Distribution
Thailand’s Kasikorn Bank Group invests $25m in Traveligo, rebranding to Gother
01/11/2023 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Thai domestic OTA to partner with TakeMeTour and expand overseas Thailand’s Beacon Venture Capital, a subsidiary of Kasikorn Bank, has invested US$25m in Traveligo, a Thailand domestic OTA founded in 2015 by Anupong Kriangkrailipikorn, and which will be rebranded to Gother. The news, announc [...]
GHA’s investment in direct booking pays off, $70m saved in commissions
27/10/2023 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Hospitality CEOs on brand loyalty, tech investments and cybersecurity risks The Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) has been able to save up to $70m in commissions payouts to third parties since it built its direct booking platform, said Christopher Hartley, CEO of the world’s largest alliance of i [...]
PKFARE, claiming first mover advantage in global race, sets clear path to differentiation
17/10/2023 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Culture is the critical piece, says Jason Sui Once operating fairly alone in the global air aggregation and distribution space, Shenzen-based PKFARE now finds itself in increasingly competitive waters as more China-based flight platforms expand their wings beyond their home market. Said Jason Su [...]
Hopper’s APAC B2C team axed amid cuts of 250 jobs
12/10/2023 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Hopper’s 250 job cuts this week included its entire Asia Pacific B2C team, including its head of Asia, Reno Wang. In his LinkedIn post, Wang, who said this was the first layoff in his career, said, “I have had the amazing privilege of trailblazing Hopper business into APAC, where we were active [...]
Human touch blended with AR the next frontier in tour storytelling
02/10/2023 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Fresh from family road trip of Europe, GlobalTix’s Chan ticks off top trends in tours and activities The human touch blended with Augmented Reality technology in tours is the next frontier in storytelling, believes Chan Chee Chong, CEO and co-founder of the tours and activities technology platfor [...]
With great elasticity, Healy aims to wrap arms around 1,001 hotels from Dubai
02/10/2023 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Excited about Middle East opportunity, Accor's CCO to focus on revenue management, pricing discipline and distribution partnerships After 12 years of living in Singapore, a full cycle in the Chinese calendar, Kerry Healy, who took up her new role of (wait for this, it’s a long one) Chief Commerci [...]
Growth of OTAs, superapps: Trends low-cost airlines have to watch, says Ashmore Butler
19/09/2023 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
After having spent 20 years of his career on the airline side of the fence, with carriers such as Jetstar, Qantas and Scandinavian Airlines, Clive Ashmore Butler felt it was time to see airline distribution from another perspective. He joined Atlas, the technology platform that connects travel selle [...]
Accor to double down on digital marketing with learnings from pandemic
18/09/2023 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Lessons learnt are “valuable long-term gains”, says Ollie Ansell Bar tending requires pretty similar skills to revenue management, when you think about it. Both require you to be good at reading signals, except with the former, it’s reading human cues on the spot and with the latter, it’s a [...]
Green Rooms, farm-to-table, glamping take spotlight at PHIST
11/09/2023 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
From rooms that “love and protect the earth” to rewards for good behaviour, Thai hoteliers take steps to balance sustainability and profitability From having “Green Rooms” to rewarding guests with f&b vouchers for good environmental behaviour, hoteliers in Thailand are taking steps to � [...]
Moon landing, 1,000 aircraft orders – India’s on a roll but it’s still a long game
29/08/2023 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
TBO’s Gaurav Bhatnagar has “big plans” for APAC Gaurav Bhatnagar, who is on a mission to build the world’s largest travel distribution platform, was elated when TBO.com clocked $10 million in GTV/sales in a single day in April 2023. “Coming out of COVID, it was hard to imagine that this [...]