Why empathy, not argument, is Airbnb’s approach to short-term rental regulation
Mich Goh on listening her way through hostile hearings, and what governments across APAC actually want when they talk about short-term rentals
Every APAC market wants something different from tourism, and that's the challenge Mich Goh (Director of Public Policy, APAC, Airbnb) has built her career a [...]
Booking.com’s playbook for Oceania and Korea includes AI, authenticity, and regulatory collaboration
Todd Lacey, Booking.com’s Regional Manager for Oceania and Korea, is in charge of markets that fall all across the spectrum of travel maturity and demand. But Lacey’s focus isn’t on what separates these regions, it’s what unites them. "Travellers are really looking for that sort of unique ex [...]
Turning tourists into conservationists, RealNZ’s one ‘sound of silence’ at a time
“You can't help conservation and help the planet if you're not profitable. You've always got to have that balance.”
Two years into his role as chief executive of RealNZ, Dave Beeche is applying lessons from a career in major sports events to New Zealand's tourism industry. “Our purpose is to [...]
The demand for travel is there. Affordability is what’s broken.
What does it actually take to get more people across Southeast Asia traveling, and is the industry doing enough to make it happen?
Nadia Omer, CEO of AirAsia Move, spoke to WiT about how AI is reshaping the platform while pointing to data hygiene as an essential part of MOVE's process. "We realized [...]
Travel is like water and Queenstown wants to channel it
Roger Sharp on AI, inbound tourism, and why Queenstown wants to be the Southern Hemisphere's travel tech hub
Roger Sharp has a theory about travel. "Somebody once said to me, travel is like water, it always gets through." Amidst geopolitical instability and constantly redirected flight paths, peo [...]
Data, not drama, should shape Airbnb’s short-term rental rules
What does it mean to be a lawyer for a platform operating across various jurisdictions, and doing it in real time? In a conversation with Darrell Chan, Airbnb's APAC General Counsel, the idea of “guerrilla lawyering” is used as a working philosophy. But what does that look like when regulations [...]
The real threat to mobility tech isn’t competition, it’s how travel gets discovered
When Mike McGearty returned to the WiT Studio this year, the conversation quickly moved beyond “what’s new” in mobility tech to a more complicated question; has the industry actually changed all that much? From his vantage point as CEO and co-founder of Meili, the answer is nuanced. While the [...]
Why Accor is rethinking personalisation, partnerships and guest loyalty
When you’re operating across MEA and APAC, “data hygiene” quickly becomes more than a buzzword. Speaking in the WiT Studio, Kerry Healy, Chief Commercial Officer (Premium, Midscale & Economy MEA & APAC) at Accor, unpacked how the group is working toward a single, connected guest id [...]
Inside the hidden mechanics of rate leakage with Expedia Group’s Steve Quan
Steve Quan, SVP of Hotel Enterprise Partnerships at Expedia Group, lifts the lid on one of hospitality’s most persistent revenue problems - rate leakage. Expedia’s latest survey found that 98% of hoteliers are affected, but what’s really behind the problem? Steve challenges the obvious assumpt [...]
Travel chaos is inevitable. Klook’s CX chief tackles it with data
Travel disruptions are often seen as part of travel's DNA. It's a strange notion, but as resilient as the industry is, its nature is also highly suceptible to disruptions from political instability to tech shutdowns, all the way to natural disasters. So, how does Klook build customer confidence? In [...]
