Nespresso continues to expand its business-to-business range to meet the individual needs of its professional customers. The latest innovation is the Zenius machine. Zenius is the ideal solution for small and large companies looking for quality and simplicity. It integrates the latest technological innovations with the renowned benefits of Nespresso products and services.

Zenius is fast and efficient, heating water to the optimum temperature for coffee in just 35 seconds, while an automatic power off function ensures energy efficiency when the machine is not being used. It is designed with high quality materials inside and out, chosen for their robustness and durability. The new Zenius is also loaded with an integrated SIM card that can remotely communicate with the Nespresso Customer Relationship Centre. This allows Nespresso to deliver extended and proactive after-sales services before customers even know they need them.

Zenius will be available from June, 2012.

For more information about Nespresso Business Solutions, please call 1800 182 206 or visit www.nespresso.com/pro

An increased passenger charge could have an impact on tourism. Photo: James Wilkinson

Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) CEO John Lee has apologised to New Zealand for the increase in the passenger movement charge included in last week’s federal budget, which will see Kiwi visitors to Australia fork out an extra NZD$12.4 million in 2012-13.

Speaking at a press conference in Auckland yesterday (May 17), Lee said sorry to New Zealanders on behalf of Australia’s tourism industry for the additional impost, which flies in the face of efforts to increase international visitor numbers.

“The passenger movement charge (PMC) is a tax on tourism which acts as a barrier to entry for international visitors to Australia,” Lee said.

“In that way it’s a form of tariff protection, bordering on protectionism, practices we have been trying to stamp out for many years now.

“It’s hard to reconcile the efforts to grow visitation to Australia and double overnight tourism expenditure by 2020 with the decision to add 17% to the PMC, which is nothing more than a departure tax.

“This increase means a New Zealand family of four who take a holiday to Australia will pay more than NZD$280 just for the privilege of returning home.

“While we have long-standing rivalries in many areas, in this case we should be working together to grow the tourism industries on both sides of the Tasman instead of punishing the 1.2 million Kiwis who travel to Australia every year and the 1.1 million Aussies who go to New Zealand.

“And of course the impost is the same for Australian families heading to New Zealand for a holiday.

“TTF, in partnership with New Zealand’s Tourism Industry Association, has been pushing for streamlined border processing between Australia and New Zealand, with Anzac Express Paths at both ends and ‘mates rates’ to halve the PMC for Kiwis, with a common border as the ideal outcome.

“We don’t believe visitors to Australia should prop up government revenues when they already make a massive contribution to the Australian economy, spending billions of dollars every year and supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs across Australia.

“Imposing additional cost is not the way to grow international visitation in either direction and we simply don’t believe the increase is justified.

“We are concerned the PMC increase will reduce international visitor numbers and have a negative impact on tourism in Australia’s regions, many of which are heavily reliant on tourism for economic activity and employment.

“The PMC was introduced to cover the cost of passenger processing at Australia’s international gateways and massively over-collects on that task, delivering the Australian government around $300 million more each year than it spends on passenger processing.

“The rise – and the future indexation of the PMC to inflation – will give the government an extra $610 million over the next four years – all coming out of the pockets of tourists,” he said.

Marriott is set to hit 250 hotels in Asia

Marriott International has announced it has reached the milestone figure of 250 open and signed hotels in Asia, with the 250th hotel to be located in Bo’ao in China.

According to the company, this represents 129 open hotels plus a development pipeline of 121 projects – totaling more than 75,000 rooms in 15 countries.

“We are delighted to have reached 250 hotels in Asia and are looking forward to continued growth in the region,” said Marriott International’s president and managing director, Asia Pacific, Simon Cooper.

“We are seeing growth across all countries in Asia and in the past few weeks have signed landmark hotels in key locations including Macau, Vietnam and India.

“We continue to see excellent growth in China where we now have more than 100 open and signed hotels, and expect to open on average one hotel a month in the country for at least the next three years.”

Marriott International operates seven brands across Asia – The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Bulgari, Renaissance, Marriott Hotels and Resorts, Courtyard and Marriott Executive Apartments – and according to the company, “sees tremendous growth potential across all brands in the portfolio targeting different market segments from luxury to mid-scale. India is another exciting growth market for us”. 

