Singapore – Digital travel platform Agoda has launched GoLocal Tonight, a new feature to allow users to create and plan their spontaneous travel itinerary, a direct response to the increase in demand for last-minute travel searches for same-day and next-day overnight hotel stays. 

Through the platform, travelers looking for spontaneous last-minute travel can benefit from even greater savings from Agoda’s GoLocal Tonight deals when they make a same-day booking.

With the launch of GoLocal Tonight, thousands of hotel and accommodation providers across Asia Pacific have signed up to offer travelers up to 30% additional discount off last-minute reservations.

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Data from Agoda noted that Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand are the top three Asia Pacific markets to embrace the impromptu travel experience searching for same-day check-ins. These markets are followed by travelers from Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan, India, the Philippines, South Korea, and Singapore.

“There’s a growing group of travelers choosing last-minute adventures – couch dwellers who might make spontaneous decisions to either watch a show or book a staycation for the thrill of it. GoLocal Tonight appeals to this new segment of canny, impulse travelers who are looking out for and are incentivized by low prices to take advantage of same-day deals. It’s a win-win for both partners and travelers,” said Enric Casals, regional director at Agoda.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Global airline Emirates has announced that Emirates Gateway, a direct connect platform, will offer travel partners and agents of the airline exclusive content, including bespoke products and services, as well as differentiated pricing.

Emirates Gateway was initially launched in October last year, and is in line with Emirates’ plans to cater a dynamic marketplace by providing trade partners with a choice of connection options and differentiated products and benefits across channels.

Emirates is working closely with interested trade partners to bring them onboard the Emirates Gateway, which provides access to the widest range of Emirates fare products including exclusive content not available in the indirect channels, and where bookings will not incur a Distribution Surcharge.

The following New Distribution Capability (NDC) content will be available to agents, via Emirates Gateway including access to differentiated ticket pricing such as dedicated promotional fares and pre-sales as well as rich content, selling excess baggage, enable enhanced customer experience, differentiated pricing for select ancillary service as well as faster access to new ancillary products.

“Our goal is to empower our trade partners to deliver even better customer experiences, and we are pleased to introduce the next batch of new exclusive features and benefits for them on Emirates Gateway, which was launched to address the limitations of current legacy systems and provide a wide range of additional content and options for agents,” said Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ chief commercial officer.

Kazim added, “We are heartened by the support and positive feedback that we’ve received from our trade and Global Distribution Systems (GDS) partners to date. Emirates firmly believes in healthy, long-term relationships with all players in the travel ecosystem, and we will continue to work hard to nurture the relationships that we’ve built through the years by providing great value and service.”

Emirates Gateway content can be accessed through three flexible access solutions:

  • Emirates Booking Portal: a user-friendly web booking portal available in 16 languages, connected directly to Emirates’ reservation systems that simplifies the booking, ticketing and post-ticketing servicing of Emirates orders
  • Emirates Gateway Direct: which provides access to Emirates content through IATA standard NDC APIs, allowing our trade partners to build applications that meet their needs
  • Emirates Gateway Sync: a facilitated link to Emirates products and services provided by IATA registered, Emirates certified technology partners