Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces is the 110-year-old lodging arm of Tata Group, the Indian conglomerate that is big in industries as diverse as cars, chemicals and steel, operates in 80-some countries and has nearly 400,000 employees. Big it is, old it is, with the parent company dating back to 1868, the hotels operation is looking forward, not backward.
This much was clear when I talked recently with Raymond Bickson, the chief executive officer of the Taj hotel group, at the opening of the Taj Cape Town, in South Africa. Hawaii-born and a long-time hotelier in San Francisco before joining Mumbai-based Taj, Bickson is outgoing, a good talker, and clearly enthusiastic about going global with the Taj brand, which is identified in India with luxury and sophistication.
What follows is an edited version of our conversation, with my questions omitted, to smooth out the narrative flow. Bickson started out with some thoughts about the Hotel Pierre, the company's U.S. flagship in midtown Manhattan, then expanded on a number of topics:
''The Pierre is the Pierre, and it's not a bad location. It's a great opportunity for us to be in the toughest marketplace in the world. We embraced the challenge of working with the people who live there, the owners of 77 co-ops in the building, and we spent $120 million USD renovating the property in 2009.
"We're a 110-year-old company, founded in 1901, and the longest-standing company in the Tata Group. We're part of a $71 billion industry today. We're opening one hotel every seven weeks.'' (At this writing, Taj has 66 hotels in India, 16 outside India, for a total of 82.)
"The Asian market today is really up, with 47 brands coming into India. Right now, there are 96,000 hotel rooms in India, compared to 110,000 in Manhattan. We're expanding to make sure we maintain our market share. We operate a 5-star brand with Taj, Taj Exotica resorts and Taj Safaris, 4-stars with Vivanta (stylish city boutique hotels), 3-stars with Gateway and 2-star economy hotels in India with Ginger.
''There are 25 key source markets in the world that we need to be in. South Africa is one of them. Tata Motors has been here 25, 35 years, and Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals operate here. Twenty-two million tourists a year come to South Africa. Johannesburg is the hub. Eighty to 85 percent of leisure travelers come here to Cape Town. If you're in Cape Town, you have to also be in Jo-berg - it sends you off to the game lodges and to Cape Town.
"This is the 'old town' of Cape Town. It's all within 10 minutes from here. It's becoming the new "old' district. November through Easter is the high season here. So far, we're doing 70 percent leisure travelers at the Taj Cape Town, 30 percent corporate. All in all, you want to see it balance out 50/50.''
Of course, Taj competes with other major hotel companies around the globe. In India, Oberoi is its chief rival. Internationally, Taj takes-on Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula and a handful of others. All are expanding aggressively, along with Taj.
Bickson:
"We have two projects in Egypt, two in Abu Dhabi, a project in Beijing - a 60-suite property in the central business district. Also, we're going into Sydney, China Beach in Vietnam and Thailand - for us, it's the new Maldives. We have two properties in Maldives and we're in Sri Lanka.
"We're an Asian company. We're in Asia. With the low labor cost, we can have a higher ratio of employees to guests than you have elsewhere. The service aspect of Asia is really embedded in the DNA of this company.''
Showing posts with label Cape Town. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cape Town. Show all posts
Friday, February 11, 2011
Friday, September 17, 2010
The Taj Hotel Cape Town
CAPE TOWN - If you were to look for the political, cultural and historical epicenter of this lovely seaside city, you couldn't find anyplace more central than the corner of Wale Street and St. George's Mall: the exact location of the new Taj Hotel Cape Town.
It is just across the street from South Africa's parliament buildings, the lushly landscaped city park called Company Gardens and the old slave lodge - now a museum. Also directly across the street from the hotel is St. George's Cathedral, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu helped inspire and lead the anti-apartheid struggle.
But while they say location, location, location is the key to success in business, for a hotel it is also service, service, service. The Taj, which opened officially at the end of August after several months operating in a soft opening, has sterling service in abundance. The staff in this posh, 5-star property is anything but starchy; they are warm, prompt and attentive without being in your face. That goes a long way, no matter where you are located.
