How hotel loyalty programs are changing to win brand loyalty
Today, hotel loyalty programmes are more inclusive and accessible than ever.
SINGAPORE – The battle for travellers' loyalty is heating up. Hotels worldwide are doubling down on loyalty programmes as competition stiffens, bringing vacationers more choice, better deals and increasingly enticing rewards.
In 2024, the global hotel loyalty membership base grew to more than 675 million members, up 14.5 per cent from 2023, according to an April report by American commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE .
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Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Straits Times
China can buy Nvidia H20 chips again. But it's not all good news
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The Cyberspace Administration of China on July 31 flagged concerns about possible 'backdoor' security risks associated with the H20 chips, which American chipmaker Nvidia has denied. – Two weeks after Nvidia's chief executive Jensen Huang mounted a charm offensive to court the Chinese market, the American chip giant found itself once again the centre of attention in Beijing – and not in a good way. 'Nvidia, how can I trust you?' So read the headline of a commentary published by the People's Daily, the communist party's mouthpiece, a day after Chinese regulators summoned on July 31 the company's representatives over what they deemed 'serious security issues' related to its chips. The processor in question, known as the H20, was until recently the most advanced chip that Nvidia could sell to China under US restrictions. Washington effectively banned their exports in April amid an escalating trade war, but said in July that it would allow sales to resume. Some US officials touted the easing of export controls as a negotiating chip in ongoing trade talks with Beijing. But this apparent concession, analysts say, is not necessarily all good news for China. 'The reversal of the H20 ban offers short-term relief for China's artificial intelligence (AI) industry,' said Mr Charlie Dai, a vice president and principal analyst at advisory firm Forrester Research. 'On the other hand, it could slow domestic chipset adoption and impact the pace of technology self-reliance (amid) ongoing geopolitical frictions.' A taste for Nvidia China has been advocating the use of homegrown chips by its companies as part of a broader push for self-reliance, including in key technologies such as AI. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore LTA, Singapore bus operators reviewing Malaysia's request to start services from JB at 4am Singapore Despite bag checks and warnings, young partygoers continue to vape in clubs in Singapore Singapore President Tharman meets migrant workers who saved driver of car that fell into sinkhole Singapore Now flying solo, Acres CEO Kalaivanan Balakrishnan presses ahead with wildlife rescue efforts Opinion The charm – and drawbacks – of living in a time warp in Singapore Business UMS Integration becomes first SGX company with secondary listing in Malaysia Singapore Ong Beng Seng to plead guilty on Aug 4, more than 2 years after trip to Qatar with Iswaran Business Decoupling to save on tax? You may lose right to property if ties go awry Despite this, many Chinese AI firms – in particular private tech giants – are said to still prefer using Nvidia's H20s to train and run their models, even though the chips are not Nvidia's most powerful. After the US announced a lifting of its export ban, news agency Reuters reported that Chinese companies were scrambling to buy the H20s, citing sources. It also said that Nvidia had placed fresh orders for 300,000 chipsets from its contract manufacturer amid strong Chinese demand. 'The general sense is that Chinese customers, especially Bytedance, Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba, still prefer Nvidia's solutions, whether it's H20 or whatever comes next,' said Mr Ray Wang, research director for semiconductors, supply chain and emerging tech at advisory firm The Futurum Group. Nvidia's edge over its Chinese rivals – which 'continue to improve' – is manifold for now, he explained. Its hardware has larger memory bandwidth, making it better for inference tasks, or the application of trained AI models that makes them useful in the real world. The company also has a stronger software platform with which to program the chips, as well as more capable networking technology to harness the combined performance of hundreds and thousands of processors, Mr Wang said. Importantly, he added, Chinese firms' rivalry with Huawei – seen as the biggest domestic rival to Nvidia on the chip front – also fuels their preference for the American chipmaker. Huawei has a sprawling business empire that boasts not just chipsets, but also extends to cloud computing and AI model development. This puts them in direct competition with the other tech giants. Mr Wang said: 'So if you're Alibaba or Tencent, do you want to source your most important computing resources from Huawei?' The push for self-reliance Nvidia's current advantages notwithstanding, analysts say that China will simultaneously double down on growing its domestic chip