The theme of the luncheon keynote presentation to the 2012 Receptive Services Association of America Summit Conference was “The Yin and Yang of Social Media.” The event was held at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans on February 7, 2012.
Unsuspecting Travel Hero and Travel Zero Awards 2011
January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The 2011 Unsuspecting Travel Hero Award goes to the anonymous hrrmph for his outstanding 9,000+ word TripAdvisor review of Kandholhu Island Resort & Spa in The Maldives. The big loser (aka winner) of the 2011 Unsuspecting Travel Zero Award is hotelreputationmanagement.org for serving as the poster-child for brashly promoting black-hat hotel reputation management tactics.
2011 PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit Predictions
November 15, 2011 By 1 Comment
Hipmunk, Rearden Commerce and FlexTrip were voted as having the best odds of winning the title of the Most Game-Changing Travel Innovation at the 2011 PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit. Unfortunately, a number of participants attempted to stuff the ballot box, underlying the challenges of using the wisdom of crowds to gauge audience sentiment.
Handicapping 2011 PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit
November 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Thirty companies battle for the title of Most Game-Changing Travel Innovation at the 2011 PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit. Held annually in conjunction with The PhoCusWright Conference, attendees and the general public are being asked to complete a survey and vote for the demonstrators they predict will win the $15,000 prizes for topping a category and the DEMO Award.
A Faster Way to Search Google Flights – Cut and Paste
September 15, 2011 By 4 Comments
Google Flight search provides incredibly fast search air fare results by leveraging technology acquired through the ITA Software acquisition. While not yet supporting flight routing outside of the US, it provides many interesting new features. By copying the URL/query string text into a Chrome browser, experienced travelers can experience Google Flights searches with unprecedented speed and efficiency.
What are Most Trusted Sources for Hotel Reviews and Ratings?
September 9, 2011 By 4 Comments
Hotel reviews and ratings are a popular topic of discussion, with many hoteliers relying on hotel rating sources to validate the quality of their hotel operation and promote it to a broad spectrum of travelers that would otherwise have been too difficult to reach. A key question asked by this survey is what source does a traveler trust most when it comes to hotel reviews and ratings.
SuperShuttle in New York – Make that Super Shittle
August 8, 2011 By 5 Comments
SuperShuttle operates shared ride services between LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark airports in the new York area. By booking my daughter with them, in an effort to help her save some money, she wound up experiencing a three hour episode of continual service delivery failures highlighted by a complete disregard for customer needs. This post explores what should have happened, as well as the underlying reasons why she had such a disappointing experience.
Transforming Hotel Industry Growth Strategy
August 3, 2011 By 1 Comment
Video of the hotel industry leadership panel from the 2011 HITEC conference discussing the RockCheetah/Amadeus IT Group white paper, “Transform Your Growth Strategy Now – Remove barriers between hotel technology,marketing and operations.” The discussion with Flo Lugli from Wyndham, Mike Blake from Hyatt and Caryl Helsel from Aramark explores the role an IT Pathfinder can play in facilitating hospitality industry business transformation.
Travel – The Less You Take, The More You Get
July 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Cross a beach, a blanket, a bag & a bunny… and what do you get? A stripped-down travel experience that proves the less you take, the more you get.
Social Commerce – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Social Commerce will evolve from the intersection of social computing, location based services and mobile technologies. Travel companies leveraging SoLoMo-Commerce (SoLoMoCo) will have an unprecedented opportunity to engage customers, create value and capture profits from an enhanced set of technologies by applying creative, traveler-centric marketing strategies.
