The first Review on the Changi Lounge of Jewel Changi Airport

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                  / KUCINTA SETIA

On 17 April 2019, Jewel Changi Airport officially opens its doors to the public and tourists. On the same day, Changi Lounge opens to the public and transit passengers.

Changi Lounge, located on the first level of Jewel Changi Airport, advertises itself as an ideal location for public showers and three hours' rest. The costs are as follows:-

A typical shower at Changi Lounge costs 38 Singapore Dollars at per 45-minute interval. However, if one adds the meals and usage of the lounge for business and relaxation, it costs only 50 Singapore Dollars for three hours. The lounge does not allow the public and tourists to sleep here overnight.

During the first use of the shower room, the journalist found that the facilities are ultra-modern. One needs to control the flow of water during showering so that water is not wasted. There is a bidget that is hardly understood. So is the tap during the first attempt to turn it on.

The three shower rooms provide shavers for inhouse use. The concierge said there are first-aid kits in the shower rooms but I found none. The razor of the shaver that I first used in the shower room was too sharp that I bled after shaving. The first-aid kit was not there.

Changi Lounge said one has to pay 2 Singapore Dollars for a printout and a second shaver but during  my second visit to the lounge, the central printer was not functioning such that I have a free-of-charge printout from the concierge.

The meals at Changi Lounge are a lot more of a variety and more stomach-filling than The Haven. They include fish fillet, meat, salads, rice, noodles, vegetables, soups, cakes, croissants and fruits.

There is the bar at Changi Lounge.

Power-charging facilities and work stations are available for guests to use.

Changi Lounge is currently not part of the Priority Pass lounge membership program. According to the manager of the lounge, talks are underway with Priority Pass and banks to accept usages of Priority Pass and banks' credit cards at this venue.

Payment modes currently are cash and NETS.

Located opposite the Early Check-in area of Jewel Changi Airport, the public and tourists that visit Changi Lounge will definitely like this stopover destination.

Jewel Changi Airport with ten levels to contain airport hotel

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                  / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to Everyone

More and more passengers are looking to transfer at Singapore Changi Airport. After being named the Best Skytrax Airport for the sixth consecutive year, the new landmark created by Changi Airport known as Jewel Changi Airport will be launched in 2019. 

Jewel Changi Airport is the iconic airport complex with glass and steel and a gem-like appearance in front of Terminal 1. Its total construction area is about 137,000 square meters. There are ten floors (including five floors above ground and five floors below ground), which are connected to various terminals. It is not an airport terminal by itself. It looks like a jewel on the ground and a silver donut from the sky. It should be affectionately named as Changi Jewel.

It is difficult to find other airports in the world that can make themselves a travel destination.

Jewel Changi Airport CEO Tang Wei said, "Jewel Changi Airport will not only be a transit station for more people, it will also become a new landmark in Singapore. It enhances Singapore's attractiveness as a travel destination and enhance Changi Airport as a transit point."

Jewel Changi Airport has a five-storey indoor garden covered with thousands of trees and plants. The green area is about 22,000 square meters. More than 2,000 trees and more than 100,000 shrubs are planted in Australia. Brazil, China, Malaysia, Thailand and the United States. There is an indoor waterfall vortex (Rain Vortex) in the park, and a 40-meter-high rain vortex is located in the center of  Jewel.

As an important part of the airport facilities, Jewel Changi Airport continues the convenient travel experience provided by Changi Airport for transit passengers. According to reports, it is seamlessly connected to the three terminals. It provides early check-in, luggage storage and tax refund services. Assume that the passenger's flight is at night. If there is no other plan after check-out, the passenger can go to Changi Jewel first. For those who need to take a break before the flight, there is also a hotel in Changi Jewel, which offers a variety of flexible package options, calculated in 4 hours. Passengers do not need to pay for the whole day. They can just take a shower or take a nap before going out for dinner, shopping and boarding.

Tang Wei believes that "for passengers, many of the tourist destinations they choose do not have direct flights, which also leads them to unknowingly find that they have been staying at the airport for a longer period of time, so now the airport will provide More and more reasons for recreational facilities."

Although it is not the world's largest international airport, the tax-free income of Changi Airport is one of the best in the world due to its excellent shopping environment and huge international passenger turnover. In 2017, the Changi Airport franchise store revenue reached 1.9 billion US dollars.

Changi Jewel will also become a leisure place for locals. It is understood that many Singaporean locals will often go to Changi Airport. Maybe they choose to come to Changi Airport to see the planes take off and land or shopping and entertainment on weekends. Maybe they will stay at the airport to have a meal together when they drop off. Tang Wei said, "If travelers choose to travel in Singapore for four days, they can arrange one of them for a day and play at Jewel."

Changi Airport expects that Jewel Changi Airport will enhance Singapore's attractiveness as a destination for travel, which will consolidate Changi Airport's position as the world's leading aviation hub, allowing more travellers to choose Changi Airport as their transit point. It is estimated that the future passenger flow will be 40-50 million, of which about 40 per cent are passengers and 60 per cent are local residents.

