By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat
Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading everyday super app and Splyt Technologies, the London-based, global mobility marketplace, have announced an enhanced collaboration to give travellers convenient access to ride-hailing services anywhere in the world.
While the ride-hailing industry has moved towards consolidation in recent years, it remains a highly fragmented service for global travellers.
International visitors often have to download local mobility apps, or rely on traditional curbside taxi-hailing. Grab and Splyt share a common vision to make it easy for anyone to get a ride when they need it, wherever they may be, through the app of their choice.
Grab and Splyt already enable international travellers to book Grab rides across 336 cities in eight Southeast Asian countries through their preferred apps. Ctrip and AliPay customers visiting Southeast Asia can already take Grab rides through their own apps, via a solution powered and enabled by Splyt.
Splyt is also working with Booking Holdings to integrate ride-booking into their OTA platforms. Booking.com consumers will be able to book Grab rides through the Booking.com app by Q3 2019.
Southeast Asia receives 130 million international visitors a year, a number that is expected to hit 155 million by 2022 . As Splyt continues to bring more partners onboard, working with them to integrate mobility directly into platforms, more travellers will be able to access Grab’s diverse range of safe and affordable transport options without having to download another app.
“As the world’s largest mobility marketplace, we bring renowned providers and platforms together to provide customers with world-class, quality transportation in over 1,000 cities. Our partnership with Grab is driven by a shared vision of offering seamless mobility that caters to demands and needs of global travellers. We’re excited to work with Grab, the leading ride-hailing provider in Southeast Asia, adding their diversified range of transport solutions and breadth of coverage to the global marketplace we are growing,” said Philipp Mintchin, Splyt CEO.
Grab and Splyt will also work together to give Grab users access to ride-hailing options everywhere in the world. Targeted for completion next year, this second phase of the partnership will integrate Splyt and Grab’s global network of mobility partners into the Grab app. Grab users travelling beyond Southeast Asia can continue to book rides through the Grab app, and have them fulfilled by Splyt’s partners. Travellers can use their app in their native language, and even pay in their home currency. Grab also plans to add features such as in-app travel tips, restaurant reviews and attraction recommendations, to offer an even richer travel experience to its users.