While Asia continues to deliver robust growth, China remains the strongest driver and Marriott International has ambitious plans in the country. With the portfolio expected to double from the current 58 open hotels in the next 3-4 years, Marriott will increase its work force to well over 70,000 associates over the same time period.

“We see this as a golden age of travel around the world,” said Cooper, “and our Marriott hotels will be there to welcome all travelers, domestic and international. In the process, we are opening doors to a world of opportunity for our guests and associates alike, by offering great careers to our associates in China and across Asia, while delivering rewarding guest experiences across our growing brand portfolio.”

The Warhols at Melbourne's Cullen Hotel

Art Series Hotel Group has brought together the world’s greatest living art forger, Tony Tetro, with one of the world’s most forged artists – Andy Warhol – to ask which Warhol is Warhol’s?

Convicted forgery artist, Tetro, has been commissioned by the chain to produce nine replica Warhols that will hang in the hotels alongside a genuine one until August 3.

Over winter guests staying at an Art Series Hotel (The Cullen, The Blackman or The Olsen) will be asked to pick the ‘real’ from the fake from a line-up.  One fake will be revealed each week and given away as a prize, with an original Warhol given to one of the guests who picks Warhol’s Warhol.

According to Alan Bryce (author of Art Smart), up to 15% of all art sold is fake or forged.   In reflecting on this statistic, CEO of the Art Series Hotel Group, Will Deague said

“Art Forgery is a serious issue facing the international art industry,” Deague said. “At Art Series, we aim to not only make art more accessible for our guests but also help provide an education on art.  This process would not be complete without highlighting the prevalence of this fraudulent behaviour.

“Tony Tetro is a prime example of how commonplace it seems to be to replicate the classics.  Tetro and other forgery artists have made a business out of reproducing our art masters including Warhol, Picasso, Monet and even our own namesake artist, Charles Blackman.

“In running Which Warhol, we’re looking to profile this serious issue and stimulate discussion and debate around the production of replica art.  What does it mean for the industry, how can you pick a fake from a real, what value do we actually place on art?”

‘Which Warhol’s Warhol’s?’ follows the high profile Steal Banksy promotion that was held in December that challenged people to try to steal an original Banksy artwork from the hotel.

Christophe Gantzer Finance & Control Manager, Nespresso; Eva Caprile B2B Commercial Manager, Nespresso; Renaud Tinel General Manager, Nespresso; Andrew Mensforth, GM, Park Hyatt Sydney; Gerald Ursulet, Director of Food and Beverage, Park Hyatt Sydney; Andrew McKee Executive Chef, Park Hyatt Sydney

As part of an ongoing commitment to its business partners, Nespresso recently treated Australia’s leading Executive Chefs to a night of luxury and gastronomy at the Park Hyatt Sydney.
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Executive Chefs from several of the nation’s leading 5-star hotels, including Jess Ong from Four Seasons Sydney, Tamas Pamer from InterContinental Sydney and Jonathan Bruell from The Observatory Hotel, were treated to an indulgent menu prepared using the finest local seasonal produce and Park Hyatt Executive Chef Andrew McKee’s signature minimalist style.

According to Nespresso Australia’s B2B commercial manager Eva Caprile, the evening was an opportunity to offer guests the ultimate fine dining experience followed by the highest quality coffee.

“We recognise in this channel, high-quality coffee is an essential element of the dining experience,” she said.

“We would like to thank the Park Hyatt for partnering with us to demonstrate the special relationship between coffee and fine dining and to showcase the capabilities of the Aguila machine to our partners.”

Felix Busch from Hilton Sydney; Vincent Hoogewijs, GM Four Seasons Hotel Sydney; Renaud Tinel General Manager, Nespresso; Andrew Mensforth, GM, Park Hyatt Sydney

 At the end of the evening, guests sampled Nespresso coffee prepared using the Nespresso Aguila machine, which Caprile said is “the latest and most impressive B2B machine from Nespresso [and], designed to deal with times of peak demand and deliver consistent results cup after cup”.

Skycity Auckland

The business tourism industry is getting set to stage its biggest ever trade show and expectations are high it will result in millions of export dollars flowing into New Zealand’s economy.

