Huge incumbents in travel are hard to dislodge but Bao Bean sees opportunities around solving specific problems
William Bao Bean, general partner at SOSV, named the world’s most active seed investor by TechCrunch Crunchbase, has his eye on travel but is aware that the potential for new technology to really disrupt the industry is hard.
“Travel is a closed insular industry, there’s a lot of histor [...]
Post-restructure, IHG’s Barr says it’s about brand, scale and tech as it prepares to launch new reservations system
It was the Friday of the 10th Formula 1 weekend in Singapore. One assumes all visitors coming to town that weekend are here for the race but no, not the new group CEO of Intercontinental Hotels Group, Keith Barr. Barr was making a lightning visit to Singapore and the region to “spend time with the [...]
How Asia’s hospitality industry can stay relevant in this competitive digital age
A new study by Meltwater, which provides insights and consultancy to help brands future-proof their business, examines how digital disruption is redefining the customer’s travel experience across the hospitality industry in Asia.
Adopting a digital-first strategy could give hospitality compane [...]
Wego secures new funding for expansion in the Middle East
Online travel marketplace Wego has picked up more investment, this time from Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) in exchange for an equity ownership.
The equity stake and the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by both companies.
MEVP is a leading venture capital firm in the Middle [...]
The Wrap: Meet Toby the Chatbot – Tigerair Australia’s new personal travel consultant
In the news: It’s all about airlines and flights this week with Tigerair Australia’s new chatbot, KLM’s offering of WeChat Pay and booking flights on hotel websites
CHATBOTS: Meet Toby the Chatbot - Tigerair Australia’s new personal travel consultant
The next time you make a bookin [...]
6 openings, 3 months – AccorHotels’ rapid move into APAC’s luxury hotel space, first Sofitel in Malaysia
Soaring high above the office blocks and residences in Damansara Heights, an affluent suburb of Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Damansara is an impressive sight with its wide driveway, sparkling marble floors and lofty ceilings.
Opened last month the 312-room hotel is the fir [...]
Japan Airlines, TripAdvisor join forces to grow Japan’s inbound tourism in lead up to 2020
Japan Airlines (JAL) and TripAdvisor have formed a strategic partnership to launch an immersive multi-media portal, Untold Stories of Japan, to promote inbound tourism to the country, as well as encourage repeat visits.
The portal, which will be launched next month, highlights the best that Japan [...]
Fried scorpion may not be his thing but helping travellers have better vacations is: Steve Kaufer on TripAdvisor’s great end game
Steve Kaufer, CEO & founder of TripAdvisor, could hardly remember what he ate for dinner the evening before. “It was something interesting,” he said. I was curious because he kept talking about how TripAdvisor wants to help travellers have awesome experiences in destinations – from tours t [...]
Malaysia’s Tourism Tax: Finally enforced, but still faces long road to smooth implementation
On September 1 Malaysia implemented the controversial Tourism Tax (TTx) for foreign tourists, a RM10 (US$2.40) daily levy on hotel accommodation, much to the chagrin of the industry given that many questions remain unanswered.
There is no clarity yet on how the tax should be collected even though [...]
Why chatbots are transforming the travel Industry
This is a guest post by Bronwyn White, co-founder of MyTravelResearch.com, a market research and marketing firm specialising in the travel, tourism and aviation industries.
Chatbots can be simply defined as artificial intelligence programmes that conduct conversations with humans through chat [...]
