Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition

Last issue, I introduced myself to you as your new editor. This issue, I’m delighted to welcome two new Destination writers and two new Opinion columnists to Business Traveller Asia-Pacific (see “Contributors” on page 6). New columnist Ken Hickson’s

Ben Bland is an analyst, author and experienced foreign correspondent, who has reported across Asia for the Financial Times for most of the last decade. He is currently a research fellow focusing on Southeast Asia at the Lowy Institute, Australia’s l

Kicking off the year in airport openings (OK, it technically opened the last weekend of 2018) is Van Don International, 50km away from beautiful Ha Long Bay in northern Vietnam’s Quang Ninh Province. The airport is connected to Ha Long City by a new

Q & A WITH PAUL JEBELY, A PARTNER AT LAW FIRM PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN IN HONG KONG Most unusual place you’ve been? Naypyidaw, Myanmar. There are very few places in the world that don’t resemble what you’re used to. It was like visiting a

Do you prefer any particular wines when you fly? I think it really depends on your mood. Starting with some Champagne or Prosecco is the best way to begin, and then progress as you would at a dinner. Start with the bubbles then some white and move

Like many Business Traveller readers, I travel frequently and tend to stick with the airlines and alliance with which I most often travel and have highest status. In my case, being based in Thailand, I mostly tend to travel medium- and long-haul with

Apologies if this question is more for the “anorak/plane lovers” than professional business travellers. We would all probably agree that our preference is to fly as comfortably as possible – ie first class or business class. I’m heading to Barbados v

Fifty years ago, a mechanical watch was a necessity and the industry was booming – thanks in part to associations with motorsport, adventure, aviation and space flight that captured the public imagination. But disaster lay around the corner, in the f

Tim Bourne, international director of watches, Asia at British auction house Bonhams, says every auction house has several specialists and you should seek to build a relationship with one of them. “A specialist will almost become your own personal ad

It seems to have become trendy in recent times for hotels to make a fanfare of their token sustainability gestures – moves that are ostensibly good for the environment but of questionable efficacy in the grand scheme of saving the planet. For example

You’ve just spent a punishing few days shuttling between meetings in Beijing’s gridlocked traffic. You reach the airport, ready to get home to your family and enjoy some well-earned downtime. But – yet again – your flight home is delayed. As a freque

BACKGROUND This is Swissotel’s only property in the entire Oceania region. Opened in 1999 in a heritage building within Sydney’s CBD, the hotel is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2019. WHERE IS IT? Right in the heart of the city on Market Street

BACKGROUND Grand Park City Hall, the flagship luxury hotel of the Park Hotel Group, recently completed its latest round of renovations. The hotel, which first opened in 2007, has been furnished with six pairs of interconnecting family rooms, a new sw

BACKGROUND We last reviewed the Regent Taipei in 2016. Back then, we called it “one of the best hotels in Taipei”… but our reviewers are not ones to let hotels rest on their laurels. Invited back in January 2019, we decided it was a good chance to ch

Backed by Hong Kong hospitality group Le Comptoir, Ecriture is located on the 26th floor of H Queen’s in Hong Kong’s Central district. Unlike many Hong Kong restaurants, the tables are spread far apart, ensuring a high level of privacy. A highlight o

Shè, which opened on December 18, 2018, is named after the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese character “舍”, which means a house or lodging place for guests. The restaurant’s management chose the name to invoke a place of “rest, tranquillity and h

It can be a nightmare visiting China as a foreign business traveller if you don’t speak putonghua (standard Mandarin). Many locals can’t speak English, and there are few well-translated English signs, especially in lower-tier cities and villages. For