Philippine wireless provider Smart Communications, Inc., through its subsidiary Voyager Innovations, Inc., has entered into a strategic partnership with UK-based Skyscanner, a global travel search engine, to allow Filipino users worldwide to browse for the best travel options and mobile deals.
With the joint venture, Smart becomes the first and exclusive mobile partner of Skyscanner in the Philippines in a bid to expand and capture more of the tech-savvy millennial traveler market in the Southeast Asia. Smart can benefit from the Skyscanner’s widest regional and international coverage of travel options.
Partnership with Smart, on the other hand, gives Skyscanner a chance to further develop and expand its existing presence in the Philippines and contribute to the rapid growth it already enjoys across the Asia Pacific region. With features such as “search everywhere” and price alerts, Skyscanner offers travelers a single, simple, and trustworthy source to assist them find the right travel solution at the right price.
The tie-up is appropriate for Smart and Skyscanner, says Mitch Padua, Vice President for Digital Products at Voyager Innovations, noting that the Philippine travel industry is growing, with the air travel segment registering P472-billion in operations last year.
“We’re happy to partner with Skyscanner here in the Philippines, which enables us to offer Filipino travelers the best travel deals along with our entire suite of innovative mobile services,” said Orlando B. Vea, Chief Wireless Advisor at Smart and President at Voyager.
“We know that Filipinos want an independent and free tool to help them find the right trip for them at the right price without missing a deal. So we have partnered with the country’s largest mobile network to deliver them just that, as well as unique mobile experiences while they travel,” said Andy Sleigh, General Manager, Skyscanner APAC.
The Skyscanner apps have been downloaded over 30-million times around the world, according to Skyscanner’s Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Cocker. Available in 30 languages, Skyscanner’s highly-rated free mobile apps are available on iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry and Windows 8 devices.
Initial offerings
For its initial offerings, the partnership will give Smart subscribers who search for flights using Skyscanner’s powerful search engine the opportunity to get a free one-month VIP music subscriptions to SPINNR, a mobile music streaming app.
To avail of the promotion, users only have to access the Skyscanner search engine online (www.skyscanner.com.ph), look for the article about the Skyscanner-Smart partnership, spot the “word of the day,” and text the word to the number indicated in the article.
Winners of this promo are entitled to a full-month’s access to millions of songs for streaming on their mobile devices with no additional data charges. On top of this, subscribers may also listen to Skyscanner’s own Travel Playlist with hip tunes fit for Filipino travelers exclusively via SPINNR.
A homegrown Filipino music portal and mobile streaming service, SPINNR enables Smart, Talk ‘N Text, and Sun Cellular subscribers to download and stream millions of songs for as low as P2.50 per day or P49 a month without any additional data charges. SPINNR apps are available on iOS and Android devices, as well as on the Web via www.spinnr.ph.
As part of the partnership, there will be a series of events and promos with Deezer and SPINNR in a couple of weeks. Promos will also be offered for all Philippine festivals.
Subscribers to Smart Postpaid’s various Deezer offers can get the chance to travel to Bacolod City to enjoy the Masskara Festival courtesy of Skyscanner and Smart’s Fly-Off Promo.
To enter the raffle, users have to subscribe to the various Deezer packs available to postpaid users (Deezer Daily for P25, Deezer Weekly for P125, and Deezer Monthly for P250) orsign up with any Unlisurf Premium Plan that bundles the latest smartphones of today with FREE Deezer Premium+ subscription every month.
Deezer enables users to listen to songs on all types of devices, including mobile devices, from the largest music streaming catalog in the world, with over 30-million songs available for streaming and offline listening. The service is currently available in more than 180 countries around the world.
A total of three subscribers will have the chance to win one of the following: two VIP tickets to the Masskara Love Dance party; a trip for two to Bacolod inclusive of airfare and two VIP tickets to the Masskara Love Dance party; and an all-expense paid trip for two including accommodations, airfare, and two VIP tickets to the Masskara Love Dance party for the grand prize. Winners will be announced on October 3, 2014.
