“I haven’t opened my Agoda account for two years,” said Benjamin Tan, co-founder and head of operations at Tin Men Capital, a Singapore-based venture capital firm focusing on business-to-business (B2B) tech startups.
Like many investors, Tan used to travel frequently for business pre-Covid. He used to book flights and hotel rooms via online travel agencies (OTAs) like Agoda. But ever since the pandemic forced international travel to hit pause in early 2020, OTAs haven’t been of much use to Tan. “I realised I couldn’t remember my Agoda password anymore,” he said.
Instead of OTAs, Tan found himself using e-commerce apps like Shopee more often, as they provide services and products more aligned with his daily needs.