Tag: #hotel

HONG KONG (April 18, 2017) – Khoo Teng Chye, Executive Director for the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), Ministry of National Development (MND), Singapore, has been appointed Chairman of Singapore for the Urban Land Institute (ULI), an interdisciplinary research and education institute with more than 40,000 members dedicated to leadership in real estate and land use and creating thriving communities worldwide.

 

Khoo, who was formerly the Chief Executive of PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency and Chief Executive Officer/Chief Planner at the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), is ULI’s first Council Chair to come from the public sector in Asia Pacific. As ULI Singapore Chairman, he will lead the Executive Committee in Singapore, which will continue to focus their efforts in providing long-term thinking and sustainable solutions for the city’s ongoing development.

 

ULI Singapore has been extremely active in the city for a number of years. The National Council has advised on a number of issues related to urban development and in 2016, ULI Singapore, together with the CLC completed a piece of research on “Creating Liveable Cities through Car-lite Urban Mobility” which proposed practical recommendations on moving cities towards a more sustainable mobility future with reference to the city-state. This is the third initiative that ULI has worked on together with CLC, with the other two being defining 10 Principles for Liveable High Density Cities and producing a report on Creating Healthy Places through Active Mobility. One of Khoo’s core objectives, as Chairman, is to extend this relationship between the two organisations further, and to continue to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and understanding with regards to sustainable urbanisation.

 

Khoo’s second objective is to help ULI play an active role in supporting some of the exciting new developments in Singapore, like the proposed second Central Business District at Jurong Lake. Khoo believes that many of ULI’s international members are in the unique position to advise and work with the Singapore urban planning and real estate community.

 

The World Cities Summit takes place in Singapore every two years and is a platform for government leaders and industry experts to address liveable and sustainable city challenges, share integrated urban solutions and forge new partnerships. Khoo’s third key objective is to help ULI serve as a strategic partner to the event, as it has in the past, and work on exciting new initiatives planned for the event in 2018.

 

“I firstly became familiar of ULI’s work when I was working for the URA so it is an honour for me to be invited to be Chairman of ULI Singapore,” said Khoo. “Urbanisation is a complex process everywhere in the world and the public sector has to work with the private sector for it to be a success. ULI helps both sides come together, through providing new models of collaboration, and I look forward to helping extend ULI’s mission in Singapore.”

 

“We’re very excited that Khoo Teng Chye will be leading the national council in Singapore as he has been a great advocate of ULI in the past,” added John Fitzgerald, Chief Executive Officer of ULI Asia Pacific. “His knowledge of the Singapore real estate industry is unparalleled and with his leadership I am confident that ULI will continue to play an important role to the development of the city.”

 

Under Khoo’s leadership, ULI Singapore Executive Committee members include Frank Khoo, Global Head of Asia, Real Assets, AXA Investment Managers; Daniel Cerf, CEO, Cache Logistics Trust; Blake Olafson, Managing Partner, Asia Capital Real Estate; Scott Dunn, Vice President, Southeast Asia, AECOM; Bernard Phang, Managing Director, GIC; Darren Sabom, Head of Underwriting, APAC & Head of Southeast Asia Acquisition; Magdelene Chua, Partner, PwC Singapore; David Huang, Partners Group; Gaurang Khemka, Founder, URBNarc; Terence Tang, Managing Director, Colliers International; Niel Thassim, Head of Asia, Private Funds Group, Brookfield Asset Management; Choon Fah Ong, CEO, Edmund Tie & Company; Augustine Tan, Executive Director, Far East Organisation; Yu-Ning Hwang, Director (Land & Liveability), Strategy Group, Prime Minister’s Office; Benett Theseira, Managing Director, Head of Asia-Pacific, PGIM Real Estate

I am sure everyone had this experience before for not able to change your leftover foreign currencies simply because the amount is just too small for the money changer to do so. Often, you will chuck this leftover currencies into your drawer hoping that you will be able to use it in your next trip but the outcome – you will just forget about it completely!

While this is the exact problem that TravelersBox wishes to tackle! TravelersBox is a Finch company that helps travelers convert their leftover foreign currency, including bills and coins, into digital money with favorite e-Gift cards (iTunes, JD.com, Grab, Tokpedia, Starbucks, Facebook) or e-wallet brands (PayPal and Baidu).