Run by Mumbai-based Taj Hotels, Palaces and Resorts - part of India's Tata Group conglomerate -the new Taj is installed in two renovated heritage buildings: the 1932 original South African Reserve Bank building with its gorgeous vaulted ceiling, and the 1896 Temple Chambers. Soaring over the meticulously restored and renovated structures - so seamlessly integrated you could never tell they were once two separate buildings - is a new glass tower where the Taj Cape Town's 166 guest rooms are situated. I loved my room, with its floor-to-ceiling windows and view of Table Mountain, outside balcony and extra-large bathroom. Oh, it had all the high-tech bells and whistles, too, including an iPod docking station.
The clientele so far has been a nearly even mix of business and leisure travelers, and the hotel's structure reflects that. There are plenty of meeting spaces in the large business center and four personal computers for guest use, albeit at high rates. The spacious, Indian-themed Jiva Grande Spa can help even the most tightly wound executive breathe easy. I had an Indian head massage, lasting 45 minutes, and throughly enjoyed it - and I don't usually like massages.
There are three places to eat in the hotel; the elegant, upmarket Bombay brasserie, which serves contemporary Indian fare under sumptuous chandeliers; the all-day casual dining place Mint, where breakfast is served, accessible from the mall; and Twankey, a smart-casual Champagne, seafood and oyster bar tucked away on two levels. I feasted on tikki chicken wraps and fat Namibia oysters washed down with good South African white wines there.
The only drawback for people from my part of the world - urban North America - is distance. It took me 32 hours door-to-door from hotel to home. Is it worth it? If you can afford the travel time and it fits your budget, most definitely yes. The luxurious Taj Cape Town became one of the city's leading hotels from the moment it opened its doors, providing competition at the top of the international market for the city's highly regarded Mount Nelson and Cape Grace hotels. It will be hard to beat.
The Taj Hotel Cape Town is located on Wale Street, Cape Town 8001, South Africa. Tel. 011 27 (0)21 819 2000. E-mail: sales.capetown@tajhotels.com. Web: http://www.tajhotels.com/.
It is just across the street from South Africa's parliament buildings, the lushly landscaped city park called Company Gardens and the old slave lodge - now a museum. Also directly across the street from the hotel is St. George's Cathedral, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu helped inspire and lead the anti-apartheid struggle.
But while they say location, location, location is the key to success in business, for a hotel it is also service, service, service. The Taj, which opened officially at the end of August after several months operating in a soft opening, has sterling service in abundance. The staff in this posh, 5-star property is anything but starchy; they are warm, prompt and attentive without being in your face. That goes a long way, no matter where you are located.
Run by Mumbai-based Taj Hotels, Palaces and Resorts - part of India's Tata Group conglomerate -the new Taj is installed in two renovated heritage buildings: the 1932 original South African Reserve Bank building with its gorgeous vaulted ceiling, and the 1896 Temple Chambers. Soaring over the meticulously restored and renovated structures - so seamlessly integrated you could never tell they were once two separate buildings - is a new glass tower where the Taj Cape Town's 166 guest rooms are situated. I loved my room, with its floor-to-ceiling windows and view of Table Mountain, outside balcony and extra-large bathroom. Oh, it had all the high-tech bells and whistles, too, including an iPod docking station.
The clientele so far has been a nearly even mix of business and leisure travelers, and the hotel's structure reflects that. There are plenty of meeting spaces in the large business center and four personal computers for guest use, albeit at high rates. The spacious, Indian-themed Jiva Grande Spa can help even the most tightly wound executive breathe easy. I had an Indian head massage, lasting 45 minutes, and throughly enjoyed it - and I don't usually like massages.
There are three places to eat in the hotel; the elegant, upmarket Bombay brasserie, which serves contemporary Indian fare under sumptuous chandeliers; the all-day casual dining place Mint, where breakfast is served, accessible from the mall; and Twankey, a smart-casual Champagne, seafood and oyster bar tucked away on two levels. I feasted on tikki chicken wraps and fat Namibia oysters washed down with good South African white wines there.
The only drawback for people from my part of the world - urban North America - is distance. It took me 32 hours door-to-door from hotel to home. Is it worth it? If you can afford the travel time and it fits your budget, most definitely yes. The luxurious Taj Cape Town became one of the city's leading hotels from the moment it opened its doors, providing competition at the top of the international market for the city's highly regarded Mount Nelson and Cape Grace hotels. It will be hard to beat.
The Taj Hotel Cape Town is located on Wale Street, Cape Town 8001, South Africa. Tel. 011 27 (0)21 819 2000. E-mail: sales.capetown@tajhotels.com. Web: http://www.tajhotels.com/.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Under African Skies
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - There are, of course, more than seven interesting things about Cape Town, widely held by travelers to be the coolest city in South Africa. Here are seven sights in the city and surrounds that caught my attention:
1. The Company Gardens: Once the vegetable and fruit patch of the Dutch East India Co., used to grow food for scurvy-ravaged sailors, the space is now a lush, beautifully landscaped public park and garden in the heart of the city. Set into one flank is the Parliament Building with its white, colonial-era statue of Queen Victoria just outside. The park is a lovely place for a daytime stroll, though visitors are warned not walk alone there at night.
2. Table Mountain: An obvious choice, towering dramatically above the city bowl and terraced hillsides, and often draped in clouds. It's a dramatic and defining element.
3. Outside the city-center, Chapman's Peak: It gives sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela and other heros of the anti-apartheid struggle were imprisoned) and the lovely seaside promenade below in a once-seedy area that has been cleaned up.
4. The road from Chapman's Peak: A twisty, hilly artery with phenomenal views, originally laid out as a dirt track in 1915. Traffic is carefully controlled and signposted. Coming down the hillside in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope, your eyes fall upon a 6-kilometer-long white sand beach backed with wetlands. Among other things, locals ride horses up and down the strand.
5. A sign in the car park at Boulder Beach, where the big attraction is Africa's most famous penquin colony: "Warning: Please look under your vehicles for penquins.'' The beach is part of the expansive Table Mountain National Park, on the fringe of the city.
6. A roadside sign in the scrubby, windy stretch of land on the road to the Cape of Good Hope, which Vasco de Gama famously rounded in 1498 on his journey to India: "Baboons!''
There are many of these primates, skittering along the ground, sitting on top of fenceposts and wandering onto the road. Visitors are of necessity warned not to feed or touch them, as they are wild animals, not pets. One baboon that I and my group see along the roadside has a bloody tongue hanging out of his mouth. The guide from Roots Africa Tours (http://www.rootsafrica.za/) tells us this one has probably lost a fight and been expelled from his group. Further along, baboons overrrun an ostrich farm and create a diversion so that their fellows can steal the big birds' food.
7. The food and the singing at Two Oceans restaurant at craggy Cape Point, where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. We feast on food heaped in iron skillets - rice, calamari, lobster, a white fish whose name I didn't catch, a good curry - and sit back, sated, as restaurant staff sing traditional African songs and demonstrate a dance. Decidedly touristy, to be sure, but well-done and enjoyable. The lunch is accompanied by excellent wines - one of South Africa's specialties. I sip a glass of a rose brut and sample a 2008 Hartenberg Chardonnay from the wine-growing center Stellenbosch, located an hour from the city in the Cape Winelands.
There may be something finer than drinking good wine at the ends of the Earth, but when you're doing it, it's hard to think of what that something could be.
1. The Company Gardens: Once the vegetable and fruit patch of the Dutch East India Co., used to grow food for scurvy-ravaged sailors, the space is now a lush, beautifully landscaped public park and garden in the heart of the city. Set into one flank is the Parliament Building with its white, colonial-era statue of Queen Victoria just outside. The park is a lovely place for a daytime stroll, though visitors are warned not walk alone there at night.
2. Table Mountain: An obvious choice, towering dramatically above the city bowl and terraced hillsides, and often draped in clouds. It's a dramatic and defining element.
3. Outside the city-center, Chapman's Peak: It gives sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela and other heros of the anti-apartheid struggle were imprisoned) and the lovely seaside promenade below in a once-seedy area that has been cleaned up.
4. The road from Chapman's Peak: A twisty, hilly artery with phenomenal views, originally laid out as a dirt track in 1915. Traffic is carefully controlled and signposted. Coming down the hillside in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope, your eyes fall upon a 6-kilometer-long white sand beach backed with wetlands. Among other things, locals ride horses up and down the strand.
5. A sign in the car park at Boulder Beach, where the big attraction is Africa's most famous penquin colony: "Warning: Please look under your vehicles for penquins.'' The beach is part of the expansive Table Mountain National Park, on the fringe of the city.
