Skift Forum Asia: Agoda’s CEO Touts Homesharing for That Competitive Edge
Photo Credit: A homeshare in the Phra Khanong neighborhood of Bangkok that can be booked through the Singapore-based reservation company's website. Agoda is expanding its non-hotel accommodations. Agoda
Skift Take
The Singapore-based online travel agency is focused on expanding outside of Asia through the marketing of non-hotel accommodations on its site. This strategy could work well as homesharing continues to grow in popularity.
John Wroughton Brown's appointment as CEO of online travel agency Agoda last June came with a mandate from parent company Booking Holdings to grow the brand outside of Asia.
Agoda has tapped its non-hotel accommodations as a way to spearhead that growth. Over the past year, the online travel agency has ratcheted up the marketing and discounted offers available on its site for holiday homes, condos, and apartments, among other options — directly taking on Airbnb in the process.
More tourists to Asia are opting to stay in privately owned apartments, Brown told Skift last summer, even when five-star hotel rooms are available at unseasonably low rates. Agoda is betting that trend will continue in other markets.
Agoda CEO John Wroughton will be speaking at Skift Forum Asia in Singapore on May 27.
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Skift Editor’s Note:
