At the WIT Conference last year in Singapore, we recognised 11 individuals whom we felt have had the most influence on the development of online travel in Asia Pacific. This is the third article in a series of interviews profiling our WIT Warriors.
Melissa Yang returned to China after a successful career in the US, working with Expedia and later Escapia, a vacation rental site which was acquired by HomeAway in October 2010. She chose to return because she knew China was changing and wanted to be part of that change. With her experience in vacation rentals in the US, she knew this was the new, hot space to crack in China and that it would benefit travellers like her who were looking for unique travel experiences. She with her partners started Tujia in 2011 and since then, the company which specialises in vacation rentals in China, has received US$115 million in three rounds from seven investors. The last round, Series C, on June 18, 2014, was for $100 million. In March, there were reports that it was raising another US$200 million.
Melissa Yang: “I love travel and want to make it better.”
Q: Tell us your first memory of the Internet and what your thinking was at the time.
I was at a graduate school lab in US and came cross something called Mosaic, which I used to browse the internet for hours. Simply found it amazing.
Q: Do you recall your first email? Who was it to?
The first email I can remember was to my husband (my then boyfriend).
Q: What was the first thing you bought online?
A book
Q: What was the first thing you sold online?
A couch
Q: How did you venture into online travel as an industry? What motivated you?
I love travel and want to make it better
Q: What was behind the thinking of the company you founded?
I wanted to build something that travellers like me can benefit from.
Q: How did the name come about?
I really liked the name HomeAway (home away from home) because it presented our business as well. Justin (co-founder) and I tried very hard to find something with “Home” in it and a URL that was still available. Finally we happily came up with Tujia (home on a journey).
Q: What were the earlier challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? (Cite 3 challenges)
• Hire people. With no office and no company name, I interviewed folks in coffee shops. Luckily I have a good track record and look honest (I guess) and Tujia’s business model is easy to understand.
• Work out business model. China is specific from US and Europe in many ways. We could not copy others and needed to find out a way that worked for us. Visited many places and talked to people to learn business, and made changes quickly.
• Launch within very short time. I was the first employee and started in mid July 2011. We launched the website and back office tools on Dec 1, 2011. All the hiring, finding office and data center, coding and testing were done within less than 4 months. We managed by getting great people and strong execution.
Q: What was the first major milestone/success achieved? How did you celebrate?
We got our first booking online on Dec 2, 2011, the second day Tujia.com was launched. One of our team members brought a bottle of red wine. Everyone in the office drank that. Our engineering director was outside at the time and sent back an email rewriting what Amstrong said “a giant leap for mankind” stuff with Tujia’s version.
Q: What’s been the biggest change in the online travel world in the last decade?
Mobile
Q: What do you forsee will be the biggest change to come in the next decade?
More personalised travel experience
A villa in Anhui: One of the listings on Tujia to enable Chinese travellers to have unique experiences
Q: Do you think online travel is a force for good? How does it make travel better? How does it make the world better?
Absolutely. I first started to use Expedia in 1998. Before that, I had to call travel agency to book flights and hotels. It made travel much easier to plan and drove down total cost. Things simply improved fast since then.
Q: Businesses are built by teams. Every team has a rock star and a steward. If you are the rock star, who’s your steward, the one who’s often behind the scenes making things happen?
My engineering director. He is a good friend of mine, always considers things from the benefit of the entire company, and reminds me what I could do better from time to time.
Q: If you could give an award, what award would it be and to whom would you give it?
I want to give an award to my family, including my husband, my 7 years old daughter and my parents. I simply could not do what I am doing without their full support. I can’t help but think how lucky I have been.
Q: Who were your earliest influencers?
I admired Einstein a lot as a kid. Still do.
Q: Who are your current influencers?
Not someone specific. I’ve been reading a lot of books and learned a lot from those books.
Q: One thing you feel you have influenced in the business
More and more people got to know Tujia and learned that there were more fun ways to enjoy their leisure vacation.
Q: Who and what do you wish to influence in the next five years?
Chinese travellers. Let more travellers have fun by providing unique travel experiences for them.
See related article, Why Tujia had to take a different approach with vacation rentals in China.
