October has been an interesting month for the travel industry. Brands got into festive mood, investors poured in funds, unicorns grew bigger, interesting startups came up, established players started fighting for market share and some major events were held. We looked back at the month and picked out our most popular stories. Here is a short roundup just in case you missed them:

#1- Conversation with Stephen Ho, President APAC, Starwood Hotels

Asia is the fastest growing travel market and the habits of Asian travellers are changing fast. Hotels are adapting to the change to stay competitive with new businesses pouring in. We got a chance to have a conversation with Stephen Ho, the man at helm of Starwood Hotels in Asia to know more about these industry trends. Read the full story: “We have to constantly keep evolving & innovating”- Stephen Ho, President, APAC, Starwood Hotels.

#2- OTAs block OYO and ZO Rooms from listing

With the kind of pace OYO Rooms picked up while expanding its footprint, it was very clear that they will be a threat to the OTAs in future. With more players joining the game, the OTAs couldn’t just wait. They finally decided to block OYO Rooms and ZO Rooms, two of the biggest budget hotel aggregators from listing on their platforms to save their market share. Earlier some OTAs also launched their own budget hotel brands to compete in the fast growing space. Read the full story: OTAs hit back at the hotel startups, block ZO and OYO Rooms from listing.

#3- Sherri Wu on the future of Alitrip

Alitrip, the travel business of Alibaba quickly gained momentum in the Chinese market. At this point, almost every global travel brand is trying to woo the Chinese travellers because of the fast growth that market has been experiencing. Sherri Wu spoke during Web In Travel Conference 2015 in Singapore about the journey of Alitrip and their future growth plans. Read the full story: “What we want to do is: Innovation, Innovation and Innovation” – Sherri Wu

#4- Jonathan Hardy on Adara’s plans for South-East Asia

Big data is the most commonly used phrase in travel industry these days. Business are exploring the possibilities of serving their customers better by offering tailored options by utilising big data. Adara is one company that is helping them analyse customer data and derive strategic insights. We had a chat with Jonathan Hardy about Adara’s expansion plans for this region. Read the full story: Travel Data Company, Adara has big plans for South-East Asia & Pacific

#5- FlyZilla: Flight metasearch that drives direct bookings to carriers

On metasearch websites, the results are usually flooded with options from OTAs. TripZilla introduced flight metasearch engine FlyZilla which offers results from airlines only and drives more direct booking to their website. It could be something disruptive in the metasearch space which has been largely dominated by the heavy bidding OTAs until now. Read the full story: TripZilla introduces flight metasearch engine FlyZilla to drive direct bookings to airlines

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The hotel industry is facing many challenges and undergoing major transformation worldwide. The travellers are evolving with penetration of internet & mobile and the hotels are adapting fast to this change. They are embracing technology and experimenting with newer ideas to engage with guests. Starwood, with its multiple brands is expanding the network of hotels rapidly in Asia-Pacific to cater to the fast growing tourism market in the region.

We had a chance to have a quick chat with Stephen Ho, Starwood’s Asia Pacific President about his role and the group’s plans in APAC.

Stephen Ho, President, APAC, Starwood Hotels

Stephen heads over 300 hotels of the group across 26 countries while around 260 hotels are in pipeline in the region. He has been associated with this industry for over three decades.

Talking about the changes he has seen over this long period, he said, “In the early days, there was no technology in this industry. Our customers have changed a lot and we see large number of younger travellers now. The way they book hotels has also changed and the bookings now come from different sources. Earlier people either walked into a hotel or booked through conventional travel booking agents. Now with the internet penetration, markets like India and China have shifted towards mobile devices. The expectations of guests have gone up significantly and we have to constantly keep evolving and innovating to offer the best experience.”

Of course with all the new travel startups and major brands coming up, it has become tougher for hotel industry to find the best talent. According to Stephen, “In old days this industry used to attract some of the best talent but now you have to compete with multinational companies as well as local startups. So the playing field is very different now. There can be long hours at times, especially if you are on the service side. There are talented people with strong passion for this business and such people make great team for us”.

As WTTC predicted earlier, the Chinese market is one of the fastest growing travel market and that is why Starwood has a strong focus on the Chinese market in this region. The second largest is India and due to their strong growth, these two markets take a higher spot on Starwood’s list. Stephen shared that they have already opened around eight new properties in India this year and they plan to take the number upto 10 before the end of 2015. They are also introducing the St. Regis hotel in India and will be starting the millennial friendly W Hotel next year in Goa.

In Indian market, they have to strike the perfect balance between consistency across all the brand hotels while adding a hint of local connect to match the different expectations of customers.

China comes with its own set of challenges. While in most geographies, people book directly or through conventional OTAs, WeChat is a preferable choice in China. For payments, debit and credit cards take a back seat there as Alipay accounts for close to half of the online transactions. When asked to weigh mobile bookings against desktop bookings, Stephen said that individual travellers usually rely on mobile while people travelling in groups or for business prefer other booking platforms. That is why they have to focus on all the platforms.

Stephen thinks that hotel brands should diversify their marketing towards travellers from different regions and segments so that factors like economic slowdown in some regions can’t put a dent in their business.

Staying at the forefront on technology, Starwood will be introducing the keyless entry feature across all 5 Aloft properties in India very soon. The feature was introduced earlier this year at Aloft Bengaluru.

The conversation with Stephen took place during TravelRave. You can find our other stories from TravelRave here.

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