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eTN Hero: Cordelia Igel, team leader at Vox Restaurant, Grand Hyatt Hotel Berlin

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Many of us traveling around the globe on business have travel stories to tell. I spend more than 100 fully-paid nights every year in Hyatt Hotels around the world. Doing this, you get to know a brand more closely.


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I am collecting my own list of heroes and honoring each of them eTN Heroes. You cannot buy eTN Heroes, and this title is a publisher’s recommendation based on personal experience.

I realize there are so many heroes in the hospitality industry and even more in the rest of the travel and tourism industry, so my personal experience is only a very small token of well-deserved recognition.

Today, I would like to introduce Cordelia Igel, a senior team leader at Vox Restaurant at the Grand Hyatt, Berlin, Germany as the latest eTN Hero.

Travelers like me experience hotels as a second home. When something doesn’t make sense, I am always outspoken and hope my criticism is heard. I want the businesses that cater to my travel to do well.

Loving my espresso every day is a passion many fellow travelers share. For me, it doesn’t make sense when international hotels cannot see that good espresso is a major selling point. For me, it’s a major buying point when selecting a hotel.

For example, I stopped staying at the Marriott Newark Airport where the Starbucks in this hotel is only open from 6 am to 10 am.

It boggles my mind because people come in 24 hours a day because after all, it’s an airport hotel.

With travelers arriving or leaving this hotel don’t always go by Eastern Standard time.

A good cup of coffee becomes as important as a good bed or a hot shower.

The same goes for food. I select hotels where I can get my breakfast, lunch, or dinner 24/7 because my body time clock is not always synchronized with the time in the destination.

Mistakes happen, especially when you’re jetlagged. One of the worst was when I picked up a suitcase that belonged to another passenger in Tokyo after arriving from Abu Dhabi and showed up at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo with the wrong luggage. Takashi Kai, Assistant Manager at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, was my first eTN Hero that day and managed this impossible and frustrating situation for me.

Here why I am so thankful to Cordelia Igel, the senior team leader at Vox Restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Berlin, my latest eTN Hero.

In March during ITB  I stayed at the hotel for 8 nights.

The hotel has a fantastic breakfast and a great pool/gym area along with a very central and exciting location close to Potsdamer Platz.

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Rooms are a little small and average in Berlin, but acceptable. I may have been spoiled. I stayed at the Hyatt Haus Duesseldorf before arriving in Berlin during the same trip and also one night at the Park Hyatt Hamburg and loved my apartment and hotel suite. My apartment at Duesseldorf Hyatt Haus was over the top – washer, dryer, living room, bedroom, and an outside patio with a million dollar view, and enough space to entertain 100 people.

Here is why Cordelia at the Grand Hyatt Berlin is my hero. Attending a very busy trade show is always a challenge when managing a busy scheduled and sleep. My morning espresso is of utmost importance. In the past, when staying at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Berlin, I went to Starbucks across the street from the hotel, but this year, Starbucks was no longer there.

What were my options? As a Globalist member in the Hyatt loyalty program, my breakfast is always included. Hyatt Germany is not one of the hotels forcing Globalists to take their breakfast only in the Club lounge.

The continental breakfast at the Hyatt Grand Clun is usually not comparable with the wide variety of food found at VOX restaurant.

So everything was perfect in the morning, right? Wrong!

When trying the Club lounge espresso, I should have known it wasn’t up to my standards as it was served from a push-button machine. However, not all Grand Clubs are the same. At the Grand Hyatt Seoul, Korea the Espresso machine is the best I found in the Hyatt system so far.

At the Grand Hyatt Berlin, when dining in the hotel’s 5-star restaurant VOX, a 3-star espresso is served from a push-button machine.

When I asked the lead server, Cordelia, why they are serving such a superb breakfast and offer only a push button machine-made espresso she offered a solution.

The only good espresso machine in the hotel not using push-buttons was at the hotel bar. Cordelia went to the hotel bar and personally hand-crafted a cup of real espresso for me. She also managed to bring it back within one minute after pouring. Magical!

Every morning after that, Ms. Igel knew what to do. And for that extra touch of service and not hesitating a second to go above and beyond, Vielen Dank Frau Igel, you are my eTN Hero today.

 

 

 

 

Travel News | eTurboNews

WTTC Global Summit: President Obama was a disappointment for many

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U.S. President Barak Obama was the most expected speaker at the ongoing World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) summit in Seville today.

More than 1500 CEOs, association presidents, ministers of tourism, and heads of state were attending the summit, and hundreds of viewers from around the world were watching the live video stream of the summit, also announced by this publication. Many who saw the eTN announcement in Hawaii were up at 2:00 am in the morning to listen in.

