The crazy world of start-ups – from freelancers to tour guides, smart dog collars and avatar animation
In today’s world of disruption, everybody can do and be anything we want to be. We can be taxi drivers (Uber), hoteliers (Airbnb), bloggers (Wordpress), celebrities (social networks), headhunters (LinkedIn and lately, social recruiting sites like Wantedly from Japan) and, with Freelancer, the glob [...]
Smell the real coffee at Balestier, join us for Heritage Race July 4
In the age of Starbucks, Costa Coffees and Coffee Beans, where coffee has been commoditised and globalised, it is nice to find an establishment like Lam Yeo Coffee Powder still holding its own in Singapore.Lam Yeo, housed in an old shophouse in Balestier Road, sells its own roasts of coffee beans fr [...]
AccorHotels is a “why not” moment as it throws down the gauntlet in battle for “Iron Throne”
In the finale of Season 5, Game of Thrones, everyone dies. There, no spoiler alert. We know that’s what happens in this TV series which Agoda’s Timothy Hughes compared to online travel at the recent WIT Japan & North Asia.Well, the battle is about to get more brutal.Accor’s announcement th [...]
WIT Warrior Spotlight: Fritz Demopoulos – be focused, stay humble and bust stereotypes
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 fourth article in a series of interviews profiling the WIT Warriors. Fritz Demopoulos was one of three co-founders of Q [...]
travelmob no more as HomeAway builds brand to grow global vacation rental travel
The dropping of the travelmob name to become HomeAway Asia this month is part of a wider move by the Austin-based company to build a global brand and encourage global vacation rental travel. travelmob was started by two co-founders, Turochas Fuad and PK, who sold 63% of the business to HomeAway in J [...]
Travel is getting like “Game of Thrones”, be like a Hobbit to win
The news is sweet. Online travel is growing faster than the overall market and APAC remains a high growth market. However that didn’t stop Timothy Hughes, vice president marketing of Agoda, from reminding everyone “it’s a brutal market out there” and predicting a “bloodbath”.Hughes said [...]
Kathleen Tan leaves Expedia following global reorganisation as HQ takes charge
Rumours had been flying of leadership changes that would take place in the Air Asia Expedia joint venture after Expedia increased its stake to 75% this February, and this week the changes happened.A global reorganisation was announced this week to staff in Asia, along with news that CEO Kathleen Tan [...]
Lufthansa to charge consumers and agents extra for not booking direct, Amadeus responds
Lufthansa Group announced today that beginning September 1 it will charge consumers and travel agents an extra $17.80 (16 euros) per ticket for flights booked beyond Lufthansa Group websites, service centers and airport ticket counters.
In light of this announcement, Amadeus has responded to Luf [...]
Letter from Tokyo: So much easier to enjoy, and things are just getting started
Arrived in Tokyo Monday morning on the Japan Airlines red-eye from Singapore. There’s a lot to be said when travelling to a foreign country on their home carrier – it prepares you for the destination.
We spend a lot of time lambasting national carriers and how wasteful and inefficient they ar [...]
Lastminute.com takes on new meaning and life with global ambitions
As far as names go, you couldn’t get better than a name like lastminute.com. It’s one of the legends of the dot.com era, founded in 1998, and thus when it came onto the market, Bravofly Rumbo Group snapped it up and for a song.
The acquisition, finalised in March, saw the Swiss travel group t [...]
