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Category: News

  • News: Royal Caribbean increases UK ports of call in 2014

    British guests can be spoilt for choice with the scoop that three recently revitalised Royal Caribbean International ships will set sail from the united kingdom throughout the summer of 2014. With a number of popular itineraries the 2014 European sailings could be open for booking from 20 March 2013.

    The cruise line’s extensive ship investment programme has seen over $300 million spent on enhancing the facilities and guest experiences onboard ships around the fleet – and Independence of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas and Brilliance of the Seas will sail from UK shores next summer.

    Both Independence of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas will share the Port of Southampton for his or her second consecutive seasons from May 2014 until late October 2014. Sister-ship Brilliance of the Seas will return to her home port of Harwich after a debut season in summer 2013.

    Jo Rzymowska, associate vp and general manager, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises – UK and Ireland, commented:
    “We are delighted to announce our 2014 sailings from Southampton and Harwich on our newly revitalised ships. Our guests can continue to enjoy our innovative facilities and activities onboard including mountain climbing, ice skating and surfing, plus our great entertainment. We wish to continue to provide our guests unforgettable experiences which could only be found on Royal Caribbean International.”

    The 3,634-guest Independence of the Seas, based in Southampton since 2008, continues to receive rave reviews from UK holidaymakers, most recently within the 2013 Cruise Critic UK Cruisers’ Choice Awards, where it was honoured within the best food, entertainment, families, fitness and repair categories.

    Independence of the Seas will feature quite a number itineraries in 2014, including shorter sailings corresponding to a 3-night and 4-night cruise to Le Havre for Paris, and Zeebrugge for Bruges. Independence of the Seas will even showcase a six night cruise to France and Spain, an eight-night cruise to Norway, various 14-night Mediterranean cruises, plus 11 and 12-night Canary Islands cruises.

    From May 2014, Adventure of the Seas from Southampton will return to a sequence of 7 to 16 night cruises round the Mediterranean and northerly Europe, plus shorter sailings, including a four-night trip to Belgium and France.

    Brilliance of the Seas, sailing from Harwich, will visit Northern Europe on 12-night Norwegian Fjords and Iceland cruises and the Baltic Sea on 12-night Scandinavia & Russia cruises.

    To promote the 2014 UK deployment, Royal Caribbean International will launch a brand new European and Mediterranean brochure, featuring popular Spanish / Italian, Mediterranean and Canary Island breaks. The recent brochure, full of cruise options for summer 2014, is split into sections devoted to different holiday choices akin to mini cruises, traditional 14-night summer holidays, Mediterranean and northerly European itineraries. Agents may even find pages for brief cruise options designed for first time cruisers to sample at-sea holidays.

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  • News: Qantas introduces iPads on flights to Honolulu

    Qantas’ Boeing 767 services from Sydney to Honolulu are actually fitted with refreshed interiors and inflight entertainment technology, Q Streaming.
    Q Streaming utilises onboard WiFi during the aircraft to stream entertainment programs direct to iPads in every seat supplied by Qantas.
    The implementation of Q Streaming on board flights to Honolulu follows the successful introduction of the technology on B767 services around the Qantas domestic network – forming a part of the broader B767 refresh program.

    The B767 fleet’s cabin interiors were refreshed with a recent design that comes with leather seat covers in Business and a brand new appear and feel within the Economy cabin. Other enhancements include new carpet, lighting, curtains and cabin dividers.

    Executive Manager of International Customer Experience Alison Webster said the airline was excited to increase Q Streaming to customers travelling on refreshed B767 flights to Honolulu.

    “Q Streaming was very popular with Qantas customers at the domestic network and we’re now pleased to provide it to our customers travelling to Honolulu.”

    “We know on average customers spend about 80 per cent of an extended haul flight using in-flight entertainment, so providing customers travelling to Honolulu with the choice to select what they watch and when, will add a brand new dimension to their on board experience.”
    “The entertainment options were carefully selected following real-time customer feedback which helps us to repeatedly improve the decisions we provide.

    “We continue to explore how to evolve the technology and inside the near future customers may also have the opportunity to exploit their very own device to stream our inflight entertainment content.”

    The technology streams over 200 hours of flicks, television and music on to an iPad in every seat. This will likely gradually expand over the following couple of months to check the vast range of TV and music content offered on our flagship in-seat entertainment systems – including as much as 50 movies, 500 TV programs and 1000 CDs.

    Qantas could also be working to feature interactive games, a ramification of travel and business related apps in addition to digital newspapers and magazines.
    The refurbishment of 15 B767 aircraft with new interiors and individual in-flight entertainment began in October 2012 and is scheduled for completion on the end of April.

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  • News: Air Astana and Turkish Airlines to set up codeshare agreement

    Air Astana and Turkish Airlines have completed step one towards a large-ranging co-operation, including a codeshare agreement on routes operated by both carriers between Kazakhstan and Turkey. The Letter of Intent was signed at an event in Istanbul by Peter Foster, President of Air Astana, and Temel Kotil, PhD, President and CEO of Turkish Airlines.

    Codesharing on flights between Istanbul – Almaty and Istanbul – Astana may even include a different prorate agreement to destinations beyond their respective hubs in Almaty, Astana and Istanbul. The agreements are intended to take effect as of May 2013.

    “The strength of the extensive and rapidly growing network of Turkish Airlines from its hub at Istanbul Ataturk Airport will let us offer a much broader range of destinations to our customers. Our passengers will enjoy increased travel flexibility and improved connectivity profiting from the combined frequencies that we’ll offer throughout the codeshare. Our passengers will benefit from the codeshare services of the 2 airlines respectively rated Best Airline of Europe and Best Airline Central Asia and India by Skytrax,” said Peter Foster, President of Air Astana.

