Free Wi-Fi for Tsogo Sun guests

South African hotel group Tsogo Sun has installed high-speed Wi-Fi in all its hotels, and is offering a certain amount of free connectivity over a range of packages.

Depending on where you’re staying, you can enjoy 250MB (at StayEasy hotels), 350MB (at Garden Court hotels), 500MB (at Southern Sun hotels), or 750MB (at Tsogo Sun’s Deluxe hotels) of free Wi-Fi Internet access, per room, per day. In all the hotels, these data limits are restricted to a maximum of three devices per room.

The introduction of this service follows extensive specification of the technical requirements of providing free Wi-Fi, and the installation of an advanced system by service provider Alwayson. This system network offers symmetrical, high-speed Internet access.

“We were determined to get our Wi-Fi offering right in terms of what our guests need – whether they’re business or leisure travellers,” said Graham Wood, Tsogo Sun hotels Managing Director. “Our Wi-Fi offering is free from the first connection and we have set the cap in our different hotels at levels that would suit even the most technophilic of our guests.”

Air France and KLM to Offer Wi-Fi

Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have installed Wi-Fi on board two Boeing 777-300 planes and will conduct a trial phase throughout the rest of 2013.
Passengers flying either the Paris-New York route on Air France or the Amsterdam-Panama route on KLM, can now send text messages and emails, and surf the Internet during their flight. An in-flight website offers a range of free services, including live television news and sports channels, relevant airline and destination information.
 During the pilot phase, hourly and full-flight fees will be offered. It will be 10.95 euros per hour or 19.95 euros for the full flight, applicable for all classes. Travellers can pay for their Internet access by credit card.
Mobile phone usage (for text and data) will be billed to the phone users according to their own roaming agreements. Wireless service — whether the on-board portal or satellite Internet — will commence once the flight has reached 20,000 feet, shortly after take-off.

Urban Hip Hotels Unveils The Highlander

 Urban Hip Hotels has refurbished the Peebles Country Retreat & Spa in the town of Dullstroom in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.
The luxury hotel, renamed “The Highlander” has 13 rooms, offers free Wi-Fi, meeting facilities, photocopying and ironing services. Guests can choose from cottage, standard double room and luxury suite accommodation – select rooms have a private fireplace and/or patio.
The hotel is used regularly by international and local tour operators who find its location to be an ideal stopover when travelling to and from the Kruger National Park, Sabi, Sabi Sands and other attractions on the Lowveld. “We are also very excited about the launch our new restaurant, Chapter 1,” said Kobus Botha, Urban Hip Hotels’ managing director.
“The kitchen brigade will be led by our executive chef, Jacques van Eck, and we expect our guests will enjoy tucking into his version of contemporary South African country cuisine. Jacques has done extensive research on the menus and sourced suppliers far and wide, enabling him to use only the freshest and healthiest seasonal ingredients available.”
Future plans include the refurbishment of the Rivendale Spa on the property in June as part of the second phase.

Air Botswana Unveils New lounge

 According to Mmegi.bw, Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone has finally opened a lounge after years of operating without one. The Pula Lounge was unveiled to the media last week and offers services such as free Wi-Fi, refreshments and television. The lounge will be available to Air Botswana's Teemane Club members, an exclusive Air Botswana programme that offers a range of privileges and personalised services to frequent flyers. Members of the club will have to earn a certain number of points to gain access to the lounge. "We will start offering the lounge services to our clients who are on the Gold Card and have earned 500 points, which is the equivalent of around 30,000 miles of flying with Air Botswana," said commercial manager Robert Mpabanga. The lounge is exclusive to Air Botswana passengers, as it aims to encourage people to use the country's airline.

New Johannesburg Business Hotel

 Sun International has announced its intention to develop a business hotel-focused brand, starting with its new hotel in Johannesburg, early next year. The Maslow Hotel, Sun International’s new business hotel, is due to open on the 7th of January, following a R250-million refurbishment of the hotel formally known as The Grayston.
The scope of work encompassed a complete internal and external refurbishment, including guestrooms, modernisation of the public areas, food and beverage outlets, landscaping of the gardens, reconstruction of the conference centre, and the addition of individual meeting rooms.
“We were inspired by the psychologist Abraham Maslow and his well-known ‘Hierarchy of Needs’, hence the new name of the hotel, and have applied his straightforward approach to understanding customers’ needs in our service philosophy,” said General Manager, Johan Scheepers.
Situated in the heart of Sandton’s business district, on the corner of Rivonia Road and Grayston Drive, The Maslow will offer complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, 13 meeting rooms, a conference centre with a multi-divisible ballroom and auditorium, and techno gym.
The average size of the rooms is 32m² and each unit is fitted with a power shower, a media hub, 40-inch flat-screen TV and speciality coffee maker.
 The rooms are also soundproofed with blackout curtains. From a food and beverage perspective, the Lacuna Bistro and Bar is referred to as a “sophisticated urban bistro serving international cuisine”. The bistro menu features tapas, sandwiches, tarts, salads and pasta dishes. At the heart of the lobby is the signature Wayfarer Lounge, a business class type lounge, featuring washrooms with showers, and a supply of power sockets. The Maslow Hotel is also one of the first properties within Sun International to feature the Africology Spa. Sun International is hoping to roll out the Maslow brand to other hotels across Africa, in the future.

