Priceline-Momondo deal raises question – will consolidation move to Asia with two major independents remaining?
It is interesting to see this latest wave of consolidation in the travel metasearch space move to Europe with the announcement that the Priceline Group has signed an agreement to acquire UK and Denmark-based metasearch site Momondo Group for $550 million in cash.
With this following on the heels [...]
Give me the God of Wealth anytime over the God of Wrath
I am feeling particularly good about this Lunar New Year. That’s because I was given an “ang pow” (red packet with money) by the God of Wealth personally.
I ran into him at a new year’s party hosted by George Town Heritage + Hotels in Penang and that red packet he gave me, I will keep [...]
RedDoorz: Lessons on how to build a business on the ground, not on the portal
The Chinese believe red is a lucky colour and it seems to be working in RedDoorz’ favour, although it’s also taken a lot of hard work to get to where it is.
The startup that pivoted from a B2B tech player focused on India to becoming a new generation budget hotel chain focused on Indonesia is [...]
Letter from KK and Penang: A new world of travel, a new class of accommodation
I hardly recognise Kota Kinabalu (KK) these days. It’s been just over a year since I’ve visited this East Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, and the developments blew me away.
KK is an example of a destination transformed by low cost airlines and the rise of the middle class traveller a [...]
A thought for the Rooster year – can fortune tellers be replaced by AI?
The bad jokes have started. The first press release arrived last week with a headline that used words like “crowing” and “strutting” and phrases like “feather in our cap”.
Yes, right after we’ve just said goodbye to the new year, it’s time to greet the Fire Rooster as he comes fly [...]
Letter from a Homeliday: I wished I had stayed in La La Land
Warren Buffett once famously said, when everyone is doing one thing, do the other. It’s something I try and keep in mind whenever I feel a herd instinct come over me. It’s something I do particularly over the holiday season – while everyone’s travelling, I have a “homeliday”.
A holida [...]
Mobile is generation-busting, it’s not all about Millennials, be Mindful of that
I know there are many of us who can’t wait to see the end of 2016. It’s been a horrible year and even one day before New Year’s Eve, there are people saying, “Hey wait, it hasn’t ended, let’s get through 2016 first.”
It’s like we’re constantly bracing ourselves for more bad news [...]
How dragons became sharks, and lessons on overcoming fear and rejection from Robert Herjavec
The first thing I learnt from listening to Robert Herjavec of “Shark Tank” fame is that dragons don’t exist in America, or at least they don’t believe in them as we do in Asia.
Speaking at the Expedia Partners Conference in Las Vegas held earlier this month, Herjavec, one of the sharks in [...]
Myanmar, a sleeping beauty being woken up by technology and tourism
Growing up in Myanmar in the 70s, May Myat Mon Win dreamt of a day “when our country could be like our neighbours” in South-east Asia. “We just didn’t know how long it would take,” she said.
Today, as the chairperson of the Myanmar Tourism Marketing Committee (MTMC), she sees that the d [...]
Why voice will be big and Barry Diller on Netflix, Tesla and Trump
Voice is the next technology frontier and companies who do not plough resources into it now will be in danger of being disintermediated and disrupted, said Barry Diller, chairman of IAC/InterActive Corp and Expedia Inc, at the Expedia Partners Conference in Las Vegas last week.
Speaking to CE [...]
