Penfolds honoured as ‘World’s Most Admired Wine Brand’

Penfolds has been recognised as the ‘World’s Most Admired Wine Brand’ by Drinks International in their annual poll, following a successful year of honours. Almost 200 international industry experts including buyers, sommeliers, wine writers, Masters of Wine, industry experts and wine critics took part in the poll which pits wine brands from all global regions, styles and qualities against each other. Peter Gago, Chief Winemaker, Penfolds exclaimed, “All at Penfolds are so chuffed with this global recognition – from those working in our vineyards and wineries, on our bottling lines, back-of-house in logistics, procurement and marketing, to our talented sales teams around the world who are at the coal-face selling our whites, reds and fortifieds. After 172 years in the wine business we’re still hungry, still excited and still eager to make better wine and champion new followers.” Drinks International’s acknowledgement builds on Penfolds evolving global recognition, including the 'Winery of the Year' award presented to Penfolds for the 25th year in a row by Wine & Spirits magazine in late 2015 – a world first. Last year Penfolds also received the outstanding honour for 1971 Grange, which was named the world’s best wine from the 1970’s by FINE magazine. Recognition continued in 2015 with Penfolds award for the International White Winemaker of the Year, by the International Wine Challenge. Source:http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?sid=24&aid=23678

Leela group scion Amruda Nair starts hospitality brand in Qatar

Amruda Nair, granddaughter of Leela Hotels founder Captain Krishna Nair has recently signed a joint venture with Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, chairman of Al Sawari Holding to launch Aiana Hotels & Resorts, Nair's own hospitality brand in Qatar. The new joint venture company Aiana Hotels & Resorts L.L.C will be the first Asian-inspired hotel in Qatar and represent a hospitality brand of high-end luxury hotels, resorts and serviced apartments in the Middle East, Indian Sub-Continent and South East Asia. The joint venture brings together the resources and entrepreneurial skills of Al Thani, who is also the chairman Qatari Business Association, with the hospitality expertise of Nair, herself a third generation hotelier. “Given the long standing relationship between Qatar and India, there is great synergy in the similar way that we travel. This is why we want to bring Aiana as a new lifestyle hotel brand to the Middle East and will continue to support Aiana through our ambitious expansion plans for acquisitions in key destinations starting with the property in Doha with many more to follow in Western Europe (London) and US,” Al Thani said at the launch. “With the launch of Aiana Hotels and Resorts, I am delighted to be introducing a brand I am confident will become the preferred choice of travellers seeking authentic and immersive experiences that will stay with them long after they have checked out. I was fortunate to meet Sheikh Faisal who shared my passion for hospitality and supported my dreams and ambitions of creating an Indian brand with a global presence. Our service, design, and operating philosophy is geared to exceed the expectations of a new generation of savvy travellers. We call it Hospitality 2.0,” Nair said. Aaina Hotels will start with a hotel in Doha, Qatar, and has plans to eventually manage five hotels in India and an equal number elsewhere

FREE HOTEL MANAGEMENT TRAINING TUTORIALS

Hospitality School (www.hospitality-school.com) is one of the most popular hotel management training blog. The site is offering 200+ hospitality management training tutorials for hotel management students, teachers and readers. Most amazing part is that all these articles are FREE. Yes you read right. You can read all these articles as Free.

The site is like a giant zoo in the field of hotel & restaurant management training. They cover almost everything you would need to learn as a hospitality management student or if you would want to persue a great career in the field of hotel, motel or restaurant industry.

They have free tutorials on different topics like:

1. Basic Tutorials
2. Career Advice
3. Chef-Cooking-Culinary Arts
4. Dialogue
5. English for Hotel
6. Event Planning
7. F & B Service
8. Front Office
9. Handling Guest Complaints
10. Hospitality Industry
11. Hospitality School & Course
12. Hotel Management Terminology
13. Hotel Training Manuals
14. Hotel Video Training
15. Housekeeping
16. Hygiene & Sanitation
17. Online Hospitality Management Degree
18. Restaurant Management
19. Safety & Security
20. Travel & Tourism

If you need to learn basic tips then you should visit the site and read these tutorials. Besides sharing free tutorials every week, the site also produces few top class training manuals. If you are looking for some easy to follow SOP Collection then you may go ahead and buy these training guides:

1. 200 Hotel Management Training Tutorials Collection
2. Food & Beverage Service Training Manual (SOP Collection)
3. Hotel Front Office Training Manual (Sop Collection)
4. Hotel Housekeeping Training Manual (SOP Collection)
5. Get Job in Hotel & Restaurant – Hospitality Career Guide
6. Professional Spoken English for Hotel & Restaurant Workers
7. Encyclopedia of Hotel Management Terminology : 6230 Hotel Management Terms & Glossary Collection
8. 120+ Hotel Forms, Checklists & Documents Collection
9. 150 Hotel Housekeeping Power Point Collection

