Bangkok--4 Jan--Spark Communications
Visa cardholders can enjoy savings of up to 33 percent on private villa accommodation
Visa is teaming up with leading independent villa guide Private Homes & Villas to offer up to four nights’ complimentary accommodation when booking one of 32 selected luxury private villas in Bali, Koh Samui and Phuket.
The Visa and Private Homes & Villas promotion, which can represent savings of up to 33 percent, includes accommodation, gourmet seafood dinners and spa massage treatments. Available throughout 2010, the offer is open to all Visa Premium cardholders (Visa Platinum, Visa Signature and Visa Infinite).
James Lim, Head of Consumer Products in Asia Pacific, Visa, said, ”We believe our cardholders deserve the best holiday experience, every time they travel. Private Homes & Villas’ attention to detail and focus recommending only those places that meet the highest standards in service and luxury gives us the peace of mind that premium Visa cardholders will enjoy a fabulous villa holiday.”
Jon Stonham, CEO and founder of Private Homes & Villas, said, “Asia has thousands of villas and private homes for rent. Sadly, villas’ websites are at times filled with exaggeration or outright misrepresentation. Working out what is fact and what is fiction is a minefield for even the most savvy traveler.
“The best recommendations come from people who have tried the beds, sampled the food and been served by the staff. Our team does just that. Every villa on our website is inspected by our seasoned travel staff. We pride ourselves on our complete independence and take the hard work out of planning villa holidays.”
According to the Visa and PATA Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey ‘Determining Travel Preferences for 2009 and Beyond’[1], more than eight in ten travelers have recommended the great places they have visited. In essence, this means that for many destinations the most influential travel motivator is from what is said about it by those who have been there. The service provided by Private Homes & Villas is therefore a good indicator that the premises they have selected will be a suitable place for premium Visa cardholders looking for their next holiday destination.
The Visa and Private Homes & Villas promotion features a selection of high-end two to six bedroom villas. They range from romantic retreats such as the recently-opened Headland Villas in Koh Samui, the stunning cliff top villas on Phuket’s luxurious Samsara Estate, to iconic Bali villas such as Puri Bawana and The Beach House.
Prices start from as little as US$50 per person per night. The offer runs begins on 1 January 2010 and runs throughout the year (dates vary according to the villa).
To view a full list of participating villas and to enjoy the Visa premium cardholder promotion visit www.privatehomesandvillas.com/visa.
Notes to editors:
About Private Homes & Villas - www.privatehomesandvillas.com
Private Homes & Villas is the first and only company to carry out in-depth inspections of villas and publish objective, independent, honest reviews. The company started out of frustration by entrepreneur Jon Stonham, the founder of the pioneering hotel review website, asiahotels.com and best selling guidebook, Asia’s Best Hotels and Resorts (both now owned by Orbitz Worldwide).
About Visa: Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world’s most advanced processing networks—VisaNet—that is capable of handling more than 10,000 transactions a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.C
For further press information please contact:
Supansa Vongprasert or Warangkana Plungsiri
Spark Communications
Tel: 02 653 2717-9
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[1] Commissioned by Visa Asia Pacific and PATA, the Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey ‘Determining Travel Preferences in 2009 and Beyond’ was an online survey conducted by Synovate from 7 to 28 August 2008. The survey asked 5,554 respondents from 11 key Asia Pacific travel source markets (Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, France, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States) about past and future travel plans. For each market, respondents were internet users, aged 18 years or above, had travelled for holidays in the past three years or have the intention to do so in 2009 or 2010.