Immigration, inequality, inclusion – the themes occupying America
It is interesting the amount of soul-searching that’s going on in North America, both on the political and corporate front, as I discovered on this recent trip which started in Las Vegas, continued to New York and now headed for Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for Phocuswright, which begins tomorrow. & [...]
Letter from Explore ’19: Persevere, respect, be mindful – and oh, get more sleep
If I had to sum up the first day of Expedia Group’s Explore ’19 conference in Las Vegas today in three words, they’d be “perseverance, respect and mindfulness”.
The morning opened with a talk by Colin O’Brady who, after nine years of having his legs burnt at a beach party in Thailand [...]
A tale of three places: Bamboo, Bali and never-ending neon
Travelling straight from the private
island of Cempedak to the mass tourism island of Bali is one thing, but going
on from Bali to Shanghai the day after, well, that’s another. The contrasts are
marked but there’s a common thread that weaves through them – the story of
travel – as Yeoh Siew [...]
Letter from the South China Sea: Time for unusual thinking, unorthodox partnerships and old-fashioned making money
Yeoh Siew Hoon gets stranded on a coral
reef off Cempedak and ponders the secrets of the travel universe as they were revealed
at last week’s WiT Singapore 2019.
The sun was about to call it a day when we set out on a boat from Cempedak Island off Bintan, Indonesia. Our destination was a coral [...]
WiT Singapore 2019: Allen Law, the good son steering Park Hotel Group into the digital future
How many of us can
say “well, my dad bought a hotel and asked me if I would run it”. Not many, I guess, but
that’s how Allen Law, CEO of Park Hotel Group, got his start in hospitality.
He was 24, studying mathematics in London, when his father, Law
Kar Po, called him, announcing the family [...]
The smart money is banking on new ways to pay, hands down
I was having coffee at the airport last
week and when I wanted to pay, the “Uncle” asked me, “Do you want to pay by
Alipay? Wave? Grab?”
At the
cashier, I was again asked the same question – only this time, I was offered
“Pay Lah” as well, one of the local bank wallets.
I got s [...]
From “Yarikuri” to “Omoroi”: The Peach way of doing things, all in a book
Peach CEO Shinichi Inoue has the reputation of being different, doing things in a creative and smart way, yet always coming across as someone who just uses plain old common sense a lot. At least that's what I have gathered from the few interviews and interactions I've had with him over the years.
[...]
Tern takeaways: Here’s what you need to know about building a successful career in travel
The fourth edition of Tern Travel Careers – an event designed to build awareness of the range of career opportunities available in travel and connect industry figures with future talent – featured a cast of speakers spanning hospitality, online travel agencies, corporate travel, tours and acti [...]
From Morse Code to 4G, from Yangon to Loikaw, welcome to a new yet old Myanmar
About 20 years ago, I crossed the Burmese border through the Chinese frontier town of Muse. At one of the checkpoints along the route, I heard the tap-tap-tap of a Morse code machine.
This
time, flying into a new and expanded Yangon International Airport that looks
like it could be anywhere, th [...]
As technology changes jobs in travel, critical thinking, empathy and stamina will prevail
At the fourth edition of Tern Travel Careers, Greg Schulze (Senior Vice President of Commercial Strategy and Services, Expedia Group) and Jennifer Cronin (President, Wharf Hotels, Hong Kong) marked three skills as being fundamental to success.
It was agreed that no matter how much technology cha [...]
