up new opportunities for our connectivity partners,” said Maud Larpent, TripAdvisor’s Director of Direct Connect Development. “Certified connectivity partners enable accommodation owners of all sizes to benefit from Hotel Price Comparison on TripAdvisor. TripConnect is a very efficient way for hoteliers to generate incremental business via their internet booking engine.”

Sabre also introduced Meta Connect, a Sabre-managed service to help hotels get the optimal position on meta search sites like TripAdvisor, Google Hotel Finder and Kayak. Meta Connect manages all aspects of this critical part of any digital marketing plan including implementing connectivity, and return on investment (ROI) reporting.

Cost-per-click meta search sites, where suppliers have to bid for placement, including TripAdvisor’s Hotel Price Comparison, can be a challenge to navigate for many hotel revenue managers. This is where Sabre’s Meta Connect bid management service comes in to help hotels get optimal position on meta search sites and drive more business to a hotel’s direct channel.

“TripAdvisor has become a ubiquitous part of researching, planning and now booking travel and we are excited to add TripConnect to our direct connectivity offering,” said Alex Alt, president and general manager of Sabre Hospitality Solutions. “We also understand that managing the bidding process on these meta search sites can be quite complicated and mismanagement can be the difference of getting a direct booking or losing out to a third party. Our Meta Connect service addresses that challenge and participating hotels have seen ROI of up to 14 to 1.”

Source:- Sabre

The recent airline disasters have encapsulated the global travel industry with a growing concern of air travel safety. However, according to the travel industry experts, air travelling is getting more and more secured.

It is observed that the number of travellers flying to various places for holidays or business is growing in an exponential rate. More travellers are flying than ever, making airline safety a daunting task. As the airspace is getting crowded, the technologies and services looking after airline safety are also tightening.

Each day almost 8.3 million people travel on an airplane. The number is roughly close to the population of New York City. Imagine, how many of them report a bad experience? Barring a few incidents which cannot be controlled by man, airlines and airline associations are keeping a keen watch on the growing concern of airline safety and addressing to it diligently.

There are definitely loop holes in the airline safety depending on the regions. For example, the African region faces five times more air crashes than the world. Such trouble areas also happen to be where air travel is growing in a faster rate.

However, according to experts air travelling is still a safer bet and the skies are not going to become more dangerous. Industry experts acknowledge the growing difficulties but also add that the aviation science has gone miles to cut down air crashes and unscrupulous air mishaps.

As of now, the airline industry is implementing fresh drills to meet the influx of passengers. Airlines will need to hire and train enough qualified pilots and mechanics, governments will have to develop and enforce safety regulations, and new runways with proper navigation aids will have to be built.

For the fourth time in a row Lufthansa German Airlines has been voted “Europe’s leading Airline” at the World Travel Awards – an award for the best of Europe’s travel industry following a voting process involving 230,000 travel tourism and hospitality professionals worldwide. Lufthansa was selected as winner from a shortlist of eleven top European airline brands in Athens, Greece. For the first time, Lufthansa also won the top spot as “Europe’s Leading Airline Lounge” – receiving medals for its First Class Terminal and Frankfurt Airport lounges.

Graham E. Cooke, President and Founder, World Travel Awards said: “For over 20 years World Travel Awards has been celebrating those brands which push the boundaries of industry excellence. In this period Lufthansa has been leading the prestigious airline category, winning the title of Europe’s Leading Airline seven times overall and now for the fourth year in a row; an impressive accolade which has been recognized by thousands of travel professionals around the globe, especially since Lufthansa prevailed in the category of the best lounges as well”.

Jens Bischof, Chief Commercial Officer at Lufthansa said: “For our crews on board and our teams on the ground this award is an incredible acknowledgement. Our focus is to be a leader in service & hospitality, a key element of our product enhancements this year, which has been confirmed by this impressive award. And we will continue! The integration of our new Premium Economy Class and the accelerated retrofit of our new Business Class on all of our long-haul planes till the summer of 2015 will make us the front-runner in our industry. We won’t rest on our laurels, but gather even more fans for our Lufthansa brand.”

The World Travel Awards as “Europe’s Leading Airline” comes hot on the heels of Lufthansa being voted “Best European Airline in the Middle East” during the recent Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2014 in Dubai and being honored “Best Western European Airline” and “Best Transatlantic Airline” at the World Airline Awards in London earlier this summer.

