Marketing
GHA turns 20, reports surge in revenues and direct bookings for its hotels
16/04/2024 by WiT
UAE-headquartered Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the world’s largest alliance of independent hotel brands, has started its 20th anniversary year on a high note, reporting robust Q1 results across all key performance indicators. Exceeding expectations, total hotel revenues for Q1 2024 jumped t [...]
DerbySoft acquires travel trade marketplace PKFare
15/04/2024 by D.J. Catron
Travel tech company DerbySoft announced Thursday that it has acquired PKFare, a global B2B travel marketplace. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The companies will share selected corporate functions and technology resources while upholding independent business operations, according to [...]
Gamifying a storytelling product and redefining tours | Changemaker Chat
04/04/2024 by WiT
In this new WiT Studio video series, we catch up with winners of the 2023 WiT Travel Changemakers Awards, supported by ATTIA, and dive deeper into the work they do and what drove them to 'build back better'. In this episode, Yock Song, Head of Partnerships at Tribe Tours, joins us to talk about [...]
Ascott earns S$342 million in loyalty platform bookings, unveils refreshed brand promise
01/04/2024 by Arvindh Yuvaraj
90% of direct web and mobile app bookings were attributed to ASR members, leading to a surge in booking revenue by over 40% The Ascott Limited (Ascott), a lodging business unit wholly owned by CapitaLand Investment (CLI), celebrated the 5th anniversary of its global loyalty platform, Ascott Star Re [...]
WiT Podcast: Creating customer love in tours and activities
28/03/2024 by WiT
How “the connected trip” is evolving in Booking.com and how Klook is solving local pain points This final episode of “Customer Love” fittingly covers tours and activities – the things travellers do in destination. It’s the most exciting part of travel and it’s coming online at great s [...]
From Africa to FREENOW, Meili’s out to reduce friction in car rental to drive direct bookings and loyalty
21/03/2024 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Domain expertise and experience count for a lot, says seasoned Irish entrepreneur Mike McGearty Right after Mike McGearty, CEO and co-founder, Meili Travel Technology, left Cape Town where he was speaking at WiT Africa came the news that his company had signed a partnership with FREENOW, Europe's l [...]
Booking bullet trains. Azgo cashback. Velma assists Warwick Hotels. More.
15/03/2024 by Ian Jarrett
Booking the bullet now easier Tokyo-listed Inbound Platform Corp has launched its Shinkansen (bullet train) ticket service, which includes basic fares, express tickets and ticket issuance via QR codes, for international travellers and foreign residents in Japan. Through the ‘Japan Bullet Train [...]
Online travel giants set new record for marketing spend in ’23
14/03/2024 by Mitra Sorrells
Financial figures from Expedia Group, Booking Holdings, Airbnb and Trip.com Group – four of the largest online travel agencies in the world – show the companies spent a record amount of money to promote their brands and attract customers in 2023, as pent-up demand from the pandemic is stil [...]
Swiftonomics leaves Singapore with post-concert gains
13/03/2024 by Arvindh Yuvaraj
More than any other entertainment event, The Eras Tour brought with it invaluable lessons for the APAC hospitality scene After six spectacular nights of the highly anticipated Eras Tour in Singapore, pop icon Taylor Swift has left the Lion City for Los Angeles, where she’ll rest for a couple of m [...]
I&CO expands in Asia, forms design capital alliance with Trambellir
13/03/2024 by Arvindh Yuvaraj
I&CO, a global design agency, has officialsed a strategic alliance with Trambellir, a Malaysia-based online medical tourism booking platform. The collaboration entails enhancing Trambellir's user interface (UI) and overall business assets through I&CO's design expertise. Trambellir serves [...]