6. A roadside sign in the scrubby, windy stretch of land on the road to the Cape of Good Hope, which Vasco de Gama famously rounded in 1498 on his journey to India: "Baboons!''
There are many of these primates, skittering along the ground, sitting on top of fenceposts and wandering onto the road. Visitors are of necessity warned not to feed or touch them, as they are wild animals, not pets. One baboon that I and my group see along the roadside has a bloody tongue hanging out of his mouth. The guide from Roots Africa Tours (http://www.rootsafrica.za/) tells us this one has probably lost a fight and been expelled from his group. Further along, baboons overrrun an ostrich farm and create a diversion so that their fellows can steal the big birds' food.
7. The food and the singing at Two Oceans restaurant at craggy Cape Point, where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. We feast on food heaped in iron skillets - rice, calamari, lobster, a white fish whose name I didn't catch, a good curry - and sit back, sated, as restaurant staff sing traditional African songs and demonstrate a dance. Decidedly touristy, to be sure, but well-done and enjoyable. The lunch is accompanied by excellent wines - one of South Africa's specialties. I sip a glass of a rose brut and sample a 2008 Hartenberg Chardonnay from the wine-growing center Stellenbosch, located an hour from the city in the Cape Winelands.
There may be something finer than drinking good wine at the ends of the Earth, but when you're doing it, it's hard to think of what that something could be.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Ratan Tata on Terror
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - I came to this city of 3.5 million people to attend the opening of the new 5-star Taj Hotel Cape Town, a splendid, business-minded property that blends two renovated heritage buildings with a glassy new tower.
In the process, I heard unexpected words on terror and travel from a global business leader who knows about both. He is Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata & Sons, the huge Indian conglomerate that builds cars, makes steel and does a number of other things. Tata is a very big family business that started at the turn of the 20th century in what was then Bombay (today's Mumbai) with a single hotel: the Taj Mahal Palace.
That Taj was one of the Mumbai targets attacked by terrorists in November 2008 and partly destroyed. I stayed there a year later, while repairs and renovation were still going on and the original 1903 building was still closed to guests. It reopened last month.
In Cape Town for the opening of the new Taj, Tata had a rare meeting with reporters and spoke about the attack - and the determined response to it.
"We saw lives being taken,'' he said. "We saw the hotel burning. We decided to rebuild it brick by brick. It was an emotional time. We lost 31 people. We were able to overcome, and rebuild even better. It came out beautiful.
"It was a statement of defiance,'' Tata said. "You couldn't knock Bombay down.''
Amen to that. Continuing on in the face of menace - and taking precautions while doing so - is the only appropriate response to terrorists. Simply put, you don't let them win.
They couldn't knock Bombay down.
In the process, I heard unexpected words on terror and travel from a global business leader who knows about both. He is Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata & Sons, the huge Indian conglomerate that builds cars, makes steel and does a number of other things. Tata is a very big family business that started at the turn of the 20th century in what was then Bombay (today's Mumbai) with a single hotel: the Taj Mahal Palace.
That Taj was one of the Mumbai targets attacked by terrorists in November 2008 and partly destroyed. I stayed there a year later, while repairs and renovation were still going on and the original 1903 building was still closed to guests. It reopened last month.
In Cape Town for the opening of the new Taj, Tata had a rare meeting with reporters and spoke about the attack - and the determined response to it.
"We saw lives being taken,'' he said. "We saw the hotel burning. We decided to rebuild it brick by brick. It was an emotional time. We lost 31 people. We were able to overcome, and rebuild even better. It came out beautiful.
"It was a statement of defiance,'' Tata said. "You couldn't knock Bombay down.''
Amen to that. Continuing on in the face of menace - and taking precautions while doing so - is the only appropriate response to terrorists. Simply put, you don't let them win.
They couldn't knock Bombay down.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
4:30
CAPE TOWN - Jet lag takes many forms, among them the sudden bolt of wide-awakeness that strikes at the most ungodly hour, when you are exhausted and should be sleeping soundly, but can't do it no matter what. And forget about going back to sleep once you have woken up.
On this trip, my first visit to South Africa, the wakey wakey moment has come reliably at 4:30 a.m. This is, of course, a most unfortunate time - both too early and too late to do much of anything - outside your hotel room, especially.
