TikTok, Facebook and Instagram bring music to labels' earsMusic companies such as T-Series, Times Music & Saregama set to earn over Rs 100 crore this year as users put posts on these platforms with their music. Many experts say these are early days and with more users in India getting exposed to social media's features, music labels will benefit more. The revenue potential of these platforms may increase substantially.- Hoteliers to ring in New Year on happy noteLeading hotel brands keeping rates for Christmas and New Year celebration packages mostly unchanged. Hotel chains said they are not bringing down rates as they are confident of demand picking up from last-minute party goers. At Pullman and Novotel hotels in New Delhi’s Aero City, the rates for New Year’s eve are up marginally.
- Travellers show little interest in KashmirBusiness to Kashmir is very slow, both for Indian and foreign travellers. Comparing it to last year's records which was not good either, this season witnessed a dip of 50%. Although hotels are operational, there have been hardly any bookings. Internet blockade continues to be a huge detterent, putting off the visitors.
- PM Modi's Lok Sabha win tweet tops 2019 India list; Kohli's wish for MSD, #Chandrayaan2 also ruledSmriti Irani was the most-mentioned handle in politics, followed by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
- As air fares soar, Indians decide to holiday near homeThere’s been a 15-20% jump in advance bookings for destinations such as Goa, Udaipur and Jaipur from the year earlier as an increase in winter schedule capacity has resulted in a decline in some domestic fares. Advance bookings for international destinations like Singapore, Colombo, Bangkok, Dubai, Mauritius and Malaysia are up 10-12%.
- Thomas Cook India acquires rights to Thomas Cook brand for India, Sri Lanka and MauritiusTCIL has signed an agreement with AlixPartners for a one-time payment of Rs 13.9 crore.
- Political parties plan to up TikTok presenceTikTok has 200 million users in India. Following a temporary ban by the Madras High Court earlier this year, and a week after it became available again on app stores in India, TikTok had stated in May that it had reclaimed the top spot among free apps on the iOS platform and in the social category on the Google Play Store on Android.
- Global luxury market grew 4% in 2019: Bain 2019 Luxury StudyThe study pegged the size of the global personal luxury goods market at 281 billion in 2019. Mainland China's luxury market grew the most by 26% at constant exchange rates this year to reach 30 billion. Chinese customers accounted for 90% of the constant growth of the market in 2019, reaching 35% of the value of luxury goods.
- Facebook to partner with more VC funds for mentoring SMEsArchana Vohra, director of small and medium businesses at Facebook India said that the company has done a lot of work this year to facilitate the growth of the segment, including the launch of its VC Brand Incubator programme.
- WhatsApp reports India revenues of Rs 6.84 crore for the first time for FY19Documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show WhatsApp, which is currently awaiting approvals from regulatory authorities for its payments service, reported revenues of Rs 6.84 crore for fiscal 2019 and a profit of Rs 57 lakh for the financial year under review.
- Over 500 hotels in 100 cities may have checked out of Oyo since AprilThe hotels have previously accused Oyo of contract breaches, arbitrary commission rate changes, stoppage of minimum guarantee amounts and threatening legal notices among other things. Oyo has denied this. FHRAI has also complained to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the company.
- Twitter wants to make users feel welcome, says it will let them 'hide' abusive tweet repliesTwitter said it is also exploring more options around who can reply to or see specific conversations.
- Tourism ministry planning to revamp Swadesh Darshan scheme, have moved cabinet for the same: Prahlad Patel"A social audit has been conducted in the Swadesh Darshan scheme and there is a lot of room for changes. We have moved the cabinet for the same. We have discussed whether we should work on select circuits or one circuit at a time or should include circuits on all states at the same time," the minister said.
- Roseate Hotels plans to expand abroad, locallyThe luxury hospitality brand, which started operations three years ago and currently owns and operates all its hotels, is also considering entering into new management contracts to expand further and plans to launch separate standalone outlets of its inhouse food brands.
- Hilton appoints Sabu Raghavan as vice president, HR for IndiaHilton said Raghavan's new role will see him focusing exclusively on India, working closely with Hilton’s leadership team to drive culture and talent development among Hilton's team members in the country. “At Hilton, we are in a people-serving-people business and our Team Members are at the heart of what we do,” said Navjit Ahluwalia, Hilton, India.
- More Indians flying overseas to shop for cheaper luxury goodsUK, France and NY top attractions as big brands offer huge discounts, logistical support. La Vallée Village in France, which is home to brands such as Armani, Jimmy Choo, Givenchy and Versace, has been organising trade events in India and saw visits by Indians increase 40% last year.
- Instagram takes the private like counts test globalIn the test, users can still see their likes by tapping on the like list, but others will not be able to see how many likes their post has received. Likewise, users will not be able to see how many likes others' posts have received. The company began testing it in Canada in May 2019 and expanded it to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, Ireland, and Italy in July this year.
- IHCL reports Rs 69 crore profit for September quarterIHCL said exceptional items during the quarter under review also comprise of a profit of Rs 2.12 crore on the sale of long term investments.
- Hotels come out with special offers, promotions for peak holiday seasonHotel chains said the offers are for the peak season and aimed at boosting occupancy, getting more people to sign on to loyalty programmes, and improving recall and positioning of existing brands. Hotel chain Accor is running the ‘starting from’ offer for Kolkata, Bengaluru and Mumbai, where prices for rooms start from as low as Rs 2,799.
- Chalet Hotels reports profit after tax of Rs 10.3 crore for Q2FY20The chain's retail F&B outlet The Orb now has 15 outlets open as of October 2019.
- WhatsApp introduces catalogs for small businessesThe catalog feature is available to businesses using the WhatsApp Business app on both Android and iPhone in Brazil, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S. It will be rolling out around the world soon.
- Accor and Alibaba Group Enter into a Strategic PartnershipAccor said through the 'strategic collaboration' the chain plans to develop a series of digital applications and loyalty programs to improve the consumer and traveler experience over the next five years. The chain said the collaboration will leverage Alibaba’s 700 million consumers across its China retail marketplaces.
- Accor appoints Kerrie Hannaford as vice president commercial for Accor India and South AsiaHannaford is currently working as the area director of sales and marketing at Accor New Zealand, Fiji and French Polynesia leading the sales, marketing and distribution. In 2007 Hannaford was appointed to head sales, distribution and revenue management for Australia and then moved to New York City as the v-p of global sales for North America.
- #Cancelallblueticksin India row erupts on TwitterThe uproar started following a campaign by journalist and activist Dilip Mandal calling Twitter discriminatory. Mandal started a campaign with the hashtag verifySCSTOBCminority and sought to get 500 accounts of users of marginalised communities verified. The hashtag was one of the top trending hashtags in India on Wednesday, garnering over 80,000 tweets.
- By invitation only: WhatsApp introduces new privacy setting for groupsUsers will have three days to accept the invite before it expires.
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