Posts by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Ready to be a giddy GOAT? Yes, it’s time to go BIG
08/12/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Yeoh Siew Hoon feels like a kid in a candy store after a marathon trip across the US and Europe I’VE always fancied myself to be a bit of an eagle (free, fast and flying high) or an owl  (wise and nocturnal) – by the way, my new favourite bookstore is now The Learned Owl in Hudson, Ohio [...]
Think novel practice and how to avoid the hippo problem
08/12/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Covid has changed rules globally, learn from “lean startup Africa” IN a “lean startup” continent like Africa, “novel” practices work best when it comes to innovation, according to Professor Hemmanth (Herman) Singh, speaking at the inaugural WiT Africa – that means not “best” or [...]
Velocity adds three new startups to portfolio
07/12/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
TRAVEL and hospitality-focused venture capital firm, Velocity Ventures, has announced three new investments in travel and food and beverage (F&B) tech early-stage startups: Hong Kong-based travel booking platform TripGuru, Malaysia-based F&B procurement and inventory management platform F [...]
Letter from Paris: Down here, it’s normal. Out there, it’s not
30/11/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
“I HAD forgotten how much I missed this,” said the passenger seated next to me as our aircraft taxied to the gate at Newark Airport. “This?”, I asked politely, even though I was anxious as hell to get off the plane given the flight had been delayed by two hours and I only had 30 minutes [...]
“Africa is like startup”, says Yanolja’s Jongyoon
30/11/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
South Korean giant close to sealing partnership or acquisition deal as it pursues bid to grow to decacorn JONGYOON Kim, CEO of Yanolja and Yanolja Cloud, is excited about the African market because he says, “Africa is a startup” and he announced at last week’s WiT Africa that he was close [...]
Fighting for the Great Cruise Comeback
29/11/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Cruise lines face vaccination and sustainability battles but “people are splurging again” ATTENDING my first Cruiseworld conference in Miami, organised by TravelWeekly, I am struck by three things. One, the cruise industry in the US is massive, and Asia is but a drop in the ocean, to put [...]
Letter from Ohio: Rock & roll, small towns and apple pie
23/11/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
CLEVELAND, Ohio, may not be the most obvious destination for a first holiday in 20 months, but it certainly yields the most unexpected discoveries. And perhaps this could be the way post-pandemic travel eventually pans out – that we seek out the not-so-obvious to truly enjoy the serendipity and a [...]
RedDoorz CEO on SEA potential, performance marketing lessons and growing up fast
23/11/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Digitisation accelerated among consumers as well as independent hotel owners YEOH Siew Hoon interviewed Amit Saberwal, CEO of RedDoorz, Southeast Asia's largest technology-driven hotel management & booking platform at the Phocuswright Conference 2021, where they spoke about the breakout reg [...]
Inspired by French Riviera, powered by Sweden, taking root in Cape Town
22/11/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
“Magic happens when there is diversity”: Stephan Ekbergh on Innovation City Cape Town TRAVEL entrepreneur and CEO of Travelstart, Stephan Ekbergh, is embarking on a new project, Innovation City, to transform his adopted home of Cape Town into a thriving, diverse ecosystem of digital talent, [...]
Letter from Fort Lauderdale: The sun rises on global travel
18/11/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Expedia's Kern says no more “peanut butter” approach to expansion while Concur founder Steve Singh dives deep into corporate travel disruption WHEN Mark Mahaney, senior managing director of investment banking firm, Evercore, asked the audience at the Phocuswright conference how many had trav [...]