Snippets

Fortune Landmark Indore attains five-star rating

ITC's wholly-owned subsidiary, the full service Fortune Park Hotels, recently announced that the Fortune Park Landmark Indore received a five-star rating. Owned by Suraaj Hotels & Resorts, the hotel became part of the chain in 2003. Set in three and a half acres, the hotel offers 78 rooms and suites. A new addition to the hotel is a pillar less banquet hall, which can accommodate up to 450 persons. The banquet hall is equipped with single touch audio and video facilities and can be divided into three smaller areas, to accommodate 100 people in each section. It also offers an open-air swimming pool. According to Suresh Kumar, president, Fortune Park Hotels, "Our chain is now widely recognised as offering one of the best 'value- for-money' chains, for both business and leisure travellers." The chain has tie-ups with 37 properties spread over 29 states in the country.

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts enhances corporate social responsibility activities

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has launched a two-year development strategy to enhance its corporate social responsibility activities. A corporate CSR Committee, spearheaded by the group's COO Symon Bridle, has been established to continue to fulfill the group's responsibilities in five key areas: the environment; employees and the community; health and safety; supply chain management; and stakeholder relations.” CSR has been and continues to be a high priority for Shangri-La. In fact, we were active in this area long before the term came into common usage," says Bridle. "But by formalising our CSR structure and engaging in dialogue with our stakeholders, we are illustrating that CSR is no longer a 'soft' addition to the business - it is an indispensable 'hard' business component which our customers expect from the companies they patronise." Recently, the brand was named the Best Business Hotel Brand in Asia Pacific for the seventh consecutive year and won a record total of nine awards in the Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Reader Poll.

Agoda signs partnership deal with Starwood Hotels & Resorts

Agoda, an online travel company, has signed an arrangement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts to distribute their Asia Pacific properties via Agoda's websites. According to Wilfred Fan, Agoda's vice president, Business Development, Starwood will utilise Agoda's extranet-based inventory management system so that Agoda's customers will have last minute availability at favorable rates, which change frequently with seasonality and market trend. The partnership will launch in Southeast Asia this month and is expected to cover the entire Asia Pacific region within one year. Representing eight luxury hotel and resort brands including the Sheraton, Le Meridien, St Regis and Westin hotels, Starwood has 124 properties in the Asia-Pacific with over 50 new hotels opening in the region over the next year.