Booking a room? Want videos on demand? Grab offers these services now

Announcing Grab’s new features are (from left) Grab Philippines country head Brian Cu, Toni & Guy president Vincent “Chot” Reyes, L’Oreal Philippines general manager Luis Antonio Yanga, HOOQ country manager Sheila Paul, Ninja Van Philippines country head Martin Cu, SM Lifestyle, Inc. senior assistant vice president for ad and corporate sales Wence Wenceslao, PLDT Global president and CEO Katrina Luna-Abelarde, and Grab Philippines country marketing head Ralph Joseph Cabaluna. PHOTO / PNA

USERS of ride-hailing and delivery app Grab can now also book salon home services, send packages nationwide, watch videos on demand, book hotel rooms, purchase tickets for point-to-point provincial buses, and pay online and in stores through their mobile phones.

Grab Philippines on Thursday announced the roll out of the new services, saying these are meant to improve quality of life through transportation, logistics and lifestyle services.

“Grab has introduced a bunch of new services, and existing services have in fact grown multiple folds since we did this earlier this year. So, we’d like to share those updates with you and really tell you the story of how Grab has grown into your everyday ‘Super App’ here in Southeast Asia,” said Grab Philippines country head Brian Cu.

A partnership with international hairdressing salon chain Toni & Guy and cosmetics brand L’Oreal will allow Grab to bring hair salon services to homes of users. Customers need to book the services at least two hours in advance.

Grab supplements its GrabExpress same-day delivery service by partnering with Ninja Van, extending its package delivery range nationwide.

In October, the Grab app will include a “Videos” tile as Grab starts its partnership with video-on-demand company HOOQ. The service lets users to access more than 8,000 Hollywood titles, local series and free-to-air content.

The Grab app will also allow for hotel room bookings and other services online through Booking Holdings, Inc., which operates Agoda and Booking.com.

In September, Grab’s Bus Marketplace, which allows for in-app bus ticket purchases, will be expanded to include bus routes servicing Olongapo to Clark, Clark to Dagupan and Makati to Noveleta, Cavite (and vice versa) routes.

Set to compete with other online and mobile payment services, Grab is boosting its GrabPay service through a partnership with PLDT Group and SM Investments Corp. SM malls will soon allow GrabPay users to skip regular lanes and use the malls’ ‘Express Lanes’ in SM Cinemas, and ‘Prestige Lanes’ in SM Markets.

Through PLDT Global Corp., Filipino workers in Singapore and Malaysia will be able to purchase PGC Free Bee Voice Buckets, which lets users make international voice calls.

Smart, TNT and Sun subscribers may also soon purchase Giga Video packages in the Grab app using GrabPay. (PNA)