Grab, which calls itself the leading super app in Southeast Asia, announced today the launch of its hotel booking, on-demand video streaming, ticket-purchasing, and trip planner services.
“Our super app is very much empowered by our partners. That, to us, is truly the core differentiated area between us versus other super apps,” Jerald Singh, Grab’s Head of Product & Design, said while answering Fortune Times’ question regarding Grab and its competitors.
Also in today’s press conference in Singapore, Singh hosted a panel discussion with the representatives from Grab’s partners — Agoda, Booking.com, HOOQ, and BookMyShow — which make the new services possible.
Grab’s data shows that Singapore residents are the most well-traveled in Southeast Asia. Grab says with the new ‘Hotels’ booking service, Grab users can book hotels and other accommodation from Agoda, and soon, Booking.com directly from the Grab app.
Grab says the users can access and compare prices across the world’s largest selection of 28 million places to stay, ranging from a wide choice of luxury and budget hotels to apartments, vacation homes, and family-run B&Bs. Grab has started to roll out ‘Hotels’ to select Grab users in Singapore, which will be available to all users in May.
Besides, Grab will offer on-demand video streaming through the app in partnership with HOOQ and the ticketing services in partner with BookMyShow – a leading entertainment ticketing platforms.
For Grab’s traditional transport service, users will have a new Trip Planner service that incorporates a new public transport reference function which is similar to Google Map. But Singh said users will “soon” be able to pay the public transport with GrabPay but he didn’t elaborate it. Nor did he comment on the number of Grab drivers in Singapore.
GrabPay is not the only ride-hailing platform that looks at the super app. Since 2015, the Jakarta-based Gojek has been offering some 18 kinds of different services in Indonesia, the biggest country and economy in South East Asia. Some of the functions are the same or similar to Grab. But in Singapore, Gojek at present is only a ride-hailing app without the rest of its functions available in its home country.
