Letter from the Mekong: A more-than-virtual-reality adventure
So there we were, sitting back in the longtail boat, enjoying the cool breeze in our hair and preparing to enjoy the cruise on the Mekong.The camera equipment which would shoot the Virtual Reality footage had been set up – six GoPros mounted on a rig which Morris Sim (CEO of Brand Karma) had tied [...]
Building the ‘Amadeus Empire’: Expect intensity in M&A activity and investments
With its vision of becoming the focal point in the travel eco-system, expect Amadeus to continue with its intense pace of Mergers & Acquisitions activity as well as drive innovation within the group by investing in start-ups through its Amadeus Venture Fund.Visiting Bangkok last week, Alex Luzar [...]
Letter from Kuching: Excuse me, do you want my hot spot?
I’ve just returned from Kuching where we ran a Digital Marketing Bootcamp for the travel trade. The objective was to basically arm industry players with information and knowledge of how to make their business, and their destination, easily discoverable in the digital world.If you’ve been to Kuch [...]
AccorHotels sees jump in direct bookings thanks to Chinese website
One year after revamping its accorhotels.cn Chinese-language website, and proving the power of the Chinese market, AccorHotels has seen a 53% increase in direct bookings revenue across its Asia Pacific network and an increase of 93% for China hotels year on year between July 2014 through June 2015.* [...]
The making of Cempedak Island and the bamboo that went missing for a month
Writing about clicks all the time, it makes a nice change to write about bricks or, in this case, bamboo.Just caught up with Andrew Dixon, the former banker-turned-hotelier of Nikoi Island fame, who's right in the throes of building his latest resort, Cempedak, on an Indonesian island he bought more [...]
Letter from Bangkok: Same, same but different
It seemed not much had changed in Bangkok. The day I arrived, it had been raining – which can only mean one thing. Bad traffic.After an hour into the ride from airport to hotel, I asked the driver how much longer we had and he said, “One more hour.”“What!” I exclaimed – a typical respo [...]
Coin-Back makes progress, new kiosk boasts simple UI for travellers to donate
Caught up with Naoe Miyata and co-founder Jasnam Sachdev of Coin-Back, our WIT Indonesia 2015 Start-Up winner, in Bangkok this week – I was curious to find out how his project which encourages travellers to drop coins, pick their cause and track their donations was getting on.Well, he came to Siam [...]
How to go beyond being a “digital vampire”: Take some tips from The Who’s Townshend
In his John Peel Lecture of 2011, Pete Townshend of The Who called iTunes a “digital vampire”, saying it was bleeding artists with its enormous 30% commission.He then went on to give some tips as to how iTunes could create a better world for all – unearth new, good music through editorial guid [...]
Hunt for best start-up begins – entries close Aug 31: WIT Bootcamp uncovers hot spaces for innovation
The WIT Bootcamp returns to Singapore on October 19 with its annual competition to find the travel start-up of the year and to put the spotlight on hot spaces in the start-up world.Entries for the WIT Start-Up Pitch 2015 close next Monday August 31 and thus far, submissions have come in from Malaysi [...]
How Red Planet intends to conquer the value hotel sector with technology
“Give customers more of what they want, and less of what they don’t”. That’s the mantra of Bangkok-based Red Planet Hotels, which aims to redefine the value hotel experience in Asia. WIT speaks to Tim Hansing, Chief Executive Officer, Red Planet Hotels, about the technology-driven opportunit [...]
