Sean Simmons Travel Newsletter_Aug2013

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Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) recognises the best of the best!

We were very excited to be finalists at the National Travel Industry Awards event in Sydney on 20 July, having been nominated in 2 categories, Best Corporate Agency (Single Location) and Best Consultant – Corporate, for Sean Simmons.

Incredibly, Sean Simmons was a finalist, and won through to the top 5 in Australia, a huge achievement considering there are in excess of 12000 consultants across more than 4500 agencies.

A VERY proud day for all of us at Sean Simmons Travel. And a great testament to the continued push for excellent service, great pricing and a commitment to you, our family of clients.

ASIA ON SAIL ABOARD SUPERSTAR VIRGO Cruise includes all meals^ entertainment onboard plus port & fuel surcharges!

Book a Balcony Cabin & receive exclusive privileges along with F&B credit of upto SGD $400!!

Itineraries – 3 nights I nside Cabin = $315*pp twin share | Window = $405*pp twin share | Balcony Cabin = $585*pp twin share Penang / Phuket (Departures from 21 July 2013 to 16 March 2014) huket / Langkawi (Departures from 28 July to P 22 September 2013)

Itineraries – 5 nights

30% OFF THE NUSA DUA BEACH HOTEL & SPA, BALI Nusa Dua means “Two Islands”. Located on a lush peninsula, Nusa Dua is a planned fivestar resort development area with sense of exclusivity, extensive facilities and an exciting variety of water sports nearby. Nestled within 9 hectares of luxurious tropical landscape gardens, the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel & Spa features all the elegance of a Balinese palace, exposing the beauty of local culture, yet offering modern amenities and convenience for a luxurious getaway.

• From $1298*pp twin share offer includes: • R eturn Economy fares flying Virgin Australia ex MEL. Please enquire prices for other cities (ex SYD / BNE / ADL) • 7 nights in a deluxe room with breakfast • Return transfers by coach **Upgrade to a Palace Club room from an extra $333pp which includes 1X 60 minute massage (2 persons per room) and Club benefits.

HIGHLIGHTS: The Nusa Dua Spa - Nestled within tropical and tranquil gardens, the Nusa Dua Spa is situated close to the resort’s front entrance. As a spa pioneer in Bali, it retains rich Balinese traditions through ambiance and a variety of indigenous treatments. The newly renovated Nusa Dua Spa complex features plunge pools, aromatic saunas, cool dips, steam rooms, Jacuzzi, 25-metre lap pool, individual massage rooms, separate male and female lockers, a spa villa, private spa pavilions and the Spa Cafe.

Dining & Bars - Dining at the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel & Spa is a culinary experience with a choice of 5 restaurants and 4 bars. Whether you are looking for a casual beachside setting or intimate dining for two, the resort favours any request and desire. The mix of international, western, Indonesian and Balinese cuisine highlights signature menus to define each restaurant. In addition, 24-hour room service is available to all guest rooms.

Prices are based on per person twin share ex Melbourne. Please enquire for prices ex Sydney /Brisbane / Adelaide. All is subject to availability and seasonal supplements.

Full payment to be made 60 days prior to departure. Credit card surcharge of minimum 1.5% may apply for Visa & Mastercard and 3.5% on American Express & Diners.

Cancellation penalties will apply. Airfares: for sale & travel until sold out. For departures now until 31 Mar 2014. Departure taxes, airline levies, baggage fees are quoted as at 15 July 2013 and have been added to the per person cost. Fares may not accrue frequent flyer points and may not allow redemption upgrades. Hotel: 30% discount applies to travel from 01 July – 24 Dec 2013. Advertised discounted offer valid for travel 01 Nov -24Dec 13

CONTACT The Sean Simmons Travel TRAVEL TEAM ON: Phone: +61 3 9429 3294 (local) Fax: +61 3 9429 3293 Suite 6, 53 Coppin Street, Richmond VIC 3121 ABN 48153795129

Toll Free: 1300 391 590 (interstate) Email: enquiries@seanstravel.com.au seansimmons travel.com.au

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Inside Cabin = $525*pp twin share | Window = $675*pp twin share | Balcony Cabin = $975*pp twin share Penang / Phuket / Malacca (Departures from 4 August 2013 to 16 March 2014) Phuket / Langkawi / Pulau Redang (Departures from 28 July 2013 to 23 March 2014) *All prices are cruise only, per person twin share & are subject to change without notice, are capacity controlled & are in AUD. Please enquire for special airfares. Full payment to be made 60 days prior to departure. Credit card surcharge of minimum 1.5% may apply for Visa & Mastercard and 3.5% on American Express & Diners. Cancellation penalties will apply. Cruise prices based on following categories: Inside = DC, Window = CC, Balcony = BA. Pricing correct as at 05 July 2013. Not applicable on peak sailing dates 22 Dec 2013 – 1 Jan 2014.Pricing valid until 31 Aug 2013 & can been withdrawn at any time without notice. Price includes port charges, fuel surcharges. ^Meals included in selected restaurants. Balcony Class F&B credit is per cabin & only applicable when you book a balcony. 3 x night F&B credit = $300 per cabin, 5 x night F&B credit = $400 per cabin.