A loyal group of fans of the former president was in for a big disappointment when without prior warning the video live stream was stopped during the president’s address.

The feedback eTN received from people in the audience listening to Obama’s conversation was not really great. The money spent by WTTC to get some advice from the most popular head of state was disappointing.

There was no substance in the presidents’ talk was some feedback. His talk about his love for hiking when he was young was not relevant to the needs top executives were hoping to hear.

The challenges, needs of the second largest industry was not mentioned. There was no word about equality and dangers LGBT tourists face in countries like Brunei.

Mr. Obama talked about the advice he gave to his daughters: “Be kind, be useful.”

After the microphones and cameras were turned on again moderator Nick Ross praised Obama as the most popular president in generations, saying “lack of power reveals.”

President Obama arrived in Seville at midnight before the event and spent the night at Hotel Alfonso XIII, drawing attention from local residents and the press. In 2016, a scheduled visit by Obama to the Andalusian capital was canceled due to a shooting in Dallas.

He visited Reales Alcázares, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the morning before returning to his hotel.

He left again at 2 pm for Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos, which is hosting the international event on April 3 and 4.

After meeting privately with around 50 summit attendees, Obama delivered his short address to WTTC delegates.

After his speech, Obama was scheduled to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for around 20 minutes inside one of the center’s private rooms. It will be their second one-on-one after their meeting last year in Madrid.

Although this is Obama’s first trip to Seville, he has ties to the city because his daughter Malia lived there for a few months.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Korean Air: No more peanuts

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Korean Air has made the decision to remove peanuts from its food offerings after the recent incident involving 2 teenagers who were taken off their flight from flight KE621 to Manila from Incheon Airport because of a peanut allergy.

Korean Air has taken this action to ensure the health and safety of passengers who are allergic to peanuts. As a first step, the airline has replaced its honey-roasted peanut products with other snacks, such as crackers.

In addition, within the next few weeks, Korean Air will remove food containing peanut ingredients from in-flight meals.

The airline is determined to provide a safe environment for all passengers and prevent any similar cases in the future.

“The decision to stop peanut products and peanut ingredients is the minimum safety measure for peanut-allergy passengers,” a Korean Air spokesperson said.

Peanut allergies are emerging as a critical issue in the aviation industry, and a number of major global carriers have stopped offering in-flight peanut products.

More information and travel tips are available on Korean Air’s homepage for passengers with a peanut allergy.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Gambling is big business in tourism

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The gambling industry, which happens to be a really big one worldwide, is one of the most popular in terms of tourism. That’s why casino tourism is such a big thing these days.

Many countries have been developing big casinos in various regions within their bounds in order to get more tourists to come in. Obviously, a more robust tourism environment is good for the economy as it brings in not only more money but also more recognition and possible investors.

Here is a look at the impact casinos have on tourism and how they help with the overall economy of a country.

Evidence of a Correlation Between Casino and Tourism

Just by taking a look at the biggest casinos around the world, we can actually observe how tourism is boosted by casinos in some countries. These countries include the USA, Macau, and Australia. Just to give you an idea, Las Vegas, Nevada alone was able to bring in over 40 million tourists in 2016. And that’s not very surprising simply because Las Vegas is THE place to go if you want to make a lot of casino money and have fun. Sure, the tourist attractions and the beautiful nightlights also attract the tourists. However, it’s the overall gambling experience and ambiance that really bring them in.

A strong competitor of Las Vegas is none other than Macau, which is a region in China’s territory that was made into one of the world’s biggest gambling hubs. Macau became such a giant in the gambling industry that they were even able to overtake Las Vegas in gambling receipts back in 2010. Just like in Vegas, Macau also focused their efforts on providing the high spending clients with VIP services. This included golden member privileges, private gambling rooms, amazing amenities, and more. This allowed them to bring in so many rich tourists in 2013. The high rollers eventually made up 66% of the overall casino profit that year. Of course, this sudden increase was stopped short in 2014 by the anti-corruption crackdown from Xi Jinping’s government. Eventually, Macau was able to stabilize because the casinos also targeted the mass market instead of just high rollers.

Even though the Macau casinos were able to hold their ground, a number of Chinese gamblers were not satisfied. This is why they went over to Australia instead. Because of Australia’s huge casino developments, around 1 million of these Chinese gamblers switched out to Australia. In fact, casinos became one of Australia’s biggest attractions rivaling even Vegas and Macau alike with 10 million visitors in recent years.

