Best Holiday Lettings

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  • News: China Auto Rental secures Hertz investment to lift domestic position

    China Auto Rental has announced that USA-based Hertz has agreed to take a position in its operations because it continues to construct on its position as domestic market leader in brief and long-term car rentals.

    Hertz will acquire a stake of approximately 20 per cent, on a fully diluted basis, in CAR and hold a seat on the board of directors. 

    Hertz and CAR will be co-branded at the latter’s full service rental locations countrywide, and Hertz’s car rental locations and operations in China, which will provide premium rental services in key cities, will be contributed to CAR.

    Hertz will continue to manage its outbound sales team in China, and its equipment rental business in the country is unaffected by this announcement.

    The partnership fulfils Hertz’s objective to significantly increase its presence in the rapidly expanding car rental market in China.

    Additionally, Hertz and CAR will be exclusive car rental partners for inbound and outbound business, offering international corporate and leisure travellers unparalleled short and longer term rental services. 

    “As the leading global car rental brand, it’s a perfect fit for Hertz to partner with the largest and most recognized car rental company in China.

    “China Auto Rental has the largest domestic rental footprint, with 700 locations in 66 cities, and a 50,000-vehicle fleet which is more than four times the size of its nearest competitor.

    “Also, CAR is growing rapidly, having doubled its revenues in 2012 to $250 million, 2.5 times larger than any other domestic company,” commented Mark Frissora, chairman, Hertz Corporation.

    Under the agreement, which is subject to normal closing conditions, CAR might be granted a license for an initial five year term to function on behalf of Hertz in China.

    CAR will develop a network of full-service Hertz premium locations in key cities to counterpoint CAR’s expanding location footprint.

    Taken together, the Hertz/CAR services will encompass self-drive and chauffeur-driven rentals, in addition to short, medium and long-term vehicle rentals and leases.

    Hertz will provide CAR with access to an entire array of services to support their rapidly expanding market presence, services which meet Hertz’s industry-leading standards.

    These include access to Hertz’s operational expertise, reservation capabilities, and fleet management efficiencies.

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  • Reunion Island launches eco tour

    A new eco-tourism tour is being offered by Reunion Island along side the already rich leisure activities of nature on offer at the west side of the island. The point of at the present time tour is to find (or rediscover) in an academic way the advantages of the island’s coral reef.

    A tour organizer will share the secrets of the reef and the island of Reunion in this journey of discovery of the coast, from Cape la Houssaye on the Hermitage lagoon.

    This is a brand new tour, which through innovative teaching will raise awareness of our environment in a fun way. The tour features a meeting with officers of the Marine Nature Reserve, which includes a guided tour followed by a lecture on the Aquarium of los angeles Reunion. a standard breakfast is supplied – a Creole meal cooked over a wood fire with a tasting of clean country juices.

  • Focus: Breaking Travel News interview: Panos Paleologos, chief executive, hotelBrain

    Entrepreneur Panos Paleologos has continued to defy the Greek economic crisis, announcing the addition of eleven new Greek hotel contracts to his hospitality management portfolio because the start of 2013.

    Additionally, Paleologos’ company hotelBrain will shortly be marking its move into the center East with the outlet of O’Monot, certainly one of Beirut’s first actual luxury boutique hotels.

    Here Breaking Travel News sits right down to discover all of the latest.

    Breaking Travel News: How much damage has the industrial crisis done to the Greek hotel market Do you are feeling consumers are staying far from the destination

    Panos Paleologos: Consumers are in no way staying away.

    As a nation we did see a dip in arrivals, but we’re firmly on an upward curve and the entire evidence means that this may be an extremely solid year for tourism in Greece.

    It’s also a good time to return to the rustic with quite a few very competitive deals accessible, and you may receive a warm welcome and a good experience as always.

    BTN: Is the location presented within the European media accurate to the placement at the ground Do you’re feeling Greece have been misrepresented

    PP: Until now few years there has definitely been some level of misrepresentation of certain aspects of the location.