All these training Manuals are available here: http://www.hospitality-school.com/training-manuals/

MakeMyTrip targets 50% market share in online hotel booking business by 2019

MakeMyTrip Limited, an online travel agent (OTA), announced an agreement under which Ctrip.com International, Ltd., a leading travel service provider of accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours and corporate travel management in China, has agreed to make an investment in MakeMyTrip. Upon completion of the transaction, Ctrip will invest US$180 million (INR 1,200 crore) in MakeMyTrip through convertible bonds. The funds will go towards aggressively increasing MakeMyTrip’s market share in the online hotel booking space from 25% to 50% in the next 3 years, Deep Kalra, Founder and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip told The Times of India.

"The market has changed. A couple of players raised money and started the discounting game. Discounting has power, as you may have seen from the game by e-commerce players. We had to respond," said Kalra. "Apart from investing in our mobile tech space, we will venture into new categories such as pilgrimages and adventure travel that have great potential for us," he added.

In addition, MakeMyTrip has granted Ctrip permission to acquire MakeMyTrip shares in the open market, so that combined with shares convertible under the convertible bonds, Ctrip may beneficially own up to 26.6% of MakeMyTrip's outstanding shares. Upon completion of the investment, Ctrip will acquire the right to appoint a Director to the MakeMyTrip Board of Directors.

The company will focus on further strengthening its leading market share in the Indian online travel market by offering customers the best mobile booking experience across its full service travel products platform, especially as rising smart-phone penetration is driving an inflection point in India's online travel opportunity.

Kalra added, "We are delighted to have Ctrip invest in us. Ctrip is the dominant market leader in the online travel market in China. We believe there are many similarities in the Indian and Chinese online travel markets and we expect this strategic relationship between two market leaders to be mutually beneficial."

James Liang, CEO and Co-Founder, Ctrip commented, "Today's announcement marks the beginning of the strategic relationship between Ctrip and MakeMyTrip. Through this transaction, Ctrip has now gained exposure to India's fast growing online travel market."

Source: Hospitalitybizindia.com

HENNESSY COGNAC NAMED WORLD'S TOP PERFORMING SPIRIT BRAND

Hennessy, the world’s best-selling Cognac, has just emerged as the number one performing global spirit for 2014, according to UK-based International Wine and Spirit Research group (IWSR).

Hennessy, which has consistently posted growth for the last 50 months, has been recognized by the IWSR as a top 3 global brand since 2012. Earning the #1 spot on the annual list is especially exciting as the brand celebrates its milestone 250^th anniversary this year.

McDonald's India to double outlets with Rs 750 crore investment

As per a PTI news report, McDonald's India is stepping up its operations in western and southern markets of the country by doubling its outlets with an investment of Rs 750 crore in the next five years. "We currently have 213 restaurants and are looking to add up to another 250 restaurants by 2020, which would entail an investment of Rs 750 crore," said Amit Jatia, Vice Chairman, Westlife Enterprise, a master franchisee for McDonald's. It will continue to focus on its top six metros in the West and South, Jatia said, which brings over 65 per cent of the business.

The company's overarching strategy now is to offer ‘healthier beverages’ to customers here. "We are now betting big on our coffee. We have opened McCafe's within our outlets serving premium locally sourced Arabica coffee at affordable prices," he said. "We offer a range of smoothies, besides coffees and this encourages customers to opt for non-carbonated drinks," he added. Started last year in the country, there are about 45 McCafes, which in the next two years is expected to go up to 140, he indicated. The company will spend invest Rs 20 lakhs to Rs 30 lakhs per outlet, to set up McCafes

Paytm eyes Rs 500 crore revenue from hotel booking over next 6 months

As per a PTI news report, digital payments company, Paytm has expanded its platform to allow customers to make hotel bookings and expects revenue of Rs 500 crore from the service over the next six months.The Alibaba-backed company has partnered with players such as Goibibo, Ezeego1 and TSI-Yatra for the new service. 

"Travel has emerged as a very important category for us as the penetration of online booking is still very low in this vertical. The opportunity for the hotels category is immense, especially because the transaction penetration is still low in Tier II and III cities as far as travel concerned," Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm. In the first phase, Paytm will offer an inventory of about 20,000 hotels to users and the number is expected to go up to 35,000 in a short time after launch. 

"In the first phase we have partnered online travel portals like Goibibo, Ezeego1, TSI Yatra, Via for domestic hotel booking. In phase 2, the plan is to offer international hotels by tying up with leading platforms like Expedia and Booking.com," he said. 

With the launch of this segment, Paytm will drive usage from these areas, causing a huge disruption in the travel space, he added. "We expect this segment to contribute Rs 500 crore to the revenue over the next six months," he said. Currently, the eCommerce platform also allows users to book bus tickets. (Source: PTI)