Web Reservations International and Boo.com
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Loading ...In a previous post I mentioned a survey by Boo.com which prompted me to do a little more of my ow research into Boo.com and it’s parent company Web Reservations International. From what I can find through the WebResInt.com website, the company provides reservation services for 50,000 + accommodations providers around the world. Their business model is very interesting because they’re primary goal is to provide a non-gds distribution network for providers of all sizes including the small and independent providers. Needless to say, I am all for this type of network because it serves... Read more »
TripAdvisor launches social networking
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...I originally posted this item on my personal blog but I think it is more appropriate on this one since it is more travel technology oriented. A recent survey by boo.com found that over 70% of travelers who use the Internet for research depend on peer to peer reviews and recommendations. It is not surprising then that TripAdvisor is following suit and adding a social networking to their site. I would like to have seen them integrate more closely with Facebook or LinkedIn in order to leverage existing technology instead of adding yet another social networking site to the mix, but I understand... Read more »
TripAdvisor trots out social network
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...A recent survey by boo.com found that over 70% of travelers who use the Internet for research depend on peer to peer reviews and recommendations. It is not surprising then that TripAdvisor is following suit and adding a social networking to their site. I would like to have seen them integrate more closely with Facebook or LinkedIn in order to leverage existing technology instead of adding another social networking site to the mix, but I understand their motivation. The idea that TripAdvisor is owned by Expedia still leaves a lot of questions about credibility and impartiality. Most travelers,... Read more »
Thousands Petition Feds on Net Neutrality
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Over 11,000 people submitted comments to the FCC regarding Net Neutrality. The arguments are for and against regulating ISPs and ultimately the Internet. The issue is that there is a belief, although mostly unfounded, that ISPs slow down or restrict access to competing networks. This reminds me of “Screen Bias” back in the 80’s which was Sabre’s way of pushing competing products down to the bottom of their screens. The situation however is fundamentally different in that there were and still are only a handful of GDS companies whereas there are thousands of ISPs in... Read more »
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...The online travel space in Canada is very different then the U.S. In Canada, for example, vacation packages are readily available for distribution through travel agencies thanks to companies like Softvoyage and Accovia. These packages are supplied by large tour operators like Sunquest, Air Canada Vacations, Contiki, and others who use the Softvoyage or Accovia back office systems to manage their inventory. In the U.S. packages are generally dynamically created during the online booking process by combining scheduled fares and hotels using engines like Expedia’s or Travelocity’s... Read more »
More on AdCenter and Long Tail Advertising
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Further to my comments about Adcenter, relying on MSN and Live profile information for the purposes of targeting advertising seems unreliable to me. Perhaps Microsoft is hoping that the majority of users who sign up for online systems like MSN, Hotmail, and Live will enter their true profile information when signing up. If the majority of users knew that their profile information was being used to target advertising to them more effectively I doubt that the average user would be inclined to enter true profile information. Besides email service, which you can get through Gmail or a number of... Read more »
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...With the release of Microsoft’s Digital Advertising Solution and their less than subtle focus on online travel, the question is… how will the long tail of travel affect how travel products are sold online and will traditional pay per click work? Conversation with consumers ad from Microsoft Travel Case study for Microsoft AdCenter It appears that this new advertising network is based on information in millions of MSN and Windows Live profiles and so the effectiveness of the advertising is limited only to Live Search. Given that Microsoft is still only 10% of the search engine market... Read more »
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Although this video has been out for a while now, I thought it was appropriate to post it again. The video is an ad for Microsoft’s Digital Advertising Solution which, from what I can tell, is Microsoft’s answer to Google Adwords. When I first read the term Digital Advertising Solution I thought the term referred to digital display advertising like LCD monitors on trains and buses. I was a little disappointed to find out that the term actually referred to context sensitive ad system that give you the ability to write ads that are more specific to particular demographics. It is... Read more »
The Problem with Closed Travel Technologies
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Here is an excerpt from a Wikipedia entry about Sabre Holdings which clearly illustrates the inherent problems with a closed distribution system such as the GDSs. The original is available on Wikipedia. In 1981 a study[1] by American Airlines found that travel agents selected the flight appearing on the first line more than half the time. 92 percent of the time, the selected flight was on the first screen. This provided a huge incentive for American to manipulate their ranking formula, or even corrupt the search algorithm outright, to favor American flights. American eventually did just that... Read more »
The Triumverate of Travel
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...As a research exercise for our sales and business development team, I asked the questions: 1. What are the currently available GDS companies? 2. Where did they come from? 3. What websites do they own? The resulting answers, for many us who are familiar to the travel industry, are not altogether surprising. To a general consumer or to someone who is new to the sector, however, the results of the research are probably quite startling. Here is what we discovered. There are five GDS companies, they are: Worldspan - Formed in 1990 by Delta Airlines, NWA, and TWA. Now owned by Cendant (Travelport). Sabre... Read more »
