Grab adds Agoda, Booking.com, BookMyShow, HOOQ to super app

Singapore

GRAB has added hotel reservation services Agoda and Booking.com; entertainment ticketing platform BookMyShow; and on-demand video streaming service HOOQ to its super app ecosystem in Singapore, the company announced on Tuesday.

In addition to hotel bookings, on-demand video streaming and ticket purchases, Grab is also introducing an integrated public transport planning service to its app. The services will be rolled out progressively, and be available to all users in Singapore by June.

This comes shortly after the company announced last week that it will be integrating GrabFood into its main app.

Jerald Singh, group head of product and design at Grab, said: "We are excited to offer these new services to our customers, giving them better access to the services that matter the most to them. A day with Grab can now be seamless from planning your commute to work, to ordering your next meal, and getting ready for your next movie date or holiday trip."

Grab, which began as a ride-hailing service, has been transitioning into a multi-service platform, with food delivery and financial services among its key new product lines.

According to Grab's data, Singapore residents are the most well-travelled in South-east Asia. With Grab's new "Hotels" booking service, users can compare prices and book accommodation from Agoda, and soon, Booking.com, directly from the app.

The service is currently available for 400,000 select users in Singapore and Malaysia; in May, it will be rolled out to all users in the six Asean countries where Grab has a presence. GrabPay will be integrated in H2 2019.

With each hotel booking, Grab users will also get free insurance for travel personal accident and flight delay, a result of Grab's partnership with Chubb.

Separately, Grab's new "Tickets" service, to be rolled out by June together with BookMyShow, will allow users to search, compare and purchase tickets from cinema chains including Cathay Cineplexes and Carnival. BookMyShow was one of the five startups in the pioneer batch of the Grab Ventures Velocity accelerator programme.

This service will be extended to include ticketing to other events such as concerts and plays in the future, the company said.

Grab claims that ticket revenue in Singapore represents a US$150 million market, with the city-state boasting one of the highest per-capita cinema attendance rates in the world, at 4.2 visits a year.

Grab will also be offering online video content through its app in partnership with HOOQ. Starting from May, all Grab users in Singapore will get two months of free HOOQ content when they subscribe via the app, and enjoy a discounted rate of S$7.98 per month thereafter, payable via GrabPay.

These partnerships are not exclusive, but Mr Singh told BT that he does not see a need to bring other partners on board for video streaming as "HOOQ is by far the very best provider of on-demand video in South-east Asia".

Lastly, Grab's new "Trip Planner" service, available to all Singapore users from Tuesday, will enable them to plan their journey with real-time public transportation information and directions.

Once a user enters their destination via Trip Planner, they will be able to view all available public transit travel options, along with real-time departure and arrival times, in addition to the usual Grab transportation options. A user might also receive recommendations that combines both public transportation and ride-hailing options in one journey.

Grab told BT that it plans to enable GrabPay for public transportation. For the journeys with different modes of transport, it hopes to allow users to pay for the entire journey at one go.

The company added that it plans to have 500 GrabPlatform partners by the end of the year.

GrabPlatform, which was launched last year, is a suite of APIs (application programming interfaces) that give partners access to components of Grab's technology including transport, logistics and payments among other things.