In addition to improving transit appeal by creating new landmarks, Changi Airport has also increased the efficiency of check-in by using technology. Terminal 4, opened in October 2017, is equipped with “FAST” technology, including face recognition software, self-service baggage label printing and shipping, which means that from check-in to boarding, passengers no longer need The help of others. The project has increased the annual passenger capacity of Changi Airport passengers to 82 million passengers per year.

At the same time, the expansion of Changi Airport continues. In 2019, Changi Airport will proceed to upgrade Terminal 2 to increase the passenger capacity of the terminal by about 20 per cent. The Changi East project, which is expected to be completed in 2030, includes Terminal 5 and three runway systems, freight buildings and other aviation auxiliary facilities and ground transportation infrastructure. When Terminal 5 is put into use, the total passenger capacity of Changi Airport will increase to 135 million per year.

Ctrip sets up its own hotel group brand

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                 / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to Everyone

On 9 October 2018, ITB China and ITB Asia exhibitor Ctrip officially announced the establishment of Licheng Hotel Group. According to reports, Licheng Hotel Group has formed a “alliance” by high-star hotels in first- and second-tier cities across the country, and leveraged the big data analysis and services of Ctrip Group to strengthen the accommodation market. 

This year, there will be about 50 high-star hotels joining the “Licheng Hotel Group”, which are located in first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. According to industry insiders, the purpose of Ctrip setting up its own hotel group is to leverage on the strengths of individual hotels, so that brand hotels with weak brands have brand support. At the same time, through the background data, these hotels are more accurately positioned to help them compete in the accommodation industry. 

According to Li Cheng, COO Sun Gang, Licheng Hotel will subdivide the hotel into three major brands according to different service positions, namely “Licheng Huating Hotel”, which locates ultra-high-end hotel brands, and “Lize”, which is positioned as a high-end full-service hotel brand. "Hotel" and positioning of high-end specialty hotel brand "Li Cheng Rui Xuan Hotel". According to the current plan of Licheng Hotel, the number of franchise hotels will exceed 50 at the end of this year, reaching 250 next year and reaching more than 500 in the following year.

It is worth noting that Licheng can bring replicable systematic management, systematic marketing experience and modular tools to high-star single hotels and hotel groups to help Licheng's partners quickly expand in market size and competition.

In recent years, the competition in the hotel industry market has become increasingly fierce, and hotel branding has become more and more obvious. On the one hand, budget hotels are constantly upgrading, diverting the flow of customers in the mid-end market. On the other hand, the brand grouping of high-end hotels is gradually increasing. Insiders pointed out that compared to single-hotels, hotel group management can not only form a brand effect, but also form group management, intensive procurement, and save hotel expenses.

A hotel group management said that in the current domestic high-end hotel market, domestic brand groups account for a relatively low proportion, mainstream high-end hotel brands are foreign brands, and due to the existence of a large number of domestic single hotels, for domestic high-end hotels, hotels Branding still has a lot of room for growth.

Insiders pointed out that Ctrip's move to establish a hotel brand is to enter the hotel industry through the background data and strengthen its control of hotel resources. Besides Ctrip,  other OTAs such as Alibaba and Shiji  are interested to enter the hotel industry too. There will be more competition in the hotel reservation market.

The new Haikou Meilan Airport Hotel opens in Haikou Airport City

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                 / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to Everyone

The new Haikou Meilan Airport Hotel has finally opened, replacing the former HNA's Haikou Meilan Airport Hotel. It does not have an external sign indicating the airport hotel name. It is part of and linked to the gigantic integrated airport transportation, accommodation, duty-free shopping and dining complex known as Haikou Airport City which has high-speed railway link to Sanya and other parts of Hainan.

In order to reach the hotel, one needs to reach the second level of Haikou Aviation City, access through an inner pathway, a lift down to the basement and reach one level up.

Unlike the former HNA Haikou Meilan Airport Hotel, the new airport hotel does not provide HNA Group inflight magazine for reading. The hotel reception area which covers a lobby resting area however is larger than the previous premise. Here one can see the largest hotel collection of Haikou aircraft models.

The shower room is huge with a variety of toiletries  including shaver, shampoo, bath gel and sanitary kit. The bed is cosy.

The airport hotel does not have a business centre but it is as expensive as an Ibis hotel. The high price is due to the location of Haikou Aviation City, which is directly opposite the domestic airport terminal building. It is only at this airport hotel where one can see China passenger aircraft landing and departing at closer range than other airport hotels in China.

The new Haikou Meilan Airport Hotel is the best airport hotel for aircraft spotting in China. There is no necessity to inform the concierge that you want to take snapshots of aircraft landing and departing in this airport if you are the hotel guest.

The hotel provides complimentary organic breakfast to its guests. Its dining area is larger than the previous hotel location. Expect to pay room key deposit of 500 RMB if one does not have an on-line booking via Agoda, Ctrip or Trip.

It is recommended to stay in the new Haikou Meilan Airport Hotel at least once in a lifetime if there is an opportunity to do so. One will not regret.