When Stephane Thong speaks about travel, her voice softens, as if each journey carries the memory of a life lesson. “Travel is my reset button,” she says. “It’s how I rest, recharge, and reconnect—sometimes for healing, sometimes to find inspiration again.” It’s a philosophy that feels deeply human in an industry increasingly powered by algorithms and automation.
As General Manager of Trip.com Malaysia, Stephane stands at the intersection of technology and emotion, guiding one of Asia’s fastest-growing travel platforms through a remarkable era of transformation. Under her leadership, Trip.com isn’t just helping travellers reach destinations—it’s shaping the very way Asia travels.
Forefront Of Travel
Born and raised in Selangor, Stephane’s journey began far from the executive boardrooms of global travel tech. Her first role was at a hotel front desk in Singapore, which was an experience that grounded her in the essence of hospitality.
From there, her career evolved alongside the digitalisation of travel itself. She joined AirAsia GoHoliday in 2005 as a hotel contract executive before taking on regional roles at Travelocity.com and Orbitz.com, managing markets across Asia.
In 2014, she joined Trip.com, marking the start of a decade-long journey with the company. It was here that she secured a front-row seat to Asia’s rise as a global travel powerhouse. “I’ve seen the evolution of online travel from both Western and Asian perspectives,” she says. “Asia’s diversity in culture, habits, and digital readiness makes it one of the most dynamic regions to innovate in.”
Hotbed Of Activity
For Trip.com, Southeast Asia has grown from an emerging opportunity into the heartbeat of its international strategy. Dynamic, diverse, and full of possibility, the region’s young, mobile-first population and appetite for experiences have made it a key driver of the company’s expansion.
“In October, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam were among the top ten destinations visited by global travellers,” Stephane notes. “That says a lot about the region’s appeal and its growing role in global tourism.”
Malaysia, she adds, plays a particularly strategic role. It’s not only one of the platform’s fastest-growing source markets for China-bound travel but also a thriving domestic hub. “Malaysians have a huge appetite for discovery. From hidden gems to concerts in remote towns, they’re curious, tech-savvy, and willing to travel for experiences.”
Indeed, Trip.com’s Momentum 2025 Report found that 78% of Malaysians are willing to travel to remote locations for concerts, compared to 54% of Singaporeans. The rise of concert tourism has become a defining trend, blurring the lines between travel, entertainment, and lifestyle.
For Modern Travellers
Trip.com’s recent partnerships illustrate how travel brands are evolving and moving beyond bookings into full lifestyle ecosystems. Through its collaboration with Live Nation Asia, the company now offers exclusive bundled experiences that combine concert tickets with hotel stays and nearby attractions.
“We want to make travel seamless,” Stephane explains. “If you’re attending a concert in another city, you shouldn’t have to figure out where to stay, what to eat, how to move. We offer the full journey.”
Trip.com’s collaboration with Resorts World Genting (RWG) takes this integration a step further. It’s the first OTA to implement a direct API connection with RWG’s hotel and theme park booking systems, enabling real-time inventory updates, dynamic pricing, and instant confirmations.
These partnerships also align with Trip.com’s growing role as a tourism enabler in Malaysia. The company’s three-year collaboration with Tourism Malaysia promotes destinations such as Kota Kinabalu, Penang, Langkawi, Johor, Sarawak, and Sabah to quality-focused international visitors, which is a key initiative ahead of Visit Malaysia Year 2026.
Growing Global Footprint
Trip.com’s commitment to Malaysia extends beyond tourism campaigns. Since launching in 2023, its Customer Support Centre has quietly become one of the brand’s biggest success stories—expanding tenfold in just two years.
Today, the centre in Kuala Lumpur serves as a strategic pillar within the company’s regional operations and international network. Behind every answered call or resolved issue is a team driven by purpose, to ensure every traveller feels heard, understood, and cared for.
The results speak for themselves: nearly 90% of after-sales requests receive a response within an hour, and over 85% are resolved on the first attempt. With a Trustpilot rating of 4.4 out of 5, Trip.com continues to earn the confidence of travellers who value reliability and service excellence.
For Stephane, these achievements go beyond numbers. “They reflect our philosophy of combining AI precision with human empathy,” she says. “AI helps us scale, but the human touch ensures we never lose sight of the traveller’s experience.”
The Human Touch
That balance between innovation and empathy is central to Stephane’s leadership and to Trip.com’s strategy. “Technology should enhance, not replace,” she emphasises. Her team’s latest breakthrough, Trip.Planner, is an AI-powered travel concierge that helps users design hyper-personalised itinerarie—factoring in preferences, local events, transport data, and over 20 million geo-tagged points of interest.
Paired with TripGenie, an AI assistant that helps compare hotels, track bookings, or translate on the go, the experience feels less transactional and more conversational. Stephane notes that today’s travellers seek convenience without compromise. By leveraging AI, Trip.com can anticipate and adapt to individual preferences in real time while ensuring the experience retains the human touch that makes travel memorable.
That philosophy extends to customer support, where AI tools streamline processes but real agents still handle complex or emotional cases such as flight cancellations to lost belongings. “It’s about having humans verify and empathise,” she says. “Technology helps, but trust comes from us.”
Redefining The Asian Traveller
Stephane believes today’s travellers are motivated by more than affordability. “Price competition isn’t sustainable,” she says. “What people really want is value, reliability, quality service, and a brand they can trust.”
Her observation aligns with Trip.com’s Why Travel? Report, developed with Google, which identified five key motivations reshaping travel behaviour: Expression, Purpose, Healing, Connection, and Tomorrow.
“Increasingly, people travel to express themselves through food, fashion, or experiences,” she says. “Others travel to heal or reconnect, especially after COVID. And many are looking for slower, more purposeful journeys.”
In Malaysia, that shift is visible in the rise of family escapes, nature retreats, and foodie adventures. “People are rediscovering local beauty,” she says with a smile. “They’re realising you don’t have to go far to feel renewed.”
Leading With Openness
Stephane’s leadership mirrors her philosophy of travel—open, grounded, and collaborative. “I don’t believe in enclosed offices,” she says. “I prefer a lean, flat organisation where everyone feels comfortable to talk and share ideas.”
Her team’s rapid growth is proof that this approach works. In less than two years, Trip.com Malaysia has become one of the company’s most important regional hubs. And most significantly not just for its operational strength, but for its culture of inclusivity and curiosity.
As Southeast Asia prepares for its next tourism boom, Stephane Thong remains optimistic. The numbers are only a glimpse of what’s ahead. She sees Malaysia evolving into a key nerve centre for Trip.com’s regional growth, a place where innovation meets authenticity.
“We’re not just solving travel problems,” she says. “We’re shaping how the world experiences travel.” That vision powered by Malaysian talent and Trip.com’s global ecosystem is setting the tone for how the brand defines modern travel in Asia–intelligent, personal, and deeply human.
