DT : daren & tiff

March 29, 2007

Revenue Management Resources

Filed under: Daren, DEETEE, Hotel, Revenue — delephant @ 8:17 am

We had a great Revenue Management Conference in Bangkok recently. And promised to us were all the Slides Presentation of all that we experienced from the great “Revenue Management Experts” of both the Airline and Hotel industries.

It was a Two Day event organized by Eye For Travel  and we had great speakers like Stephan Wolf from the Shangri-La, Norma Tomkinson from Marriott International, Lisa Donald from Cairnhil Group, Adrian Tan from HPL Hotels and Resorts, Graham Tate from Ideas Revenue Management Systems, Cameron Jones from Expedia and more. (as u can see I’m more skewed towards Revenue Management for the Hospitality Industry!!!)

We covered topics like Pricing: Strategies, Restrictions and Elasticity, Dynamic Packaging: A Revenue Management perspective , Integrating Revenue Management into your sales, marketing & CRM processes, Accurate forecasting to Successful Revenue Management  and also Demand Forecasting – the What, How and Why!!

It was a good, short and sweet two Day sessions. Came back with some new ideas to implement for the hotel.

Here are some quick download resources of the Slide Presentations by our great Conference Speakers and Revenue Managment Specialists. [They are all PDF files, so I would recommend that you Right Mouse Click and SAVE AS!]

Revenue Management Presentation Downloads

Paul Rose, Managing Director, Paul Rose Revenue Management Limited 

Christophe Tayon, Founder, Competitive Studies

Graham Tate, Managing Director Asia Pacific, IDeaS Distributor Asia

Bob Garner, Business Development Director, Revenue Management and Price Optimization, APAC JDA Software Group, Inc.

Norma Tomkinson, Regional Vice President, Revenue Strategy, Asia Pacific, Marriott International, Inc

Adrian Tan, Revenue Manager Director, HPL Hotels & Resorts

Andrew Pascoe, Director, PriceTech Ltd.

Jason Pereira, Associate, Globalysis Ltd.

Stefan Wolf, Director of Revenue Management, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts

Cameron Jones, Regional Director, Partner Services Group – Asia Pacific, Expedia Inc.

Oliver Winzer, Group Manager Director Asia Pacific, Amadeus Hospitality

Udom Tantiprasongchai, Chairman, One Two Go Airlines Co Ltd. 

Aubrey Swift, GM Revenue Management, Virgin Blue

Noel R. Merainer Regional Director of Revenue Management – North America, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts

Lisa Donald, VP Revenue Management Services, Cairnhill Group will be conducting the workshop

Related Links

January 16, 2007

My Revenue Management Conference in Bangkok

Filed under: Daren, DEETEE, Hotel, MandarinOriental, Revenue — delephant @ 5:56 pm

FlowerGuess what? Gonna betray wordpress and use my Blog in Blogger cos its so much easier to upload pics, and let Blogger automatically reduce the size for the Blog.

So check out the delephant blog.

Day 1

Day 2

Day3

October 13, 2006

How do you know if you are a Hotelier?

Filed under: DEETEE, Fun, Hotel, Joke — delephant @ 8:12 pm

 

You are in the

hotel industry,

if  …  …

You sat at the same desk for 4 years and worked for 8 different managers 

“Going for cocktails and dinner” is NOT your idea of a nice evening 

When someone asks you your exact job profile, you lie 

You get really excited about a 2% pay increase 

You sit in a cubicle smaller than your bedroom closet 

It’s dark on your drive to and from work 

Communication is something your “group” is having problems with 

You see a good looking person and you know it’s a visitor/guest 

Food left over from a banquet or meeting is your main staple diet 

You forget what you look like in anything but a suit 

All the work you were hired to do gets done before 9 and after 5 

You’re already late on an assignment you just received 

Your boss’s favourite lines are
           a. “When you get a minute…”
           b. “In your spare time….”
           c. “I have an opportunity for you…” 

50% of the people in your company don’t know what you do 

The other 50% of the people in your company don’t care what you do 

Vacation is something you roll over to next year, if you are allowed 

Change is the norm 

Nepotism is encouraged 

Six months is considered to be substantial longevity


You dial “9” before the number no matter where you are calling from

When you are walking in public, you have to fight the urge to pick up little scraps of paper and rubbish on the floor

Your toilet paper at home is folded in a triangle on the first sheet

You answer the phone at home “Hello this is….., how may I help you?” 

