Armed with first funding, Allstay sets sights on dominating South Korea’s travel meta-search space
Allstay, the Korean travel start-up which was one of the finalists in the WIT Japan Start-Up Pitch, is gunning to become the first and largest mobile travel meta-search in South Korea.The company has just raised its first round of financing – 500 million KRW (approx. US$430,000) – led by Venture [...]
Sabre study paints a future of hotel booking that is contextual, intimate and instant
Okay so my survey was not scientific in any way. I merely asked the question on my Facebook status, “If I were to say the words “future of hotel booking”, what words come to mind?”I wanted to get feel of what my network, biased towards frequent travellers, thought about the subject – and w [...]
Wego reports rise in Middle East travellers taking quick breaks, mobile leads in searches
Middle East travellers are making more last minute, quick break, travel decisions during Ramadan and Eid, revealed travel search site Wego, which has built up a strong presence in the region. “This year, last minute travel searches jumped significantly for the period leading up to Ramadan,” com [...]
Here’s grabbing your attention. Are you suffering from LFS? List Fatigue Syndrome
I got into a GrabCar Economy for the first time this week. The driver, a 60-something, is a senior executive working in manufacturing full-time but bought a car for his son and now wants some income to pay off his road tax and insurance.This is the more affordable version of GrabCar, the private car [...]
Sabre-Abacus integration: Big job ahead for Mendis to make magic happen in the middle
Roshan Mendis, the newly-appointed vice president of Sabre Travel Network Asia Pacific, has a big job ahead of him.He’s got the task of integrating Abacus, Sabre’s newest acquisition, into the Sabre global family and that means not just in technology terms but also people terms – always the mo [...]
Technology is here to disrupt marketplaces, including travel, says ServisHero’s Karl Loo
Tell anyone there’s a new services app in town and eyes will roll and you’ll hear, “There are so many now.” And that’s true. Today, in a world gone P2P, anyone can sell anything to anyone and you can order, with a swipe or a tap, tour guides, chefs, plumbers, contractors, taxis, dates and [...]
GDS jostling for the road ahead – Sabre boosts Asia, Amadeus scoops Navitaire, Travelport buys MTT
It is clear that the traditional giants of travel, once called Global Distribution Systems (GDS), are positioning themselves for the future battle ahead.Sabre Corporation is betting on Asia – in May, it acquired the remaining 65% stake in Abacus, the Asian GDS, from its shareholder airlines for a [...]
WIT Warrior Spotlight: Priceline’s APAC champion Adrian Currie salutes early and future entrepreneurs
At the WIT Conference last year in Singapore, we recognised 11 individuals whom we felt have had the most influence on the development of online travel in Asia Pacific. This is the sixth article in a series of interviews profiling the WIT Warriors.As one of the first APAC-based heads for Priceline G [...]
Letter from Melbourne: Can the city of independents fend off Uberisation?
In a world of bad news – terrorism in Tunisia, terrorism in Charleston, USA, economic disaster in Greece (déjà vu), the MERS scare – I am happy to bring you good news from Melbourne. The spirit of the independent is alive and well in this city which I was told repeatedly will become Australia� [...]
WIT Warrior Spotlight: Ram’s still waiting for breakout pan-Asian online travel brand
At the WIT Conference last year in Singapore, we recognised 11 individuals whom we felt have had the most influence on the development of online travel in Asia Pacific. This is the fifth article in a series of interviews profiling the WIT Warriors.As Phocuswright’s first analyst based in Asia, Ram [...]
