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Grab Launches Ride-hailing Services through Booking.com App

Grab Launches Ride-hailing Services through Booking.com App
booking.com | illustration

A new collaboration between Grab, a Singapore-based company offering ride-hailing transport services and travel accommodation booking platform Booking.com will now allow travellers to book local rides from the latter’s app. At present, the service is on iOS, and shall soon be accessed by android users.  

According to Business Traveller, Booking.com users can now book Grab rides in Singapore without the hassle of downloading the Grab app or even creating a new account on the same. 

Grab. Image: Grab/Tech in Asia
Grab. Image: Grab/Tech in Asia

 

This service is currently available in Singapore and will soon be extended to Indonesia and Thailand by the end of the year, and in Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and the Philippines by early 2020. 

Users can choose their preferred currency and language on the service, and messages sent via the Grab’s instant messaging (IM) feature will be auto-translated into any of the 43 local languages that Booking.com operates in.

Grab and Booking.com partnership. Image: Techsauce.co
Grab and Booking.com partnership. Image: Techsauce.co

 

For example, Danish-speaking travellers in Singapore will be able to send messages to Grab drivers in their native language, as their messages will be auto-translated as long as they are using the Booking.com app.

South-east Asia, “with its love of mobile technology, is the obvious arena in which to take on the challenge of ride-hailing,” the companies said to Business Insider. According to ABI Research, as much 70 per cent of the world’s ride-hailing activity takes place in Asia as a whole.

From left: Booking.com’s Angel Llull Mancas and David Adamczyk; and Grab’s Shawn Heng sharing more about the partnership at the press conference yesterday. Image: TTG Asia
From left: Booking.com’s Angel Llull Mancas and David Adamczyk; and Grab’s Shawn Heng sharing more about the partnership at the press conference yesterday. Image: TTG Asia

 

Additionally, tourist arrivals to Asean are projected to reach 155.4 million by 2022, according to GlobalData.

According to the statement received by Tech in Asia, according to the statement, the latest move is part of a wider strategic partnership between Booking Holdings and Grab. Earlier this year, Grab introduced direct hotel bookings through its app in collaboration with Agoda and Booking.com. Booking Holdings also injected US$200 million into Grab.

 

Indah Gilang Pusparani

Indah is a researcher at Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Cirebon (Regional Development Planning and Research Agency of Cirebon Municipality). She covers More international relations, tourism, and startups in Southeast Asia region and beyond. Indah graduated from MSc Development Administration and Planning from University College London, United Kingdom in 2015. She finished bachelor degree from International Relations from University of Indonesia in 2014, with two exchange programs in Political Science at National University of Singapore and New Media in Journalism at Ball State University, USA. She was awarded Diplomacy Award at Harvard World Model United Nations and named as Indonesian Gifted Researcher by Australian National University. She is Researcher at Regional Planning Board in Cirebon, West Java. She previously worked as Editor in Bening Communication, the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK, and diplomacy consulting firm Best Delegate LLC in USA. Less
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