ONLINE STORE NOW OPEN ALWAYS A BARGAIN!

Everything in our online store is priced 25% LOWER than Recommended Retail Price!! And it always will be.

With a huge range of branded Carry-Ons, Check-in luggage and Accessories (electrical & electronics, money belts & wallets, bags & holders and much, much more) with a distinct product line for kids, you will undoubtedly be spoilt for choice. Log in today!

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as a member to get access to exclusive travel deals and discounts on branded luggage

300 days of SUMMER Sale!

Fly VIRGIN + STAY 3 NIGHTS from $365* ex Mel

GOLD COAST

• Fly + Stay 3 nights 4-star from $365* • Accommodation at the Australis Sovereign Hotel

GBTA AUS/NZ Conference 2013 16-18 September Melbourne

SUNSHINE COAST

• Fly + Stay 5 nights 4-star from $585* • Accommodation at the Novotel Twin Waters. Bonus: Stay 5, pay 4

You’re Invited - Courtesy of Sean Simmons Travel Melbourne will play host to the GBTA AUS/NZ Conference 2013. Register today and join us for the region’s premier business travel networking and education event at the Melbourne Park Function Centre.

PORT DOUGLAS

EXPO: Bringing buyers and suppliers together to showcase, discuss and promote new initiatives and products paramount to the development of travel programmes. All demos will be highlighted on the mobile app!

HAMILTON ISLAND

• F ly + Stay 5 nights 4-star from $689* • Fly + Stay 3 nights 31/2star from $755* • Accommodation at the Rendezvous • Accommodation at the Whitsunday Reef Resort. Bonus: Stay 5, pay 4 Apartments. Bonus: Stay 3, pay 2 with breakfast daily PLUS Airport transfers

CAIRNS

• F ly + Stay 3 nights 4-star from $609* • Accommodation at the Ibis Styles Cairns Colonial Club.

Bonus: Breakfast daily

For these and more great specials contact an expert at Sean Simmons Travel on 03 9429 3294

EDUCATION: Regionally, the GBTA Annual Conference ensures you leave with new ideas and better ways of managing clinets nd programmes. GBTA brings expert and professional speakers to deliver actionable insight and advice to improve your companies bottom line.

Offer ends 02 Aug 2013

Who Should Attend

*CONDITIONS APPLY. Prices are per person twin share as at 01 Jul 13.

All Price are EX MEL. Please enquire for deals EX SYD/BNE/ADL. Prices may fluctuate due to changes in charges, taxes and currency. Subject to availability. Seasonal surcharges apply. Credit card surcharge of minimum 1.5% may apply for Visa & Mastercard and 3.5% on American Express & Diners. Cancellation fees & blackout dates apply. Minimum/maximum stay restrictions apply. Prices and inclusions are correct at time of issue and are subject to change. Guests must be 18 years or above to check into Hotel.

Offers may be withdrawn anytime without notice. Valid for sale: 02 Aug 13.

Valid for travel: Gold Coast: 01 Feb - 31 Mar 14, Sunshine Coast: 01 Aug - 18 Sep 13 & 01 Feb - 31 Mar 14, Ibis Styles Cairns Colonial Club 01 Nov 11 Dec 13 & 01 Feb - 31 Mar 14, Port Douglas 01 Nov - 11 Dec 13 & 01 Feb - 31 Mar 14, Whitsunday Holiday apartment 01 Nov - 11 Dec 13.

HOT FLIGHT DEALS

MALAYSIA AIRLINES Business Class Fares Paris Frankfurt London Amsterdam Istanbul

NETWORKING: The GBTA AUS/NZ Annual Conference offers two evening networking events (one in the trade area) and six periods to network in between educational sessions.

from $4910 (A380 from KL to Paris) from $5942 from $6219 (A380 from KL to London) from $5867 from $6306

Dubai Hyderabad Hong Kong Shanghai Tokyo

from $4358 from $3793 from $2684 from $2777 from $3448

It is recommended that the following type of people should attend this event: · Travel Managers responsible for travel · Procurement responsible for travel · Travel management company staff · Those responsible for crew movements · Technology providers in the sector · Supplier representatives in the sector (air, rail, private charter, ground transportation, hotel and accommodation etc).

Sign up today at: gbta.org/aus-nz/conference

We are proud to be part of this critical industry event, providing custom solutions to our very important clients.

Return fares departing Melbourne (please request fares from Sydney, Brisbane, Perth & Adelaide) Fares valid for sale until 24 August, unless withdrawn or sold out. Subject to availability. Fares include taxes and fuel surcharges, correct as at 26 July 13. Other destinations available across Malaysia Airlines network! And, as a member of oneworld – you earn points with Qantas Frequent Flyer!!

CONTACT The Sean Simmons Travel TRAVEL TEAM ON: Phone: +61 3 9429 3294 (local) Fax: +61 3 9429 3293 Suite 6, 53 Coppin Street, Richmond VIC 3121 ABN 48153795129

Toll Free: 1300 391 590 (interstate) Email: enquiries@seanstravel.com.au seansimmons travel.com.au

TCF 10343 TRAVEL AGENT LICENSE VIC 33025 IATA 02-3 6275 4

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Industry news Virgin Australia hooks up with airberlin Virgin Australia will partner with Germany’s airberlin from next month, with a limited number of codeshare flights but reciprocal frequent flyer perks across the board. Beginning August 1st and on sale this month, Virgin Australia will codeshare on airberlin’s daily direct services from Abu Dhabi – which is the home hub of Virgin partner Etihad – to Dusseldorf and Berlin.

In return, airberlin - Germany’s second largest airline - will codeshare on Virgin Australia’s Abu Dhabi to Sydney service, its Phuket to Perth service and nine of Virgin’s domestic services within Australia, and earn AB ‘topbonus’ miles on Virgin Australian flights.

The airberlin partnership grows Virgin’s virtual network into Europe and is a fitting match for both airlines. Ironically, airberlin is also a member of the oneworld alliance, which makes it a partner of Qantas. Read full story here

Sydney Airport goes mobilefriendly Following the release of its iPhone and Android smartphone apps, Sydney Airport has flicked the switch on a mobile-friendly website.

The mobile SYD site packages the core of the full sydneyairport.com.au website into a finger-friendly design intended for today’s touchscreen devices, with updated information on flights, shopping and parking. The airport has also launched Simplified Chinese versions of both its desktop and mobile sites to tap into the booming Chinese market.

Read full story here It also has released an Android app provide live updates on flights as well as finding your way around the airport. As with the airport’s nearidentical iPhone app, the callout feature of the Android version is the ability to ‘subscribe’ to international and domestic flights to get handy pop-up alerts on when boarding opens, as well as changes to the flight’s status.

However, this covers only flights to and from the International T1 and domestic T2 terminals – the airport advises that it doesn’t have access to data from the dedicated Qantas T3 terminal. This will include regional QantasLink flights which currently operate from T2 but later this year will shift to T3.

As expected, the Android app also provides maps of the airport precinct and terminals, along with information on parking and transfers. Read full story here

Boeing rolls out 787-9, tells “what we learned from the 787-8” Boeing has quietly rolled the first of its stretched 787-9 Dreamliners out of its factory in Everett, Washington on July 19, with little fanfare and even less attention from the public. Boeing expects this first 787-9 to make its inaugural test flight next month, and says that many lessons from the production of the 787-8 have been fed into the evolution of the -9.

Air New Zealand will fly its Boeing 7879 to Shanghai and Tokyo as “key long haul

destinations” for the new Dreamliner fleet, with secondary destinations including Perth, Honolulu and Papeete. With room for around 40 more seats than the 787-8 plus slightly longer range, and being seen as a more mature version of the 787 family, Boeing has orders from 20 customers for some 335 of the second-gen Dreamliners, representing over 40 % of all 787 orders. Read full story here

Airlines go for a wardrobemakeover Virgin Atlantic has revealed the newest take on its iconic red threads, courtesy of British fashion doyenne Dame Vivienne Westwood. The new uniform for Sir Richard Branson’s airline brings a modern ‘Cool Britannia’ look to the safe territory of sharp silhouettes and dapper detailing. Scroll down the full story to see what Fiji Airways, China Eastern Airlines Garuda Indonesia, United Airlines & Qantas have decided to change with their staff wardrobe! Read full story here

EMIRATES & QANTAS TO SHARE THE TASMAN FROM 14 AUGUST Qantas and Emirates will extend their alliance to Trans-Tasman flights beginning August 14.

