Bookaway Group says the industry is fragmented and aims to aggregate data for over 100 markets globally
“The centralized hub will be a standardized database for the entirety of Bookaway Group’s network and subsidiaries”, said Omer Chehmer (COO and co-founder, Bookaway Group) when asked by WiT to comment on the company’s newly unveiled plans. He added, “By connecting everyone to a single API, all existing platforms will start sharing in the same language, allowing the hub to be accessible for all of Bookaway Group, as well as for new brands that join the group.”
Bookaway Group, a booking platform for ground and sea transportation, recently announced that it will invest millions in the development of its centralized knowledge hub in an effort to scale the company and enhance efficiency for each of Bookaway Group’s subsidiaries. Speaking to WiT in a recent interview, Omer Chehmer described Bookaway Group as a tech solution resolving a fragmented industry by closing the ground transportation gap. Bookaway Group’s digital platform does this by way of digital transformation, taking offline service providers online, and reducing overhead costs for local providers by giving them access to tools and insights to optimize business earnings.
In 2022, the company focused on consolidating five travel transportation companies it acquired during the pandemic. In order to scale and maintain a competitive global edge, Bookaway Group decided to heavily invest in consolidating its inventory under one hub to be entitled Boost.
According to Omer, the objective of the hub is for all of the Group’s companies to have access to a common data source, and also for the company to aggregate all the incoming data in a more streamlined fashion. “Bookaway Group is currently sharing inventory using multiple API connectivities. This current method has led to technical problems, and the transfer of data and product is not as smooth as it should be. The centralized hub will streamline our workflow.”
Another, more ambitious, goal for the centralised data hub is the unification of what Bookaway deems is a “fragmented sector of the travel industry – ground and sea travel”. With the installation of a hub, Bookaway Group will now hold over 8,000 operators in its system under a single API, allowing partners, OTA’s, and affiliates, to integrate additional transportation services while maintaining full visibility of assets.
But de-fragmenting – the task of funneling data from 100 different markets – isn’t easy, as Omer admits – especially in Bookaway’s hotspots within Southeast Asia. It seems the biggest challenge is the lack of a common SOP, one that Bookaway also wants to create as the hub develops. “We are working in a vertical which is fragmented by definition. As such, it means that on both the market and operator level, there is no standard operating procedure – basically every new operator requires a tailor-made solution”, said Omer. “By creating a new hub, we will be able to create an industry standard that will allow us to optimize sales, scale each brand to different regions faster, and offer a proprietary product that will enable third parties like big OTA’s to integrate large amounts of inventory in one API, thus bringing better products and value to their customers.”
Obviously, the primary ROI in this scenario is growth. As Omer says, the growth of the company was the main deciding factor when deciding to invest millions in the creation of Boost. “Our biggest motivation was to scale and expedite company growth. As we continue to grow, we are looking to focus on our market share to become the largest online transportation provider. Instead of waiting for this fragmented market to consolidate, we are taking the initiative to invest in it ourselves and revolutionize this vertical.”
Data, as they say, is key.
It goes without saying that by centralizing payments, bookings, and metrics across all of their subsidiaries, the Group will enable simultaneous growth for its partners and, most interestingly, provide them with extra insight into trends, past customer purchasing behavior, and future industry predictions. Technically, this means that the platform allows access to worldwide inventory and connectivity to any type of supplier, regardless of their technology or transportation management system.
Bookaway Group has engaged Yossi Palivatkel, who will assume the title of General Manager, to expand Boost’s platform development under Bookaway Group. Palivatkel is an executive in software development with a background in large scale software architecture and project management. He also served as the CTO and co-founder of RoadRunAir, the Development Director at HotelBeds, and the CTO at Travel Global Systems.
