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How a corporate hippie is reimagining George Town heritage + hotels
27/07/2016 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
The day I went to check out the Jawi Peranakan Mansion, Chris Ong’s newest boutique hotel in Penang, a Chinese family of about 12, with young kids, were checking in. They had booked on Expedia, were taking two rooms and the staff were wondering how to tell them that each room only had capacity [...]
Checkmate. TrustYou is now wherever guest feedback happens
22/07/2016 by WiT
TrustYou’s acquisition of real-time messaging specialist Checkmate last week fills the missing piece of the data puzzle that it is building in a bid to be the “company that knows everything about every guest when it comes to feedback” and, in turn, “the data platform that powers the booking [...]
Locomote, backed by Travelport funding, powers on to change corporate travel
21/07/2016 by WiT
The idea of Locomote was born when Melbourne-based cousins Ross and David Fastuca (pictured) spoke to corporations about their problems booking their travel and found out what a disjointed experience it was. “There were problems with duty of care, risk management, customer complaints with exist [...]
The game that got everyone fired up and someone fired – it’s 20 years in the making
14/07/2016 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
How can a game that’s not even launched in Singapore get everyone talking about it, fighting to get downloads of it before its official release and even someone fired in Singapore? Pokemon GO, the augmented reality game which allows you to travel between the real world and the virtual world [...]
The Millennial Traveller: What Pokémon GO could mean for travel
13/07/2016 by WiT
It’s no longer the FitBit that’s driving people to leave their homes and roam the streets on foot these days. Pokémon GO has gone viral in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, while everyone else eagerly awaits its global release. Somehow, the notion of ‘virality’ doesn’t quite cut it w [...]
Developing your playbook for Asia – nuances matter, people critical
07/07/2016 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Travel insiders from Asia picked social, mobile and content as the new opportunities for Asia. As with entry into any new markets, you’ve got to develop the right playbook. The fundamentals may be similar – yes, get the product right, define your market, hire the right team – but it’s in [...]
Under Brexit cloud, travel leaders share experiences of Asia
01/07/2016 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
The timing of the first WIT Europe in London held yesterday could not have happened at a more poignant time in the city’s history and travel industry leaders, while grappling with uncertainty, agreed there couldn’t be a better time than now to seize the Asia opportunity. Every speaker express [...]
Letter from London: Brexit aftermath and an Icelandic moment that united
28/06/2016 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Twenty four hours in London, and it's rather surreal. On the surface, it seems nothing's changed since my last visit a month ago, yet so much has. I can sense the shock and disbelief that it’s come to pass and the realities and (some regrets) are starting to sink in – what happens now after B [...]
What now travel, after Brexit?
27/06/2016 by WiT
The implications for travel, post-the Brexit vote, are immense. Hard questions will have to be asked and they will be at the inaugural WIT Europe in London this Thursday. So it has come to pass. The UK will leave the European Union (EU) and as the world grapples with the massive implications of t [...]
Woomentum’s fourth CrowdFundHer Live shows entrepreneurship isn’t just a man’s game
27/06/2016 by WiT
It takes a crowd to raise a startup, so that’s what turned up to support the fourth CrowdFundHer Live event, held by Woomentum at the Bloomberg offices last week. Conducted like a live crowdfunding campaign, the evening saw five startups across a range of industries (from travel to cosmetics) p [...]