Source:-Lufthansa

China is home to 1.1 million USD-millionaires ; 350,000 of them live in Shanghai.

34% of Chinese high net worth individuals have invested overseas in 2013.

HOTEL MARKET
During 2013, hotel occupancy and RevPar indices in Athens have been positive for the first time in six years. Athens aims to be ranked among the “city break” European destinations. Ambitions are expected to be boosted by extensive urban regeneration projects in the near future, such as the pedestrianization of Panepistimiou Str. in the heart of the CBD and the redevelopment of the south water front. However, the group of big players in the hotel market (Starwood, InterContinental, Hilton, Divani, Sofitel) will be reduced by one member, as Μarriott Ιnternational is planning to withdraw from Athens.

Moreover, the project pipeline remains nearly empty, as the only project scheduled is the €3.5 million refurbishment of President Hotel. Nevertheless, the biggest deal ever in the Greek hotel market is expected in the Q2 of 2014. Rumours say that about €250 million will be spent in the auction of “Asteras Vouliagmenis”. The property is located in a small peninsula in the south of Athens and is owned partially by the Greek State and the National Bank of Greece. It consists of 304,000 m² of land (112,000 m² with development potential) and a five-star hotel. The bidders will include major international and domestic investors (for instance US fund Colony Capital, Hines, ICI, Russian Strategic Initiative, Charterworld, the hedge fund Baupost and domestic Lamda Developments)
– See more at: http://europe-re.com/athens-greece/43793#sthash.MkkE7yhs.dpuf

Cruise Critic revealed that 27% of cruisers are last minute planners, booking within weeks of their cruise, while 33% book a few months out. Over a third of respondents (40%) like to be more organised and make reservations at least a year (or more) in advance, according to a recent poll.
Adam Coulter, UK editor, Cruise Critic, commented: “Those who can be flexible can find some excellent last minute deals, which could get you to your dream destination for a lot less. If you are a planner and like to book much earlier, you should look for added value promotions. You may not find the very cheapest fares when a cruise first goes on sale, but you will often find incentives, such as upgrades, or kids-sail-free offers, that save you money overall.”
Whether you’re planning for next year, looking for a last minute summer deal, or a winter break, Cruise Critic gives tips on how to catch the perfect deal:
– For first-sailing announcements, book in advance
For those who are able to plan a year (or more) ahead, which accounts for 33% of cruisers polled in Cruise Critic’s survey, savings can be found as and when the cruise first goes on sale. Cruise lines tend to offer a number of added-value promotions, which includes anything from drink packages to gratuity or airfare ?? all added costs that cruisers will usually end up paying anyway, and could save hundreds of pounds.
Ideal for: Advanced planners
– Book anytime for off-season savings ?? but be flexible!
Destinations have high and low seasons ?? with cruise fares following suit. By booking a cruise during a destination’s low season, cruisers may have the option to visit their destination of choice at a much lower cost – and without the crowds. Examples include Alaska in May and September, the Caribbean in late spring or winter (holiday weeks, excluded) or the Mediterranean in the autumn.
Repositioning cruises also offer money-saving opportunities. From September to November numerous ships cross from Britain to the US to follow the sun, while during the Spring many ships travel back to Britain via the Azores and the Iberian Peninsula after spending winter months in the Caribbean and South America. These one-way voyages are often sold at a discount, as they’re not part of regular sailing schedules.
Ideal for: All types of planner ?? but only if you’re flexible
– Look for industry-wide sales in late September and January – March
Two of the biggest industry-wide cruise sales are held in late September and January – March. The cruise industry’s national cruise week will be held September 27th ?? October 5th, 2014 in the UK, with cruise lines and agents offering a wide range of promotions. “Wave Season,” beginning in January, is an annual period of three months where cruise lines offer special promotions during one of the more popular times for cruise shopping to begin.
Ideal for: All types of planner
– Book a few months or weeks out for last minute deals
For those who like to be spontaneous, good bargains can be found on a sailings leaving within 90 days. This is the deadline for those who book in advance to cancel without penalties so cabins often open up at the last minute. However, don’t forget to factor in last minute airfare, which may cancel out any savings, plus you may have the limited selection of cabin locations and dinner seatings. But, if you’re flexible and can sail from a UK cruise port, it’s a great way to save.
Ideal for: Last minute/spontaneous planners