You eat in hotel restaurants for fun 

 You inspect your hotel room when travelling

  
Most of all, you read this entire list and understand it!


October 3, 2006

Mandarin Oriental KL Quadraple Certification from SIRIM

Filed under: Daren, DEETEE, Hotel, MandarinOriental, News — delephant @ 1:57 pm

YAY!! This is a cool recognition that our hotel received in today’s copy of the New Strait Times newspaper. Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur (MOKUL) recieved our quadraple certification from SIRIM for our Integrated Management System (IMS) for the following areas:

  • ISO 9001-Quality Management
  • ISO14001-Environment Management
  • OSHAS 18001-Occupational Safety and Health
  • MS1722-Part 1-Malaysian Standards in Safety & Health

This was what that kept us so busy in the first quarter of this year. A group of us formed the MOKUL IMS Audit Team. I was heading the Audit Team and we had to audit the entire hotel ensuring that all areas in Quality, Environment and Safety & Health were all in place. It was a super busy period and I was glad that our internal audit was successful, which then lead on to the Sirim Audit … and thankfully we passed that too. 🙂 


MANDARIN Oriental, Kuala Lumpur has attained re-certification with the National Certification Board of three international standards, ISO 9001-Quality Management, ISO14001-Environment Management and OSHAS 18001-Occupational Safety and Health recertification.

It also attained an additional certification of MS1722-Part 1-Malaysian Standards in Safety & Health, which is considered a pioneering effort in Malaysia.

Mandarin Oriental said in a statement this achievement of being the first and only hotel to attain triple certification within a 10-month period in international quality, environment, safety and health management has yielded marked improvements in systems and processes of the hotel’s operating systems.

It has also given the hotel the leading edge as a preferred employer and venue for its corporate and leisure guests.

“The hotel’s strength in ensuring a safe, secure and environmental-friendly operations has enhanced and complemented our quality services and products that our discerning guests have come to expect and appreciate,” it said.

The international standards of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 have further driven home the need to be consistent in compliance with the quality standards of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and the recognised legal and other requirements of being a responsible corporation.

“Through a series of structured programmes, practical processes and scheduled audits, we have positively ingrained the practice of ISO into our everyday operational practices,” said its general manager Jonas A. Schuermann.

“This year, we have pushed ourselves even further for another certification MS 1722-Part 1:2005 as we believe the newly-launched Malaysian certification provides a system that further enhances the need to ensure the safety and health of our guests and employees,” he added. 

Related Post : https://deetee.wordpress.com/2006/06/28/toilet-skyline/

August 17, 2006

My Picture is in NST !!! (New Strait Times)

Filed under: DEETEE, Hotel, MandarinOriental, News — delephant @ 8:33 pm

YAY!!! The Sales & Marketing department (with the Sumo Wrestler) was featured in today’s New Strait Times, Life & Times. [Its a pity the online version doesn’t feature this article. :(]

The feature is on Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur’s recent Annual Dinner themed M’Olympics. Check out all the people who came in various sports attire.

Since there’s no weblink for the article, check out the JPG version here.

 

[In case you are wondering which one am i? I am in Red, the guy standing in the middle on the back row with a head taller than the second row girls!]

And here’s a nice Video Slide Show (7 mins long) on some of the key snapshots of Mandarin Oriental’s Annual Dinner – M’Olympics.