“With more exhibitors and more buyers at Meetings this year than ever before the stage is set for some significant business deals to be initiated over the course of the exhibition,” says Conventions and Incentives New Zealand (CINZ) CEO, Alan Trotter.

Meetings is an annual event organised by CINZ to give suppliers and operators of a diverse range of venues, products and services the opportunity to meet under one roof with conference and incentive travel planners from around the globe.

Last year’s event, which was held in Rotorua, generated in excess of $32m worth of business leads.

This year’s event, on June 13 and 14, is being held at Auckland’s SkyCity Convention Centre and has attracted a record 172 exhibitors, 350 day buyers and 188 hosted buyers. SkyCity Convention Centre will be operating at full capacity for the event.

The hosted buyers represent influential companies and organisations from nine countries including China, Malaysia, Singapore, India, the United States, and Australia.  The Chinese, South-East Asian and American buyers are attending Meetings with the assistance of Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand.

During Meetings, they will get to sample New Zealand’s world-class hospitality first-hand and will be introduced to the diversity of New Zealand’s offerings through a series of briefings by the country’s regional convention bureaux.

“These hosted buyers are key decision-makers in the C&I industry and potentially could send a lot of business New Zealand’s way. We will be doing our best over the course of Meetings to ensure they are well-informed about how much New Zealand has to offer and that they leave eager to work with us in the future,” Trotter says.

“New Zealand is a dream destination for conferences, conventions and incentive travel because of our diversity and our ability to deliver amazing experiences at cost-effective prices. At no other time is the strength of our diversity more clear to see than at Meetings when our industry comes together under roof to sell New Zealand as a destination.’’

Event manager Jeanette Stanton says about 550 people are expected at both the welcome function at the Hilton Auckland and the farewell dinner at the Viaduct Events Centre.

“This is shaping up to be a very big event; we’re expecting around 1000 people to come together over the two days of Meetings so it’s a big undertaking but everything is in place to ensure it is a success for both the exhibitors and the buyers,” Stanton says.

Shangri-La Hotel Sydney

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has unveiled a revamped website that will allow travellers to experience the world’s most enchanting destinations even before their journeys begin.

Enhanced features, which include sharing the best of the group’s photography, will help travellers get closer to their destinations.  To commemorate the new site, Shangri-La will launch the ‘#LovingTheMoment’ Instagram initiative to encourage everyone to share photos of their location.

“After 10 months in the making, we are proud to launch the new Shangri-La.com, which is just the beginning of an exciting line-up of digital and social initiatives that we will be rolling out in the coming year to create richer user experiences for our guests,” said Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts’ director of corporate digital marketing, Michael Leong.

“We hope the site will make it easier for our guests to explore destinations, make and manage bookings, connect and share through their social media communities, and allow travellers who have not yet stayed with us to have a beautiful entry into the world of Shangri-La.”

To celebrate the launch of the new Golden Circle website, members will be able to earn double points by booking online at www.shangri-la.com by 31 May 2012 for stays up to 30 June 2012.

iBAHN’s latest Hybrid IP technology provides a high definition IP solution for hotels that have not yet upgraded their infrastructure to CAT5e/6 cabling between the riser cabinet and TV locations.    The quality and well priced solution can be used to deliver iBAHN’s ETVi & iMEDIA services in properties where high definition on a large screen LCD panel TV is required.

“With our Hybrid IP solution, the iBAHN Head End and Set Top Boxes remain the same as we use for a complete CAT5/6, but we do leverage on the last drop coaxial cable to the TV location.  This has allowed us to provide true HD quality to the TV, but minimizes the inconvenience for the hotel when there is a changeover to full CAT5e/6 in future. We have taken the long term view of working with our partners,” said Allan Smith, iBAHN’s Managing Director for APAC South.

iBAHN is currently installing this solution at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney, allowing the property to offer guests HD quality for a fraction of the price of recabling.

“We had a huge challenge and cost associated to upgrading our guestrooms to full CAT5e cabling; the iBAHN IP solution has now provided us with the quality expected by our valued guests at fraction of the cost involved to upgrade hotel rooms,” said Four Seasons Systems & IT Manager, Frazer King.

iBAHN’s ETVi solution is the ultimate on-screen & entertainment system.  The IPTV platform offers  access to TV, movies and online content in full HD. The easy-to-navigate television system, which features a modern & customisable design, is a natural complement to the most prestigious hotel brands. The ETVi solution is fully customisable and offers links to amenities pages and special offers to drive repeat and add-on business.

