General Atlantic to acquire minority stake in Travel Boutique Online
Private equity firm General Atlantic is set to acquire a minority stake in the online B2B travel distribution platform, Travel Boutique Online (TBO). The deal, involving entities held by Affirma Capital, signifies General Atlantic's investment in TBO's potential for growth and global expansion. TBO, [...]
Tribal power: The new model warriors driving OTAs forward
“The revolution of travel itself lies in how we connect people”
Anyone who thinks that the great days of innovation for Online Travel Agents (OTAs) are behind us, clearly has not been to a Web In Travel event recently. At WiT Singapore 2023, we met three perfect examples of how in the right han [...]
Letter from Samarkand: Forget alien encounters, this happened for real
I’ve been to many events in my life but never have I had an experience where a woman was vacuuming the stage, three minutes before the scheduled starting time, and in the middle of my delayed-by-an-hour panel, we were interrupted by a helicopter taking off on the lawn outside the venue.
That it [...]
Best remote work spots. Successful misfits. Hotelbeds becomes a groupie.
What the most successful start-up founders have in common
Reasons why Sir Richard Branson and other serial entrepreneurs have been so successful has been identified in research led by the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
Researchers found that start-up founders have distinct personality [...]
Cross-industry giants launch first Global Coalition for Trusted Reviews
"We aim to make it increasingly difficult for fraudulent actors who try to deceive our customers to operate online”, says Tripadvisor
In a significant step for the online review industry, Amazon, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Glassdoor, Tripadvisor, and Trustpilot have announced the establishment o [...]
Nium expands B2B travel payment solutions in Asia Pacific
Company is introducing a combination of domestic issuing and funding capabilities in key APAC markets, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and Japan.
Nium, a platform focused on real-time payments, has announced an expansion of its B2B travel payment solutions in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region [...]
Does AI speak in a loud voice, or is it monotone like the sci-fi movies?
It seems like you can’t go 30-minutes these days without hearing talk of Artificial Intelligence or seeing AI-related posts on social media - and for good reason. AI, now dubbed “the new internet”, “the biggest paradigm shift since the iPhone”, and “our future overlord”, has advanced a [...]
PKFARE, claiming first mover advantage in global race, sets clear path to differentiation
Culture is the critical piece, says Jason Sui
Once operating fairly alone in the global air aggregation and distribution space, Shenzen-based PKFARE now finds itself in increasingly competitive waters as more China-based flight platforms expand their wings beyond their home market.
Said Jason Su [...]
Opportunities for startups abound in the age of vertical disruption
“To be able to have automation and language models that enable a robot to engage with your customer? It changes the paradigm.”
As every sector in travel from tours and activities, to flights, hospitality and corporate travel undergoes massive change, the WiT Singapore 2023 panel on ‘Vertical [...]
Creation platform, AI chatbot for corporate bookings, payments – Amadeus continues in quest to simplify travel
“In Asia, I sometimes use John Smith, simpler for everyone”: Javier Laforgue
It’s just slightly over a year since this veteran in air distribution moved to Singapore to head up Asia Pacific for Amadeus. He came in at a time of “the renewal of travel” in the region. With the region fully o [...]