Watch the Video here 

Related Post : https://deetee.wordpress.com/2006/07/25/molympics-mandarin-oriental-annual-dinner/

Revenue Director’s Lunch at Le Meridien

Filed under: Daren, DEETEE, Hotel, Revenue — delephant @ 7:36 am

Thanks to Judith & Norliza for hosting lunch yesterday at One on One, Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur. The Revenue & Reservation Directors / Managers met again for one of our regular lunch sessions of discussions and planning.

Ranjan was asking me to call this the Revenue Directors Conference!! Hehe. And Cheah was like yeah, being his cynical fun self got us laughing at what he wanted to do if he managed to get all of us to go for a Revenue Training somewhere together. Jonathan suggested we should all put some money forward and go invite some Revenue Guru somewhere and hold a “real” Conference at Pattaya/Phuket! Yeah .. that would be nice!

It’s always rewarding coming together cos during our discussion (admist food… always nice to have have food and discussions… a never wrong combination!! esp in Malaysia) So we had plenty of sharing, exchanging information and discussing about next week, the future and the year ahead on how each hotel was gonna do. And why Crowne Plaza was not raising their rates higher! 🙂 haha. (Kidding! Kidding!).

Another amazing thing was, that despite each hotel running over 90% in occupancy, yet most managed to make it for this time together. Its a pity Peter (Ritz) couldn’t make it this round, but Peter…we remember that the next one is at Li Yen at Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur. Err…start sending your invites soon! 🙂

Here are some photos. Finally, we took some photos after meeting & dining for so long. We need to make this a regular activity! 🙂

L-R : Anthony [Hilton], HK [Hilton], Judith [our Host – Le Meridien], Sugath [Hilton]

[Hilton went Live with IDEAS yesterday…. and they made it too for the lunch]

 L-R : Jessica (Sheraton Imperial), Gary (Crowne Plaza), Cindy (Mandarin Oriental), Nicole (Traders), Fionis (Regent)

There u have it all the key people from the top hotels in town, coming together to make more revenue!! 🙂

 L-R : Jonathan (Park Royal), Cheah (Shangri-La), Daren :), Norliza (Le Meridien), Ranjan (Crowne Plaza) 

Hmm.. we were discussing intricate revenue strategies helping Cheah to plan how to fill his afternoon up going for site inspections in Le Meridien and Hilton, and helping the Hilton with their installation of IDeaS! 🙂 hehe

There you have it the Revenue and Reservation Directors / Managers of the top hotels in Kuala Lumpur!! Cool huh!! Smart looking bunch yeah. (Whoops just realized that i was the only that didnt bring my jacket! )

After Lunch, Judith brought us to see their newest and latest baby. The PRIME. We were told it used to be their Stewarding Office and Store area, and their GM had this great vision and converted and renovated the entire area. And PRIME really looks great, with an average check of about RM150… i think the atmosphere simply looks great and inviting.

August 11, 2006

The Lifestyle Brainstorm Session

Filed under: Daren, DEETEE, Hotel, MandarinOriental — delephant @ 11:45 pm

We had a great time today at KLGCC doing a Brainstorm session for our Lifestyle Programme at the hotel. It was good, cos we were out of our place of work; where there was  no disturbance and interruptions.

There was a total of 15 of us from different backgrounds and various departments forming this Lifestyle Team. We had many sessions of brainstorming together and in our groupings too.

So this is a PHOTO BLOG, as u may be aware i seldom post more than 3 photos in one blog, cos i just dont wanna make it too long, but so many things happened today, so you will see 15 pictures uploaded in this blog!! (Yeah so if u have a slow bandwidth like mine at home – yup a Jaring Dial Up still exists in KL!, it may be kinda slow).

And here the story unfolds on 11 August 2006. . .