    However, relating to tourism, the wear done by this was temporary and we’re seeing not only recovery, but additionally growth.

    The truth is that as a tourism destination Greece is as peaceful, safe and wonderful as ever.

    Tourists are considering for themselves of their thousands and no matter what’s said inside the media, word of mouth remains the most important communication tool.

    BTN: Has the location in Greece created any opportunities for savvy investors

    PP: In every crisis there are opportunities.

    It has unquestionably been a tough few years for small hotels.

    During this time our expertise in helping hotels improve their offer without necessarily investing in new infrastructure has proved to be a great deal admired.

    Subsequently, we’ve been in a position to grow our business by supporting, advising and guiding others through challenging times. 

    BTN: Could you tell our readers just a little more about your decision to transport into Beirut Has the political situation within the Middle East altered the timing of the project

    PP: Our plan is to open the O’Monot Hotel in Beirut in August this year.

    That has always been the plan, it hasn’t changed and we don’t expect it to switch.

    Our decision to transport to Lebanon was driven by a mix of a thrilling market and a culture it is a great deal in step with our operating model.

    Beirut is a colourful city with a high-quality domestic and international hospitality scene, which through the years has proved incredibly resilient.

    In Greece we now have had great success working with hotels to maneuver faraway from generic, high rise concepts of luxury and help them provide authentic experiences to guests, but with international standards.

    We are confident that the fascinating culture, architecture and great food in Lebanon is an appropriate base to support this approach, and that clientele will find it irresistible. 

    BTN: What’s on offer on the new property

    PP: O’Monot could be the first hotel from the Small Luxury Hotels of the Word collection in Lebanon.

    It could have 41 rooms all with an elegant, metropolitan aesthetic and there’ll be a roof top pool, gourmet restaurant and club bar, all with magnificent views of town of Beirut.

    BTN: Will you be aiming at travellers from the center East, Europe, Asia or elsewhere Are you seeking business or leisure guests

    PP: The hotel is perfectly install to host business and leisure guests, and we’re confident that the situation and facilities will make it well-liked by both.

    The majority of tourism arrivals to Beirut are from throughout the Middle East, followed by Europe and the remainder of the sector.

    We hope to attract travellers from around the globe, and we predict that our guests will reflect the varied make up of the city’s visitors. 

    It’s a truly exciting market, undoubtedly. With multiple major airline hubs there’ll always be traffic into the region for business, leisure and naturally there’s the stop over market.

    The culture around the Middle East is rich and in some areas growth has most probably been on the expense of this.

    I think, however, this offers a good greater opportunity for hoteliers to interrupt the mold and utilize what’s on their doorstep to produce personalised experiences, showing off the most efficient valuable of the region in tandem with great service. Hospitality with the soul!

    Interview: Chris O’Toole

  • ‘Last minute holidays’ make up almost 3% of consumer searches for a break

    The latest quarterly online search data from leading independent digital marketing agency, Greenlight, reveals the hunt term ‘last minute holidays’ accounted for just about 3% of a complete of four.4 million searches made on Google UK for holidays, in May.

    The findings from the agency’s latest ‘Holidays Sector Report – Issue 17’ come at the back of stories reports that travel firms have seen last-minute bookings for summer holidays drop as a result of hot weather, with some tour operators saying they could be forced to discount packages if the heatwave continues for one more week. Others have speculated the elements can have an analogous impact at the industry as that of the 2010 ash cloud.

    Greenlight’s report reveals the preferred search terms consumers used once they went online to search for a vacation to domestic, short-haul and long-haul destinations and charts the most well liked websites to these searches, split by queries made on computers (laptops and desktops) and mobile devices (tablets & smartphones).

    According to the report, 80% (3.5 million) of holiday searches were made via computers, 20% (881, 536) on mobile devices.

