Tuesday, February 4, 2020

The Must Have Apps for Business Travellers

Whether you’re going for a business travel or for just a few days or for several weeks, time management and efficiency can often mean the difference between rousing success and debilitating stress.

Technology plays a big part in this; specifically, smartphone apps, many of which have come after many years of trial and error in their attempts to expedite travel necessities and avoid any mishaps.
Not sure which ones you should be downloading? Theupsider.com.au has rounded up a few of the best. 

These are the essential apps every savvy business traveller should have – aside from the obvious Drop box, Google Maps, Google Translate, WhatsApp and the many ride-sharing services, of course.

Drops

Let’s face it, brushing up on a new language beyond a few phrases often demands more time than you may have. That’s where an audio-visual learning app like Drops comes in.

Particularly if you’re on a last-minute trip, Drops is a valuable program for those who need help building, strengthening and maintaining their vocabulary in any of 32 different languages, which include Japanese, Korean, French, German and Portuguese.

Through a rote learning approach and a clean, attractive interface, the app successfully gamifies the time-consuming task of building a sufficient vocabulary in another language, doing so in engaging and meaningful ways that don’t feel tedious or demanding.

This is mostly done through gestures, whether it’s swiping a word towards the correct illustration or re-constructing broken words by syllable. And it frames that with time constraints as well, allowing you just five minutes per day on the unpaid version, and while that may not seem like much, the app does pack a lot in that short span.  Read More

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Peak Events Australia 2020


When planning and booking your travel for 2020, please consider the following events and block-out dates.  Give your Spencer Travel Consultant a call if you have any questions or if you do need to travel around one or more of the dates below. We’ll work with you to ensure your travel plans run smoothly and at the best rates available. 


       Start Date            Finish Date


Sydney
Chinese New Year
25/01/2020
1/02/2020

State of Origin
21/06/2020
21/06/2020

City to Surf
8/08/2022
8/08/2020

NRL Grand Final
3/10/2020
3/10/2020

New Year’s Eve
31/12/2020
31/12/2020




Western Sydney
Easter Show
3/04/2020
14/04/2020

State of Origin
1/07/2020
1/07/2020

Hillsong Conference 
7/07/2020
10/07/2020

NRL Grand Final
3/10/2020
3/10/2020




Canberra
Federal Budget Night
12/05/2020
12/05/2020

KANGA cup
7/07/2020
8/07/2020




Melbourne
Australian Open Tennis
20/01/2020
2/02/2020

Grand Prix
12/03/2020
13/03/2020

AFL Grand Final
25/09/2020
26/09/2020

Derby Day
31/10/2020
31/10/2020

New Year’s Eve
31/12/2020
31/12/2020




Adelaide
Superloop
21/02/2020
22/02/2020

WOMAD
7/03/2020
7/03/2020

State of Origin
3/06/2020
3/06/2020

T20 World Cup / Indigenous Education Convention 
3/11/2020
12/11/2020

New Year’s Eve 
31/12/2020
31/12/2020




Perth
AOG Conference
10/03/2020
12/03/2020




Hobart
Taste of Tasmania
1/01/2020
3/01/2020

Chinese New Year
25/01/2020
1/02/2020

Sydney to Hobart
26/12/2020
31/12/2020




Brisbane 
NRL Magic Round
7/05/2020
9/05/2020

State of Origin
8/07/2020
8/07/2020

River Fire
26/09/2020
26/09/2020

Bledisloe Cup
17/10/2020
17/10/2020

New Year’s Eve 
31/12/2020
31/12/2020

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Spotlight on Brisbane’s Hotel Scene


Recently the Spencer Travel team travelled to Brisbane to familiarise themselves further with the Brisbane hotel scene.  Here’s what Louise Brown, Operations Manager at Spencer Travel thought of the properties they visited:   
Ovolo Inchcolm

I was very impressed with this hotel. It’s a luxury boutique hotel on Wickham Terrace in the CBD. When you walk in, there is a beautiful bar on the left which is also where you check in says Louise.
The Spencer Team stayed in the loft rooms, very spacious two-level suites. The lounge area is on the ground floor, with the bedroom and bathroom situated on the first floor.  

Salon de co, the hotel’s restaurant, is a small cosy space at the back of the hotel. The team loved the food and the service was outstanding.

Overall Louise was very impressed with the Ovolo concept and would highly recommend this property.

Next Brisbane 

Next Brisbane is located on Queen Street Mall. Burnett Lane – a laneway with cool bars and speakeasys – is right behind the hotel.
“The Standard Queen and a King Deluxe rooms are well appointed, but some look at little tired. The Deluxe King’s can be split into two twins and some can interconnect”, says Louise

In every room there is a Samsung smartphone that controls all appliances in the room. Guests can also take the phone with them and use the WIFI or make local calls. All rooms are equipped with Smart TVs so guests can watch their own Netflix. All rooms have safes with inbuilt power so guests can charge their laptops or tablets when the safe is locked.

The hotel has a so-called Intransit Lounge – this is for early arrivals or late departures. There are 4 sleep pods available and full shower and bathroom facilities. There are also Tesla charging stations available and guests can use one of their Tesla’s as a house car (paid service).

 Louise’s verdict: “The hotel is a good 4.5 star options for both leisure and corporate travel.”

Read for more Spotlights on Brisbane’s Hotel Scene.