Welcome to KLGCC, this is the LifeStyle Team

[L-R: Wiliam, Karen, Michael, Cynthia, Hew, Shariman, Toshio, Rachel, Richard, Cindy, Daren (moi), Eddie, Catherine, Veronica, Jess]

Our Resident Manager, Richard Johnson gave his opening spiel

Rachel Wong, Director of Sales & Marketing was our facilitator for the entire programme

Yes, already Coffee Break, We had a great Meeting Room that overlooked the 36-hole golf course at KLGCC. Here we have William's Angels. In Hanoi we learned that he had 6 wives, and now he seemed to have added on a few more! 🙂

 

The GUYS pic. Our dear Japanese Dir of Sales just earned two horns!

Just to show some pictures that we really did work, and not just have coffee breaks and fun! 🙂 Here Jess, Catherine & Cindy are in an earnest discussion on what should we do after this Brainstorm Session … durians… mebbe?

Speaking of Durians, I think someone must have let go some gas, why is the room so smelly…. hmmmmm……. poor Cynthia.

Poke Poke!! Karen poking at the screen … as she builds the mind mapping setup!

 

There was a huge draft in the room. It was like a Twin Propellor spinning at 200000 rounds per second. Amazing huh? I can only use my right hand to spin a pen/pencil. Here is Jes with the most amazing feat that no other Rooms Division Manager in Malaysia can do, spinning two dangerous sharp pointed pencils at speeds faster than the blink of the human eye.  It was so fast, the photo caught a BLURR image of the pencils.

Makan time. U can see everyone is so happy here! Makan makan makan! What else do we do when we all come together. 🙂

🙂 Jess, Veronica, Cynthia

🙂 Hew, Catherine, Cindy

🙂 Toshio, Shariman, Michael

🙂  Rachel & Toshio

🙂 Eddie & Karen

🙂 William & me

August 2, 2006

Top 10 Quirkiest Hotels in the World

Filed under: DEETEE, Hotel, News — delephant @ 8:45 am

These are the most interesting hotels we have in the world. Would you like to go check-in in one of them?  check it out.

Top 10 Quirkiest Hotels in the World

Ice hotel in Quebec freezes out competition. The top 10 quirkiest hotels was selected according to traveler popularity, and TripAdvisor editors.

 

1. Have an Ice Stay: Ice Hotel Quebec-Canada, Quebec, Canada

Breathtaking hotel made of ice, features an ice chapel, theme suites, an ice bar, and an art gallery — with ice sculptures, of course. Activities include cross-country skiing, ice fishing, archery, snowmobiling, snow tubing and even dogsled driving. As one TripAdvisor traveler described, “It’s like sleeping in a 5-star igloo.” The “icetablishment” is only open from January to April, just don’t forget your parka and long johns.

 

2. Jail House Rock: Malmaison Oxford Castle, England, U.K.

Everything about the Malmaison Oxford Castle is authentic enough to make you feel as if you are in the confines of an actual prison, but with better company. Can a jail hotel be romantic? According to one TripAdvisor traveler, “My husband and I decided to ‘honeymoon’ at the Malmaison Oxford Castle, feeling that this magnificent converted prison would make a grand setting to begin our ‘life sentence’ together. It certainly did not disappoint.” The first U.K. prison to be converted into a hotel, rest assured the property was renovated to ensure for more comfortable accommodations.

 

3. Smooth Sailing: Imperial Boat House, Ko Samui, Thailand

With 34 authentic teakwood rice barges converted into land-locked luxury suites, the Imperial Boat House on the beach is nautical nirvana. The lavish outdoor pools are surrounded by a lush and lovely garden. As described by one TripAdvisor traveler, “The resort is really impressive — beautiful landscaping and accents throughout.” A final touch-the remarkable beach-front, boat-shaped pool, features cannons — no doubt, to keep the pirates at bay.

