Intrepid’s James Thornton: “If everyone goes right, we’ll often be going left”
WiT Queenstown was James Thornton’s first day back at work, fresh off three weeks in Greece, where, he stressed to the audience, he was fully, deliberately offline.
“I think some CEOs find it really bizarre that I wouldn’t do emails and calls on holiday,” he said. “But great companies h [...]
The different faces of indie hospitality: Hopeless romantics who can read P&Ls to entrepreneurial general managers
At WiT Indie, three very different hospitality models – a UNESCO heritage boutique, a globally scaled brand with its roots in serviced residence, and a 140-year-old colonial grand dame – sat on the same panel to address a key question – what does it mean to serve the independent traveller in s [...]
From bin centre to boardroom: Rayner Loi’s ten-year war on food waste
Lumitics acquired by Winnow to strengthen APAC’s foothold
Ten years ago, Rayner Loi stood in a hotel bin centre in Singapore, staring at 20 to 30 green 120-litre bins waiting for the waste collector. It was his first time in a hotel’s back-of-house. He had no hospitality, no culinary experience [...]
APAC hotel distribution sees slower growth, rising regional OTAs, and direct channels under pressure
D-EDGE's 2022–Q1 2026 analysis shows booking growth cooling to 2.7%, Agoda pulling ahead of Booking.com, and wholesalers more than tripling their market share in three years.
According to a new report from hospitality technology provider D-EDGE, Asia-Pacific's hotel distribution landscape is shif [...]
The next generation of hospitality: When the room is no longer the point
A ryokan owner, a global brand VP, a lifestyle acquirer and a boutique operator debate what will actually make a guest choose you in the next 20 years.
A panel at WiT Japan on “The Next Generation of Hospitality” brought together four voices with sharply different stakes in the answer.
Kyohe [...]
A global OTA view on the next frontier: AI, India and the battle for independent hotels
Booking.com’s Nuno Guerreiro on closing the trust gap, the India boom and how alternative accommodation is now mainstream
The conversation with Nuno Guerreiro, regional director for North and South Asia Pacific at Booking.com, covered three key questions – whether AI will actually change how pe [...]
An Agoda case study: What it takes to combine flights, hotels, and activities into a single transaction
Agoda has rolled out a multi-product booking engine that lets travelers bundle hotels, flights, and activities into a single transaction — no separate checkouts, no juggling multiple confirmation emails. The feature, called One Checkout, went live on May 13 and is accessible via Agoda.com and its [...]
APAC travellers are back on the move, but brands are struggling to convert them
Criteo’s Spring/Summer 2026 Travel Pulse finds demand is rerouting rather than rebounding, as travellers grow more deliberate and booking journeys become more complex across the region
New data from Criteo, a global commerce intelligence platform, shows APAC travel demand remained resilient hea [...]
Traveloka and Resorts World Sentosa partner to capture demand for experience-led travel to Singapore
Powered by Traveloka's data intelligence and platform scale, the partnership gives RWS direct access to millions of high-intent Indonesian and Southeast Asian travellers.
Traveloka has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), Singapore’s premier integrated reso [...]
How travel passions and local behaviours are reshaping hotel loyalty across Asia Pacific
New Loyalty Trends Report 2026 by Marriott Bonvoy shows loyalty engagement is increasingly driven by travel priorities, everyday value and market-specific behaviors.
The new Loyalty Trends Report 2026 by Marriott Bonvoy finds that while 89% of travellers across APEC participate in at least one loya [...]
