Travellers these days want an authentic, local experience. Something unique and different from offered by the ubiquitous brands. This has opened up room for startups offering alternatives from the usual big boys.
From Tripping.com and Favstay’s apartment rental — Favstay had in April just landed US$2.9 million funding to battle Airbnb in the region — to Klook’s kookier tours, and Eatigo’s restaurant lists, startups are offering travellers wider options in accommodation, food and activities.
Their local knowledge also aids in quality control, giving them an edge over global competition.
Said Suchada Taechotirote (co-founder & CEO, Favstay): “We meet the homeowners and the travellers — we are very involved.”
Curation, too, is an important theme for these providers of alternative dreams. Klook’s Chuan Sheng Soong said they place a lot of emphasis on curation and quality control. “The activities and what we are selling — what I always tell my guys is that you cannot sell bad products, you need to have good products. That’s how you build brand trust over time,” he said.
For Louis (Pumin) Yuvacharuskul (co-founder & CEO, Eatigo) a curated list means a higher conversion rate.
He said: “What can we do to give the customer the best user experience. Instead of having 1,000 restaurants, try to create a curated list so users can look at our restaurants and take 5 to 10 seconds before they can do a booking instead of taking 10 mins to decide.”
Being selective also extends to which market these startups choose to launch in.
Jeffrey Manheimer (founder & COO, Tripping.com), said they wanted to focus on the United States and only expand when they become successful in one market. “Your really have to start off with one market and own that,” he said.
Favstay has chosen to focus on 10 markets in Asia, and to do them really well, while Eatigo started in Thailand and in Singapore to test out developing and developed markets.
Yuvacharuskul said that if Singapore did well, he could go to Hong Kong, for example, and if Thailand performed, he could expand in Vietnam and Malaysia. “If u can prove that your business plan works for both developed and developing markets, then that’s something that you can sell to investors to expand globally,” he said.
