Tan breathes yellow power into Expedia
Thirty days into her new job as CEO of AirAsia Expedia, the joint venture company between AirAsia and Expedia, and Kathleen Tan’s doing what she does best – building a brand.“The Expedia brand may be well known in the US and Europe but out here, it’s not that known. We are a two-year-old sta [...]
Indonesia’s online potential huge but education is necessary and critical
Holding a Web In Travel in a new country is as much about us learning as it is about us bringing information, knowledge and ideas to the market. And so it was with WIT Indonesia.In my time covering travel in Asia, I’ve always felt Indonesia was the most undiscovered, unexplored, untapped destinati [...]
Women must step up to challenge, says Kefs as Fast Booking gears to grow in Asia
The push to have more women in management positions whether in technology companies or other industries must come from men and women together, and women too must step up to the challenge.This is the opinion of Soraya Kefs who, with her husband Richard, co-founded Fast Booking, one of the pioneers in [...]
The world should watch out for Kakao, WeChat as IM explodes in Asia
I read an article this morning on Mashable on how Instagram and Vine will change the news industry. So soundbites will be reduced to Instagram-filtered images and 6-second videos – oh look, there’s a meteorite landing on Russia and how to cook nasi goreng in six seconds, and not the instant o [...]
Love at first drive and this geek’s the proud owner of the biggest gadget of all
So who says only women are impulsive, are prone to “simply must have it” obsessions and when they’ve got it, rationalize their purchases to make themselves feel good? Why, even geeks can feel it too.Joe Nguyen, a self-professed geek, is always showing off his latest gadgets when we meet. So wh [...]
Social, the most ‘heboh’ part of Indonesian travel
We all know the numbers. The fourth most populous country in the world. Top five in terms of Facebook and Twitter users. High mobile penetration. Huge spike in internet usage growth.No wonder global online travel players are all trying to get into Indonesia. But for me personally, the most interesti [...]
Same-day hotel booking space heats up as HotelQuickly joins fray
The battle for same-day, mobile-only hotel bookings just got hotter – a new player,HotelQuickly, launched across six countries in South-east Asia a fortnight ago.This comes right after the launch of CheckInTonight, a Cambodia-based start-up that is also scaling across South-east Asia.HotelQui [...]
What keeps Norwegian’s boss awake? Asian low cost carriers
Read an interesting piece on BBC News about Norwegian Air Shuttle whose chief executive Bjorn Kjos is shaking things up at the airline and getting the attention of low cost leaders like Easyjet and Ryanair.While what he’s doing in Europe is impressive – Norwegian is now the second largest airl [...]
Getting into the Jakarta state of mind
I am writing this at a petrol station in the centre of Jakarta, in a darkened Golden Bird car. My driver (left) had asked me if it was okay for him to stop off at a surau so he can do his evening prayers.I said, “Yes.” What’s another 10 minutes when I’ve been in the vehicle for two hours alr [...]
And now the happy news – new search for happiness will lead to more travel
I suppose it was fitting that I should be reading “Vacation Rules: A Guide To Travel Happiness” on the flight to Berlin.This was the city after all where unhappy people sought to bring down a wall that divided a nation. And so the cry of “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall” in 1989 reshap [...]
