A WITNext view: Insights, ideas and inspiration, all in one evening
A night for inspiration at the UndergroundSet in a funky venue, Velvet Underground of Zouk, the first ever WITNext provided much room for audience to be inspired by our speakers. Starting off the night, two entrepreneurs from Pigeonhole Live, Hew Joon Yeng (left) and Lyon Lim, introduced the use o [...]
Bali basking in strong hospitality and property growth
The Bali Hotel Branded Villa Update, released by regional hospitality consulting firm C9 Hotelworks, revealed that Bali is enjoying a golden era in its tourism and property sectors. (Download full report here).Home to established hotel names including Starwood’s chic W, Bvlgari, Banyan Tree an [...]
Accor sets smartphone bookings target, launches two new apps
Accor Hotels, which has set a target of 260,000 bed-nights for 2011 through smartphone bookings, has launched applications for two smartphones: BlackBerry and Samsung (equipped with the new Bada operating system).They join the existing services dedicated to the mobile and especially the iPhone appl [...]
After QF32, Qantas to spend more on social and digital media
Qantas will be investing more resources in social and digital media following the wake-up call it received after the QF32 incident in which tweets saying it had crashed had an immediate impact on its share price.CEO Alan Joyce (left), speaking at the Australian Tourism Exchange, said that that incid [...]
Agoda teams up with Jetstar
First it was Expedia and AirAsia. Now it’s Agoda and Jetstar but in a different kind of partnership.The partnership between the Asia-based global hotel booking site and the Australia-based low cost carrier means that Agoda.com's proprietary hotel inventory of thousands of hotels will be access [...]
AirAsia headquarters to stay in Malaysia: Fernandes
Regional low-cost carrier, AirAsia, has refuted news report that it is moving its corporate headquarters from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta. It is only setting up a representative office, AirAsia Asean, in Indonesia's capital city. AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes (pictured below) reaffirms tha [...]
The future of social: Learn from cavemen and babies
Where is social going? Here, on the eve of our 6th anniversary, are my thoughts.Meet the creators: Video is the language of socialMeet Mike Corey (pictured right). He’s a 26 year-old videographer who loves to travel from Toronto, Canada. Recently he used his previous body of user-generated-cont [...]
Airports of tomorrow – how will they solve our travel frustrations?
What is the most annoying part of going to the airport: Checking-in? Lost luggage? Delays? Not enough shopping options? No automated kiosks? Frustrating security checks?A new report by Norm Rose of Travel Tech Consulting Inc titled Navigating the Airport of Tomorrow looks at what the m [...]
Amadeus sells Opodo
Amadeus IT Holding, S.A., through its subsidiary Amadeus IT Group S.A., has reached an agreement with AXA Private Equity and Permira Funds, for the sale of 100% of the capital of its subsidiary OPODO LIMITED ("Opodo").The enterprise value agreed by the parties reaches approximately 450 million Euros [...]
AirAsia on the move – to Jakarta and Singapore
So AirAsia has finally decided to move its regional head office out of Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta and set up a base in Singapore. Surprised? I asked a few travel industry friends when we heard the news.Response? Not really. “It’s just a question of where and when,” they said, “though Jakarta [...]
