The super app Grab needs no further introduction. From ride-sharing to food delivery, this app has made life easier. And with some new features that will be launched later this year, the app is cementing their presence with travellers to Southeast Asia!
Credit: Toyota
Get ready to travel with Grab! The ride-hailing app has announced exciting changes to its mobile app in a virtual media briefing held recently. Russell Cohen, Group Managing Director of Operations at Grab, presented a revamped app that will cater to modern-day travellers who love to explore.
1. Traveller Homepage
The app will target three key moments: pre-trip, on-arrival, and at the destination. Grab is introducing a new "Traveller Homepage" that will allow users to explore Grab's services in their destination cities before even leaving their homes. Available for 33 of the top cities tourists visit in Southeast Asia, users can check out the Grab services present in the city, search and save places of interest such as their accommodation address and landmarks they intend to visit ahead of time, and even explore the food options near their destination.
2. Grab will be available in foreign languages
For the first time ever, Grab will be available in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, making it easier for tourists from these markets to travel to SEA. On arrival, travellers can expect easy pick-up and drop-off zones at major airports across the region. There will also be dedicated Grab lounges in four Indonesian airports, and an exclusive pickup line for Grab rides in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
3. A revamped Venues experience
Grab has a new feature that provides passengers with image-based walking directions to help them navigate airports and more than 4,000 venues across SEA, including shopping malls, office buildings, hospitals, and other recreational sites and attractions like the Singapore Zoo, the floating market in Pattaya, and the National Monument in Jakarta.. This would greatly help travellers find their way through a busy and unfamiliar airport! With the latest version of Venues, travellers can look at images of each pick-up point prior to selecting the one they want, and get image-based turn-by-turn walking directions to guide them, even before they book their ride.
4. Translated menus and halal signs
To further enhance the travel experience, Grab will translate menus available on their food delivery platform in key cities across Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand into English, with Chinese-translated menus available in cities across Indonesia. They will also roll out "halal" signs on the menu for Muslim travellers!
5. App partners
Last but not least, Grab is teaming up with popular apps in Asia like Alipay, Ctrip, WeChat, Kakao T, and Booking.com to offer a seamless experience for booking rides. Grab's focus on improving the tourism experience in SEA shows that they are committed to making travelling fun and hassle-free!
6. Currency converter feature
By mid-2023, Grab users will be able to use the currency converter feature that will automatically display fares in travellers’ preferred local currency so that they don’t have to do manual conversions. This will be super helpful for travellers, for sure!
“We’re optimistic that the continued tourism recovery and reopening of China will be positive on the Southeast Asia economy overall, and we believe we have a strong value proposition to benefit from these trends as the regional super app in Southeast Asia,” said Cohen during the media briefing.