The first time I hosted friends in Bangkok seems like a lifetime ago. The year was 2009, President Barack Obama had just been sworn in, James Cameron’s Avatar was the year’s highest grossing film and I became an ad-hoc guide for six energetic millennials. At the time, I felt such pressure to make sure...

There is a story written in the skyline of Colombo. Composed in rising towers of concrete and steel, it tells the tale of Sri Lanka’s fledgeling hotel industry – one marked by rapid transformation and lofty ambitions. The seaside capital, with its colourful blend of Colonial-era architecture and Buddhist...

In 2017, Bangkok was the most visited city in the world for the second consecutive year, according to the Mastercard Destination Cities Index. The capital of Thailand has transformed into a megacity, a status confirmed by large-scale urban redevelopment and massive infrastructure projects. The 50 billion...

The secret to creating a great hotel name? Create a great hotel. By Orion Ray-Jones, Content Director and Regional Director, Indochina. Call me Orion. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely – I may have told you to call me Ryan. Easy to spell and pronounce, the alias could’ve made life a little...

In crafting an exceptional hotel experience, it’s the little things that count. It’s human nature to be curious, and so it should come as no surprise that guests will leave no stone unturned during a resort hotel stay, peeking into every drawer and rifling through every magazine. Brands need to rise...

The inspection and classification of lodging facilities emerged in the early 20th century. In the following decades, tourism authorities of many countries established and implemented individualised official hotel rating systems. However, the seismic change in the global hotel industry over the last two...