Google throws its social travel planning service Schemer onto mobile
Remember Schemer, Google’s service to find out things to do in a destination based on tips from friends within a user’s network of contacts and professional reviewers?Initially unveiled with unusually little fanfare (for Google, compared to, say, Wave, Buzz et al) in December last year, Schem [...]
MakeMyTrip partners with SiteMinder
The partnership between SiteMinder and MakeMyTrip is a boon for the former’s hotel customers around the world keen to sell their rooms in the rapidly growing Indian travel market.MakeMyTrip has a 48% share of India’s burgeoning online travel sector, with more than 3.5 million customers and [...]
Welcome to the new sexuality of the Internet
It’s hard not to talk about sex in Bangkok, especially when you are having dinner with four men at the table (and a woman).It started when I brought up the subject of Rakuten’s investment in Pinterest at a dinner prior to the start of an Abacus underground event in Bangkok – a subject I th [...]
Singapore’s hot for mobile commerce
Singapore saw phenomenal growth in mobile commerce in just one year, jumping from S$43 million in 2010 to S$328 million in 2011 (+660%).
Paypal, in its “Online and Mobile Shopping Insights 2011” study. attributed the growth to a dramatic increase in spend per head for mobile shoppers [...]
With funding from Ctrip, HomeAway, Tujia set to take flight
Hot on the heels of her appearance at WITX-Women In Travel in Bangkok last month, and co-founder and CTO of Tujia.com Melissa Yang is all set to take flight like the wild geese she said she was at the conference, when asked what kind of bird she thought she was at the event. That’s because the co [...]
The Making of ‘My Dream Job’ video
If you’ve watched our video for “The Dream Job Pitch”, the job competition we are doing for the WITNext Summercamp, you might like to know who was the creative brains behind it.Meet Joanne Kwok, who is an Undergraduate (Year 4) at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management [...]
Goodbye, Phil
I didn’t quite make it as far north as Cape Reinga on this trip to New Zealand. But I wished I had. That’s because then I would have been able to bid farewell to an old friend, Phil Jackson, who left us on Sunday, May 13.Cape Reinga sits at the top end of the North Island of New Zealand. It is [...]
Excuse me, do you use both sides of your brain? If so, AirAsia Expedia wants you
As the person responsible for shaping people and culture at AirAsia Expedia, Linda Lim has a big job on her hands.While both companies are heavily focused on technology, the cultures of the joint venture partners are distinctly different and Lim, who joined the 50/50 joint venture last October, has [...]
Keen on business events? 10 things you ought to know
A swathe of changes is sweeping through the business events industry. Competition is rising among destinations all going after the lucrative segment and technology and sectoral shifts are also transforming customer behaviour.At the recent WITX-Women In Travel, Elizabeth Rich (pictured right), a lea [...]
STB’s outgoing chief shares lessons in brand building
Aw Kah Peng (pictured below right) is not your run-of-the-mill type travel professional with years of industry experience behind her. She studied chemical engineering, even though she loved music and played classical piano. It was the pragmatic choice, she said. “My father didn't think you coul [...]