 

4. Entertainment Extravaganza: Fantasyland Hotel & Resort, Edmonton,
Canada

With over-the-top fixtures and themed rooms, the Fantasyland Hotel and Resort is a shock to the senses. According to a TripAdvisor traveler, “It gives you the feeling that you’re somewhere totally different, and when it’s -30 C and there is tons of snow, this is the perfect escape.” Great for families, it boasts a 217,800 square-foot indoor water park, an indoor ice rink, indoor golf and you guessed it, indoor roller coaster ride. Why all the indoor activities? Remember this is Edmonton, not Ibiza.

 

5. Tree-Top Tableau: Ariau Amazon Towers Hotel, Manaus, Brazil

Seventy feet up into the tree-tops of the Amazon, the Ariau Amazon Towers Hotel features catwalks connecting the entire complex. Activities include a jungle walk, swimming with dolphins, a caiman hunt and even piranha fishing. The rooms are rustic, but in the opinion of one TripAdvisor traveler, “Wouldn’t some towering monstrosity of modern conveniences be somewhat incongruous in this setting?” Don’t be surprised to see a wide variety of flora and fauna in this authentic jungle environment, where it’s okay to hand-feed the monkeys and parrots.

 

6. Desert Rose: Al Maha Desert Resort, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Unique in its setting in the middle of the Dubai Desert, the Al Maha Desert Resort is an oasis with luxurious accommodations, including private pools and an authentic “Bedouin” encampment design. Activities that might be hard-to-find anywhere else include sand dune driving, falconry and camel trekking, and the panoramic views of the Hajar Mountains are a sight to be seen. Oryx and gazelles are known to come around the rooms at night and drink water from the private swimming pools. As one TripAdvisor traveler noted, “There are lots of wild oryx roaming the grounds, which is nice, but also a bit scary when they’re blocking the path to the room.”

 

7. Chief Light-Wallet: Wigwam Motel, Holbrook, Arizona

Operating along the historic U.S. Route 66, the Wigwams are actually teepee-style, cement tents. The bargain motel features the authentic feel of a 50s desert town — from the furniture, to the vintage cars in the parking lot, to the sounds of the old locomotive passing through town. The rates are also a blast from the past — the average room costs about $45 a night. According to one TripAdvisor traveler, “By the way, the rate is for real … the youngest son of the builder commented to me that they don’t make money operating the motel, they do it ‘as a sort of public service.'” Cash and credit only, wampum not accepted.

 

8. Caveman’s Delight: Yunak Evleri, Urgup, Turkey

Carved out of a stunning mountain-side cliff, the honeycombed hotel includes six cave houses, with rooms connected by narrow, maze-like passageways and stone stairways (think Land of the Lost, without the creatures). Decorated in Ottoman style, Yunek Evleri provides private patios offering dramatic views of the Turkish Mesa. As described by one TripAdvisor traveler, “You are then whisked to this serene land with its 7th century caves, outdoor archeological museums, and the best baklava ever.”

 

9. Toro! Toro!: Quinta Real Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico

Built around a 17th century bullfighting ring, it’s no longer operational, so leave the red cape at home. The Quinta Real Zacatecas incorporates the feel of “Old Mexico,” with its colonial architecture. Beautifully illuminated at night, the hotel also faces the city’s ancient arched aqueduct and the local village’s quaint shops complete the unique experience. Be sure to enjoy the comfy robes … as one TripAdvisor traveler suggested, “Do yourself a favor and buy their robes to take home, I didn’t and I have regretted it for seven years now.”

 

10. Inn Vogue: Madonna Inn, San Luis Obispo, California

Most often referred to as kitschy, perhaps the best description for the Madonna Inn comes from a recent TripAdvisor traveler, “It’s what happens when Barbie moves in with Barney Rubble, all pink and rock.” But that’s part of the charm of the Madonna. A garish, chalet-style inn, the hotel features 45 rooms with varying themes and color schemes. To many travelers, an indescribably unique experience, perhaps the only thing you need to know is that there is a famous waterfall urinal in the men’s room.

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