Dreamliner Delivery for Qatar

 Qatar Airways has become the first Middle Eastern airline to take delivery of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Space, comfort and luxury are key features of the aircraft, with Qatar Airways working closely with the manufacturer to have custom-made seats fitted.
The aircraft is also the world’s first 787 to be fully connected with wireless facilities, enabling all passengers in both Business and Economy cabins to remain connected with the ground through Wi-Fi and GSM telephony options, allowing for the sending of both text and MMS messages.
Personal power ports are available in every seat, equipped with USB, MP3 and other charger ports, including laptop power outlets. The fully interactive inflight entertainment system offers more than 1,000 video and audio options to every passenger. The Dreamliner is the first mid-size airplane capable of flying long-range routes. Qatar Airways’ customers will experience improved lighting, bigger windows, larger overhead bins, lower cabin altitude and enhanced ventilation systems, among other features.
The new 787s feature a total of 254 seats in a two-class configuration of 22 in Business Class and 232 in Economy. With a 1–2–1 configuration in Business Class, the layout features two less seats than competitors on conventional wide body aircraft.
There’s also a 22-inch wide armchair that converts at a touch of a button into different cradle positions, before reaching an 80-inch long, 30-inch wide flat-bed offering great legroom. The 787 is quieter than other aircraft, with the largest windows in the industry and first-of-its-kind electronic touch pad controls to adjust the amount of light entering the cabin. Dynamic mood lighting throughout the aircraft helps passengers adjust their body clocks according to the change in time zones, as lighting is automatically altered during the flight.

Radisson Blu Hotels Launches Experience Meetings

Radisson Blu has launched ‘Experience Meetings’, which focuses on meeting essentials such as breakout rooms, food and connectivity, combined with intangibles such as service, satisfaction and sustainability. ‘Experience Meetings’ is the newest offering at 255 participating Radisson Blu hotels, with a total of more than 2,200 meeting rooms in 55 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Radisson Blu has come up with a variety of tools and services, such as a sophisticated search engine - www.meetings.carlsonrezidor.com - and will be rolling out enhanced hotel web pages for meetings, along with 3D floor plans. Three elements mark ‘Experience Meetings – ‘Brain Food’, ‘Brain Box’ and ‘Connectivity’. The first relates to healthy food, whilst Brain Box relates to the breakout room concept. Connectivity refers to the complimentary Wi-Fi that all Radisson Blu properties offer their delegates.

SA First for Mango

 In a first for South Africa, Wireless G, together with budget airline Mango and cellphone giant Vodacom, have launched Wi-Fi in the sky. By using G-Connect In-Flight Wi-Fi, Mango passengers can now surf the web when travelling between South Africa’s major centres. G-Connect In-Flight Wi-Fi allows for full Internet connectivity on board Mango’s aircraft, including sending and receiving emails, web browsing, and the use of all social networks. An air-to-land SMS service will also be available, managed through a web service.

The service is compatible with most Wi-Fi enabled devices including smartphones, tablets and laptops. There are three different packages on offer. One-Way Access is priced at R50 per single sector flight with a One Day pass available at R90, irrespective of the number of flights completed during a 20-hour period. A per-minute option, billed through G-Connect online account, offers land and air convergence at R1 per minute. All three packages offer unlimited data use during the allotted time. Data-heavy services like YouTube and peer-to-peer downloads will, however, be disallowed. The roll-out of the G-Connect In-Flight Wi-Fi service should see 80% of Mango’s fleet online by the end of June 2012.

First for Qantas

Qantas Airways has commenced its Q Streaming pilot and the airline’s customers are the first in the world to experience this ground-breaking in-flight Wi-Fi entertainment technology.

Qantas customers travelling onboard the dedicated Boeing 767-300 across the Qantas domestic network, have access to the very latest in-flight entertainment technology. The wireless technology from Lufthansa Systems provides passengers with over 200 hours of entertainment, streamed direct to iPads supplied by Qantas while in-flight.

From mid-February customers will also be given the option of using their own laptop computer, smartphone, tablet or other Wi-Fi enabled device to view the content for the remainder of the trial.

Customers will be able to download the Q Streaming app from the iTunes store and those using their laptops will need to download Microsoft Silverlight prior to take-off. There will also be a content refresh during for the second phase of the trial, which will include movies added to the programming.