Don’t be a sitting duck, join us in a deep dive into hospitality
In between evening walks, painting and writing, I’ve been preparing the content for our first WIT Hospitality conference in Hong Kong on March 22.It’s our first hospitality-focused event and we really want to do a deep dive into the issues that are holding back hoteliers from fully embracing dig [...]
VR is going to need a woman’s touch to make it real in travel
There’s a by-now famous photo that’s been making the rounds in the digital world – it shows Mark Zuckerberg striding very confidently down an aisle in a room full of people wearing Virtual Reality headsets.What struck me in the photo was not that Zuckerberg looked inordinately pleased with him [...]
Letter from Phoukhuone, Laos: At last, a chance at a future for girls
If you google “Phoukhuone Laos”, not much information appears. There are a couple of posts by intrepid travellers who have to cross the town on their way somewhere in this landlocked country, bordered by Myanmar and China (north), Vietnam (east), Cambodia (south) and Thailand (west). One post ta [...]
Amid food & beverage disruption, Accor launches Table Plus
All part of its digital transformation, Accor Hotels launched Accor Marketplace, a platform to distribute not only its own branded hotels but independent properties. It was clearly a move to regain control of its own inventory and to counter the growing power of the global OTAs.This January, it laun [...]
Expedia’s Greg Schulze on dogs, consumer anxiety and “anything that moves”
If Greg Schulze had his way, the entire travel search process should have dog-friendly filters. The global executive of “anything that moves”, as he calls his portfolio at Expedia, moved to Singapore with his family in January and left their two dogs behind. Clearly missing his best friends, Sch [...]
Letter from Penang: Lessons from the Monkey King
I was sitting in my doctor’s office and browsing through his reading materials, I came across comic books about the Monkey King, a main character in the Chinese classical novel, Journey To The West.Known as Sun Wukong, the Monkey King has been in my consciousness since childhood. Sun Wukong, a mon [...]
Why Travelstart’s Ekbergh decided to get married after 10 years of bacherlorhood
It was around March last year that Stephan Ekbergh, sole owner and founder of South Africa-based Travelstart, was first approached by Amadeus Capital Partners (not related to Amadeus IT by the way).The first meeting with Andrea Traversone took place in ITB Berlin and Ekbergh recalled it didn’t go [...]
Grab, fly and how to win customer love
This week I received a letter (well, an email) from a CEO that grabbed my attention.It was from Anthony Tan, CEO and co-founder, of GrabTaxi telling me (well, it felt like he was talking to me but I am sure it went out to hundreds of thousands of customers) that he’s decided to change his company� [...]
Hotel wonderland as distribution is disrupted and ALICE comes out to play
A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away, I dreamt of being a hotelier. In fact, I recall asking a general manager if he would switch places with me for a day just so I would understand what it was like to walk around with hands behind my back and look at floors to see if there was litter or occas [...]
What David Bowie said about the Internet rings true for travel too
I know much has been written about the passing of David Bowie this week and even more shared on social media and it’s times like these that you realise again the power of the Internet.It gives voice to a community united around one thing and it allows us to share all our different memories, perspe [...]
