How Meili is disrupting car rental and rewriting travel tech

How do you kill a giant? According to Bobby Healy , co-founder of Meili , “Scale and volume help you kill smaller competitors. But ultimately, disruptive technology can always kill a giant, and we killed giants in our last business, and we’re going to kill them again in this business, simply because we have a disruptive stack that is just impossible for the big guys to copy.”

Healy said this on a brand-new series we launched this week called Future Lanes, powered by Meili, a tech company that’s disrupting ancillary distribution. To kick things off, we interviewed Meili founders Healy and Mike McGearty , who are shaking up the car rental industry as you’re reading this. "For too long, the car rental industry has relied on intermediaries like OTAs. Our platform allows car rental companies to engage directly with travellers," says McGearty. With nearly 40 partners, including airlines and hotel groups, Meili is rapidly gaining traction.

"We disrupted the market once before, but the model we built then doesn’t serve today’s needs," Healy explains, alluding to their previous venture, CarTrawler . "With Meili, we’re creating a clean, natural marketplace where suppliers can differentiate themselves, and customers get a better experience."

"Fifteen years ago, the tools simply weren’t there," says Healy. "Today, we have AI, scalable cloud computing, and the ability to process vast amounts of data at low costs."

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Speaking of the future, the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2025, held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, set the stage for discussions on tourism growth in Southeast Asia for the years to come. Malaysia leveraged the event to promote its ambitious Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM 2026) campaign, targeting 35.6 million visitors and RM147.1 billion in tourism receipts.

A major theme at the forum was the promotion of authentic experiences to counter overtourism in popular destinations. "Under-tourism is a problem in Malaysia, especially in sleepy hollows and small towns," said Justine Vaz , Executive Director of The Habitat Foundation . She emphasized the need to highlight hidden gems and potential UNESCO sites. Meanwhile, Batu Batu Resort, Pulau Tengah, Malaysia shared how it maps the impact of tourism on local ecosystems. "If you can produce experiences that are purpose-driven and make people feel good, it sells. Green is cool," said Cher Chua-Lassalvy , the resort’s co-founder.

Artificial Intelligence was another hot topic, with discussions on how AI-driven trip planning and digital transformation are reshaping tourism. However, concerns about AI replacing human jobs were also raised. "AI is something that we can’t live without," said Noor Ahmad Hamid , CEO of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) . "How can we prepare our younger generation to embrace digitalization?" Industry leaders agreed that ASEAN's tourism success hinges on a unified approach, with streamlined visa policies and improved connectivity paving the way for stronger regional cooperation.

However, it’s no secret that trends in Asia are changing rapidly and one can only predict so much about the future. For example, a recent Bloomberg report claimed that China's push for foreign tourists was falling flat, but a closer look reveals a different picture for Asian travellers. While visitors from the US and Western Europe may be staying away, demand from Asia has surged. "Visitors from nearby Asian countries and less developed markets came calling," the report noted.

To get a clearer picture, 携程集团 provided us with data on search trends for China from its Asian markets. The results show a sharp increase in interest, particularly in the last three months of 2024. Travellers are eager to experience China’s evolving tourism landscape, fuelled by relaxed visa policies and improved travel infrastructure. With visa-free access extended to 38 countries, the nation is opening its doors wider than ever before.

It sounds surprising, but it really shouldn’t be, that despite Western hesitation, China’s tourism sector is thriving in Asia.

For more news on travel tech in Asia, visit www.webintravel.com

We’re also beyond excited for our first event of 2025 – WiT Africa in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. Get your tickets and join the conversation!

Have a good weekend, everyone!