Our selection of hospitality tech insights, ideas & inspiration.
Digital travel platform Agoda announced Thursday the winners of its 14th annual Agoda Gold Circle Awards (GCA). With travel markets opening up to international travel worldwide, this year’s Gold Circle Awards have been presented to more than 2000 properties in 41 markets.
For the fourth consecutive year, Thailand retained its top spot for having the most award-winning hotel or resort properties. Taiwan took second place, followed by Japan. India entered the Top 10 list for the first time, while South Korea, Malaysia, the US, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam retained their spots in the top 10 rankings.
After two-and-a-half years of border closures, in 2023, nearly every country in the world will be open for tourists again. So it’s no surprise that a whole new group of hotels will be too, from adventurous river lodges in Bhutan, to aristocratic mansions in Munich, to sprawling eco-resorts in the Caribbean.
Out of the hundreds of properties cutting ribbons in their lobbies, 26, in particular, have piqued our interest. For some, it’s due to their intriguing interior design: famed interior decorator Martin Brudnizki has not one, but two Paris projects opening this year, while Silicon Valley’s favorite artistic maestro Ken Fulk is building a moody 21-room retreat in the middle of Marin County’s coastal wilderness. Meanwhile, Christian Louboutin is working on his own fashionable getaway in Melides, Portugal, a seaside town that’s inspired his designs for decades.
China will drop quarantine requirements for international arrivals from January 8, in a major step toward reopening its borders that have shut the country from the rest of the world for nearly three years.
Inbound travelers will only be required to show a negative Covid test result obtained within 48 hours before departure, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said in an announcement late on Monday. Currently, they are subject to five days of hotel quarantine and three days of self-isolation at home.
Restrictions on airlines over the number of international flights and passenger capacity will also be removed, according to the announcement.
As you’re planning 2023, you want to leverage search and digital marketing trends critical to hotels. Begin by building on the latest new Google shared throughout 2022:
Raffles Hotel Singapore is enjoying the highest average daily rate (ADR) and guest satisfaction index in its 135-year history, according to its managing director, Christian Westbeld. His next goal is to benchmark the grande dame against other leading hotels in world cities such as Tokyo, London, Paris and New York.
Do you want to learn more about what we’re building? Contact us to schedule a demo.