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 […]
Best Travel Writers: 2010 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Winners
October 12, 2010 By 4 Comments
Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism awards are presented by the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation to the best North American travel writers. Below is a list of the 2010 award winners, including links to each author, the publication and the article recognized for outstanding achievement.
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 […]
Mad as Hell About Airline Fees – How Hidden are They?
September 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I’m Mad as Hell About Hidden Airline Fees and I’m Not Gonna Take This Anymore is the tag line for a coalition that is demanding that the US Department of Transportation requires airlines to prominently display all ancillary fees on their websites and to provide distribution to enable transaction of these fees through all third party channels. Upon closer scrutiny, several claims appear exaggerated, while the lack of specific proposals regarding HOW these demands can be effectively implemented ignores challenges involving business models and technical interfacing.
SkyRider Airline Saddle Seat – Is FedEx PeoplePak Next?
September 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment
USA Today profiled the SkyRider – a high density airline seat that increases passenger density. The design is based on a saddle due to an unfortunate assumption that airline passengers, like Cowboys, can remain comfortable seated in saddles for many hours. To seeing that strategy through to its logical conclusion, an airline could gain further density if the passengers were shipped like cargo, but crates are too bulky. FedEx Envelopes work better. Breaking News revealed the revolutionary FedEX PeoplePak prototype over 10 years ago.
Future Trends Leading Technologies – Society of Government Travel Professionals
September 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The Society of Government Travel Planners EdCon’10 Keynote Address focused on growing traveler needs for Relevance, Mobility, Personalization and Community. Developing effective strategies to address deep search, the splinternet, convenience and security will be essential. Eventual winners will be the smart, the unique and the engaged.
When Will Hotels Get Serious About Protecting Guest Information?
August 26, 2010 By 2 Comments
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.
