Tag: Agoda

Singapore – Digital travel platform Agoda has partnered up with installment payment platform Atome in expanding their “buy now, pay later” scheme to Agoda’s payment options for accommodation bookings, initially offered for Singaporean and Malaysian customers.

Under the partnership, users can checkout their Agoda accommodation by selecting Atome on the checkout page. With 34,000 properties available on the Singapore and Malaysia markets, the partnership also hopes to expand the partnership to additional Southeast Asian (Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam) markets as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan by 2021.

“We are always looking for innovative ways to help more people access travel, using tech to simplify the search, booking and payment processes. The launch of our instalment payment offering with Atome will enable Singaporean and Malaysian travellers who might have previously found it inconvenient to pay for their booking in one lump sum to spread the costs over multiple payments by choosing to pay with Atome, without incurring additional costs,” said Darren Makarem, vice president of commercial finance at Agoda.

On the other hand, David Chen, CEO of Atome (pictured) said, “This marks the start of a truly exciting regional partnership with Agoda. Travel and tourism supports so many businesses, livelihoods and economies across Asia. We’re truly humbled to play our part in helping to boost domestic tourism by introducing buy now, pay later payment flexibility and convenience on the Agoda platform today. 

He also added, “As more borders in Asia re-open for travel in 2021, our regional partnership will allow even more Agoda travellers to enjoy this payment convenience and flexibility at checkout, improving the customer experience.”

The partnership starts on December 21 for the Singaporean and Malaysian market.

Singapore – In response to customer feedback that hygiene plays a major role in the lookout for new accommodations, online travel agency Agoda recently announced HygienePlus, a new verification feature that shows how hotels and other accommodations maintain hygiene standards within their premises.

The feature provides an extensive checklist that accommodations have to follow in regards to sanitary and hygiene protocols which include safety protocol trainings, contactless check in/check out, temperature check, mandatory wearing of face masks, disinfection of rooms, sterilization of equipment, and signs to observe proper social distancing.

 According to Agoda’s latest survey, Asian travelers noted “Hygiene Standard Listings” as a top priority for checking in at accommodations. The survey also revealed “Daily Room Disinfection” and “Daily Disinfection of general areas” to be the most important hygiene measures travelers expect to be implemented by hotels and other accommodation providers.

“People are raring to travel again but need the reassurance that hygiene measures at their destination are rigorous. Hoteliers and accommodation providers need to regain the confidence of travelers and have been working hard to implement safety measures to do so. HygienePlus quickly and easily identifies hotels that are ensuring a safe and hygienic environment,” Omri Morgenstern, chief operating officer at Agoda stated.

Malaysia – Online travel agency and metasearch engine Agoda has released its latest survey of most-searched destinations on agoda.com, where Kuala Lumpur is revealed to be the top-searched among Malaysians.

Kuala Lumpur was followed by Penang and Langkawi as the second and third most searched destinations, while similar local spots such as Port Dickson and Malacca rounded up the top five. Malaysians were also shown to shine interest in places outside the country with Thailand and Tokyo making it to the top 10 list. Meanwhile, national destinations such as Kota Kinabalu, Cameron Highlands, and Genting Highlands were also among the top searches. 

Kuala Lumpur remained the top destination for other types of searches such as for the couple, family, and solo travels while Bentong topped the list for group travels. Almost the same mix of places resulted from each category. Ipoh and Johar Baru entered the list for the couple searches. Malaysian families, on the other hand, were also keen for Korea as the country ended as one of top-searched for the family category. Meanwhile, the group travel search saw Allepey, Kuching, Koh Samui, and Taiping entering the list, while heightened liking towards international locations demonstrated among solo travel searches, with almost half being foreign countries such as Singapore and Taipei.

Agoda’s Vice President for Corporate Development Tim Hughes said that while Agoda’s search data shows that there has been a shift towards domestic destinations amid regulations for domestic travel, people are still dreaming about international travel adventures. 

“[Travelers] still have hope that travel corridors will open later this year to some key markets where COVID has been more contained, and are looking out for great deals for when they do,” said Hughes.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Agoda has launched its biggest integrated campaign, “GoLocal”, aimed at stimulating domestic tourism across its Asia Pacific and global markets, and has signed up thousands of hotel partners in the pre-launch phase.

Accommodation providers opting into Agoda’s GoLocal initiative are set to benefit from its multi-channel approach to helping partners reach and convert travelers looking for great domestic travel deals. In its largest domestic initiative, Agoda has developed a fully integrated sales and marketing campaign to support its GoLocal program, investing in coordinated social media campaigns, digital brand activations and video content, and targeted public relations activities, as well as bespoke customer marketing and a dedicated landing page www.agoda.com/golocal. 

Agoda GoLocal Social Media

“We soft-launched this initiative over the past month to gauge the appetite for support of domestic travel promotions, and the enthusiasm has been beyond our expectations. We have now officially launched GoLocal and already have thousands of hotel and Agoda Homes partners around the world working with us to share great deals with people who want to start traveling again.  Our pre-launch GoLocal early adopters are significantly outperforming other providers within the domestic travel sector across the region, and so we are confident this GoLocal initiative will continue to generate even more bookings,” explained Errol Cooke, Vice President Partner Services, Agoda.

Partners signing up to GoLocal are offering up special domestic deals.  In return, participating partners will be featured across various Agoda product and marketing touchpoints, strategically identified to maximize impact of the campaign. These include the exclusive agoda.com/golocal landing site for domestic travel, GoLocal badges to highlight participating properties on Agoda, plus exciting brand and performance marketing activities.  Strategic partnerships with key verticals will highlight and promote partner hotels and properties, further extending the reach of the campaign.

“As restrictions on travel ease, we want the GoLocal campaign to stimulate domestic travel demand across Asia Pacific and beyond, by using creative content and messaging to inspire as many travelers to explore their own countries, reconnect with local culture and discover hidden gems. We will encourage them to safely learn to travel again and help our customers to find the widest choice and best value deals to do so. We’re going all out to make this campaign a true success, so our partners can ride this wave of increasing demand, and strive for better times ahead,” said Cooke. 

The GoLocal consumer campaign launches with a global brand film, distributed digitally in key markets.  The film, a love letter to travel told from the perspective of a wise experienced traveler, encourages more mindful travel as we explore the world nearby. 

Agoda | Explore the World Nearby | #GoLocal