Codeshare flights and ‘aligned fares’ designed to equalise Qantas and Emirates ticket pricing will come into effect as New Zealand becomes part of a joint Qantas-Emirates network.

Headlining the Qantas / Emirates push will be Emirates’ A380 superjumbos, which currently fly from Sydney and Melbourne to Auckland – with Brisbane to follow from October 2 – offering true international-grade business class for trips over the pond. (At a little over three hours, this is also one of the world’s shortest Airbus A380 flights.)

Travellers will be able to book Emirates’ TransTasman flights as codeshare services under Qantas flight numbers, resulting in a larger haul of frequent flyer points and status credits. Bookings for these flights will be available from August 14, the same day as services begin.

Between them, Qantas and Emirates will operate around 130 services per week from Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Queenstown to Australian east coast cities.

In a statement issued to the media Qantas said that “existing capacity on Trans-Tasman routes that both Qantas and Emirates fly, has been guaranteed as part of regulatory approvals.”

However, this doesn’t rule out timetable changes to existing AU-NZ flights to avoid Qantas and Emirates flights operating around the same time – a move which would result in a wider spread of services throughout the day – or adding new flights into other New Zealand destinations rather than overload cities like Auckland with too much capacity.

NEW SEATS FOR VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BUSINESS CLASS Virgin Australia is assessing new seats for its domestic business class fleet as the airline continues to battle Qantas for the well-heeled corporate travel market.

CONTACT The Sean Simmons Travel TRAVEL TEAM ON: Phone: +61 3 9429 3294 (local) Fax: +61 3 9429 3293 Suite 6, 53 Coppin Street, Richmond VIC 3121 ABN 48153795129

Toll Free: 1300 391 590 (interstate) Email: enquiries@seanstravel.com.au seansimmons travel.com.au

TCF 10343 TRAVEL AGENT LICENSE VIC 33025 IATA 02-3 6275 4

Several new seats are under consideration and have already been showcased at invitation-only focus groups with selected business travellers and corporate clients.

Participants in the ‘seat clinics’ are asked to evaluate the different designs and are required to sign a non-disclosure form.

Asked to comment on the new seats, a Virgin Australia spokeswoman said only that “we have a number of focus groups scheduled throughout the year.”

“We regularly draw on insights from our customers in the research and development process of product design via all forms of market research.”

The new designs are believed to be slated for Virgin Australia’s single-aisle Boeing 737-800 workhorses, of which there are now 70 in the fleet.

These are currently fitted out with eight business class seats, in two rows of a 2-2 configuration, with a 38 inch pitch and a generous recline.

Virgin Australia’s step towards a second generation of premium seats comes only 18 months after the airline launched domestic business class in January 2012 and keenly illustrates its on-going fight with Qantas at the top end of the market.

Qantas still enjoys the larger slice of the business travel pie, but Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti is fighting a different battle: one based not on a ‘line in the sand’ of market share but on increased revenue through sales of higher-yield fares.

Virgin’s clearest win in the business class dogfight has been trumping Qantas on the transcontinental route with international-grade seats on its Airbus A330 ‘Coast to Coast’ services. The spacious angled lie-flat seats, which boast plenty of nooks for keeping personal items at hand plus a large seatback screen with video-on-demand, are leagues ahead of the more standard reclining seat fitted to Qantas equivalent Airbus A330s (which also sees the middle seat blocked off by a plastic shroud to create what Qantas tags as an ‘inflight workspace’).

Virgin Australia already runs the twin-aisle A330s on all weekday flights between Melbourne and Perth plus two out of three Brisbane-Perth weekday services, and plans to upgrade SydneyPerth weekday flights to the same all-A330 status in October.

Qantas has responded by announcing plans to upgrade its entire 30-strong fleet of Airbus A330s with a new lie-flat business class seat which CEO Alan Joyce promised will be “the best domestic product anywhere in the world, and it leapfrogs anything our competitor’s doing.”

“They’re very exciting, there’s plenty of legroom and we’re very confident that they will get an amazing reaction” Joyce told Australian Business Traveller earlier this year, joking that “I certainly swim in the seats given my size!”.

The new Qantas seats are not expected to debut until the end of 2014, however, giving Virgin Australia a substantial head start for wooing and winning corporate accounts committed to substantial east-west travel.

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