Booking Holdings is buying hotel metasearch site, HotelsCombined, for an undisclosed sum. HotelsCombined was formed in 2005 and has built up a strong presence in APAC from its headquarters in Sydney, Australia. Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, talked about the deal in terms of its worldwide metasearch strategy. The…

Dubai-based loyalty and engagements specialist The Entertainer has developed a trip-planning and in-destination discounts app for members of the Emirates loyalty scheme, Skywards. The app – branded as Emirates Skywards Go – operates on a subscription model, of sorts.  Members of the Skywards scheme need to pay 6,700 points…

Our latest update from China, sharing some fascinating insights from the documents filed by Meituan and Tongcheng Elong as part of their IPOs on the Hong Kong exchange. Plus some Chinese travel startup funding rounds, Chinese hospitality market caps and general tourism numbers. Meituan, Ctrip and other OTAs Meituan…

This is a viewpoint from Maria Regester, vice president, business development, for RightRez If you’re looking to partner with a travel technology company, the main thing you will want to know before making your decision is how exactly this technology will help your business. One of the best ways…

Fresh from a seven-figure round of funding, Rateboard is seeking to speed up its expansion into further European markets as well as invest in product development. Funding for the Vienna-based business comes from aws Gründerfonds while Next Floor and two business angels also participated. The investment comes on top of…

Some months ago SAS began looking at its ancillary services and the revenue it was deriving from them. The airline set itself a target of doubling ancillary sales by 2020. As a starting point, SAS decided to work with the Amadeus Accenture Alliance to look at his ancillary sales…

This is a viewpoint from Glenville Morris, product director, digital insights, for Travelport Digital “What We Call The App Store” “So you’re a developer and you’ve just spent two weeks or maybe a little bit longer writing this amazing app and what is your dream? Your dream is to…

Hotel Jumpstart, the accelerator from Expedia Affiliate Network and Hotels.com, has announced Stasher as the winner of the program. Following a demo day in London this week, Stasher came out top not only for the business itself but how much it has achieved in the six months of the…

A new study on the impact of positive or negative customer service experiences shows something we may already have suspected: a company’s reputation and customer loyalty hang in the balance with each individual experience. The study, from customer experience management specialist Medallia, finds the predominant consideration for repeat business is…

This is a viewpoint from Matt Walker, chief storyteller at LikeWhere. If you want to “Live like a Local”, traveling is a risk. You are better off staying home. What’s more local than waking up in your own bed to the shuffling of your partner and the licks of…