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/ 16 January 2008

China’s booming budget hotels profit from no frills

German engineer Michael Bosch is not fazed by the lack of a gym and other creature comforts at his budget hotel in a converted Shanghai office building. He’s stayed at such hotels on nearly a dozen trips to Chinese cities. ”All I need is a clean, warm place to sleep. I don’t care so much about service,” the 32-year-old said as he waited for 10 minutes for a distracted receptionist to attend to him at a Motel168 on the edge of Shanghai’s financial district.

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/ 18 September 2007

New York Times to end paid internet service

The New York Times said on Monday it will end its paid TimesSelect web service and make most of its website available for free in the hopes of attracting more readers and higher advertising revenue. TimesSelect will shut down on Wednesday, two years after the Times launched it, which charges subscribers ,95 a month or ,95 a year.

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/ 10 September 2007

Choose your forex carefully

Travellers’ cheques could be your cheapest option when going overseas, especially in the United States, but are not always the most convenient currency choice. Thanks to the National Credit Act, banks are now required to disclose the full fees charged on a transaction, which highlights the cost of credit card transactions.