Expedia, Agoda say ‘sacred cows’ of rate parity and last room availability killed by COVID
The adversarial relationship between hoteliers and the OTAs has changed to an “all hands on deck mentality” during COVID with operators no longer insisting on rate parity and last room availability – once major sticking points – as they scramble to put heads on beds, according to Expedia an [...]
WiT Experience Week, Rebuild: Wego builds new e-commerce brand outside travel as product chiefs innovate their way out of Covid
The future
of product will be codeless, commoditised, accelerated but ultimately human?
To ride out the long winter that’s coming, Wego is launching a brand new e-commerce business outside travel, Ross Veitch, CEO and co-founder disclosed yesterday at Day 3: Rebuild of the WiT Experience Week. [...]
The different phases of travel’s gradual recovery
This is an editorial contribution from Wego.
Covid-19 has definitely changed the travel scene, but the easing of lockdown measures and the lifting of some travel restrictions are helping with the gradual recovery of the tourism industry.
With governments putting in place stringent plans, stim [...]
WiT Experience Week, Reboot: Build something for the future, investors hungry for products that will last the test of time
While most investors are staying away from travel due to the uncertainty of recovery, Amit Anand, founding partner of Jungle Ventures, remains excited about the space which he said has been kind to him.
He’s made two exits – Voyagin to Rakuten and Travelmob to HomeAway – and
while he said [...]
SIA to expand KrisConnect Programme to the US market
Singapore Airlines (SIA) will expand the KrisConnect Programme to its travel trade partners in the United States, providing them with a wider range of fares and personalised content from March 2021..
This is made possible through KrisConnect’s leverage of Application Programme Interface (API) [...]
Taiwan-based travel startup KKday raises $75m in series C round to expand in Asia
Travel experiences platform KKday announced it has raised US$$75 million in a series C funding round led by Cool Japan Fund and Taiwan’s National Development Fund.
Existing investors Monk’s Hill Ventures and MindWorks Capital also participated in the round.
The company plans to use the fr [...]
Slow, rolling recovery but Travelport “cautiously optimistic”
WiT speaks to Mark Meehan, Group Vice President and Managing Director, APAC, on how he sees the recovery for the region amid a new study that Travelport has just released.
Q: As we enter the third quarter of 2020, are you more optimistic or pessimistic about travel recovery than say 3 months ag [...]
WiT Experience Week, Rewind: We’re doing everything we can but it’s messy, “governments must act”
If there is one clear message I took away from hosting Day 1 of WiT Experience Week today, September 28, it is that every one of us is doing all we can to survive this Covid-19 storm but our fortunes (or misfortunes) lie in the hands of governments.
When asked the question in our audience pollin [...]
Key takeaways from Google Think Travel APAC to be shared at WiT this week
Last week saw
the launch of Think Travel APAC 2020, Google’s flagship innovation and
marketing event for the travel industry. Over two days 250 travel executives
from over 20 countries tuned in to hear from CEOs, Google product teams and top
industry players on what they are doing to pivot and su [...]
Klook goes Live! in latest sales and marketing salvo
Travel and leisure booking platform Klook has not wasted a lot of time since the pandemic hit sitting in board rooms deciding how to get through this crisis. Back in May, its COO and co-founder told WiT that it was developing product lines to address “a multi-stage recovery of travel” and it ha [...]
