RateHawk, an online system for booking hotels, air tickets, and transfers for travel professionals, has established its first Asian headquarters in Singapore. With the ambitious goal of targeting travel agents in the rapidly growing region, RateHawk is providing local travel professionals with an advanced booking tool tailored to the local markets. The launch of this hub and legal entity in Singapore will position RateHawk as a key industry player, actively serving travel agents throughout the region.
Following the successful performance in Europe and the Middle East, RateHawk is now targeting the Asian region with a localized platform and business operations. Local travel agents, operators, travel management companies (TMCs), and other industry professionals will have access to a full range of travel services on RateHawk’s platform: booking more than 2.5 million accommodations worldwide, flights from over 400 airlines, and transfers in 150 countries. The platform is localized in Thai, Chinese, and Korean. In addition, RateHawk offers dedicated language support lines in Thai and Korean, available within business hours, as well as a 24/7 multi-language support line to ensure high-quality customer care.
The establishment of the Singaporean legal entity will facilitate payment transactions, avoiding additional costs due to exchange rates. Travel professionals will benefit from making payments in several local currencies, including Singapore Dollar (SGD), Thai Baht (THB), and Malaysian Ringgit (MYR).
Felix Shpilman, CEO of Emerging Travel Group, commented: "The preliminary market evaluation revealed a strong demand among travel industry players for a user-friendly, comprehensive B2B platform offering a full range of services at competitive terms, powered by advanced technology and high-quality support. Our early operations in the region have demonstrated the product-market fit of RateHawk in Asia. Therefore, we are now ready to elevate our operations and establish a robust presence in the region. We expect that our new legal entity in Singapore will significantly enhance the user experience for partners in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. For us, launching this hub means laying the foundation to become the leading preferred B2B booking platform in Asia. We will continue to further localize the product and ensure full coverage of the entire region”.
RateHawk is entering the region with a dedicated commercial team of over 30 people – business development and sales managers – overseeing South-East, South, and East Asia. Each registered partner is assigned with an account manager whose role is to help the partner onboard the system, customize contract settings, and assist with financial matters. Given the potential of the B2B travel sector in Asia, the company plans to further expand the team to ensure support for travel agencies in all parts of the continent.
Jennifer Chua, Head of Business Development South-East Asia, commented: “RateHawk is perfectly positioned to meet the needs of travel agencies and operators of all sizes, including collaborations through API and tech platforms. Our extensive 2.5 million strong accommodation supply spans over 220 countries, with particularly strong coverage in Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East, which are in high demand among local travel professionals.
“Our plan for 2024 is to further strengthen the team and scale the business in Asia by increasing the reach locally. RateHawk will be present at several major regional travel fairs, including ITB Asia later this year, where we will showcase our advanced solutions tailored for the local market”.
Launched in 2016, RateHawk employs over 500 professionals in commercial roles globally and has offices in London, Berlin, Milan, Lisbon, Warsaw, Dubai, Limassol, and Wilmington. The number of RateHawk partners exceeds 70,000 travel professionals worldwide. RateHawk offers a web platform and a mobile app enabling partners to handle business remotely.
RateHawk is part of the UAE-based Emerging Travel Group, a global travel company that operates travel brands for individual travelers (ZenHotels), B2B travel professionals (RateHawk), and corporate customers (Roundtrip) in over 190 source markets. In 2023, Emerging Travel Group achieved a gross transaction value of $2.6 billion.
