Since the days of roman highways, the foremost requirement of the hotel industry has been preserving the safety and welfare of its guests. In modern times, this task applies equally to the guests themselves, their belongings and also, their personal information. Hotels spend millions convincing travelers to stay with them, but are the underlying systems […]
Orbitz Improves Its Hotel Search – Is It Enough?
August 10, 2010 By 5 Comments
A recent Orbitz press release touted “Orbitz Launches Groundbreaking Hotel Search Experience with Industry-Leading Property Comparison Features.” In reality, the changes are incremental, mostly derivative and unfortunately not significantly innovative. With Orbitz indicating that growing its hotel business is a top priority, they need superior product functionality to climb back up to last year’s second place share of unique visitors from this year’s fourth place share. While the enhancements give Orbitz functionality similar to its competition, its price guarantees remain the most customer friendly in the industry.
Story of Two Deaf & Blind, but Mostly Dumb Airlines
July 26, 2010 By 4 Comments
Flight arrangements for a recent business trip turn into a nightmare when Delta and US Airways exhibit consistent customer service failures highlighting unanswered phones, silent Twitter accounts, missed flights, botched refunds and inept ticket agents. In many cases, the carriers were simply deaf and blind when it came to customer needs and understanding of internal policies. In others, the airlines were simply dumb when it came to proactively resolving the customer service breaks that they had caused – with the exception of except for one lone employee.
Is a Facebook Like Button Click for Website Access Evil?
July 24, 2010 By 10 Comments
K2 Ski Company recently shut down its corporate website and directed all users to its Facebook fan page for an exclusive preview of its new 2010 ski line. Many organizations are getting creative to build Facebook communities, but in some cases, the techniques utilized, while innovative, may cause users to click a Facebook Like Button to access the website. Widely referred to as “Like-bait”, where should the line be drawn that separates clever marketing from something that undermines the value and intended use of Facebook’s Like functionality?
Hotwire Expands Menu – Adds Bed Choice
July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Hotwire appears to be testing the ability for travelers to select a specific bed type from participating hotels offering opaque product with its new Bed Choice option. This move benefits travelers by offering greater choice, and hotels with the attractive capability to upsell. This further differentiates Hotwire from Priceline who has not fundamentally changed its Name Your Own Price hotel product since its inception. A greater question is how this move impacts OTA share in the opaque product space and hotel profitability if it increases opaque product sales.
Big Brother in 1984 Apple Macintosh Ad was Steve Jobs!
July 12, 2010 By 5 Comments
When Apple introduced the MacIntosh computer during the 1984 Super Bowl, Steve Jobs defined the Apple brand promise by daring a community of creative individuals to fight conformity, support innovation and combat overbearing corporations. Too bad that a quarter century later, Apple’s strategies have begun to make Steve Jobs look a lot like Big Brother from that commercial. By controlling the hardware, software and advertising platforms of its mobile devices, Apple has created a totalitarian state that is making decisions for its customers and inhibiting access to information. This former fanboy is disappointed.
HITEC Presentation: Mobile Distribution – No, It’s Not Billboards and Neon Vacancy Signs
June 28, 2010 By
It was great to see that attendance rebounded healthily at the annual Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals HITEC conference, held in Orlando, Florida June 21 – 24, 2010. The good news was that I had been selected to speak on a subject that combined two of the hottest topics in technology and travel: Mobile Hotel […]
Day 2 Highlights – 2010 Association of Travel Marketing Executives Conference
June 18, 2010 By 4 Comments
The second day of the 2010 Association of Travel Market Executives conference included keynotes by marketing leaders from Priceline and Wyndham, sessions on mobile marketing and new distribution channels, plus perspectives on retail and the airline industry. This year’s conference theme was “The New Now & The New Next”
Day 1 Highlights – 2010 Association of Travel Marketing Executives Conference
June 16, 2010 By 4 Comments
The first day of the 2010 Association of Travel Market Executives conference has wrapped up and provided its audience of travel marketers with statistics, strategies and technologies to consider. The conference theme was “The New Now & The New Next”
What Smartphone Should I Buy?
June 11, 2010 By 5 Comments
With legions of swooning fans and impassioned critics, the mobile turf battles have erupted beyond the mobile carriers and have simultaneously broken out between handset manufacturers, operating systems and rich media platforms. The burning question for millions of US consumers is “What Smartphone Should I Buy?”