ecosystem – a goal that could be helped by regulators' recent scrutiny of the American firm. The Cyberspace Administration of China had on July 31 flagged concerns about possible 'backdoor' security risks associated with the H20 chips, which Nvidia has denied . A People's Daily commentary released on social media the next day sketched out possible 'nightmare' scenarios associated with such risks, such as electric cars suddenly losing power on the highway. It asked the company to provide proof of the chips' security to alleviate users' worries. The regulators' move 'will likely cause Chinese tech firms to temporarily curb adoption (of the H20) due to fears of potential vulnerabilities and regulatory uncertainty, despite strong underlying demand,' said Mr Dai of Forrester Research. He added that even as companies' continued reliance on Nvidia's superior AI capabilities may sustain some purchases of its chips, he expected firms to simultaneously also accelerate shifts towards domestic alternatives. Mr Su Lian Jye, chief analyst at technology research firm Omdia, said that Chinese firms in recent years had already been buying more homegrown chipsets or developing their own amid sharpening geopolitical tensions. These include China's three major telcos, banks, cloud service providers, and various other state-linked companies, he said. Tech giants including Baidu and Alibaba are also developing their own chips. In recent weeks, following news that Nvidia would once again be allowed to ship H20s to China, local firms have spoken up about strengthening support for homegrown chipmakers. On July 25, AI start-up StepFun, a model developer, announced an 'ecosystem innovation alliance' with several domestic chip companies including Huawei, Cambricon, Moore Threads and MetaX, news outlet Caixin reported. The same day, StepFun released a large language model that was developed with the properties of domestic chips in mind, the report also said. Separately, co-founder of cyber-security company Qihoo 360 Zhou Hongyi said on July 23 that his company had turned to procuring domestic chips, and that its recent purchases had all been of Huawei products, news outlet Yicai reported. The company, which has also branched into AI, is on the US' entity list, which restricts access to American technology. Mr Zhou acknowledged that there was a 'gap' between Chinese chips and Nvidia's, but stressed the need to use domestic processors anyway, in comments that were videoed and uploaded to social media. 'If you don't use them, the gap will always be there,' he said. 'The more (you) use them, the more they will improve.'
Straits Times
4 hours ago
- Straits Times
Trump is winning his trade war, but Americans will pay the price
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox All indications are that Americans will pay more for nearly all the goods they consume when the effects of all of US President Donald Trump's tariffs kick in. - Judging from the air of concession wafting across world capitals from Tokyo to Brussels, United States President Donald Trump is prevailing in his trade war. The White House is in a celebratory mood. Almost every day, press conferences and statements catalogue the many supposed benefits flowing from Mr Trump's strategy. The strategy has brought trade partners to the negotiating table, is catalysing trillions in foreign investment commitments, protecting America's strategic industries and generating billions in revenue. So much winning, in Trump-speak. If success, however, means more jobs, more trade and a stronger economy, the evidence is more suspect. All indications are that Americans will pay more for nearly all the goods they consume when the effects of all the tariffs kick in. The universal baseline tariffs of 10 per cent have already been in effect since April and will remain in place for around 100 nations with no trade deficits with the US, like Singapore and Australia. Effective from Aug 7, more than 70 nations will face 'reciprocal' tariffs , ranging from 10 to 50 per cent. The concept of reciprocity seems questionable as Mr Trump's strategy from the start has been to exert pressure on trade partners rather than strictly mirror their tariffs. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore LTA, Singapore bus operators reviewing Malaysia's request to start services from JB at 4am Singapore Despite bag checks and warnings, young partygoers continue to vape in clubs in Singapore Singapore President Tharman meets migrant workers who saved driver of car that fell into sinkhole Singapore Now flying solo, Acres CEO Kalaivanan Balakrishnan presses ahead with wildlife rescue efforts Opinion The charm – and drawbacks – of living in a time warp in Singapore Business UMS Integration becomes first SGX company with secondary listing in Malaysia Singapore Ong Beng Seng to plead guilty on Aug 4, more than 2 years after trip to Qatar with Iswaran Business Decoupling to save on tax? You may lose right to property if ties go awry For those nations running a trade surplus with the US, the rate is at least 15 per cent. It is higher still for others, where geopolitics and personal vendettas sharpen the blade. Brazil, for instance, has no trade surplus with the