Value Alliance, a breakthrough in low cost airline distribution
When you think about it, the first pan-Asian low cost airline alliance, Value Alliance, launched today in Singapore is a pretty big deal in the annals of airline distribution.
One, it’s a world first and shows Asian LCCs ahead of in their innovative thinking and two, it is primarily a technolog [...]
Responses to Google’s travel plans – “bad news”, “they can go wrong” and “transformational”
A sampling of responses to Google’s talk yesterday at Phocuswright Dublin.
Rod Cuthbert, CEO, Rome2rio
“Google's relentless push to replace existing travel intermediaries with their own solutions is bad news for the whole travel industry. Their key products -- Flights, Hotels, Transit [...]
Google’s quest to become our personal travel assistant – to be loved or feared?
You could almost feel the air being sucked out of the room as Oliver Heckmann of Google closed off Day 1 of Phocuswright Dublin with a talk on everything the world’s largest search engine was doing in travel. I sensed everyone was grappling with the massive implications everyone of its products wo [...]
Whether you’re a surfer or sumo wrestler, the big wave in online travel is coming
Perhaps it was the Bali setting which has a way of inspiring anyone to flights of fancy but in the opening session of WIT Indonesia, there was talk of surfing, aquariums and team sports, even sumo wrestlers.
The conference opened with the premise that technology is like a surf – it starts slow, [...]
She escapes a revolution, starts a ‘LinkedIn=Kickstarter’ for women entrepreneurs
Tunisian-born Mouna Aouri Langendorf remembers the Arab Spring well. Her first child was born three days before the outbreak of the Tunisian Revolution in January 2011.
“I was lucky to get to a hospital and within days of delivery, we were trapped in our house. There was a curfew and my husband [...]
This was the news today – consolidation continues, money flows in, Huston exits
Proving that there’s never a dull moment in travel, while WIT Indonesia was happening inside the ballroom of Grand Nikko Bali yesterday, these things happened in the world outside.One, China’s HNA Group, which is on its path to building a global travel empire, buys Carlson Hotels Inc., owner of [...]
Letter from Bali: It’s Indonesia’s time in the digital sun
It’s a full flight. The beginning of a long weekend for Singaporeans and Bali’s always a quick and good two-hour-flight escape for stressed out city folks.There are lots of Australians too on the flight, connecting via Changi which, to no one’s surprise, has just been named “best airport to [...]
Letter from Penang: The artists who call it home and the making of a festival
It was a wonderful coincidence that on the Sunday I was in Penang to mark the Ching Ming (All Soul’s Day) festival, it happened to be the night for “Whispers of George Town Festival”.It was a sneak preview for media as well as the local artist community to get an idea of what’s in store for [...]
peakwork sets up APAC office in global distribution play
Following its announcement late last year that it was ready to expand internationally, peakwork is opening an office in Singapore, to be headed by Tony Marshall.Marshall, who was APAC head for Orbitz Partner Network, joins the Germany-based software specialist whose Player Hub technology is designed [...]
Relux uses new funds to expand inbound business on back of Abe’s ambitious targets
Loco Partners, which manages the members-only luxury hotels and ryokan booking site, Relux, will use the latest 500m yen (about US$4.5m) raised to expand its service for Japanese users as well as expand its inbound business for overseas visitors, signaling a step-up in the competition for inbound to [...]
