“At this moment in travel history, traditional things are waking up to the notion that they have to disrupt themselves before they get disrupted”, urged WiT founder Yeoh Siew Hoon. “As a new wave of consumers come online, we have to get really serious about globalisation, or deeper localisation, or go home.”
Are we ready to face a world that is changing fast? That was the question posed to attendees at the opening keynote of the Web in Travel (WiT) Conference 2018. With the theme “Through the Looking Glass”, the 14th edition of conference opened with an uplifting electro-rock number performed by Wendi Koh and colourful geometric backdrops.
“At this moment in travel history, traditional things are waking up to the notion that they have to disrupt themselves before they get disrupted”, urged WiT founder Yeoh Siew Hoon. “As a new wave of consumers come online, we have to get really serious about globalisation, or deeper localisation, or go home.”
Spearheading the discussion on adapting to travel industry developments was Robert Rosenstein, co-founder and chairman, Agoda. Rosenstein shared how the accommodations booking ‘monster’ is constantly kept on its toes, especially as new and well-funded players enter the market. “The companies in our space, we’re very experimental. We’re trying to to see how we can share customers,” he said.
One example of these experiments is Expedia’s US$350 million investment in Traveloka in 2017, and both companies took the stage to share their experience.
“Expedia is a well-oiled machine. For example, they not only know how to do customer service, but they do it in a cost-efficient way,” says Henry Hendrawan, group CFO of Traveloka. On the other hand, Greg Schulze, senior vice president, commercial strategy & services, Expedia Group praised Traveloka’s knowledge of the South-east Asian market.
Indeed, Traveloka is even working on offering consumer loans to customers in Indonesia. Hendrawan says, “We’re looking at actual consumer needs; credit card penetration in Indonesia is very low. A lot of bookings are last-minute because people don’t have access to credit. So we’re trying to solve that.”
Companies that have the curiosity and courage to experiment — like the WiT Startup Pitch finalists — can look forward to plenty of challenges and rewards.