Tink Labs and Honest Bee offer cautionary lessons to tech startups, even unicorns fall
I used to be a fan of the Handy smartphone service. Mainly I used it for its wifi hotspot, even though it meant carrying two phones around. I fiddled with the content but never found it compelling enough to get me to book anything through it.
In recent times, I have used it less and less as dat [...]
From the mouths of youths: We just Google everything and what, travel as a career? Never thought of it
In preparation for the fourth edition of Tern, Travel Careers this Saturday, August 17, I’ve been spending time with Singaporean schoolkids in their mid-teens to find out what they think of travel, firstly as travellers and secondly, as future talent for our industry.
It’s been interesting l [...]
Mark Okerstrom on who’s got the best moves in travel and why Expedia is ultimately the future
Before he put on a suit and ran a multi-billion dollar company, Mark Okerstrom was a backpacker, travelling through Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia, with his wife. Both spent six weeks each time exploring South-east Asia in two trips.
Today, the
closest the president and chief executive [...]
How Hank Marvin got Dylan out of the shadows to launch Split
As a kid growing up in Penang, Dylan Tan liked sitting next to his father as they listened to music. His father’s of course. Cliff Richard was a favourite and one day the tune “Apache” by the Shadows, Richard’s backing group, came on.
Now for
guitar aficiandos, “Apache” is the stuff [...]
Here comes IVI to liberate revenue managers: Infinito launches a virtual assistant
After nearly a decade working with revenue management companies including IDeaS and most recently, LodgIQ, Fabian Bartnick (pictured above) has decided to launch his first startup to “liberate revenue managers”.
Infinito aims to do this via IVI, a virtual RM analyst and assistant “who will [...]
Welcome back, Raffles Hotel. We’ve missed you for two years
As my Grab driver pulls up to the entrance of the Raffles Hotel, the unmistakable figure of Naranjan comes up to the white barricades to let me in. It’s a few days before its much-delayed re-opening and Singapore’s grand old dame is still under wraps from the public eye.
For the last two yea [...]
Is Agoda’s “Mix and Save” clever or risky or could it create operational nightmares for hoteliers?
While Agoda is hailing its new feature “Mix and Save” as a breakthrough for extra budget-conscious travellers, hoteliers are still coming to grips with what it really means for them down the line.
The Thailand-based travel platform announced the new feature which it said would allow customer [...]
Excuse me, is that champagne real? Designing with VR and accelerating startups all part of KrisLab’s new playbook
The first thing I reached out for in the
cabin was the champagne. Even though it wasn’t real, it felt like the thing to
do when one is flying in a space that’s decked out to look more like a Japanese
onsen with soft steam billowing all around than the kind of prosaic cabin I am
more used to.
[...]
Travix sees strong growth in the Philippines as it expands CheapTickets, BudgetAir in Asia
As travellers in the Philippines get smarter and savvier about online travel, they are starting to shift from direct to indirect, said Richard Kua, regional director Asia Pacific for Amsterdam-based Travix which runs CheapTickets as well as BudgetAir in the region.
“They see a
$200 flight on [...]
In a world where funding knows no boundaries, think global from day one, startups urged
The good news is, there is more money around and at the early stage, it’s a good time for all startups. The bad news is, at the late stage, money is chasing fewer startups.
“Companies can come in early with traction these days. That’s when investors pile in. But at the late stage, competi [...]
