Getting uncomfortable with the comfortable – how Maria Trujillo used Tern as her stage debut
Everyone can admit that taking your first step into the modern workforce is not a particularly pleasant experience. Building up the courage to introduce yourself to a company executive isn’t easy and even a simple hello can be intimidating.
That is why career events like Tern – a travel caree [...]
The day when Hurricane Dara lashed travel – imagine what he could do with Uber and Asia
Just as Hurricane Harvey was battering Texas and severe tropical storm Pahkar was lashing Hong Kong over the weekend, another kind of storm was being unleashed in the tech and travel industry– the news that Expedia Inc CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had been picked as the candidate to head Uber.
As soci [...]
People and culture, the one thing you can’t copy, and here’s how Sabine Hansen Peck intends that to be Amadeus’ competitive advantage
Yeoh Siew Hoon catches up with the power woman who runs people and culture at Amadeus IT Group, Sabine Hansen Peck, and talks Asia, diversity, gamification, and even animals and flying.
If she wasn’t yet convinced, her latest whirlwind trip through Asia Pacific, which covered Bangkok, Tokyo, th [...]
On the Rocks, Hoshino talks ryokans, minpaku and recognition
I suppose when you work in travel, you shouldn’t be surprised who you run into so when I heard that Hoshino Resorts was having a media lunch in Sydney the week I happened to be in town, I gatecrashed it.
I wanted to catch up with Yoshiharu Hoshino, who wants to take his fourth-generation fa [...]
Letter from Kuching: Lessons for small earthlings in second cities
Just returned from Kuching and on the AirAsia flight to Singapore, I was reflecting on how the combination of low cost airlines and the web, specifically social media, has changed the fortunes and aspirations of folks living in second cities in Asia.
I hail from a secondary city myself, Penang, a [...]
Letter from Sydney: Chatbots are hot but they are no silver bullet
Travelport Live in Sydney kicked off with two female “robot” dancers wearing suits that were more lit up than a Christmas tree, their robot-like movements a hint of where the discussions at the one-and-a-half day conference would be heading.
Futurist Ross Dawson opened with a br [...]
The Millennial Traveller: LUXE’s Simon Westcott on the key good of travel and luxury beyond the price tag
Simon Westcott’s extensive career in the travel media industry is undisputed. His most notable roles are as the former publisher of the famed Lonely Planet guides from 2001 to 2008, being the co-founder of Mr & Mrs Smith Asia Pacific, and his current position as owner and CEO of LUXE City Guid [...]
Letter from Lisbon: From Konichiwa to Ni Hao and Sawasdee
It is funny how like with handbags, destinations too have their trends. For example, these days, you will see people everywhere carrying Anello backpacks – these bags aren’t particularly good to look at, they are unwieldy and cumbersome to use in my opinion but suddenly it seems everywhere you l [...]
How Tujia’s Hai Zhuang wants to be part of “greatest economic event of the century”
Like many entrepreneurially-minded individuals, Hai Zhuang, President, Tujia Holdings, was driven by the ambition to make an impact on the world through his work.
At the WIT Japan & North Asia 2017 Bootcamp, Zhuang recounted his eight years’ experience as a Microsoft engineer, and how his b [...]
Letter from Madrid: Humans must do what technology cannot
We arrived in Madrid on a Sunday, the last day of the Gay Pride weekend in which we were told two million people descended on the city. Across from the Westin Palace, a protest was being staged.
The hotel doorman shrugged his shoulders when I asked what they were protesting about. “Happens all [...]
