In its bid to become a travel and lifestyle platform – it does not like the term “superapp”, I was told by Traveloka executives – the Indonesian-based OTA has launched Traveloka Xperience for consumers to discover travel and lifestyle activities.
Christian Suwarna, senior vice president, business development for Traveloka, and CEO of Traveloka Experience Headquarter, said the new brand was created so that it could widen its offerings to include products beyond the usual attractions and activities.
Available in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, and Australia, Traveloka Xperience covers 12 categories including attractions; movies; events; entertainment; tours; beauty & spa; sports; playgrounds; transport, food & drink, classes & workshops, as well as travel essentials. There are currently nearly 15,000 inventories present in more than 60 countries.
Asked if this could over-complicate the Traveloka user experience especially when delivered through mobile, Suwarna said, “This is why we are working on recommendations. This is a key ingredient – to understand secondary emotional needs, like what type of traveller are you? If you travel to Singapore Monday to Wednesday, you’re likely a business traveller. If travelling with four people, you’re likely a family.
“The key is to understand all data points and then target the traveller with relevant recommendations. We have a data team working on advanced tech to improve our recommendations so that it doesn’t become annoying to the traveller.”
He admits that “we are not happy with it yet”.
“Pushing recommendations is easy but it’s relevance that’s important.”
While building up Experiences has become a top priority for Traveloka, Suwarna said the bulk of the business is still coming from flights, followed by hotels. “But Experiences is increasing. Rail is of course big for us domestically.”
In Indonesia, he said, the biggest competitor is offline behavior which still rules in the market. “We are educating consumers about the ease of booking online, not only in Indonesia but across South-east Asia.”
Traveloka has been expanding its presence across South-east Asia in recent years and building supplier relationships. This week, it launched the Traveloka Hotel Awards in Malaysia, the first country to host the awards programme after its launch in Indonesia in 2017.
Angelica Chan, country market manager of Traveloka Malaysia, “It has been more than three years since our inception in the Malaysian market. This award is one of the ways of showing our appreciation to our hotel partners for their continuous hard work in providing top quality services to Traveloka’s guests.”