Asiatravel to boost room sales through tie-up with TripAdvisor

CATALIST-QUOTED Asiatravel.com Holdings on Monday said that it is the first online travel agency based in the Asia-Pacific region to take part in TripAdvisor's instant booking feature.

The instant booking feature, which is currently available to US travellers through the TripAdvisor mobile app and website, allows users to make hotel reservations through TripAdvisor partners while remaining on the TripAdvisor site.

The feature was launched to remove "friction" from the booking process, and benefits TripAdvisor's hotel and online travel agency partners with the potential for more bookings and improved downstream conversion, TripAdvisor said.

Currently, Asiatravel is working with TripAdvisor on a cost-per-click model for hotels within Asia. With the commission-based model of instant booking, Asiatravel said that it can expand the number of hotels available beyond Asia on the TripAdvisor site.

"We are highly confident that the new instant booking feature will significantly increase our bookings as we will be able to monetise on our 140,000 global hotel inventory," said Boh Tuang Poh, executive chairman of Asiatravel.com.