Hotel Asia-Pacific rises from ashes of industry fall-out

<p>Following a wave of travel title closures at the tail end of last </p><p>year, a new industry monthly, Hotel Asia-Pacific, has emerged from the </p><p>fall-out. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Filling a gaping hole in the market left by business-to-business titles </p><p>- Travel News Asia and Asian Hotelier (MEDIA, December 17), Hotel </p><p>Asia-Pacific publisher/editor and ex-Asian Hotelier editor Steve Shellum </p><p>insisted the hotel industry was, in fact, on the upturn when Cahners </p><p>Asia axed the title. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"With Asian Hotelier gone, there was no other serious trade magazine </p><p>addressing the hotel industry in Asia-Pacific," he said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Having had the plug pulled once I thought I'd go in and do it </p><p>myself." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Asian Hotelier's correspondents and freelance staffer team have also </p><p>been retained - with the new publication attracting supply-chain </p><p>advertisers and focusing editorial content on hotel-specific news. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Our advertisers supply the hotel trade, so we're not competing for the </p><p>adspend dollars of other titles," Mr Shellum told MEDIA. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Hotel Asia-Pacific's 68-page launch issue will cover January and </p><p>February, with a 10-issue target roll-out for the rest of the year. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In keeping with faster-paced news coverage, the publication has also </p><p>kicked out a website (www.hotelasiapacific.com.hk). </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The industry has changed dramatically within the last six months and a </p><p>lot of that is down to the Internet - it's changed everything," Mr </p><p>Shellum said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"It's a totally different format - the website breaks bite-sized news </p><p>daily; while the magazine examines why these issues are occurring and </p><p>talks to the people that are influencing the industry, in depth." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Tapping into the needs of time-shy hoteliers, a parallel </p><p>subscription-only daily email newsletter has been twinned with the </p><p>launch, entitled Daily Lodging Report Asia-Pacific. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Asia-Pacific has recently become the battle ground for the global hotel </p><p>chains - someone needs to cover all this," said Mr Shellum. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>