The Wrap: Emirates Skywards introduces new on-demand taxi app in partnership with CarTrawler
In the news: New taxi app for Emirates & flydubai loyalty programme members, strong China sales growth for Hotelbeds Group, Kansai Airports’ new digital campaign
Transportation: Emirates Skywards introduces new on-demand taxi app in partnership with CarTrawler
Members of Emirates S [...]
WiT Singapore 2018: Whatever it takes to design and build for the customer: Ponde
When asked to pick a song that best describes his personal journey with Facebook, its head of global travel strategy Nikhilesh Ponde, chose “Whatever It Takes” by Imagine Dragons.
“Whatever it takes, 'cause I love the adrenaline in my veins/I do whatever it takes 'cause I love how it feels [...]
How Queenie Lee went from law graduate to travel entrepreneur in Kazakhstan
While other Singaporean girls of her age chose to stay home to pursue conventional careers after university – she herself studied law after all – 26-year Queenie Lee opted for a different path, and found herself running a travel business in Kazakhstan.
It all started in England where she was [...]
South-east Asia’s Grab secures US$200 million investment from Booking Holdings
South-east Asia’s largest ride hailing firm Grab has scored another huge investment – US$200 million from US travel giant Booking Holdings as part of a strategic partnership between the two companies.
Booking Holdings said its investment in Grab was in recognition of the company “as the lea [...]
Travelport says it’s first GDS to offer NDC flight booking
Travelport has taken a step ahead of its rival GDSs (global distribution system) by claiming to be the first to manage live flight bookings with IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC) content.
The travel commerce company said the first transaction was made by a British agency, Meon Valley Trave [...]
BeMyGuest unveils Xplore, a new booking system designed for Asia’s travel operators
BeMyGuest, Asia’s largest B2B aggregator of attractions, tours and activities, has launched Xplore described as “Asia’s first locally relevant digital solution for Asian travel experiences”.
Introduced at last week’s ITB Asia in Singapore, the booking system and channel manager are “s [...]
Kinnevik and Temasek lead US$150m round for travel booking platform GoEuro
Berlin travel startup GoEuro has received fresh funding of US$150 million, described as “one of the largest-ever investment rounds in Germany”, doubling its total capital raised to date.
Kinnevik AB, a Swedish investment firm, and Temasek, an investment company headquartered in Singapore, led [...]
WiT Singapore 2018: MakeMyTrip’s Deep Kalra shares thoughts on the “secret sauce”, game changers and what excites him
MakeMyTrip’s chairman and group CEO Deep Kalra is often a favourite on our WiT stage because India is just that exciting and MakeMyTrip has been a key figure in the online travel community there. This time, Kalra shared about his journey from harder times to better, more promising ones, and what h [...]
WiT Singapore 2018: Cherry Huang talks Alipay and the emergence of the “lifestyle super app”
How can one really explain the phenomenon and colossus that is Alipay? Cherry Huang (General Manager, Cross-Border Business, South-east Asia, Alipay) did just that, documenting the goliath's growth over the last 14 years from a “Chinese brand for Chinese consumers” to having international presen [...]
WiT Singapore 2018: Expedia and Traveloka – a collaborative partnership of global might and local power
In mid-2017 one of the biggest news that hit the world of online travel was Expedia Group investing US$350 million in Indonesian OTA Traveloka, making it South-east Asia’s first travel unicorn.
Greg Schulze, senior vice president, commercial strategy and services, Expedia Group, said then, “W [...]