TravelersBox, Gibraltar-registered company, first started at Ataturk airport in Turkey and subsequently expanded their footprints to other parts of the world. Now, they are in Singapore!

TravelersBox kiosks were first installed in Changi Airport in mid-December. When asked about the rationale of entering the Singapore market, Tomer Zussman, CEO and founder of TravelersBox, ““Singapore Changi Airport is one of the largest transportation hubs in Asia and the world, and we are thrilled to be able to join an airport of this scale. We believe that this is a service that will be of great value to travelers here and we will continue to bring leading brands and companies onboard as partners.”

Where are these kiosks located? 

There are eight kiosks located at Terminal 1 and 3.

Currencies accepted in TravelersBox Changi Airport

In the initial period which will accept nine currencies, including the Singapore Dollar, Indonesian Rupiah, Australian Dollar and Chinese Renminbi.

Visitors will be able to change these currencies into credits with companies such as Grab, Tokpedia, Lazada, Facebook and Amazon.ch, with more to come in the future.

Partners in TravelersBox Changi Airport

Amazon.ch, Amazon.jp, Facebook, Grab, iTunes, Lazada, Qoo10, Starbucks, Skype, Tokopedia, Viber, Changi Foundation.

 

 

 

After so much controversies, it is confirmed by SBS on 24 Jan 2017 that the popular variety show “Running Man”  will continue with the original cast Yoo Jae Suk, Kim Jong Kook, HaHa, Lee Kwang Soo, Ji Suk Jin, and Song Ji Hyo.

 

“In view of the overwhelming response by local and International fans, we have decided to continue the Running Man series with the original cast members,” said Creator of the hit variety show who is also the Chief Producer of Seoul Broadcasting System’s (SBS) Variety Team. “I sincerely thank the Running Man members who made the difficult decision to stay on the show. And in order to repay fans who have continuously showered us with love and support through the past 7 years, we will continue to do my best to make Running Man even more enjoyable,” he added.

On top of that, SBS official also said that Kang Garry will be appearing as special guest on the coming 29 Jan’s airing.

 

On ONE, Running Man has long been an anchor programme on the channel; in both Malaysia and Singapore, ONE is the top pay TV channel during Running Man’s premiere telecast slot on Fridays at 11pm. It is also the no.1 variety programme among the 4 Korean entertainment channels in Singapore. In Malaysia, the show has been and continues to be the top-rated programme not just on ONE, but also amongst the four Korean entertainment channels in the country.*

 

Fans can continue to watch the latest episodes of Running Man on ONE every Friday at 11pm (10pm JKT), within one week of its Korean telecast.  ONE also airs classic episodes of Running Man in a throwback slot every Saturday night at 11pm (10pm).

For more information about the show or its broadcast schedule, visit www.ONEtvasia.com/shows/running-man.

 

Dubai Tourism has announced an exciting competition for Shah Rukh Khan’s fans and eager travelers from around the world for a chance to win a once in a lifetime opportunity to enjoy a dream holiday.  One lucky winner will win a 4-nights, 5-days trip to Dubai every week, featuring business class return tickets and more.

The release of the first film from the #BeMyGuest campaign has already exceeded the 20 million views mark in just 2 weeks. But wait there’s more, Dubai Tourism has another surprise for Shah Rukh Khan fans, and this one too is sure to claim millions of hearts!

If watching this film made you want to pack your bags and catch the next flight to visit Dubai, well here’s your chance to do exactly that. Dubai Tourism has announced an exciting competition for fans and eager travelers from around the world. All you have to do is click on the ‘SRK #BeMyGuest Competition’ message from Dubai Tourism appearing on your social media channels and complete the prefilled caption: “I live in #NameOfCountryOfResidence & My New Year resolution is to #VisitDubai & #BeMyGuest to @iamSRK”.

e.g “I live in #Singapore & My New Year resolution is to #VisitDubai & #BeMyGuest to @iamSRK”

You stand to win a once in a lifetime opportunity to enjoy a dream holiday and experience Dubai like Shah Rukh Khan.  Starting from Wednesday December 28^th till Thursday January 21^st 2017, one lucky winner will win a 4-nights, 5-days trip to Dubai every week, featuring business class return tickets for 2 as well as the chance to stay in a 5-star hotel and enjoy 3 fully paid attractions.

