Views from a Corner Suite Blog Fountain

BrightOn Travel: Is app piggybacking set to be the mobile strategy of the future

Travolution — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 12:25:00 +0000

Travel firms ought to be considering how they can piggy back on popular multi-purpose mobile apps as they face the challenges and costs of marketing their own. Travelzoo Europe managing director Richard Singer said that in China the firm’s development resources are focussed on working with Wechat, a generic app widely used by the Chinese.

BrightOn Travel: Teletext weans itself off Google as it seeks to reignite the heritage brand

Travolution — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 12:05:00 +0000

Teletext Holidays has seen a significant reduction in its reliance on Google for traffic since it started re-investing in its brand. Wayne Parks, Teletext Holidays managing director, who joined five months ago from Virgin Holidays, said early signs of its brand push have been positive.

If You Have a Favorite Terminal at DFW, Choose Your Aircraft Wisely

Cranky Flyer — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 10:45:52 +0000

With the disappearance of the US Airways code only a couple weeks away, you’d think American would be on lockdown ... Read More

BrightOn Travel 2015: Walk the walk of you brand ethos for long-term gain

Travolution — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 10:43:00 +0000

The rise of new digital marketing channels has closed the gap in brand value that large players can generate over small ones, but travel firms must accentuate their distinctiveness.

SNCF extends long running Travelport deal

Travolution — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 09:22:00 +0000

French rail company SNCF has extended a distribution deal with Travelport first struck in 1999. Travelport and SNCF are jointly presenting the new distribution agreement during the International French Travel Market Top Resa in Paris this week.

Yahoo executive Dawn Airey joins Thomas Cook's board

Travolution — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 09:00:00 +0000

Yahoo’s Europe, Middle East and Africa senior vice president Dawn Airey has been appointed as a senior independent director of Thomas Cook to replace Carl Symon.

Traveltech Lab startup launches crowdsourced photomapping campaign

Travolution — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 15:47:00 +0000

A company based at London’s Traveltech Lab startup incubator has launched a destination photomapping campaign.

BrightOn Travel 2015: Take the next step in mobile by tapping into customer micromoments

Travolution — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 14:08:00 +0000

Building a responsive site is just the start of making sure you are ready for the shift to mobile, CWT Digital's managing director told delegates.

French social start-up partners Airbnb for experiential dining event

Travolution — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 13:33:00 +0000

French social dining start-up VizEat has partnered with Airbnb for the latter’s three-day experiential event in Paris later this year.

BrightOn Travel 2015: The point of using ‘Big Data’ is to serve fewer ads

Travolution — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 13:10:00 +0000

The fundamental objective of the exploitation of Big Data is to serve fewer ads and to make those that are served more relevant, BrightOn Travel delegates were told.

BrightOn Travel 2015: The blurring of the lines between commerce and search

Travolution — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 12:43:00 +0000

A battle is being fought between the “walled gardens” of commerce sites and the more open search and metasearch players that is seeing a blurring of the boundaries.

Carnival reveals plans for largest cruise Wi-Fi network

Travolution — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 09:25:00 +0000

Carnival Corporation has outlined plans to create the cruise industry's largest Wi-Fi network and one of the world's largest satellite mobility networks.

Traveltek starts roll-out of enhanced iTour to operators

Travolution — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 16:29:00 +0000

An enhanced version of the Traveltek iTour tour operation technology suite has started replacing legacy systems. Belleair Holidays and Cyplon Holidays are now using iTour, having moved away from legacy systems when they identified the distribution opportunities of the Traveltek travel agency user base.

Thomas Cook deploys Google Cardboard to let customers try before they buy

Travolution — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 12:30:00 +0000

A brochure combined with 360-degree video content is to be provided to prospective holidaymakers from five Thomas Cook branches. Customers picking up a Red Sea Riviera brochure will also be given a high tech Google Cardboard headset that allows them “to try before they buy”.

Across the Aisle From ANA’s Americas Strategy Boss On New US Destinations, A380s, and More

Cranky Flyer — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 10:45:00 +0000

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed reading my Across the Aisle interviews from the Boyd Conference earlier this month (Virgin America and Air ... Read More

Manchester Airport tool informs residents on flight and noise data

Travolution — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 09:09:00 +0000

An online flight tracking tool has been released by Manchester Airport. WebTrak allows consumers to see flight activity within 30 miles of the airport.

Lufthansa is Not Happy About Reports That Seem to Accurately Show Bookings are Down

Cranky Flyer — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 10:45:46 +0000

Back in June, Lufthansa Group announced that any bookings made through a global distribution system (GDS) would have a 16 ... Read More

Cranky on the Web – Will JetBlue Ever Come to Cincinnati?