Further enriching the in-room entertainment experience, using ETVi in tandem with iBAHN’s iMEDIA internet application allows travellers to access the limitless content of the internet on their in-room TVs, including just-missed television, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and more.

iBAHN’s entertainment and information technologies, in addition to their broadband solutions, allow hotels to differentiate themselves by offering technology that exceeds what travellers are used to in their own homes, drive revenue via promotions and special offers and customise their solutions to reflect their brand.

To find out more about any of iBAHN’s IPTV & broadband solutions contact Trudi Chambers on
+61 412 302899 or 1300 0 iBAHN.  www.ibahn.com

Now with Accor: Cypress Lakes Resort

The NSW Hunter Valley’s Cypress Lakes Resort has joined Accor’s Grand Mercure network and will look to build on an already strong conference and leisure business with the assistance of global branding and distribution.

The largest first-class resort in the Hunter Valley, Cypress Lakes boasts 200 villas with one, two and three bedrooms, an 18-hole championship golf course, restaurant, games room, three outdoor pools, floodlit tennis courts, and fitness centre, plus the famous Golden Door Day Spa at Elysia.

The resort is one of the most popular conference and event destinations in the heart of the Hunter Wine Country, with extensive facilities that can host up to 1000 delegates.

According to Cypress Lakes, Accor has been brought in to help attract more international and domestic guests from both conference and leisure sectors with global distribution and marketing strength from Accor and an already cemented clientele at the property.

“The conference and events market is increasingly global in nature and therefore branding and extensive distribution networks are the key to our future direction,” said Cypress Lakes Resort’s Denis Croke.

“Accor has built up a strong position in the hospitality sector and we believe that with the resort taking on Grand Mercure branding we will be able to tap into a wider Australian and international marketplace.”

Located in the heart of Wine Country at Pokolbin, the villas at Cypress Lakes are stylishly appointed and offer private balconies and views over the vineyards or golf course to the mountains.
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There are 15 purpose-built conference rooms including The Event Centre with capacity for up to 620, the Convention Centre with its ability to break down into small rooms catering for up to 500 and a beautiful outdoor marquee overlooking the lagoon pool (the only one of its kind in the Hunter) hosting up to 1000 for cocktails, plus a variety of smaller meeting rooms and lounges. The resort can provide a range of settings for any type of function, with natural light and versatility being key selling points.  At the doorstep are more than 100 renowned wineries, magnificent olive groves, fine cheese makers, horse riding, hot air ballooning and more to create excellent team-building or relaxation opportunities.

With key events already in place at the resort including the Jack Newton Celebrity Classic, Cerebral Palsy Alliance CBD Golf Escape, and many corporate clients already using the prestigious facility, it was an easy choice to incorporate the resort into the Accor network.

“The Jack Newton Celebrity Classic has gone from strength to strength since moving to Cypress Lakes Resort 6 years ago,” says golf legend Jack Newton. “Set beautifully in the lower Hunter Valley, the vistas are breathtaking.

“[It’s] not only a great location for The Classic, but an ideal spot to have a conference or simply relax.

“The uncompromising support of staff capably led by Julie Pettit, Assistant Hotel Manager, goes beyond our expectations.

“Our guests comment on the friendliness of staff and enjoy having the golf course, accommodation and facilities on the one site, allowing them to socialise with ease.”

Cypress Lakes is the 23rd Grand Mercure hotel in Australia and joins a network of more than 40 across the Asia Pacific.

The 'new' Palmer Resort Coolum

BY JAMES WILKINSON

Billionaire Clive Palmer’s Sunshine Coast hotel is onto its third name in as many months, following this week’s rebranding of the former Hyatt Regency property as the Palmer Resort Coolum.

“The resort will now be known as Palmer Resort Coolum to better reflect the destination and the guest offerings now and into the future,” said the resort’s General Manager, Bill Schoch.

Palmer Resort Coolum had been operating as Coolum Golf and Spa after the split from Hyatt at the end of March.

Schoch signage and other branding would be “changed in due course”.