“We always feel like people underestimate beauty queens” – Maggie & Parul

In the gripping finale of The Amazing Race Asia Season 5 on AXN, nothing stood in the way of the Filipino beauty queens and their winners’ crown.

Arriving first at the pit stop in Bali with just minutes to spare, Maggie Wilson-Consunji and Parul Shah survived six countries, 12 cities and over 12,000 kilometres, beating 10 other teams to claim the ultimate USD100,000 cash prize.

“We warmly congratulate Maggie and Parul on winning this season of The Amazing Race Asia. It was our toughest race yet with several surprising twists and some extremely challenging conditions. All 22 racers should be super proud of what they achieved during their journey. Their determination, camaraderie and sense of humor ensured that The Amazing Race Asia was the top program in its time slot amongst all English general entertainment channels in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines*,” said Virginia Lim, Senior Vice President and Head of Content, Production and Marketing. 

Maggie and Parul joined the world’s most famous adventure-reality series in the hopes of winning the US$100,000 for Parul’s family.

“It was such a relief to win because the money can help my family, especially my Dad who suffered a stroke. He taught me to never give up in life and I did this to prove that no matter what life throws at you, never give up,” said Parul.

Throughout the grueling race, Maggie and Parul stayed in the middle of the pack, but strengthened their position and gained serious momentum in the final two legs.

“We played the game really well and climbed the ladder ever so slowly. We didn’t want to come in first in any of the legs because we didn’t want to have a target on our backs.  Who would have thought that two beauty queens would win! I’m pretty sure we’ll be talking about this moment for decades!” said an ecstatic Maggie.

 

AXN fans across Asia tuned in every Thursday night to watch the latest drama and hijinks unfold as the 11 teams competed in a series of physical and mental challenges against diverse geographic backdrops. Connecting fans to the racers, AXN hosted Facebook Live sessions immediately after each episode where fans could ask questions and post messages of support to the eliminated teams. The 18 Facebook Live sessions collectively reached 9.5 million fans and garnered over 2.7 million views to date.

 

 

Christmas Wonderland returns to transform Gardens by the Bay into a festive playground this December. Organised by Blue Sky Events and supported by the Singapore Tourism Board, Christmas Wonderland 2016 takes place from 2 December to 1 January 2017, from 3.30pm to 11pm daily.

This year, Christmas Wonderland returns  for its third edition at almost twice the size. Visitors to the fair can embark on a festive journey and marvel at the Italian luminarie – Sculptures of Light illuminating the fairground, which has been expanded to 57,000sqm from last year’s 35,000sqm. New experiences await visitors of all ages, from wintry fun at the Ice Palace, to the local debut of the Hi-5 Funtastic House to a magical forest of Christmas trees. Visitors can also look forward to a bigger festive shopping and dining experience, more carnival games and curated festive performances for a celebration at home like no other.

“The first two editions have drawn visitors from all over Singapore and beyond, attracting over 2.5 million visitors. This year, we have expanded the event grounds and introduced a series of new attractions and a wider variety of activities. Taking into account the infrastructure within and around the event grounds, this year’s Christmas Wonderland will be ticketed to better manage the daily capacity to ensure the quality of the overall visitor experience is enhanced,” said Ms Sarah Martin, Director of Blue Sky Events.

Admission tickets starts from S$4 and can only be purchased online at www.christmaswonderland.sg from 28 October 2016. Each paying adult can bring in up to three children under 0.9m free of charge. A child above 0.9m requires a ticket. Visitors must purchase their tickets prior to visiting the event, as tickets will not be available for sale on-site.

Something different from last year. Fans of Australian musical group Hi-5 can also look forward to The Hi-5 Funtastic House, which will make its Singapore debut at Christmas Wonderland 2016.

Additional charges for some attractions within the event grounds as well as to the conservatories apply. Selected capacity-controlled attractions will be available for pre-bookings online.

This week, honestbee adds laundry service into their product portfolio targeting users who are too busy to run their errands.