Cranky Flyer — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 10:45:21 +0000

What’s it going to take to get JetBlue? – Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati apparently really wants JetBlue, but it seems to ... Read More

Continued growth did not depend on IPO, says On The Beach's Cooper

Travolution — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 12:33:00 +0000

The founder and chief executive of UK online travel agency On The Beach says this week's move to float the company was not driven by a need to raise funds for expansion.

Topic of the Week: Your Favorite Book About the Airline Industry

Cranky Flyer — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 10:45:04 +0000

I’ve just finished re-reading (for the 10th time, probably) my favorite book ever written about the airline industry… Hard Landing ... Read More

The Innovative GatwickConnects Allows You to Connect Between Airlines That Don’t Work Together Without the Risk

Cranky Flyer — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 10:45:03 +0000

Ultra low cost carriers are great at bringing low fares to places, but they don’t really help connect people into ... Read More

Where I Ditch The Airplane for a Drive Through the Desert (Trip Report)

Cranky Flyer — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 10:45:10 +0000

I realize this is about as far from a normal trip report as I’ve written, but it’s what led me ... Read More

Hot Topics for Restaurants: EB-5 and Crowdfunding Investment, Licensing, and Gift Card Programs

Mon, 21 Sep 2015 21:41:35 +0000

21 September 2015 The Global Hospitality Group® is best known for its expertise in connection with hotels and resorts. We also have an active restaurant practice, and like a hotel, a restaurant is an operating business integrally intertwined with special purpose real estate. We frequently advise restaurant owners and operators on labor and employment, ADA, management, […]

Air Canada’s President Goes Across the Aisle to Talk About Adding Seats to Airplanes, the Rise of Rouge, and More

Cranky Flyer — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 10:45:49 +0000

When I was at the Boyd conference in Vegas a couple weeks ago, I had the chance to sit down ... Read More

Topic of the Week: Do You Like Delta’s Pay Raise?

Cranky Flyer — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 10:45:27 +0000

Delta announced what, on the surface, looks like big pay raises for non-union employees this week. Wages will rise 14.5 ... Read More

If You’re Going to Charge for Seat Assignments, Lufthansa, You Better Well Honor Them (Tales from the Field)

Cranky Flyer — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 10:45:21 +0000

Lufthansa is probably the most hated airline in the travel agent world these days for a variety of reasons. It ... Read More

Amazon's Dash Buttons: Smarter Than They Seem

Sucharita Mulpuru — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 02:02:46 +0000

In late March, Amazon cracked up the Twittosphere with an announcement that it would release a Dash button (not to be confused with the Amazon Dash device which is a wand for your kitchen). It is a button that you put in your home (like your laundry room) and program to order a single packaged good (say a specific SKU of Tide detergent). You press the button and that item gets ordered through your Amazon Prime account. On September 2, Amazon made the buttons available to the general public (Amazon Prime members specifically) for $5 each.

My esteemed colleague James McQuivey just published a piece calling the Dash Buttons the Best Bad Idea of 2015 in which he outlines the reasons why this device, while widely mocked, is actually a super interesting idea whose most fascinating applications won't even be with Amazon.

Hotel Lawyer on EB-5 developments? What’s happening with EB-5 renewal legislation?

Wed, 09 Sep 2015 19:10:53 +0000

09 September 2015 EB-5 is at a critical renewal point The next 3 weeks are going to be crucial for the EB-5 industry as the current legislation sunsets on September 30, 2015. While the consensus is that this important program will be renewed, and perhaps made permanent, there are lots of currents circulating about possible […]

Beyond Language & Payments: Website Localization Must-Haves For Global eCommerce

Lily Varon — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 18:08:25 +0000

Long gone are the days in which eCommerce site localization means just translating language and accepting localized payment methods. In a high stakes environment, where a global roll out of direct localized sites can mean millions of dollars of investment, eBusiness professionals responsible for managing international customer-facing websites must localize effectively or risk damaging the reputation of their brands and stifling growth.

Forrester published a report today that outlines seven mission-critical areas to any website localization initiative. Among these imperatives are:

eCommerce
global
globalization
localization

FCC says blocking FCC-approved Wi-Fi hotspots is “patently illegal” and imposes $750,000 fine on Smart City.

