The exhibition hotels performed well, with The Landis Taipei topping the sales with NT$55 million.

Written/Compiled by Liu Jiawen

The 2011 Taipei International Travel Fair concluded successfully yesterday (the 14th). Over the four-day event, nearly 300,000 visitors flocked to the fair, with the hotel and leisure lodging area at World Trade Center Hall 3 attracting huge crowds lining up to snag great deals. As a result, the sales performance of all hotels increased by about 20–30% compared to previous years. The Hotel Éclat Taipei, making its first appearance this year, sold out its limited tickets on the first day, while the Regent Group, a chain of restaurants and hotels that drew long queues, retained its title as the king of meal vouchers this year.

Hotel operators went all out to boost sales during the travel fair. Among resort hotels in the four major regions of Taiwan—east, south, west, and north—the top sellers were: Eastern Taiwan’s Farglory Freeport Hotel in Hualien with NT$30 million in sales; Southern Taiwan’s Caesar Park Kenting with NT$28 million; Western Taiwan’s The Prince Hotel, Chikan with NT$20 million; and Northern Taiwan’s Harmony Spa Resort Yangmingshan, which achieved NT$19 million in four days, topping the northern resort hotel category. Chain hotels were still dominated by The Landis Hotels & Resorts group, with estimated sales reaching NT$55 million.

To save visitors time queuing, Harmony Spa Resort Yangmingshan set a precedent in the hotel industry by introducing a “QR Code mobile ordering” service. By scanning the QR code displayed at the booth with their mobile phones, customers could complete credit card transactions instantly via their phones. This attracted many users and demonstrated that smartphone applications have become a new trend in shopping and marketing convenience.