Group CEO Robbie Cooke, passing through Singapore on his return from Ho Chi Minh City, did not disclose the size of the investment but it would involve building the Thien Minh-owned website, iViVu.com, into the leading online travel brand for Vietnamese consumers, he said.

Buffalo Tours was founded by Tran Trong Kien, a medical doctor with a passion for adventure travel, in 1994 as a small tour operator in Hanoi. Today, the company employs more than 200 staff spanning Indochina.

In February, Thien Minh Group acquired the five properties of Victoria Hotels and Resorts from EEM Victoria Hong Kong for US$45 million. They include Victoria Phan Thiet Resort & Spa, Victoria Sapa Resort & Spa, Victoria Can Tho Resort, Victoria Chau Doc Hotel and Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort & Spa.

Cooke said he and Kien first met two years ago and it was then they started kicking ideas around. “It was a chance encounter, we discussed opportunities and we found our companies had similar cultures.”

The current website (pictured) will be completely revamped – consider it a start-up, said Cooke – and Wotif will bring its technology and knowledge of the online space to the venture while Thien Minh would brings its local expertise, content and relationships to the partnership. 

It will have its own team helmed by a local CEO, Kim Anh. The new site will go live in July. 

Vietnam is fast emerging as a new online travel market to watch. Currently, the majority of the business for the website is domestic travel but the partnership should increase the outbound portion of the business.

“We said from the beginning we would form joint ventures in local markets where we see opportunities and find partners with similar cultures. This is our first and we are pretty excited about it,” said Cooke.

“We believe one brand across Asia is too ambitious. We believe customized businesses for different markets work better. Of course, Asia Web Direct and Wotif will still be the major brands but we are open to different market opportunities and we want to remain nimble and flexible.”

Cooke said he was on the lookout for similar joint ventures in markets where there is no global dominant player. Other than Japan, China and India, where strong local OTAs dominate, that leaves pretty much of Asia open.

He said it was interesting to note why there has been no strong local OTA that’s emerged in markets like Indonesia, Malaysia or Singapore. “There are still lots of opportunities and I think it’s early days still for the market.”

Asked to comment on the $11 Facebook promotion recently run by Wotif, Cooke said, “Look, the thing is, no one really knows how to make social media work yet and so you try things out. My brief to my team is, try it out. It doesn’t worry me if we get some complaints.”

Fact is, he said, the promotion generated 3,500 room nights and a 800% spike in traffic generated to the website during the promotion period. Despite that, the website, which was built with a 400% headroom, did not crash “so if anything,” laughed Cooke, “it shows our IT guys are doing a great job”.

Its Facebook fans also went from 3,000 to 50,000 during that period.

On mobile, he said Wotif now had a development team in place looking just at this space. “You will see more from us in this space in the next 12 months,” he promised.

Cooke will be speaking at both WIT in Sydney on June 21 and WIT in Singapore, October 17-19.