It seems I'm not alone. Fellow travelers in this beautiful seaside city - here for the opening of the 5-star Taj Hotel Cape Town - are having the same experience. And they're having it at the same time. The fact that the beds at the Taj are heavenly doesn't seem to matter in this regard.
Marion, a Philadelphia writer, attests she has come wide awake at 4:30. Chris, a journo from San Francisco by way of Atlanta, same thing - also at 4:30. Joe, a PR whiz from Palm Springs, California, also woke up when he didn't want to.
"When was that?" I asked.
"About 4:30," he replied, bleary-eyed.
It's something that's going around.
I love travel but it has its downside. The jet lag-inspired Big Wake-Up is definitely downside.
On this trip, my first visit to South Africa, the wakey wakey moment has come reliably at 4:30 a.m. This is, of course, a most unfortunate time - both too early and too late to do much of anything - outside your hotel room, especially.
It seems I'm not alone. Fellow travelers in this beautiful seaside city - here for the opening of the 5-star Taj Hotel Cape Town - are having the same experience. And they're having it at the same time. The fact that the beds at the Taj are heavenly doesn't seem to matter in this regard.
Marion, a Philadelphia writer, attests she has come wide awake at 4:30. Chris, a journo from San Francisco by way of Atlanta, same thing - also at 4:30. Joe, a PR whiz from Palm Springs, California, also woke up when he didn't want to.
"When was that?" I asked.
"About 4:30," he replied, bleary-eyed.
It's something that's going around.
I love travel but it has its downside. The jet lag-inspired Big Wake-Up is definitely downside.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Cape Town: First Take
CAPE TOWN - It's my first time in Cape Town, South Africa's oceanside gem, and I'm impressed. I'm still looking around, so I don't know the place yet, but the first thing that strikes a new arrival is the beauty of the city and the site. Driving into town from the airport, it reminded me of San Francisco, with houses spilling down craggy hillsides to the water. It's winter here, and the weather, too, reminds me of San Francisco: fog, sunny breaks, lots of wind, temperatures in the 50s and 60s F.
Bish Desmond Tutu's activist center, St. George's Cathedral, is directly across the street from my hotel, the new Taj Hotel Cape Town, which officially opened with a big party last night with Tata and Sons Chairman, the courtly Ratan Tata, on hand for the festivities. It's an unusual but successful amalgam of two repurposed historic buildings with guest rooms in a third structure, a 17-story glassy tower. An old banking hall is now the lobby and bar area. Just outside is St. George's mall, a pedestrianized street lined with curbside merchants selling African keepsakes and what we'll generously term art. Long Street, the city's main boho shopping and drinking street, is nearby. So, too, are the Company Gardens, the former food-growing area - now a beautiful public park - founded by the Dutch East India Company centuries ago. South Africa's pretty parliament building is located in the park, as is the country's attractive National Gallery. The dramatic outcrop of rugged Table Mountain looms over everything.
Walking around the city is generally safe in daytime - it wasn't safe even 10 years ago - and the city and nation still seem to be on a high from South Africa's successful production of the World Cup in June and July. There are, to be sure, many people just shuffling along or occupying park benches, with nowhere to go and nothing to do - a reminder of continuing poverty and class conflicts. Many public sector workers are on strike, protesting low wages, and this is not going down well with the public itself, as essential services are being disrupted. The Johannesburg Star the other day caarried disturbing reports of women forced into delivering babies outside the gates of struck hospitals, with no professional care. Scarey.
For travelers, things are still generally fine, and if you can spare the time and money, making a journey here is well worth it. I'm off on a wine safari today - just my speed.
Bish Desmond Tutu's activist center, St. George's Cathedral, is directly across the street from my hotel, the new Taj Hotel Cape Town, which officially opened with a big party last night with Tata and Sons Chairman, the courtly Ratan Tata, on hand for the festivities. It's an unusual but successful amalgam of two repurposed historic buildings with guest rooms in a third structure, a 17-story glassy tower. An old banking hall is now the lobby and bar area. Just outside is St. George's mall, a pedestrianized street lined with curbside merchants selling African keepsakes and what we'll generously term art. Long Street, the city's main boho shopping and drinking street, is nearby. So, too, are the Company Gardens, the former food-growing area - now a beautiful public park - founded by the Dutch East India Company centuries ago. South Africa's pretty parliament building is located in the park, as is the country's attractive National Gallery. The dramatic outcrop of rugged Table Mountain looms over everything.
Walking around the city is generally safe in daytime - it wasn't safe even 10 years ago - and the city and nation still seem to be on a high from South Africa's successful production of the World Cup in June and July. There are, to be sure, many people just shuffling along or occupying park benches, with nowhere to go and nothing to do - a reminder of continuing poverty and class conflicts. Many public sector workers are on strike, protesting low wages, and this is not going down well with the public itself, as essential services are being disrupted. The Johannesburg Star the other day caarried disturbing reports of women forced into delivering babies outside the gates of struck hospitals, with no professional care. Scarey.
For travelers, things are still generally fine, and if you can spare the time and money, making a journey here is well worth it. I'm off on a wine safari today - just my speed.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Plans of Mice and Men
You know the old saying about the best-laid plans of mice and men. How things are known to go awry no matter how hard you labor over them? This just happened to me.
I am a seasoned traveler, no stranger to the road, but I had to scramble to make a new flight plan. The details are mundane; it was a perfect storm of a missed phone call, middle of the night departure time, heavy traffic to the airport ... you get the picture.
I was sad to miss the South Africa leg of my round the world trip on Star Alliance carriers, but heading there following the missed connection would have given me just one night in Cape Town. Too far to go for so short a time. So, I was unable to fly the blameless and well-recommended South Africa Airlines. I took a deep breath and re-learned the most important lesson for a traveler: flexibility.
I don't know about you, but when things go wrong, I prefer to speak to a live human, or failing that, start pinging e-mails to live humans. I found booking my RTW ticket online relatively easy, and I know the Internet is our friend, but I relied on the helpful folks at Star to help me get another flight the next day, this one to Cairo; they came through beautifully. Egyptair, which I was going to fly a few days later in any case, stepped into the breach for the ride from Mumbai.
(FYI, see my Oct. 27 post "Booking a Round the World Trip with Star Alliance.'')
Actually, Egyptair brought me on my first ever visit to Cairo, last summer, and there was a Star Alliance connection then, too. Egyptair was joining Star as a new member, and hundreds of airline employees and aviation pros jammed into a massive, air-conditioned tent at Cairo International Airport for the admission ceremony. The joy of the airline employees assembled there was genuine. They weren't blase, they were happy to be recognized as an international standard carrier.
The recognition was well-earned. I had an event-free flight to Cairo - the way I like them - a good lunch of spicy beef and rice and settled in for a good read on the 6-hour journey. I'll be flying Egyptair again on the next leg of my trip a few days hence.
I am a seasoned traveler, no stranger to the road, but I had to scramble to make a new flight plan. The details are mundane; it was a perfect storm of a missed phone call, middle of the night departure time, heavy traffic to the airport ... you get the picture.
I was sad to miss the South Africa leg of my round the world trip on Star Alliance carriers, but heading there following the missed connection would have given me just one night in Cape Town. Too far to go for so short a time. So, I was unable to fly the blameless and well-recommended South Africa Airlines. I took a deep breath and re-learned the most important lesson for a traveler: flexibility.
I don't know about you, but when things go wrong, I prefer to speak to a live human, or failing that, start pinging e-mails to live humans. I found booking my RTW ticket online relatively easy, and I know the Internet is our friend, but I relied on the helpful folks at Star to help me get another flight the next day, this one to Cairo; they came through beautifully. Egyptair, which I was going to fly a few days later in any case, stepped into the breach for the ride from Mumbai.
(FYI, see my Oct. 27 post "Booking a Round the World Trip with Star Alliance.'')
Actually, Egyptair brought me on my first ever visit to Cairo, last summer, and there was a Star Alliance connection then, too. Egyptair was joining Star as a new member, and hundreds of airline employees and aviation pros jammed into a massive, air-conditioned tent at Cairo International Airport for the admission ceremony. The joy of the airline employees assembled there was genuine. They weren't blase, they were happy to be recognized as an international standard carrier.
The recognition was well-earned. I had an event-free flight to Cairo - the way I like them - a good lunch of spicy beef and rice and settled in for a good read on the 6-hour journey. I'll be flying Egyptair again on the next leg of my trip a few days hence.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)