    ‘holidays’, queried 450,000 times, was the hottest term used to go looking for vacations via computers and accounted for (13%) of searches.  It was followed by ‘cheap holidays’ (10%), ‘all inclusive holidays’ (3%), ‘last minute holidays’ (3%) and ‘city breaks’ (2%).

    On mobile devices, the term ‘cheap holidays’ topped search queries and accounted for 15% (135,000) of holiday-related searches. ‘holidays’ followed with 7%, then ‘last minute holidays’ (4%), ‘all inclusive holidays’ (3%) and ‘weekend breaks’ (3%)

    Holidays to short-haul destinations proved most well-liked with searches totalling 923,259. ‘Turkey holidays’ received the foremost selection of queries both on mobile and computer searches. Other popular destinations included Malta, Croatia, Cyprus and Spain.

    On the long-haul front, queries for holidays to Dubai dominated and made up virtually 6% of a complete of 816,166 searches.

    The most visible sites for overall holiday searches within the organic* listings were travelsupermarket.co.uk, thomascook.com and thomson.co.uk, attaining a 53%, 49% and 47% share of visibility, respectively, on computers and 68%, 59% and 53% on mobile devices.

    In the paid listings**, travelrepublic.co.uk, onthebeach.co.uk and holidaydiscountcentre.co.uk, were the foremost visible advertisers on computers, acquiring a 69%, 55% and 52% share of voice, respectively.

    However, the image was different on mobile devices, with icelolly.com, secretescapes.com and teletextholidays.co.uk taking the lead, attaining a 73%, 65% and 47% share of visibility, respectively.

    Thomson ranked on the top of Greenlight’s Social Media analysis.

  • Ritz-Carlton brings social media campaign to Arabian Travel Market

    Ritz-Carlton Hotels is leading the manner in consumer engagement within the digital sphere on the annual Arabian Travel Market with an absolutely-integrated social media campaign which will offer visitors a different interactive experience.

    The move is in keeping with The Ritz-Carlton commitment to deepen connections with existing and prospective guests in an atmosphere wherein they spend increasing amounts of time.

    As section of the luxurious hotel company’s social media outreach throughout the Middle East’s largest travel trade event, The Ritz-Carlton has members in their social media engagement team present on their stand at ATM. 

    Through the @RitzCarlton twitter handle, the team will provide live content and updates from the development.

    With a sizeable selection of The Ritz-Carlton Twitter followers comprising of trade partners, customers and the media, it’s a perfect platform to initiate and build brand conversation relevant to the fair.

    The introduction of a dedicated ‘Tweet Bar’ at the Ritz-Carlton stand HC5240 located inside the Arena Hall, will give the brand’s global Twitter following access to news from the development because it unfolds in Dubai, including highlights from exclusive talks and seminars.

    In addition, visitors checking in at ATM on Foursquare will receive recommendations on the suitable things to look and do in Dubai, as recommended by The Ritz-Carlton concierges from both hotels within the city.

    The Ritz-Carlton also uses Foursquare and The Ritz-Carlton Mobile App to tailor local content and supply engaging information relevant to their guests.

    This could be dropped at life at ATM where a chain of QR codes can be utilized to download property insights, including recipes from chefs and guided tours of hotels.

    “Our social media interactions at Arabian Travel Market are a natural extension of our ‘Let Us Stick with You’ brand philosophy.

    “We wish to enrich the experience on the show for visitors, as well as being an amazing luxury travel information resource for our Twitter followers by providing news because it is occurring from the show,” said Chris Gabaldon, chief sales and marketing officer for Ritz-Carlton.

    “Each of The Ritz-Carlton social media channels grow in importance to us year-over-year as our guests live an increasing number of in their lives inside the digital space.

    “Use of Facebook alone already stands at 40 per cent of time spent online within the UAE, 30 per cent in Kuwait and 21 per cent in Saudi Arabia making Facebook an increasingly important channel for us to converse with our Middle East guests.”

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