This article originally appeared on Vulcan Post.
StarHub has officially launched a travel app for tourists and staycationers, Goru. In a move yet unexplored by other local telcos, StarHub’s foray into a discovery app is an impressive one, with an app that aims to conquer the tourist demographic in Singapore.
“With our strengths in mobile connectivity and through our partnerships with travel and tourism heavyweights, we want to be the go-to Singaporean brand for incoming visitors, providing them an all-in-one solution for a seamless travel experience,” shared a StarHub spokesperson. “Goru is especially relevant, as the mobile travel space has much room for growth with few centralised discovery and travel booking platforms available today.”
Beta-tested with 700 business visitors, Goru, as the “travel guru on the go”, is bolstered by strategic partnerships with popular content providers Agoda, Chope, City Nomads and YourSingapore.com, who essentially provide all the benefits this app has to offer. As a one-stop shop for discovery in Singapore, the app curates all the content received by their partners, offering a new platform for bookings and reviews, trending activities, and travel tips.
They also include a few goodies of their own: prepaid StarHub users need not pay for the data consumed by the app, with the exception of the maps feature that StarHub assures will be supported soon.
The app itself is a great tool, and it’s a shame for us Singapore-based folk that it’s not available in other countries yet. The partnership with Agoda and Chope are especially useful, as tourists and staycationers will be able to access in-app hotel booking and restauarant reservation services respectively, making bookings happen within minutes.
City Nomads also brings their fresh perspective on local activities with listicles, descriptions, and ratings, from the SEA Aquarium at Resorts World to the top 10 places in Singapore to get the delicious laksa.
This comes after an announcement last week on StarHub’s collaboration with Taisys to offer its mobile pre-paid services via slimduet — Taisys’ soft SIM over-the-air download platform — to Singapore visitors from 15 June. Visitors to Singapore who use slimduet will be able to pre-order a virtual StarHub pre-paid package on their phones that will connect them to StarHub’s mobile network the moment they arrive.
Verdict: 4.5/5
While Goru currently offers information on Singapore only, they have shared that they will be expanding this service to other Asian countries soon. With this, StarHub Mobile customers in those countries will be able to enjoy free or low-cost data access charges while using Goru. They will also be able to unlock exclusive travel and lifestyle offers on the app in time to come.
The next Asian countries that Goru has their eyes on are likely to be Indonesia and South Korea, so StarHub customers will have something to shout about soon.