European airlines scored big in a la carte revenue last year, flying off with US$19bil
Estimated airline a la carte revenue worldwide in 2017 stood at US$57 billion, with European airlines leading at US$19.4 billion followed by Asian carriers at US$15.8 billion.
The estimates from the CarTrawler Global Statistics of a la Carte Revenue released by consultancy on airline ancillary re [...]
The Wrap: Travelport reveals plans to include NDC content on its distribution platform
In the news: This week’s focus is on IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC) as three rival global distribution companies – Travelport, Amadeus and Sabre – step up their game to deploy NDC-enabled products and adopt NDC standard in their airline retailing and product distribution strategy.
M [...]
Letter from Penang: As Year of the Dog dawns, so will new travellers and citizens with different aspirations and expectations
Tomorrow, February 15, will be the peak of travel as millions of Chinese and their diaspora make the journey to wherever home is to gather for their Lunar New Year reunion dinners.
You can already feel it in Penang, when the population of the island more than triples with the return of Penangites [...]
Parikh gets scrappy at Hotwire and says, “never say never” to Asia
In August 2017, Neha Parikh left Hotels.com where she’d been since April 2008 to become president of Hotwire and it's clear she's bringing her own style and personality to the brand which calls itself “a leading discount travel site that offers ridiculously low prices”. Last November, she anno [...]
Startup Inside A Non-Startup, Part 2: 8 Lessons Learned In Starting Kafnu Inside Next Story Group
In my previous post I discussed the cultural differences between being entrepreneurial vs. being corporate. In the last 12 months, I was asked to do a startup, Kafnu, inside Next Story Group. I thought I’d share my experience about what we have done to make it work so far.
Entrepreneurial effor [...]
The Wrap: Meet KATE, the intelligent check-in kiosk
In the news: Robots, interactive guestroom assistants and smart gates grab the headlines this week as airports (Kansai and Dubai) and the hospitality industry leverage new technologies to boost efficiency while enhancing user experience at the same time.
ROBOTICS: Meet KATE, the intelligent check [...]
Startup Inside A Non-Startup, Part 1: 12 Differences Between Entrepreneurial v. Corporate Thinking
A year ago, Next Story Group acquired the company I co-founded, Brand Karma, and I joined the team to start a new venture, Kafnu. Since Kafnu’s second opening in Taipei, I’ve had time to think about why it’s difficult to merge the best of startup and corporate worlds to foster innovation. [...]
How Aaron Sarma ventured into Touristly and a 50% deal with AirAsia
Other than a little exposure to travel during his stint as country manager at Street Deal, a group buying company in Malaysia, Aaron Sarma knew very little about the vertical.
But when he was looking to do his own thing after leaving the daily deals company, the first industry he looked to was tr [...]
More hotel choices for travel buyers with Sabre’s new lodging aggregator content
Sabre Corporation, which announced last September it was developing a new solution that integrates multiple sources of content, will launch the Sabre Content Services for Lodging later this year.
The travel technology company has inked agreements with Bedsonline, TravelBound and the Expedia Affi [...]
The Wrap: Alipay rolls out tax refund service in Singapore, a first for Southeast Asia
In the news: Alipay tax refund scheme launches in Singapore; Asian airlines uses technology in international expansion; BCD Travel in new deal with Amadeus
FINANCIAL SERVICES: Alipay rolls out tax refund service in Singapore, a first for Southeast Asia
Singapore is the first country in [...]
