The closing keynote address for the Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association, Future Lodging Trends and Emerging Technologies, targeted the rapidly changing business landscape and the need to address many fundamental changes impacting marketing and technology. Topics covered included: Web 1.0, Web 2.0 & Web 3.0; Four Traveler Mandates; Five New P’s of Marketing; Six Business Impacts and the Seven Phases of Travel. The WH&LA Annual Conference and Tradeshow was held at Hotel Sierra in Green Bay, Wisconsin on October 26, 2010.
Future Lodging Trends and Emerging Technologies – Wisconsin Hotel and Lodging Association
October 26, 2010 By
Hotwire Breaks Brand Promise by Gutting Rating System
October 25, 2010 By 3 Comments
Hotwire has undermined its brand promise by removing the specific criteria from its hotel ratings used to differentiate hotel classifications. Additionally, by benchmarking hotels using competitive online travel sites with incompatible rating scales, Hotwire may inaccurately classify hotels. In the example provided, Hotwire staunchly defends its flawed rating process for a hotel that it rates higher than sister websites Expedia, Hotels.com and TripAdvisor. Worse yet, these policies and processes have caused them to lose their customer service focus.
Robert’s 10 Fave Twitter HashTags From October 18-24
October 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A great benefit of Twitter is that it helps make the world a much smaller place. For example, while I was interviewing web development teams for a client in Dallas, I was also able to keep track of the happenings at a travel conference in Singapore and a search technology conference in Chicago. It seems […]
10 Best Twitter HashTags From October 11-17
October 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The fall conference season is in full swing and fortunately, for those unable to be in multiple locales simultaneously, live tweeting helps keep everyone informed of key topics of discussion. The one interesting exception was Henry Harteveldt of Forrester Research who appeared to be physically attending the Amadeus Horizons conference in San Francisco, but was […]
10 Favorite Twitter HashTags From October 4-10
October 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Twitter provides an incredible source of information – assuming you are following individuals who are not inclined to continually tweet about their breakfast regimen or bitter hatred for [fill in the topic of choice…] The challenge with Twitter is that its information streams in real time, and some of us are either too busy to […]
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.
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”