US. Nevertheless, it has been slapped with a rate of 50 per cent at least partly because Mr Trump has an issue with the government prosecuting former president and Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro on coup charges. India, at a 25 per cent rate , also faces an unspecified penalty for its import of Russian energy and arms. The US has also caught on to transshipping, the sly rerouting of goods through lower-tariff nations. This practice now invites a 40 per cent penalty. More deals are to come, if the President wants them, according to Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in an Aug 1 TV interview. It is not clear what kind of deal will be struck with America's near peer rival . China poses a peculiar problem and the US is still alternating between confrontation and pressing for an advantage. 'Their economy and ours are like a square peg and a round hole, they don't really fit together very well,' Mr Greer said. But what is crystal clear is that America has just executed a major turn, reshaping the post-World War II economy to reflect Mr Trump's priorities of preserving American dominance in all spheres, from military might and manufacturing to energy. And the man is just six months into the job. Costs are more tangible than benefits As Mr Trump is never tired of pointing out, the threat of tariffs has persuaded the European Union and Japan to commit to investing US$600 billion (S$774 billion) and US$550 billion in the US, respectively. Combined with earlier investment commitments, including from Saudi Arabia, Mr Trump has touted the figure of US$12 trillion. Tariff revenues now make up 5 per cent of federal revenues, much higher than the historical average of 2 per cent. The figures are impressive – US$150 billion was collected in mere months, with projections of 'several hundred billions' by the year end. And American companies can now sell their goods – beef, rice, cars and other items – with zero tariffs in many more nations. Key American industries are sheltered through sectoral tariffs enacted in auto, steel, aluminium and copper industries. Pharmaceuticals and semiconductors are next in line. But plenty of fine print applies. Analysts caution that many pledges from foreign partners may be delayed, only partially fulfilled, or merely symbolic. Foreign investments in the US usually flow in tandem with dollars earned by companies from exports to the US. If tariffs penalise these exports, investing more dollars is challenging. The actual inflow of foreign investment will likely surpass the levels seen in recent years, say analysts at the Peterson Institute of International Economics (PIIE) in Washington. Just not, they add, by the large margins claimed publicly by Mr Trump. Dr Marcus Noland, an international trade economist at PIIE, found a clear example of the impact of Mr Trump's tariffs right in his own kitchen. The granola he has for breakfast is made by an American company with a plant in Ontario, Canada. Due to higher tariffs, the price of this granola has risen more than 40 per cent. 'Shortages and higher prices, there's no good here,' he maintains. Experts have tallied the costs. The average US tariff rate in the first quarter was 2.4 per cent, but climbed to 10 per cent in June. The latest levy announcements are set to bring that to more than 18 per cent, according to analysts at Gavekal Research. The median US household stares down an extra US$1,270 in expenses for 2025, a number projected to reach US$1,619 next year. Economic growth slowed from near 3 per cent in 2024 to about 1.2 per cent over the first half of 2025 and may be zero for the rest of the year. Some models predict wages will fall and leave scars that will stay raw for a generation. A recession now appears 'very, very likely', to quote Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, who has been warning of this outcome since Mr Trump made his 'Liberation Day' tariffs announcement in early April. Corporate bottom lines tell a similar story. Apple's June quarter results dazzled, but only because buyers rushed to beat tariffs. The 25 per cent levy on India – where the company now produces its smartphones for the US market – darkens the next quarter. Amazon says inventories are its buffer now. But the future is 'impossible to know', says its chief executive Andy Jassy as supply chains in China, where the e-commerce giant sources its vast array of products, are in the crosshairs. Manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers increasingly report paying higher prices for the goods and services they buy and are slowly beginning to raise the prices they charge their customers, says the US Chamber of Commerce. Higher tariffs will directly punish the domestic manufacturing industry given that approximately 56 per cent of US imports are composed of raw materials and intermediary and capital goods. These will especially hit the small businesses which operate on thin margins and will find it harder to absorb the tariffs. Defined as those with fewer than 500 employees, they account for over 40 per cent of the country's economic activity. Industry insiders are also sceptical of Mr Trump's push to expand access for American products. 