From selling rooms to cooking fun – and it all started with a bike ride
Inspired by Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman’s “Long Way Round”, former Singapore hotelier Daniel Tan got on a motorcycle and did a three-month ride across Asia.He had just completed his MBA while working with Pan Pacific Hotels Group and decided to quit his marketing job to take on this mot [...]
Busting the five myths about women online
So do you think there are more men online than women? Well, in a way, you’d be right.By region, women in North America form 50.9% of 15+ Internet population. In Latin America and Europe, the numbers are pretty similar – 49.3% and 49.1% respectively. In South-east Asia, the female share is 47.1%, [...]
Easing of red tape to fuel travel boom in APAC region
Imagine Asia Pacific travel without red tape? Why, the potential would be enormous. And the number one red tape that David Brett, President of Amadeus Asia Pacific, would like to see addressed is “VISA APPLICATION” procedures.“There are still many countries across Asia Pacific, China and In [...]
Survival tips for the Content Economy
Humanity is currently entering a Content economy, according to experts who spoke at Localization World Singapore recently, and it is vital for brands to be prepared for this new era.In her presentation entitled “Content Strategy in a Content Economy – Is Your Content Prepared?” Rahel Anne B [...]
Moscow’s most expensive for room service, Cape Town’s most affordable
The inaugural TripIndex Room Service 2013 released by TripAdvisor, which compares popular hotel amenities in 46 of the world’s key destinations, reveals Moscow (Russia) as the most expensive city for travellers while Cape Town (South Africa) is the most affordable. Six of the10 most expensive c [...]
Glion’s Farmer: Don’t address gender balance and your bottomline will suffer
Just as diverse leadership will improve your bottomline, the converse is also true – a homogenous workforce will have a detrimental effect on your company’s performance.Said Mary K Farmer, director of Glion Online MBA, “It’s the same with anything – if you are not fast or quick enough, ev [...]
Alehap uses social to get Vietnamese youths to travel independently
A new OTA in Vietnam, which started out around a social idea, is trying to get young Vietnamese to travel independently by making travel booking “easy, transparent, friendly and sociable”.Alehap’s co-founder Simon Christy (below), who comes from an advertising background (he worked with Ogilvy [...]
Women must step up to challenge, says Kefs as Fast Booking gears to grow in Asia
The push to have more women in management positions whether in technology companies or other industries must come from men and women together, and women too must step up to the challenge.This is the opinion of Soraya Kefs who, with her husband Richard, co-founded Fast Booking, one of the pioneers in [...]
A first-timer’s view: The WIT factor in Indonesia
Just about a week ago, the first WIT Indonesia in Pullman Hotel, Central Park, Jakarta was held and as one of the ‘observers’ – and I’m pretty sure half of delegates who came were first-timers – I found it was an eye-opening experience in terms of not only what I learnt about online travel [...]
Love at first drive and this geek’s the proud owner of the biggest gadget of all
So who says only women are impulsive, are prone to “simply must have it” obsessions and when they’ve got it, rationalize their purchases to make themselves feel good? Why, even geeks can feel it too.Joe Nguyen, a self-professed geek, is always showing off his latest gadgets when we meet. So wh [...]