 

In the media brief, honestbee demonstrates on the interface and explains what they think about the market’s expectation on the service. The whole idea is to bring supreme service quality and convenience to the customer. Simply select the items you want laundered, followed by the preferred date and one-hour time slot of your pick-up and delivery. Proceed to check out. A Laundry Bee will receive the order, collect your laundry and send it to laundry partners. Once the laundry is quality checked and ready, the laundry bee will deliver it back to you within the selected delivery time slot.

 

The laundry service price list is as such

 

[pdf-embedder url=”https://theneodimension.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Media-Release-Life-Just-Got-Easier-as-honestbee-Extends-On-Demand-Footprint-beyond-Groceries-with-Specialised-Laundry-Service_FINAL.pdf” title=”media-release-life-just-got-easier-as-honestbee-extends-on-demand-footprint-beyond-groceries-with-specialised-laundry-service_final”]

Speaking about user’s experience, honestbee has recently updated their web interface. Featuring a sleeker look and feel, as well as a more intuitive design, customers now take a shorter time to order the essentials they need.

 

From 26 September to 23 October 2016, honestbee is partnering with SMRT to bring their services to honestbee’s customers when riding on the trains. Selected trains on the East-West and North-South Lines will feature our digital concept “stores” from which customers can shop interactively while they ride to and from home.

Singtel today released a film, Data ExStream which demonstrates the speed, coverage, reliability and low latency of the Singtel mobile network by putting it to three extreme tests in real-world conditions. This is the first time that a local telecommunications network has been tested in such a unique manner.

The film features a series of extreme challenges conducted across Singapore to test Singtel’s tri-band 4G+ network. The challenges included Singapore’s world champion fencing star, Lau Ywen, battling through a precarious obstacle course, a rooftop game of whack-a-mole and a series of precision driving stunts performed by renowned Singapore stunt driver, Jason Tan.

Goggles were fitted and customised with two Samsung Galaxy Note 5s – the first device streamed real-time video footage of the challenger’s environments via Singtel’s tri-band 4G+ network and relayed to the second, which served as the challenger’s eyes. Transmission of the images had to be instantaneous for each challenger to accomplish their extreme task.

The success of the challenges hinged on the overall performance of the Singtel mobile network: low latency, high speed, data capacity, and far-reaching coverage. The Singtel network delivered on all accounts and the challengers accomplished their tasks without a hitch.

For a behind-the-scenes video

Announced at Sound Decisions, the Sony VPL-VW5000ES is the first projector designed specifically for home cinema use that features 4K resolution powered by a laser light engine that provides 5,000 lumens of brightness, is compatible with High Dynamic Range (HDR), emulates the new BT.2020 color gamut, and covers the full DCI colour space.

Sony continues to be the only manufacturer designing projectors specifically for the home theatre market that provides full 4K resolution imagers. Sony’s advanced SXRD panels are designed to produce outstanding native device contrast and when coupled with the laser light engine, the VPL-VW5000ES provides an infinite dynamic contrast ratio and 5,000 lumens of color light output.

The VPL-VW5000ES covers the full DCI-P3 color gamut. By taking advantage of its professional calibration tools the VPL-VW5000ES allows the user to choose to emulate the BT.2020 color space, as well. This ensures compatibility with upcoming home video formats. And by bringing together high brightness, infinite dynamic contrast and the latest signal processing technology, the VPL-VW5000ES provides compatibility with High Dynamic Range (HDR), enabling the viewer to see wider ranges of contrast and colors than ever before.

Sony’s Advanced Motionflow feature reduces blur and maintains brightness and VPL-VW5000ES’ extremely fast imagers allow viewing of fast action content – especially sporting events – with great smoothness, even with 4K signals. Along with HDR and BT.2020 capabilities, the VPL-VW5000ES also includes an HDMI input that is HDCP 2.2 compatible. That same input has enough bandwidth to accept 4K 60p signals up to YCbCr 4:4:4 8bit or YCbCr 4:2:2 12bit, thus helping to ensure that the VPL-VW5000ES is prepared to handle all types of video content now and in the future.

