Travel tech company aims to strengthen its market-leadership by doubling-down on ground and sea transportation.
Travelier (formerly Bookaway Group), an online platform for ground and sea transportation worldwide, has announced the unveiling of its new name, officially uniting the company’s multiple subsidiaries under one umbrella.
Additionally, in order to scale up and increase ground and sea transportation operations globally, the company is investing in its centralized data platform, ‘Travelier Connect’. Suppliers will have access to a customizable and centralized solution with access to digital tools to meet growing consumer demands and shifting traveller trends.
To say that Bookaway Group has had an exciting year would be an understatement. In January, we spoke to Omer Chehmer, COO and co-founder of the newly named Travelier, about recovery in the region and the company’s plans for expansion. He said, “Although the travel market is at 60% recovery, we are way, way above it. In the last month (January), we experienced 160% recovery versus 2019.”
He added, “Our company is moving to a centralised technology hub to allow us to be much more efficient, much more technology-driven and data-driven, and this is something we prepared during Covid and now we’re fully prepared for the scale coming from Asia.”
That same month, WiT caught up with Omer again when the company officially announced that it was investing millions in the aforementioned centralised hub to serve as a standardized database for the entirety of Bookaway Group’s network and subsidiaries.
“We are working in a vertical which is fragmented by definition,” explained Omer. “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. 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.”
So, the news of Bookaway Group’s rebranding to Travelier should come as no surprise.
As its official press release points out, 50% of flight and hotel tickets are bought online, while the market share for ground and sea transportation still remains under 15%. Travelier aims to change this by enabling travellers to seamlessly book train, ferry and bus tickets around the world.
Founded in 2017, Travelier’s focus has always been the empowerment of ground and sea transportation as a more affordable alternative to flying. As the awareness for sustainable travel increases among modern travellers, as well as the demand to immerse oneself in the culture of a place, ground and sea modes of transport have seen a spike in demand of late. As a platform, Travelier connects transport service providers with digital tools to give them better visibility with consumers and better access from a traveller standpoint.
In 2022, Travelier focused on the growth and consolidation of five travel transportation companies acquired during the pandemic – Getbybus servicing the Balkans, 12Go in Southeast Asia, SeatOS for the Asia Pacific market, and Plataforma10 and Sisorg servicing Latin America – under one corporate identity. The parent company also ensured that each subsidiary under its umbrella will maintain their unique identity whilst still being fully supported by its technology.
“We have accomplished tremendous growth in such a short time, and proven ourselves to be risk takers, purchasing several travel platforms during the global pandemic incorporated under one entity,” said Noam Toister, co-founder and CEO of Travelier. “We realized that the next step was to focus on building our brand loyalty and global recognition. Years of steady growth and expansion have now afforded us the opportunity to invest in a cohesive brand and differentiate ourselves from other key players in the travel ecosystem.”
Since rebranding is no small feat, the company worked together with Ari & Friends, a U.S. branding agency, who has previously worked with companies like TripAdvisor, SkyScanner, and Virgin Atlantic.
The new brand is effective immediately.