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 23:52:24 +0000

02 September 2015 Blocking Wi-Fi connections is “patently unlawful” On August 18, 2015, the FCC announced a $750,000 civil penalty and formal Consent Decree with Smart City Holdings for blocking consumers’ personal Wi-Fi access at various convention centers, meeting centers and hotels around the United States. Smart City is an internet and telecommunications provider for […]

What every hotel owner (and operator) needs to know about “data security” after the Wyndham Worldwide case

Tue, 01 Sep 2015 00:54:27 +0000

31 August 2015 Massive data breaches affect hotels and their legal responsibilities. As unauthorized hacking of confidential data explodes in volume and seriousness, minimum expected standards are evolving that hoteliers and others must follow. Interestingly, the latest guidelines are provided in an August 24, 2015 appellate court decision involving Wyndham Worldwide as if to emphasize […]

How Will You Communicate With Your Customers If They Don't Read Email?

Julie Ask — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 16:56:13 +0000

Your customers are inundated with messages every day from friends or family, work colleagues, and marketers among others. Notifications from their banks, news organizations and fitness bands also land on their mobile phones. Let me show you the home screen of my iPhone.

A summary of my communication (or lack thereof) shows:

24,998 unread personal emails (okay, mostly from marketers)
4,937 unopened work emails
272 unopened SMS messages
45 unopened/read messages on WeChat (these are from marketers)
0 unread notifications from Facebook (and I average 23 per day)
0 unread notifications from Slack (and I average 87 per day)

I still use all of these communication channels, but I pay more attention to some of the channels than to others.

Here's what is happening:

My email inbox has been overrun by emails I no longer read or want.
I continue to download new communication applications. Each time I do so, I am very selective about who I add into my new circle.
I pay most attention to those applications that offer value to me in the form of entertainment or as in the case of Slack, collaboration with a very small group of trusted colleagues. These messages are extremely relevant to me - and personal.

Marketers and really anyone looking to engage with consumers thought they had checked the box with gaining consumers' trust when they gained permission to send emails. Think about how many times you've made a purchase online and the box to "receive additional promotional materials" is already checked for you. You have to opt out rather than opt in.

Mobile came along and changed the game. Now digital business professionals and marketers worked hard to drive app downloads. They wanted to own their mobile moments with their customers on mobile phones. Each download was considered a win.

European Cross-Channel Retail Sales Forecast, 2015 To 2020: Measuring The Influence Of Your Digital Assets Offline

Michelle Beeson — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 14:37:58 +0000

Europe's eBusiness professionals are increasingly focused on their digital presence, and with good reason. Digital touchpoints are feeding into almost every stage of the customer life-cycle. For many retailers over half of all online traffic comes from mobile devices, like smartphones - yet, smartphone conversion rates are considerably lower. Initially this may appear as a cause for concern. But Forrester's updated European Cross-Channel Retail Sales Forecast sheds a different light on this phenomenon by quantifying the influence of digital touchpoints, including mobile, on overall sales, both online and offline.

eBusiness leaders must consider their digital assets as part of the whole customer-lifecycle, rather than simply channel by channel. Digital touchpoints have a significant influence beyond online sales. In fact, by 2020, Forrester forecasts that digital will influence 53% of total retail sales in EU-7, or €947 billion, including a combination of online sales and offline sales influenced by online research.

Key takeaways from the updated cross-channel retail sales forecast published today include:

The Cross-Border eCommerce Opportunity Unfolds

Zia Daniell Wigder — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 10:52:39 +0000

In last year's global eCommerce predictions report, we wrote that in 2015, cross-border eCommerce would become "more seamless and less apparent to shoppers". We've started to embark on this path: Today consumers around the world have access to growing selection of products as more retailers make their offerings available to shoppers in other countries. My colleague Michelle Beeson recently documented that cross-border sales in Europe alone will reach €40 billion by 2018.

Retailers that haven't yet started to ship cross-border--and those that have only dipped their toes in the water--now have a variety of different solution providers that can help them take their brands into new markets. Analyst Lily Varon and I just published a report that looks at the trends and leading vendors in this space with a focus on solutions targeted at US-based merchants. It's now common to see retailers working with different partners including:

International parcel carriers. A number of retailers elect to manage their international shipping options directly with an international carrier such as UPS or FedEx. In some cases, a cross-border option is an extension of the existing relationship between the merchant and the carrier; in others, merchants will seek out a new partner specifically to help with cross-border shipments.

Millennial Shopping Experience Series: A Stroll Down Fifth Ave: Digital? Yes. Helpful? Not so much.

Patti Freeman Evans — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 16:15:00 +0000

Omnichannel retailing is a ubiquitous initiative among retailers today. It's ambitious, necessary and very challenging. Each channel reinforces the others and Adam Silverman's digital store work is great stuff advancing the thinking around how retailers are bringing new digital tech into the store environment, putting into customer and store associate hands to drive value. He writes about it in a recent doc: The Future of the Digital Store. And, two millennials on our team tested out some digital store experiences recently. Here is the second in the millennials shopping experience blog series, this one by Laura Naparstek and Diana Gold.

