On November 2nd, IMP welcomed one of our honored guests - Mr CK Cheng, the Founder and CEO of AsiaYo - to participate in the fourth sharing session with our GMBA students.

AsiaYo, which was established in 2014 and has its headquarters in Taiwan, is the top platform for connecting independent travelers with distinctive, excellent lodgings throughout Asia. Currently, it has gathered more than 60,000 rooms, encompassing more than 60 major cities in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Hong Kong, with the goal of inspiring people with every genuine and greatest vacation experience. Series A and Series B funding for AsiaYo totaled $10 million. Accord Ventures, Delta Ventures, Darwin Ventures, Alibaba Taiwan Entrepreneurs Fund, and China Development Financial are a few of the investors.

Similar to other travel agencies in the world, AsiaYo has been suffering from the pandemic for almost two years since 2020. From a traditional B&B platform, the management team has saved the whole company by deciding to change their business model to a new era. Nowadays, except for B&B, AsiaYo also provides services for quarantine hotels, hotels, campings, and many other services. According to their latest market research, Japan, Korea, and Thailand customers are their main focus. In the future, they plan to expand their business to Vietnam and other Asia countries as well.

With a lot of experience in market research and analyst field, Mr CK Cheng shared with us his own experience on how to build and develop a successful startup. The most important key is to make your company really different from your competitors. The business model can be easily copied, but the narrative of each person and your company’s messages to customers can never be the same. Besides, in his opinion, excellent customer service can lead to increased opportunities for marketing and sales. Therefore, maintaining client happiness is essential to any company's continued success.

(Written by GMBA student Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong (Faith))