Be it students, vacation-goers, business travelers or families, travelling is an integral part of everyone’s lives. So, it is quite a hassle when we have trouble booking a flight or choosing a good hotel room. In recent years, companies have come up with apps and websites that help in booking the facilities. One such company that originated from this idea was Traveloka. Initiated in 2012, little did people know that Traveloka will be a revolution in Southeast Asia’s travel scene.
What is Traveloka?
So, by now you must be interested to know more about Traveloka. Well, Traveloka is a booking platform on web and app,that helps people to book their flight tickets or hotels in an easy way. Headquartered in Jakarta, Traveloka has become quite popular across the Southeast Asian region. Today, the website and app are available in various locales like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam. The main aim of the platform is to provide the best flight deals and affordable hotel booking to all their customers. Users can go through the filters and sort the options to bag a good deal. Traveloka constantly updates its app and website to include more convenient services for its customers.
What is the history of Traveloka?
Traveloka was first conceived by Derianto Kusuma, Ferry Unardi, and Albert Zhang. More specifically, the inspiration came to Derianto Kusuma who went through the frustration of booking a ticket back to his home in Indonesia. So, when these IT gurus got back to their motherland, they thought of creating a website that will make travel easier for everyone. They mainly wanted to focus the site on the Southeast Asia region where there was a lack of travel websites that could cater to the specific needs of travelers. The company started in 2012 as a website providing deal comparisons to its visitors. But soon in 2013, they started taking ticket bookings on their website. The next step in 2014 was to include hotel bookings on their site. From then, there was no looking behind - they were serving what the audience asked for and more!
A company that started with eight members had 50 employees by 2015. As of now, they have over 2,000 employees working with them regionally. The first funding that the company received was from East Venture in 2012. They launched their app for iOS and Android platforms in 2014 as well. In 2015, they included several international inventories in their site. This was a huge step for them as they were no longer a site that only operated in Indonesia. Traveloka bagged the Top Brand Award in two categories in 2015. By 2016, their mobile application was downloaded more than 10 million times, and they also launched different features on their website. In 2017, they introduced train bookings inside Indonesia and flight plus hotel packages in the same region as well. 2017 also marked 20 million downloads of their mobile application. Their popularity and success made them sponsor a show like Asia’s Got Talent 2 in 2017. They were also the Gold Sponsor for 29th SEA Games that was held in Kuala Lumpur. They have several other growth plans for the upcoming years.
Features of Traveloka
The main thing about any online booking site is the features offered to their customers. The features of Traveloka have evolved over the years to better suit the ever-changing travelers’ needs. Some of the services offered by Traveloka are flight booking, hotel booking, flight and hotel packages, train bookings, top up and data packages, ticket bookings of attraction and activities. Their newest addition is the Bill Payment. It allows people to pay the bills of PLN Electricity, PDAM, BPJS Kesehatan and Telkom.
They allow users to book flights to different destinations and they have a quick booking option as well. People can view several options before getting cheap flight tickets. The site also vouches that they have the best and most trusted platform to provide a person with their tickets. Traveloka has tied up with numerous renowned airlines to provide the most competitive airline fares. They also have multiple payment options which help customers to transact safely on the website. Hotel booking is another popular service provided by them. Their wide hotel inventory has allowed users to book all types of accommodation across Southeast Asia, with international listings on countries like Italy and Australia. Getting an affordable hotel booking is a great way to start one’s journey. Isn’t it?
About the Traveloka App
As mentioned earlier, the app has been launched for both the iOS and Android platforms in 2014. It was quite basic in the early years, but now it has an intuitive interface which helps people get their bookings done in an easier and faster way. The simple layout and friendly graphics make it a valuable app for travelers. When one logs in and becomes a Traveloka member, they get several exclusive benefits including member discounts. In the app, through a single tap one can compare the prices of flights. They also get an e-ticket or hotel voucher instantly which they can use for their journey. There is also an auto-fill option which lets one book tickets in less than 1 minute. As it operates in Indonesia, the app has 24 hours multilingual help.
So, it can be said that Traveloka has done a good job in its starting years. It has remained consistent in providing its customers with new and better benefits as a booking platform that has evolved to serve the community. It has bagged numerous awards for both the website and the app through the years. So, if you plan to visit the Southeast Asia region and book hotels, trains or flights for your travels, look no further than Traveloka.