After Zanadu, Wu plunges into blockchain and crypto to build Next Gen travel platform. Here’s how he will do it
Having built up Zanadu into China’s premier lifestyle travel platform after a tough but rewarding five years, Zan Wu, together with his co-founder, Dirk Eschenbacher, now wants to create a new startup, Atlas, into “the next generation TripAdvisor and Booking.com combined” using blockchain and [...]
The Wrap: Raffles, Fairmont and Swissôtel loyalty platforms integrate with Le Club AccorHotels programme
In the news: Of loyalty programmes, partnership and NDC - this week’s focus featuring AccorHotels, Malaysia Airlines, Livin and Travello, and Sabre.
Hotels: Raffles, Fairmont and Swissôtel loyalty platforms integrate with Le Club AccorHotels programme
AccorHotels Group’s loyalty pro [...]
John Brown on succession, startup culture and how AI is part of everything Agoda does
Some might argue that John Brown, the new CEO of Agoda, has a harder job today than Rob Rosenstein, the man whom he recently succeeded and who founded the Thailand-based hotel portal with Michael Kenny in 1998.
After all, back then, it was the early heady days of the Internet, there wasn’t [...]
Game on as LINE enters travel: Key lessons from WIT Japan & North Asia
There we were at WiT Japan & North Asia speaking of the disruption taking place in travel and the day after we wrap up our two-day event comes the news that LINE, Japan’s main messaging app, is getting into travel.
The news release said that LINE Travel “would be a comprehensive travel se [...]
Wegogo takes a long shot at the long tail – can outsiders to travel and China make a go of it?
They are not your usual travel tech startups. First, they are hardly in the first blush of youth. They had successful corporate careers in blue chip companies in Singapore before they took the plunge into their first travel startup in 2014.
Second, their office is not in some cool co-working space [...]
Three lessons on how chatbots can become more than just talk but revenue drivers
This year’s buzzwords might be blockchain and (still) mobile, but it hasn’t been so long since ‘chatbots’ were the mot du jour. Buzzword no more, chatbots have now worked their way across industries, automating and often augmenting the customer service experience.
In hospitality, chatbots [...]
Rebranded Vidi aims to capture bigger slice of tours & activities market
Malaysian online travel startup, Touristly, has rebranded as Vidi to reflect its “evolution from a traditional trip planner to a visual discovery platform.”
The rebranding is also part of the company’s strategy to get a slice of the rapidly growing tours and activities market in Asia Pacifi [...]
In Amsterdam, lessons from noodles to mobiles, and Palma to privacy
Three more weeks before I head to Amsterdam to run WIT Europe as part of Phocuswright and I am looking forward to shared experiences and lessons between our two continents.
I’ve always seen Europe as more similar to Asia than any other region – it is multi-lingual, multi-cultural and steeped [...]
SITA tackles data challenges and studies blockchain, promises to build “informed passenger journeys”
The aviation industry has been flying high in recent years, as more technological innovation is introduced, creating blueprints for promised futures of autonomous aeroplanes, high speed inflight wi-fi and the highly coveted painless airport experience.
At the SITA APAC Air Transport IT Summit tha [...]
Letter from Seoul: South Korea’s travel braces for change as perfect storm approaches
There was a time when I visited Tokyo and I thought I had landed in a science fiction novel. Today I get that same feeling when I visit Seoul.
Its citizens are more attached to their smartphones than anywhere else – by age 12, 72% of South Koreans own a smartphone and they spend 4.5 hours a day [...]
