In late April, ‘Jeweller to the Stars’ Harry Winston opened its largest salon in the brand’s history – right here in Shanghai. The free-standing pavilion at the entrance to the upscale Xintiandi district has been designed as a new-generation counterpoint to its stately heritage salon on Fifth Avenue in New York. Last October, Scribes sat down with Frédéric de Narp, President and CEO of Harry Winston Inc, to talk about the upcoming salon, China’s love of big bling and the most precious gemstone in the world – the Hope Diamond. See an excerpt from our interview below. You can also …
In January, Scribes headed to Taiwan for a behind-the-scenes peek at the opening of the new design hotel, amba Taipei Ximending. The pre-opening of a hotel is like being on stage just before the curtain rises – the venue is filled with an excited buzz, while attention is devoted to last-minute drills and adjustments. For the amba team, anticipation was particularly high. This is the launch hotel of amba – Taiwan’s first homegrown design hotel brand, which has been created in collaboration with some of the island’s hottest creative talents. During our visit, we met with the delightful Grace Cheung, …
Well, 2011 was an incredibly busy and diverse year for the Scribes of the Orient team. Our content and research projects took us across China and Malaysia, and to Hong Kong, Myanmar, Australia and Japan. In addition, we worked with new and repeat clients in the United States, UK, Canada, Singapore, Indonesia and, of course, China. And so to 2012, the Chinese Year of the Dragon, which kicks-off with some exciting new projects. National Geographic has commissioned us to update its Shanghai/Beijing travel guide and Mintel has asked us to research a comprehensive new analysis report on Southeast Asian Outward …
Published at the end of every year, the DestinAsian Luxe List is an annual collection of the finest hotels opened across Asia Pacific during the previous 12 months – each with one thing in common: “a singular sense of place and style that lets them stand out from the rest.” The 2011 Luxe List features 36 hotels spread across 13 countries. In our third year of contributing to the Luxe List, Scribes reviewed five China hotels – two in Shanghai, one in Hangzhou, one in Lijiang and one on Hainan Island. Follow the links below to the full reviews. Waldorf Astoria …
Throughout 2011, we contributed a regular column on global business travel trends, issues and developments for AmEx’s Business Travel Connexion online publication. Among the topics we covered during the year were the impact of the March earthquake and tsunami on Japan’s tourism industry, the use of social media in travel, business travel and data security and creating the hotel brand of the future. Below are the three most-read articles contributed by Scribes in the second half of 2011 – with a sample paragraph from each feature. 1) Legacy vs Low Cost: Are Majors and LCCs Meeting in the Middle? – …