Singapore travel startup BeMyGuest doubles revenue for 4 years running

The booming Asian travel scene presents a huge opportunity for local tourism, particularly for the tours and activities segment, which has undergone a huge shift in recent years.

Younger travelers are now booking all their activities online, and they expect instant confirmation, says Blanca Menchaca, CEO and co-founder of Asia-focused travel startup, BeMyGuest.

Blanca Menchaca, CEO and co-founder of BeMyGuest / Photo credit: BeMyGuest

But the problem is, the majority of Asian tour operators are still dependent on pen and paper. Experts surmised that less than 20% of tours and activities in Asia are booked online. This is because most businesses lack the tools to provide real-time availability and instant confirmation for their tours, or the know-how to distribute their products to resellers or online travel agents (OTAs).

Travel industry veterans Clement Wong and Blanca Menchaca were well-aware of these gaps in the industry and saw an opening for a platform that could do two things: equip operators with affordable technology solutions and connect them to a vast network of online resellers.

BeMyGuest was consumer-focused when it first launched in 2012. The startup was aiming to become the top online booking platform for activities in Asia by aggregating tour operators and their offerings.

But the business-to-consumer travel activities scene is fairly saturated, filled with players like Triip, and KKday, as well as unicorns Klook and Traveloka. So in 2016, BeMyGuest pivoted to a business-to-business model instead.

Dropping its consumer marketplace strategy, the company focused on connecting tours and activities operators with distribution partners, including some of the largest OTAs in Asia like Ctrip, Ticket Monster, Tink Labs, Yatra, Tuniu, Alitrip, and Travel.jp.

BeMyGuest launched Xplore, a product targeted at Asian travel activity operators that can be directly integrated into a user’s website. It’s available in several multiple languages and enables online transactions with real-time availability and instant confirmation as well as payment collection in multiple currencies.

The startup also has a distribution network where the region’s travel activity operators can post their products, which can then be purchased by online and offline travel agents via the BeMyGuest API or BeMyGuest Agents Marketplace.

Today, it has more than 50 online travel agent partners and 500 offline travel agents, plus thousands of activities, attractions, day tours, and ground transfer suppliers.

The startup earns on a per-transaction basis via Xplore and on a commission basis via its distribution network, which “really puts the pressure on BeMyGuest to deliver,” says Menchaca.

Photo credit: BeMyGuest