XXXXXXX IN CONVERSATION… Guy Nixon, CEO, Go Native
Paul Revel talks to Guy Nixon, chief executive of serviced apartment provider Go Native about online accessibility and brand recognition
Bangkok
THAILAND TEMPTS MICE BUYERS WITH 1 MILLION BAHT
THE THAILAND CONVENTION & EXHIBITION BUREAU (TCEB) is offering a 1 million baht (around £20,000) cashback incentive to UK MICE buyers with its Sustainable Mega-Events campaign. The offer is open to those booking events for at least 1,000 delegates. Other criteria for eligibility include contracting with a local management company, holding the event in a certified ‘Green Venue’ and featuring a CSR activity within the programme. TCEB director Vichaya Soonthornsaratoon said: “We expect this
campaign to accomplish two goals – apart from encouraging more UK-based companies and organisations to bring their large corporate events to Thailand, it underscores the need for corporate and industry- wide action as responsible global citizens.”
The offer is open for bookings made before September 30 this year. IN BRIEF 12 1
■ WORLDWIDE TRAVEL AGENCY CONSORTIUM Globalstar Travel Management has added new partners in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Expresso Viagens in Angola and Nigeria’s Touchdown Travels are Globalstar’s new partners in Africa, while Southern Travels Limited Group from Pakistan and Al Maha United Travel in Saudi Arabia have also joined the network. Globalstar has more 85 partners around the world accounting for a total of US$13 billion in business travel sales.
NEW ROUTES
BA to launch flights to Chengdu
BRITISH AIRWAYS is to introduce flights from Heathrow to Chengdu from September 22 this year. The airline will become the first to fly between Heathrow and the Chinese city when it starts the three times per week service. Currently BA only flies to Beijing and Shanghai on the Chinese mainland, as well as to Hong Kong. BA is using the slots acquired from its purchase of BMI to introduce more flights to the Far East – Seoul was added as a destination earlier in December. Willie Walsh, CEO of BA’s parent company
IAG, said: “I am delighted to announce this new route, which demonstrates the importance of mainland China to British Airways, and our commitment to grow our presence here.” The Chengdu services will use a Boeing 777 with four cabins including First, Club World and premium economy. BA is also to add more flights from Heathrow to Amman, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jeddah, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Toronto for summer 2013. • See China business feature, p104
Guy Nixon
What are your corporate buyer
clients looking for from the serviced apartments sector to help them manage a successful travel programme? A key concern is online accessibility to serviced apartments
(SAs). People want to be able to book as easily as they book a hotel. I think because SAs are now beginning to merge with the hotel market, the lines are becoming quite blurred. It was corporates’ global mobility teams who booked SAs, but it’s now moving into the remit of travel teams, and they want to see it working like hotels. Another demand is flexible stay rates, with the ability to cancel without penalties – so we and other providers are now offering this.
Are travel buyers putting more
serviced apartments into their mix?
Increasingly, yes. For example, one big global client has
two divisions – mobility relocation and the travel side – working entirely
separate programmes. But they’re now looking at bringing those programmes together and leveraging the economies of scale of their consolidated demand.
Can you update us on your online
booking developments? Go Native’s online booking tool is going live in Q1 this
year. Initially, the tool will be for booking our stock, available either via our website or via a client portal on the client’s own intranet; and in Q2 we will start adding our network partners’ stock [Go Native has 630 branded apartments in the UK, and around 25,000 partner network apartments in EMEA and India].
What’s currently the biggest challenge for
your sector?
One of our big challenges is that we don’t have a recognised
brand in the marketplace – if you asked the man in the street to name a serviced apartment brand, could he answer? It reflects the immaturity of our market. We want to reach the level of recognition that the hotel brands have. For that to happen the sector has to grow. Our latest research with Savills shows London has 1.1 apartment units per 1,000 business visitors, compared to 5.1 in Hong Kong and 5.7 in New York. That is a chronic undersupply – there is the challenge for the London market. There’s no quick fix – it involves a lot of investment and showing institutional investors, through our research, that there is good return on investment.