Tackling multi-modal search in Asia
How important is multi-modal search in the Asian travel marketplace? That’s a question we’ve been hearing more often lately, as partners who are integrating Rome2rio into their European sites consider the implications for other markets.Pictured left: Rod CuthbertTo better understand the potent [...]
Tours and activities player FlexTrip acquired by Nor1
Congratulations to FlexTrip, one of our WIT Start-Up alumni, for being acquired by Nor1, Inc. the technology leader in upsell solutions – and really it’s a nod to the growing interest in the tours and activities space.Founded in 2011, Flextrip, based in Boulder, Colorado, enables travel compa [...]
Coneco.net sold, VR to focus on travel and brand building
Fresh from selling its shopping comparison business to Yahoo Japan, Venture Republic’s CEO Kei Shibata is now focused on expanding the company’s interests in travel, including how to help its customers better search for social content.One, it will invest in building stronger brands and product [...]
Offline drives online – how Asiarooms creates brand experiences
Last weekend (July 5-7), Singaporeans gathering at popular youth hangout Orchard Cineleisure had the chance to experience Singapore’s first mobile pop-up hotel, created by Asiarooms.In the weeks prior, the mobile pop-up hotel had appeared in Raffles Place and Raffles City as part of Asiarooms’ [...]
Amex’s risk management survey on M&E expenses highlights gaps between policy and practice
New research released by American Express Meetings & Eventsreveals sizeable disparity in established policy, and also between policy and practice, in companies’ management of meetings and events (M&E).The study examines the risk that organisations can be exposed to when M&E expenses [...]
Yatra claws out of ‘six months of shocks’ with new focus on hotels
For someone who says he’s been through “the toughest six months in our six-year history”, Dhruv Shringi, CEO & co-founder of Yatra, looked remarkably relaxed when I caught up with him in Shanghai.But then he is used to the hard knocks of life in an entrepreneur’s lane. And the last six [...]
Brand Karma University (BKU) launched in partnership with WIT
Remember Amy’s Baking Company Boutique & Bistro? After an unflattering portrayal on Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares TV show they were trolled and ridiculed by Reddit, Yelp, and Facebook altogether.But rather than responding with professionalism and grace they instead used their Facebook [...]
Addressing the 3 Cs of same-day bookings: Control, cannibalisation, commissions
In 2012, Harris Interactive reported that almost 70% of consumers booking hotel rooms through the Expedia mobile app were looking to travel within 24 hours.Similarly lastminute.comrecently reported on their increased mobile usage and mobile bookings within 24 hours.This coupled with the recent su [...]
How Tourism Australia personalies, mobilises and socialises content
Last week I attended the iStrategy conference in Sydney, Australia. Nick Baker, the Executive General Manager of Consumer Marketing for Tourism Australia, gave a keynote address on Tourism Australia’s past year’s experience, which brought into focus “content and the key levers of personalise, [...]
Tan breathes yellow power into Expedia
Thirty days into her new job as CEO of AirAsia Expedia, the joint venture company between AirAsia and Expedia, and Kathleen Tan’s doing what she does best – building a brand.“The Expedia brand may be well known in the US and Europe but out here, it’s not that known. We are a two-year-old sta [...]