    “We are extremely delighted to sign the Letter of Intent with Air Astana, as we aim to enhance our partnership to maximise the travel opportunities offered to passengers during the extensive networks of both airlines. Air Astana continues expanding successfully, offering services at highest standards with a tender fleet. Together we’re going to offer better connectivity for our customers at the two airlines` networks. We believe this partnership with Air Astana will bring benefit for either side, not just in commercial aspects in rapidly growing Kazakhstan but in addition in technical and coaching areas.” said Temel Kotil, PhD, President and CEO of Turkish Airlines.

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  • Royal Demeure Hotel Group singlas growth with investment

    Royal Demeure Hotel Group has opened new offices in Belgravia, London, moving its headquarters from Rome and appointing a brand new senior team to steer the Italian luxury hotel group.

    The company’s investment in a London-based headquarters demonstrates its desire and commitment for growth and investment, specializing in boutique luxury hotels.  Because the luxury travel and hospitality industry continues to grow, the Royal Demeure team intends to capitalise in this trend, developing the emblem and future focus and building at the reputation of the famous Hotel d’Inghilterra in Rome whilst also opportunities for future expansion and investment in all the six properties that make up the gang of hotels.

    Part of TDA Capital Ltd, an individual Italian-owned investment company that specialises in luxury hospitality, Royal Demeure is headed up by TDA Capital Group Chief Executive Officer Professor Luigi De Simone Niquesa, who has moved from Rome to be based in London. His newly appointed team includes Group Sales & Marketing Director Greg Ward, Chief Financial Officer Colin Castelino, and Marketing & Communications Manager Charlotte Gray.

    With an intensive and successful career in luxury hospitality, CEO Luigi De Simone Niquesa has held quite a lot of hospitality industry and academic leadership roles including President of the Institute for Tourism Marketing and Research, President of UNICA (Union of Italian Hotel Chains), and Executive Advisor/Council Member of Federalberghi-Confcommercio (the leading association of hotels in Italy).

    Colin Castelino have been appointed as Chief Financial Officer. With a successful career in finance Castelino spent 11 years with Deloittes before joining the Cliveden Group, where he took the company’s luxury hotel and clubs to a whole listing at the London Stock Exchange and eventual successful sale. He has also worked with Pacific Investments Ltd and sooner than TDA Capital Ltd was Financial Director for the ESPA Group.

    Charlotte Gray joins the hotel group as Marketing & Communications Manager. Gray has spent the past eight years with the historic Pall Mall private members’ club, The Royal Automobile Club and Singaporean-owned 5* COMO Hotels & Resorts.

    Greg Ward is the newly appointed Group Sales & Marketing Director and has an intensive international background with an emphasis on luxury sales & marketing.  Ward has held a lot of senior positions with international companies during his 20-year career, including Westin Hotels & Resorts, Rafael Hotels and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. More recently, Ward has frolicked with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, the von Essen hotel Collection and Clarenco.

    Greg Ward, Group Sales & Marketing Director said: “I’m thrilled to be working for such an iconic group of hotels as Royal Demeure. Situated in cultural capitals like Rome and Florence, each property has many individual qualities, which i glance forward to highlighting for the good thing about travellers trying to find a really memorable luxurious experience, Additionally, with plans for future growth and investment, it’s a particularly exciting time to affix the corporate.”

    CEO Luigi De Simone Niquesa said:  “We have created a dynamic and experienced new team which will lead us in the course of the next stages of our development plans. The experience in luxury customer experiences and robust commercial background that every new team member brings makes them instrumental in developing and shaping the expansion of the hotel group. They join us at a time after we need to strengthen the collection’s positioning in the industry.”

  • News: Getaround launches new iPhone app

    Getaround, the leading peer-to-peer car sharing service, is happy to announce a brand spanking new, fully redesigned iPhone app. The brand new app will make it even easier for Getaround users to share cars with people nearby through just a few new, key features and important improvements to hurry and reliability. The hot app comes as a part of the company’s resolve to make car sharing a widespread and accepted behavior amongst drivers.

    “Since day one, our goal was to empower people to car share everywhere,” said Jessica Scorpio, Founding father of Getaround. “We believe that this app is step one in making car sharing really easy and seamless that that’s truly available to people everywhere. The better we make it to share cars at the go, the earlier we’re going to see real shifts within the way people consider car ownership.”

    Beyond a visible redesign and new API designed to make the app faster and more reliable, the Getaround team has added a couple of key features to this release with plans for plenty more inside the near future. New features include the power to go looking and read cars without signing in, new filter options to locate the suitable car each time, a completely redesigned map view and the flexibility to immediately rent cars in only about a taps.

    “Beyond a visible redesign and new API designed to make the app faster and more reliable, the Getaround team has added some key features to this release with plans for lots of more within the near future. New features include the power to go looking and read cars without signing in, new filter options find the perfect car whenever, a completely redesigned map view and the power to immediately rent cars in barely a couple of taps.”

    To celebrate the brand new app, two Getaround owners have listed their 2012 Tesla Model S’ at the site. Two of only 3,000 produced last year, these cars are a terrific way for Getaround users to experience the recent app and the way forward for car sharing.

    Getaround’s goal is straightforward: with nearly a thousand million cars at the road internationally, the corporate is maximizing what already exists. Getaround gives people a raffle to share their cars with others nearby, ultimately offsetting the price of car ownership for owners, and giving renters a convenient method to rent a car in their choice near to home for a cheap price.

    Following Getaround’s launch in San Francisco in May 2011, the corporate has seen dramatic growth including launching in four additional cities, greater than quadrupling the employees and raising $14 million in Series A funding.

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