From Scottish herring to unicorn: 12 lessons from Gareth Williams’ Skyscanner journey
Gareth Williams and his two co-founders, Barry Smith and Bonamy Grimes, built the first prototype for Skyscanner in 2001/2002 in the docks area of Edinburgh and launched it in 2003. That means almost a 15-year journey before it was acquired by Ctrip for US$1.7 billion last November, proving there’ [...]
Okerstrom steps into Khosrowshahi’s “big” shoes in transition likened to water flowing down snow-packed mountain
In a transition described by chairman Barry Diller “as natural as water flowing down a snow-packed mountain”, Mark Okerstrom, executive vice president of operations and chief financial officer, has been made the new CEO of Expedia.
Okerstrom, who has worked at outgoing CEO Dara Khosrowshahi� [...]
Skyscanner’s Gareth Williams on how its bet on Asia led to its big win, being a CEO and the future of apps
The first thing Gareth Williams, CEO & co-founder of Skyscanner, says to me with a grin when I caught up with him yesterday evening was, “I deny all rumours that I was offered the Uber job.”
Wishing Dara Khosrowshahi well (the Expedia Inc CEO has indicated he will accept the job as Uber C [...]
The Wrap: Malaysia Airlines on track to become a digital airline, launches first Innovation Lab
In the news: Malaysia Airlines' new Innovation Lab, partnership between Travelport and MakeMyTrip, Expedia’s revenue management tool for hotels, Scoot’s new payment provider
AIRLINES: Malaysia Airlines on track to become a digital airline, launches first Innovation Lab
Most airlines ar [...]
How “Passion Made Possible” was made possible: The story of the new SG unified brand
A new unified brand for SG was rolled out this evening. “Passion Made Possible” is the combined rallying cry of the Singapore Tourism Board and the Economic Development Board. Here’s the story of how and why it became possible.
The new unified brand, “Passion Made Possible”, rolled [...]
Data the secret sauce behind destination marketing – then it’s what you do with it, just look at Hawaii and smile
For Andrew van der Feltz, a 21-year-veteran in destination marketing, his “aha” moment came when he joined Expedia Media Solutions two years ago and he saw the data, as it were.
“Getting access to the data, that was my moment,” said the senior director for EMEA and APAC, who previously wo [...]
The Wrap: Klook lends Korea a helping hand to woo Asian FITs
In the news: Partnership between tours booking platform Klook and Korea, new mobile travel concierge from Changi’s SATS, low cost carrier Scoot’s new Malaysian destinations, Travelport’s deal with Ugo
DESTINATIONS: Klook lends Korea a helping hand to woo Asian FITs
Korea sees strong [...]
People and culture, the one thing you can’t copy, and here’s how Sabine Hansen Peck intends that to be Amadeus’ competitive advantage
Yeoh Siew Hoon catches up with the power woman who runs people and culture at Amadeus IT Group, Sabine Hansen Peck, and talks Asia, diversity, gamification, and even animals and flying.
If she wasn’t yet convinced, her latest whirlwind trip through Asia Pacific, which covered Bangkok, Tokyo, th [...]
Hoteliers must prepare for new wave of challenges in increasingly dynamic marketplace
Hotels must find ways to optimise their pricing and distribution in a marketplace that is continually under pressure from new entrants and new technology.
One of the industry’s front runner in revenue management is organising its third presentation of a revenue strategy forum, this year in Hong [...]
These are the five trends shaping the future of luxury travel
The evolving definitions of ‘luxury’ and ‘status’ are changing the preferences and expectations of service from high-end travellers, says Sabre Corporation in its recently-released The Future of Luxury Travel.
According to the report, published in collaboration with TrendWatching, travell [...]
