We are already familiar with Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam – Schiphol hotel since our previous inspection made in 2012; so we decided to see what has changed for that time.

On September 9-13, 2019 twenty-third session of the UNWTO General Assembly took place in Saint Petersburg. This important global meeting of senior tourism officials and high-level ‎representatives of the year was organized for the first time in Russia. TOHOLOGY visited main events of the General Assembly and shares its photography overview.

Marriott International announced the opening of Johannesburg Marriott Hotel Melrose Arch and Marriott Executive Apartments Johannesburg Melrose Arch. The opening marks the debut of Marriott Executive Apartments in South Africa and the first purpose-built Marriott Hotel in the country. Owned and developed by the Amdec Group, the hotel and apartments are situated in the bustling Melrose Arch Precinct.

Hitlist, an app for finding cheap flights, expands its functionality and introduces a premium subscription. Users will get exclusive fares and custom travel tips.

Traditional event “In the company of your HRS friends” was organized at Lotte Hotel St. Petersburg by HRS – Hospitality & Retail Systems, one of Oracle’s largest hospitality partners worldwide. TOHOLOGY prepared exclusive photography coverage of the event.

While most big hospitality companies offer loyalty programmes to their best guests, a new boutique lodging company Life House is trying out a brand new pricing system based on multifaceted guests’ profiles.

International MICE Geography Show – annual event for the leading players of the MICE industry – was organized by the Russian Association of Business Travel for the fifth time in Moscow. TOHOLOGY visited the event at the Ritz-Carlton, Moscow hotel and prepared photography review. 

The release of the International Congress and Convention Association’s 2018 Country and City Rankings marks yet another successful year for the association meetings market. Paris, which previously held the top city spot in 2016, returns in 2018 to claim first place. The USA continues to top the country rankings.

International Amadeus Partners Event took place in Skolkovo innovation centre for the second time and brought together top management of Amadeus and leaders of the aviation and tourism business from 20 countries. The main topic of the conference was a paradigm shift in the tourism and aviation industry, the introduction the New Distribution Capability, and a deep-dive into the strategy of digital transformation for successful growth. 

Annual event for providers of MICE and business travel services and their customers International MICE Geography Show Russia 2018 was held in Moscow on October 25-26, 2018. The agenda of the first day included individual meetings of exhibitors and hosted buyers and final cocktail at The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow.

Professional event in the Russian and the CIS hospitality industry PIR Expo took place on 24-27 September at the Crocus Expo International Exhibition Centre in Moscow. The moto of the PIR Expo 2018 exhibition was “Raise your level at the game”: HoReCa specialists were offered to prepare for their daily game and get competitive advantages and new clients.

We had the honour of staying at Castell Son Claret for a few days, and our experience was dreamlike. It’s actually a restored 15th-century castle and exudes an air of refinement and grandeur.

The history of this truly mysterious place dates back to the foundation of Saint Petersburg. Once the first renovation stage was finally over, the New Holland’s park zone welcomed first guests in August 2016, while from then onwards the island will remain accessible the whole year round.

Jessica is a wellness travel consultant at Renshaw Travel, a family-operated travel agency in Vancouver, she is a passionate outdoors enthusiast and a world explorer. Her interests include aspects of Holistic health ranging from fitness to yoga, meditation and Ayurvedic medicine.

Interview with the founder of Hotel Business Forum Alexey Volov about entrepreneurs in the hotel business, difference between hotel chains and independent hotels, and competitive advantages in the hospitality industry.

Savonlinna is a small town, but very beautiful and comfortable. Most likely you are going to visit the city centre and Olavinlinna castle.

Research study Drivers of Change in Hospitality explores the changes we can expect as guest insight, technology optimization and the ability to hyper-personalize take effect. 

Crowne Plaza hotel in the capital of Belgium, the city of Brussels. The hotel is located within the central area of the city and in close proximity to the railroad station metro stations.

In the autumn, St. Petersburg was visited by Swiss tennis player Stanislas Wawrinka. Here is an interview that Swiss school students took part in with the tennis celebrity and later illustrated with photographs from Stanislas’ performances at the St. Petersburg Open.

ATP tennis tournament St. Petersburg Open 2013 took place on previous week. You can find review of the most interesting moments in our special report.

Sports and event tourism is a rapidly growing sector of the global travel industry. TOHOLOGY continues writing reports about important, popular or interesting international events. Today it’s time for ATP tennis tournament St. Petersburg Open 2012.

The Scandinavian Invitation – Sweden’s national open and premier golf event – returns to the Hills Golf & Sports Club in Gothenburg between 22nd – 25th August. Gothia Towers, part of the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre Group, is now the official hotel partner for the prestigious tournament.