The VPL-VW5000ES can be tilted as much as 30 degrees, allowing for flexible installations that take advantage of mirrors to place larger screens in smaller spaces, such as rear projection. Thanks to a newly developed liquid cooling system with low noise operation, the projector can also be located near viewers without impacting the enjoyment of a program’s audio. The unit ships with a standard powered lens with a zoom ratio from 1.27 to 2.73:1 and lens shift capability of +/- 80% vertical and +/- 31% horizontal.

Benefits of the VPL-VW5000ES’ laser light engine include fast on/off times with no waiting for the projector to cool down – which means you can immediately turn it back on to resume binge-watching your favorite show. The light engine delivers a long operational life with a linear decrease in brightness, so the color shifts seen with traditional lamp wear are not expected. But if the color settings do shift over time the VPL-VW5000ES includes a built-in re-calibration function that can be used to test how much the projector has drifted from its original factory calibration and reset it.

The VPL-VW5000ES is available for pre-order now at a recommended retail price of $84,000. For more information, visit http://pro.sony-asia.com/projector.

156-room InterContinental Pattaya Resort to open along Pattaya Bay beachfront

Singapore, March 2016: InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG®), one of world’s leading hotel companies, has signed a management agreement with Amburaya Resort Company Limited to rebrand the Sheraton Pattaya Resort, a luxury resort nestled in the Phratamnak Hills south of Pattaya Bay, to InterContinental Pattaya Resort.

The Resort will be operating under the InterContinental brand in April 2016. The 156-room beachfront resort located five-minute walk from the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Center, will offer a selection of superior, premium rooms and villas, in a lush, exotic locale, coupled with unparalleled service.

Guests can look forward to a variety of cuisine at the hotel’s all day dining and signature restaurant, and unwind by the three lagoon swimming pools, work out at the fitness centre or indulge in an array of relaxing treatments at the spa. In the months following the opening, the resort will also feature a Club InterContinental lounge and Planet Trekkers, a dedicated space for young guests, as part of the new offerings to reposition the property to an InterContinental Resort. Guest rooms will be renovated including the creation of Club InterContinental rooms on a dedicated floor. InterContinental Pattaya Resort will join Holiday Inn Pattaya to be the second resort managed by IHG in the popular beach destination.

Clarence Tan, Clarence Tan, Senior Vice President, Development, AMEA, IHG said: “As one of Thailand’s top beach destinations, Pattaya attracts both international visitors and locals from other Thai cities looking for an idyllic weekend getaway. Phratamnak Hill is a prime location and one of the most exclusive areas along the coastline, which is perfect for the first InterContinental resort to cater to guests who want a luxurious experience. We’ve had a great partnership with Amburaya Resort Company Limited who we launched our Holiday Inn Express brand in Bangkok with, and we are delighted to work with them again to provide guests with exceptional experiences in Pattaya.”

Amburaya, who owns Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam, has a proven track record in high quality hotel developments and continue to expand its portfolio of hotels and resorts in key cities across Thailand.

Sunny Bajaj, Managing Director, Amburaya Resort Company Limited, said, “The InterContinental brand is globally recognised for its consistency in delivering top-notch luxury travel standards. With the growing popularity of Pattaya amongst luxury travellers, partnering with IHG is a strategic decision for us to bring our property up to the next level catering to guests seeking luxurious experiences. We are confident InterContinental Pattaya Resort will be one of the most highly sought-after hotels in Pattaya, and look forward to a great partnership with IHG for many years to come.”

InterContinental Hotels and Resorts is one of the world’s leading hotel brands with a long and successful heritage since the first InterContinental was founded in 1946. Today, InterContinental is an award-winning brand, picking up accolades such as the coveted title of “World’s Leading Hotel Brand” at the World Travel Awards last year – an award it has held for six consecutive years; and the title of “Best Hotel Brand Worldwide” in this year’s Business Traveller Middle East Awards.

Globally, IHG operates 184 InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, with 52 hotels due to open in the next three to five years.

In Thailand, there are three InterContinental Hotels & Resorts:
InterContinental Bangkok, InterContinental Hua Hin Resort
and InterContinental Samui Baan Taling Ngam Resort, and 15 other hotels across Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express,
Hotel Indigo. The company has 15 hotels and resorts in its development pipeline, due to open in the country within the next three to five years.