And it’s not only these big countries who have seen surges in their tourism sectors because of casinos. Other smaller countries such as Singapore, Philippines, Monaco, and Cambodia all have boasted of strong revenues from tourists who visit those countries to play in casinos. The growth of the gambling industry in these countries already can give us an idea of how much of an impact casinos have on a country’s tourism.

How Casino Tourism Impacts Other Industries

The great thing about casino tourism is that it can bring in a large number of people from various countries and concentrate them in one location. Since there are a lot of people around casinos, other industries can also benefit from that. The hospitality industry is one such that really benefits from casino tourism. Where there is a casino, there would usually be hotels, resorts, and restaurants. That is why partnerships between hotels, casinos, and restaurants are very common.

Not only hotels and restaurants would flourish, but even other tourist attractions around the area as well. Local restaurants would receive a flock of foreign visitors who came from the casinos. These foreigners would then get a chance to try the local cuisines. This further contributes to the country’s tourism.

In a sense, casino tourism also encourages diversity. This is exactly what happened after Macau’s corruption crackdown. The Chinese government decided to diversify Macau to make it more than just another big time gambling hub like the big Venice canal lookalike.

We can also see such an example in Singapore– one of their biggest casinos, Resortsworld, is located in Sentosa near other tourist attractions by the Sentosa bay. Due to that, a lot of gamblers have also been visiting the tourist spots in the area. Finally, Manila has also been enjoying strong tourism due to the presence of their casinos concentrated in one area.

With that, we can see that location is key if a country would want to make their casino tourism venture successful. By strategic location and immense marketing, casinos can directly impact tourism and also impact other industries and the economy at large.

The Presence of Overseas Workers

The presence of a more diverse crowd also comes the presence of more overseas workers. Let’s take the Australian casinos for example. Because of the influx of Chinese high rollers flocking into their casinos, the demand for Mandarin speaking dealers also increased. What some casinos do is that they employ staff who either speak Mandarin or staff that come from Mandarin speaking countries like Taiwan. This allows the Chinese high rollers to feel more at home in the casino, thus encouraging them to bring in more Chinese gamblers to play.

Impact on Across Border Markets

We all know that there are some countries that make gambling illegal. Of course, this doesn’t deter the citizens of the country who want to gamble. What they would do is that they would either travel to the country nearest to them that legalizes gambling or search for a list of PayPal online casinos wherein they can internationally transact and gamble. By giving something the locals of a country want that their own home country cannot provide, you will be opening up new markets for opportunity by making that “want” accessible.

In Conclusion

All of these points will show that there is definitely a relationship between casinos and overall tourism. Through this discussion, we can definitely say that the casino industry can have a big positive impact on the overall tourism situation of an economy. Of course, there is the problem of an economy relying too much on the gambling industry for attracting tourists.

That is why many countries are also diversifying their tourist attractions and putting various tourist spots near casinos. This will give the foreign gamblers a reason to explore a bit and see the sights. This will encourage them to want to go back to the country even more if they already get sick of the casino. This was actually a problem with Macau since Macau didn’t really have much to brag about except their casino. That is why a lot of the former customers fled to Australia after the crackdown. However, the Chinese government decided that they wanted to diversify in order to attract other markets aside from the high rollers. That is one of the ways that lead to Macau’s stabilization.

While casinos can surely boost tourism, it shouldn’t be the sole reason for a country’s tourism growth. It should be one of the reasons supplemented by other attractions that can make tourists want to keep on coming back.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Viking Sky cruise ship safely towed to Norwegian port, 643 passengers rescued, 20 hospitalized

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A luxury Viking Sun cruise ship that was left floating due to engine failure and nearly crashed into the rocks in rough waters has safely arrived in the port of Molde on the west coast on Norway, with over 900 people on board.

The Viking Sky was towed to safety by two tugs, with one sailing in front of the vessel and another behind it.

The luxury cruise ship, which set sail with almost 1,400 passengers and crew aboard, sent out an SOS signal on Saturday. It was drifting in rough waters near a rocky coast after all its engines stopped working.

At some point, it approached the land at the distance of just 100 meters, with passengers posting dramatic photos. But the crew was eventually able to start one of the engines and avoid the crash.

“If they had run aground we would have faced a major disaster,” Hans Vik, the heads of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre for southern Norway, told TV2.

Rescue services airlifted 479 passengers on to a helicopter before the weather improved and Viking Sky could be towed.

Twenty people required hospitalization as result of the order, the vessels operations said. The passengers were mainly elderly citizens from the US and Britain.

Travel News | eTurboNews