Forbes Travel Guide (formerly well-known as Mobil Travel Guide) scoured properties around the world to find its 2020 Star Award winners, an elite group of the most luxurious hotels, restaurants and spas.

Asia Pacific’s newest world-class convention centre Te Pae Christchurch is now 50% complete and on track for opening in October 2020. Te Pae will feature a 1,400 seat auditorium, over 3,000 square metres of exhibition space and 24 meeting rooms.

The company will move on from the brand “Orient-Express” and start managing travels under the brand-new name of Belmond.

Volvo Cars and ride-hailing firm Uber have presented a jointly developed production car capable of driving by itself. The Volvo XC90 SUV is the first production car that in combination with Uber’s self-driving system is capable of fully driving itself. The car is drive-ready production vehicle.

AmCham St. Petersburg's Tourism and Hospitality Committee - which comprises representatives of major St. Petersburg hotels - met with Andrey Mushkarev, newly-appointed chair of the St. Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development.

What are the candidate requirements at luxury hotels at the Canadian chain Four Seasons? What is more important, specialised education or experience?

17th ExpoHoReCa was held in Saint Petersburg at the end of February. It was the first time the hospitality event has taken place at a new location – ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre. TOHOLOGY visited the exhibition and prepared a photo coverage of the event.

The Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel has become the latest member of the globally renowned International Congress and Convention Association. The hotel combines all the standards of a four-star hotel with the facilities required for successful conferences and meetings. Membership of the ICCA will attract additional national and international events.

2018 was a record-breaking year for congresses in Paris. The Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau published its annual study – «Congress Activity» – to decipher the characteristics and evolution of meetings sector, a strategic one for the French capital, which largely contributed to the positive attendance record of the destination in 2018.

Second part of our travel to Vancouver. We will talk about sights and interesting places.

Finland is known as a “land of a thousand lakes”, it is true. You are going to see a lot of lakes wherever you go and enjoy the beauty of nature. In this chapter of the journey in Finland we would like to give you a brief idea of this country.

The world’s tourism leaders are meeting in St Petersburg for the UNWTO General Assembly this week as the global tourism sector continues to grow in both size and influence. New data from UNWTO shows international tourist arrivals grew by 4% during first 6 months of the year.

“It is the best day of my life,” said Damir Dzumhur, the winner of the international tennis tournament St. Petersburg Open 2017 after the final match, which took place in the city on the Neva river.

“Jurassic Rock” is an annual music festival taking place in Visulahti park in Mikkeli, Finland. The festival comprises a lot of different groups from all over the world performing their most famous songs.

Launched in 1988 by Business Traveller UK magazine, Business Traveller Awards has now come to Russia.

St. Petersburg hosted the festival of short fashion films “A Shaded View on Fashion Film”. We were attracted by the fact that the director's movie was shot at the hotel.

Volvo Cars have glimpsed at how autonomous drive technology will change the world as we know it. Car brand introduced the 360c concept which presents four potential uses of autonomous driving vehicles – a sleeping environment, mobile office, living room and entertainment space.

The Women's Tennis Association published the list of participants for St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy 2019. The Tournament Director has described this list as very solid and tough. As many as three players from the world’s top 10 are coming to St. Petersburg. Will also welcome former no. 1 in the world Maria Sharapova.

Svartå village is a good reason to explore the Raseborg sub-region in Finland. Apart from being a lovely place during your trip, it is also part of the historic King’s Road that includes lots of points of interest and which begins in Bergen and ends in Vyborg.

As February 14th approaches, hotels are customarily working on special offers to delight the enamoured couples. TOHOLOGY gives an insight into the most appealing options for a romantic dine out and offbeat surprises offered by Saint Petersburg hotels.

On September 16 gala dinner for the participants of ATP St. Petersburg Open 2019 tournament was organized in the Montferrand ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace St. Petersburg. 

As the hospitality industry begins to plan for recovery from COVID-19, marketing professionals across the globe find themselves in uncharted territory. In many cases, they are juggling the complex task of balancing limited resources, fluctuating economic conditions, and new traveller expectations with the right amount of communication and empathy. Here are three trends in the hotel business.

Amadeus announced that it has completed the acquisition of TravelClick. The transaction has now received all necessary regulatory approvals, including competition clearance in all relevant markets.

International MICE Geography Show Russia 2018 will be held in the capital of Russia on October 25-26, 2018. The event aims to establish a business network for providers of MICE and business travel services and their customers.

In recent years, the programme of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has always included discussions of the tourism and hospitality industry. Last year's debate on the role of tourism in the economy was attended by Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization. The 2017 programme turned out to be no exception.