The Wrap is a round-up of news in the travel and technology industries, and to keep track of developments in these sectors as the green shoots of recovery slowly take root.
HalalBooking bounces back, plans expansion beyond Europe and a Series B round
Leading search and booking website for halal-friendly travel HalalBooking is seeing full recovery of its sale for August 2020, increasing US$2.7 million as compared to US$2.6 million in the previous year.”
The company had a good 2019, with “record sales” of US$33 million, up from $21 million in the previous year, setting it well on track to record an exponential 2x rate of growth this year, it disclosed in a statement. However, the coronavirus pandemic and worldwide lockdown had hit the company badly with almost no sales from March to June, in addition to dealing with a huge volume of cancelled and postponed trips.
With recovery HalalBooking aims to return to 2x growth rate by end of the year.
“I always had complete confidence that HalalBooking would return to growth quickly as our services for halal-friendly travel fulfil a genuine need for halal-conscious travellers worldwide,” said CEO Elnur Seyidli.
He attributed this quick recovery to the trust customers have in the company and its customer services team that dealt “fairly and efficiently” with customers whose travel plans were disrupted.
“We adapted quickly, adding thousands of new hotels and villas in European locations for those customers who wanted to stay closer to home, and bringing in an increased number of different payment options to offer increased flexibility to our customers including ‘pay later’ and ‘free cancellation’ options.”
HalalBooking was the “People’s Choice Winner” at Innovation Launch EMEA at the recent Phocuswright Europe Online 2020.
Seyidli, who presented HalalBooking’s tech innovations at the online event, added the company was awarded the most innovative travel ‘scale-up’ – a company with the technology to scale up to a US$1 billion target.
On plans for the future, Seyidli said: “This fast recovery means that we are now in a great position to scale up our online platform both in terms of supply and customer acquisition. We intend to expand beyond the European markets where we are already strong, and to really speed things up.”
The company also made the decision to “super-accelerate” its growth to reach US$1 billion valuation target by 2024.
“We have a successful business model – now tried and tested against the worst case scenario of a global pandemic – and I don’t want to waste any time, so this week (of 7 September) I am launching a drive to raise US$20 million in venture capital in a Series B round. This is an exciting step forward as, to date, the only relatively small funding we have received was US$2 million at the end of 2019 from a few angel investors.”
This month Hichame Assi, former CEO of HotelsCombined.com and MD APAC of Kayak (part of Booking Holdings), joins HalalBooking’s board as a non-executive director.
HalalBooking allows users to search and book halal-friendly hotels and villas online. It features over 4550 properties in over 38 countries worldwide, which can be filtered according to halal needs such as availability of halal food, alcohol-free areas and women-only and private family swimming pools, spas and beaches.
WTTC introduces safety guidelines for adventure travel
As countries slowly reopen borders, ease travel restrictions, growing confidence among consumers to travel, adventure tourism is gaining popularity and expected to see growth post Covd-19.
As Gloria Guevara, president & CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), said: “Adventure tourism is becoming increasingly popular amongst travellers and will represent a key component to travel in the new normal. According to our recently launched Covid-19 Travel Demand Recovery Dashboard, it is also one of the fastest growing segments, which is why it is vital to establish measures allowing safe travels for adventure travellers.”
To support the safe return to adventure tourism the council has unveiled the latest set of guidelines designed to rebuild consumer confidence and reduce risk.
Backed by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the WTTC protocols also take into account guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
WTTC said protocols for the adventure tourism industry were compiled on the basis of insights and frameworks developed by the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), in collaboration with key tour operators such as Abercrombie & Kent, Eurotur, Intrepid and The Travel Corporation.
Within these protocols the adventure tourism industry refers to a wide variety of adventure tourism experiences, among them cycling, rafting, trekking, skiing, snowboarding, wildlife safaris and culinary tours
“Consumer confidence is crucial for travel & tourism to resume,” said WTTC’s Guevara. “We know travellers will want to explore the world around them once more, so long as they are confident in their safety. The return of travel and tourism will help power the world’s much-needed economic recovery, which is why these protocols are so important.”
Added Shannon Stowell, ATTA CEO: “As tourism professionals our priority now is to see adventure travel come back strong, resilient and sustainably. WTTC and ATTA collaborating on global guidelines for adventure travel is a significant effort to support companies worldwide in re-opening as quickly and safely as possible.”
The measures for adventure tourism include:
- Reduce participant capacity limits for activities as appropriate to allow for physical distancing
- Ensure activity difficulty levels do not exceed guest ability and skill, thus decreasing the need for a possible rescue
- Provide clear, consistent and up-to-date communication on new health and hygiene protocols via the organisation’s channels, both digitally and physically through clear signage
- Promote contact tracing apps if required by local legislation
- Inform guests about support available if questions or concerns arise
- Share guest guidelines ahead of trip or activity digitally and in person upon arrival on the basis of advice from health authorities, which may include the wearing of face masks or coverings, guidance on hand hygiene and avoiding physical contact. Consider having consumers acknowledge guidelines
- Encourage guests to purchase tickets online if possible
- Keep the same households, families, or members of group bookings together for all activities to lower risk of exposure for those outside of that unit, wherever possible
- Ensure, where possible, that each guest can handle their own equipment and gear for the duration of the trip. Where possible, guests should be encouraged bring their own equipment or gear, such as bikes, skis, and helmets among others
- Limited physical contact and queuing where possible
Sunway Hotels & Resorts boosts efficiency and customer loyalty with Amadeus solutions
Asian international hotel group Sunway Hotels & Resorts has inked a three-year agreement with Amadeus to boost efficiency and customer loyalty, as well as offer personalised services to its guests.
Under the deal the hotel group, headquartered in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur, will implement Amadeus’ iHotelier Central Reservation System, Guest Management Solutions, and Website Management Solutions in various phases.
The solutions will streamline reservations and loyalty programmes across Sunway’s 11 independent properties in Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as future developments. The latter includes Sunway Big Box ses to open in 2021, the first hotel in Sunway City Iskandar in the country’s southern state of Johor.
Amadeus’ Central Reservation System will help the hotel group organise its portfolio, rates and inventory in a centralised platform, providing the capabilities needed to manage hotel distribution and merchandising. Its scalable design lets individual hotels customise the platform according to their individual needs. Additionally, an API-first approach helps reduce the pain of costly migrations, making it easier for the various properties across the group to introduce these new technologies.
Amadeus’ Guest Management Solutions will provide the hotels a 360-degree overview of their guest profiles through a streamlined and consolidated view of the guest database. This view allows its hotels to personalise each touchpoint of the guest journey like targeting guests with effective, tailored communications to deliver offers or upgrades.
Commenting on the link-up Dato’ Tan Kia Loke, Sunway group senior managing director for chairman’s office, said: “As independent hotels, it can be a challenge to compete with the larger branded properties that have access to more resources, including a standardised technology offering. By implementing Amadeus solutions in our business, we can implement the technology that is most relevant for our processes,”
He added that with the solutions the group could also lower its overall operational cost.
• Featured image credit (Adenya Hotel & Resort in the resort town of Alanya,Turkey): HalalBooking
