SINGAPORE,
Sept. 29th, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- From analysis of site
activity at Wego.com, Asia's leading travel
metasearch engine, the best independent and boutique hotels serve
two groups of travellers. The first and by far the largest
comprises internet-savvy Asians who travel frequently to the
region’s capitals.
This group is heavily influenced by
location and hotel reviews. Among the properties they look at are
the Piccolo Hotel and Prince Hotel & Residences in Kuala
Lumpur, Lebua at State Tower in Bangkok and Aryaduta in Jakarta
which all compete well with the branded chains in these cities and
are frequently in Wego's top 20 in terms of the volume of
selections on the site.
The second group of travellers
holiday at the many resorts within the short-haul radius of Asia's
low cost carriers. There is more independent choice in these
destinations, but boutique properties can be hard to spot online as
they lack the powerful e-distribution of their international
rivals. Fortunately, Wego.com presents the inventory of over 130
travel suppliers, giving them much higher visibility resulting in
judgements based mainly on aggregated consumer reviews, photos and
price.
Regular searches in Wego include
Sawasdee Village and Twinpalms in
Phuket, Silavadee Pool Spa Resort in Koh Samui, Febri's Hotel and
Spa, Abian Biu and White Rose in Bali as well as The Frangipani in
Langkawi.
The most popular reflect the local
culture and environment as increasingly travellers want an
authentic destination experience, along with the comforts of luxury
hotel brands.
"A lot of their appeal is tied into
cultural identity, a degree of self-expression and a General
Manager passionate about service," said Craig Hewett, Chief
Commercial Officer at Wego.
In Singapore, where a presence is
considered of strategic importance to many European and American
brands, The
Fullerton Hotel in the old colonial building of the Post
Office has an independent feel, like Raffles Hotel, and yet
regularly ranks in Wego's top five - taking on the Las Vegas style
glamour of spectacular Marina
Bay Sands.
"The independent and boutique hotels
know exactly who they are marketing to. They've built a brand
strategy, even if it doesn't conform to a chain's model and as
we've seen at Wego.com, they enjoy enviable success," explained
Hewett.
For more information, please
contact:
Chief Commercial Officer
Craig Hewett
[email protected]
About Wego
Wego.com allows travellers to search
for flights, hotels, packages, travel deals and travel research
across 130+ travel websites in the time that it normally takes to
search just one. Wego searches travel websites in real-time so that
the latest pricing and availability are shown. Travellers are then
linked through to partner websites to book. Wego.com was founded in
2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group,
Yahoo!, Priceline and ZUJI. Investors include News Digital Media
and Tiger Global. In November 2010, Wego merged with HolidayIQ, an
Indian based travel content and community site.
For more information, please
visit http://www.wego.com/about.
SOURCE Wego