News in Brief: Wednesday December 3
Creative Holidays and Dubai Tourism are running an exclusive comp with Travel Today, giving away a $150 restaurant voucher, high tea or cooking class for this week’s ‘culinary’ theme.
To enter, answer these five questions and send your answers to competition@themisfits.media by the end of the week. Winners will be notified by Travel Today.
Quirky hotel chain YOTEL is planning to expand across key city centres and international airports in Asia, Europe and North America, with 3000 cabins earmarked to open by 2018.
Properties will spruce up in Singapore, Paris, Miami, San Francisco and a second property for New York City.
TFE Hotels celebrated the re-opening of the famed Hotel Kurrajong in Canberra with a 1920s themed cocktail party last night at Button Bar in Surry Hills.
Guests from the travel industry listened to jazz music, enjoyed signature cocktails and canapes from the hotel's executive chef Michael Chatto, and heard from MC Tracey Spicer about the style and character of the hotel.
TFE Hotels' group director of marketing Emma Fraser spoke about the history behind the property, which was once the home of former Prime Minister Ben Chifley, and incorporated "historical touchstones" into every aspect of the hotel experience.
"The light on the hill has been re-lit, and we are here to celebrate the personal style of Hotel Kurrajong," Fraser said.
Infinity Holidays has released its 2015-16 Hawaii brochure, which features a page of myTime packages that will focus on the myTime deals the company has to offer.
Set to hit the shelves on December 12, the brochure also includes three new genre sections; ‘Family Recipe’, ‘Young & Fun’, and ‘Something Special’ to cater for a wider audience of travellers.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd has announced Jason Montague to be the new president and chief operating officer of Prestige Cruise Holdings Inc, following the resignation of Kunal S. Kamlani.
Montague was instrumental in launching Oceania Cruises in 2002, and is widely regarded to be one of the original co-founders of the company, with his most recent role as executive vice president and chief integration officer for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
Accor is strengthening in Geelong and Western Sydney markets, signing two new hotels to the Accor Hotels network.
Novotel Geelong and Mercure Penrith join the network from December 1, with the former Four Points by Sheraton Geelong converted to Novotel Geelong, and Chifley Hotel Penrith rebranded to Mercure Penrith.
The two new management contracts see Accor’s mid-market brands expand their footprint to 29 Novotel and 39 Mercure hotels across the country.
The stunning new Vale Vale Beachfront Villas is offering rates with savings of over 75% for travel between January 15 and December 15 2015, starting from $50 per person per night.
The Vanuatu villas in Port Vila are running the sale for three days only until December 5, with interested parties to contact Richard at Richard@ptm.net.au.
Travelport has announced the appointment of Matt Minetola as its new chief information officer, bringing more than 27 years of global experience of large scale technology leadership to the company.
Minetola will take on responsibility for Travelport’s technology organisation immediately, off the back of his most recent role as CIO for HP Financial Services.
China Southern Airlines has announced a sale on a range of fares from Australian ports to China for travel in First Class, with return flights currently available from $5279.
The sale fares offer flights with China Southern to Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai along the airline’s Canton Route, with the sale applying from now until December 12 for travel until February 28 2015.
Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic has announced a suite of special guests for the next year as part of its Global Perspectives Speakers Program that give guests the chance to explore and interact with world-renowned researchers and explorers.
The line-up of speakers for 2015 range from Valerie Taylor, influential scuba diver, Sir James Mancham, award-winning peacemaker and author, and the first person to journey on a summer expedition to the North Pole, Eric Larsen.
To find out which guest speakers will be joining which itineraries, visit here.
When ms Koningsdam debuts in 2016, the ship will feature Holland America Line’s first-ever purpose-built staterooms for families as well as single staterooms among its 1,331 guest accommodations (total capacity is 2,650).
The 32 new specially designed family ocean-view staterooms will range from 222 to 231 square feet and feature special amenities such as two bathrooms and accommodations for five people.
The 12 single ocean-view cabins will range from 127 to 172 square feet in size and will be available on multiple decks at a variety of forward, mid-ship and aft locations.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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