Grab Enters Travel Booking With Hotels Now and Flights Next
Skift Take
In the face of a fast-growing and innovative rival, Grab’s foray into travel, starting with hotels, could give it an edge over archrival Go-Jek, which does not do travel — yet.
Singapore-based ridehailing company Grab is officially entering the travel industry with hotel bookings powered by — no surprise to some in Asia's travel circles — Agoda and Booking. Grab is expected to launch flight bookings within the year.
The move has been anticipated since Booking Holdings, which owns the two online travel agencies, invested $200 million in Grab last year.
By next month, Grab users in Singapore can book accommodations from Agoda.com on the Grab app, to be followed by Booking.com in June. There will be exclusive hotel offers, transport discounts, and free insurance coverage, among others, to generate bookings. But neither Grab nor Agoda would disclose sales expectations during a media briefing on Tuesday.
Flights are expected to be launched within the year, Grab’s head of product and design Jerald Singh said when asked by Skift about this.
“It’s coming,” said Singh. “We started out with accommodations because there’s a lot of synergies between hotel bookings and Grab.
“When you are able to book your hotel with Grab, not only are you able to get that hotel booked, but now we’re able