'I don't know that we wanted zero tariffs on American goods,' said an analyst who advises American businesses operating in South-east Asia. 'The more important things are the non-tariff barriers.' Hoover Institution economist David Henderson narrowed in on the impact of tariffs on the most important actor in the US economy – the consumer. 'For some countries, notably those in the European Union, tariff rates will be lower than they were before Trump began. That is a victory. But we should be clear about whom it's a victory for,' he noted in a July 31 commentary. 'The main gainers are European consumers, and the secondary gainers are US exporters. The big losers, though, from the high US tariffs, are US consumers and producers who use the tariffed items as inputs, and the secondary losers are foreign exporters,' he said. He noted that while US consumers will pay a 19 per cent tariff rate on goods from the Philippines and Indonesia, and a 20 per cent on those from Vietnam, their consumers will pay a zero per cent tariff on imports from the US. 'Don't get me wrong. I'm glad that people in those three countries, almost all of whom are poorer than the average American, will get the benefits of one-way free trade,' he said. 'But I feel bad for Americans, who will pay higher taxes,' he said. The deals, although heralded as victories by the Trump Administration, have not been struck in the traditional way. No formal texts bind them; and there seem to be differences in how they are regarded in Washington and overseas. In his quest for a 'good' deal, nation by nation, Mr Trump may have squeezed out some advantages. But will a refusal to consider the reality of an interdependent world come back to bite America in ways not yet apparent? And no monetary or symbolic victory can be counted as a 'good deal' if it results in squandering a precious asset that took the US years to earn – global goodwill. Can America afford to arm-twist the very same countries whose help it needs in its geopolitical rivalry with China? And if tariffs continue to be applied in purely mercantilistic terms, they may have the effect of transforming America First into America Alone.
Straits Times
5 hours ago
- Straits Times
India wraps up mass Hindu pilgrimage in contested Kashmir
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The pilgrimage began on July 3 and closes officially on Aug 9, but organisers said that lashing rains had damaged narrow paths forcing a premature end. SRINAGAR - More than 400,000 Hindus took part in a month-long pilgrimage in contested Indian-run Kashmir, authorities said, shrugging off security worries weeks after conflict with Pakistan. The pilgrimage began on July 3 and closes officially on Aug 9, but organisers said that lashing rains had damaged narrow paths forcing a premature end. Official Vijay Kumar Bidhuri said in a statement late on Aug 2 that 415,000 pilgrims had taken part. Many of the faithful began their trek to the Amarnath ice pillar from near Pahalgam, where gunmen on April 22 killed 26 mostly Hindu tourists in the Muslim-majority region. New Delhi said the gunmen were backed by Pakistan, claims Islamabad rejected – triggering a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures that escalated into a four-day conflict. It was the worst standoff by the nuclear-armed nations since 1999, with more than 70 people killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, before a May 10 ceasefire. New Delhi last week said that three Pakistani men who carried out the Pahalgam attack were killed during a gun battle on July 28 in forests adjacent to the hills where the cave shrine is located. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore LTA, Singapore bus operators reviewing Malaysia's request to start services from JB at 4am Singapore Despite bag checks and warnings, young partygoers continue to vape in clubs in Singapore Singapore President Tharman meets migrant workers who saved driver of car that fell into sinkhole Singapore Now flying solo, Acres CEO Kalaivanan Balakrishnan presses ahead with wildlife rescue efforts Opinion The charm – and drawbacks – of living in a time warp in Singapore Singapore Ong Beng Seng to plead guilty on Aug 4, more than 2 years after trip to Qatar with Iswaran Business Decoupling to save on tax? You may lose right to property if ties go awry Singapore NDP 2025: Veteran Red Lion says each leap 'feels like 5km run' A few devotees may still visit the cave, but the numbers in 2025 fall short of the estimated half a million devotees who took part in 2024. Officials appealed to Hindus to undertake the pilgrimage, ramping up security for the event by deploying 45,000 troops with high-tech surveillance tools overseeing the gruelling trek to the cave, dedicated to Shiva, the deity of destruction. On Aug 3, Indian forces exchanged fire with gunmen for a third day in Kulgam, far from the Amarnath pilgrimage route. Soldiers have killed two militants, a senior police officer said. Kashmir has been divided between the India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, with both administering it in part and claiming in full. Rebel groups have fought Indian forces for decades, demanding Kashmir's independence or its merger with Pakistan. AFP