On a recent afternoon, we took a walk down NYC's Fifth Avenue to discover that many retailers are not always getting the in-store tech game right. This area of Manhattan is like an upscale mall where retailers experiment and test new in-store innovations; however, the technology we saw did little to reduce friction. Many retailers' in-store tools were cosmetic--or broken.

Which Banks Lead In Mobile: Forrester Benchmarks 41 Providers Around The World

Peter Wannemacher — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 14:38:22 +0000

Over the past seven years, mobile banking has gone from little more than an extension of online banking to what one digital banking executive now calls "the most important part of my job." eBusiness and channel strategy professionals at banks are under intense pressure to differentiate by offering mobile features, content, and experiences that meet -- or exceed -- customers' needs and expectations.

To help executives and digital leaders better understand where mobile banking is today -- and where different banking providers stand in terms of their mobile offerings -- Forrester conducts an annual mobile banking benchmark. This year, we evaluated 41 different banks from more than a dozen different countries across four continents. We recently published the findings in our 2015 Global Mobile Banking Benchmark report.

Benchmark
Digital Banking
Digital Banking Benchmark
Digital Benchmark
Digital Experience
Digital Strategy
IDEA cycle
Mobile Experience
Mobile Mind Shift
Mobile Website
Mobile strategy
Retail banking
Tablet Banking
banking
digital financial services
mobile app
mobile banking

Digital Storefronts Give Way To In-Store Experiences

Adam Silverman — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 20:37:06 +0000

Last year I wrote a blog post covering the deployment of digital storefronts, highlighting the challenges that these deployments have in driving customer engagement and commerce. In fact, my observations during the holiday season of 2013 led me to the insight that digital storefronts do not add a tremendous amount of value to shoppers.

Fast forward to early 2015 and a new evolution of digital store technology has emerged from eBay Enterprise. This new deployment feels less like a digital storefront and more like a well-integrated set of technologies that helps both customers and associates. Within the Rebecca Minkoff store in Soho where this technology is deployed, eBay Enterprise modified its digital storefront solution by:

The Digital Store
eCommerce technology

How to make your company the most awesome place to work. #EVAR!!!

Martin Gill — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 14:19:45 +0000

We are constantly told that millennials are breaking the workplace rules. They refuse to work 9 to 5. They demand iPhones. They can't work unless there's a fridge full of beer and a pool table in the office. And with a growing war for digital talent, many digital leaders are setting their sights firmly on attracting the digital generation to their firms.

But a recent IBM study suggests an even more interesting conclusion. While the study largely agrees with every other conclusion on the desires of the millennial workforce, it also strongly pointed out that it's not just "youngsters" that want autonomy, flexibility, empowerment, an awesome work environment that ignites their creativity and the feeling that what they do makes a difference.

It's everybody.

ebusiness organization
recruitment

Don’t Buy Into “Buy Buttons” Just Yet

Sucharita Mulpuru — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 06:19:30 +0000

The hottest topic in eCommerce these days seems to be "buy buttons." The energy though appears premature. Pinterest announced its buyable pins with a press conference and sentimental Hallmark-like videos though the buyable pins are actually hard to find. Facebook, the king of all social networks, announced a buy button more than a year ago but it's been relatively mum on the details (and they appear to only have one formal eCommerce partner). Media reports and blog posts of Instagram, Twitter, and Google doing the same seem to further excite merchants and vendors alike - but nothing seems to have launched.

The uninitiated may ask, "What are buy buttons?" They are essentially the ability to complete a transaction on one of these sites. The merchant of record is still usually the seller of the item. This makes all of these players marketplaces. One other salient point, in the cases of Pinterest and Google, is that their buy buttons will only be available on mobile devices upon launch. We'd also be remiss not to mention that the idea of impulse-driven purchases through an app aren't new: Fancy and others have been trying this for years with questionable success. One executive at a large merchant I recently talked to appropriately summed it up: "This seems like F-Commerce v.2."

Here's a run-down of what we know so far and the outlook for each of the players:

It's Here...The Forrester Wave: B2B Commerce Suites, Q2 2015

Andy Hoar — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 00:13:51 +0000

I'm pleased to announce the release of "The Forrester Wave: B2B Commerce Suites, Q2 2015." Peter Sheldon and I last took a deep dive into the space in 2013, and since then we've seen B2B grow both in size and importance.

However, today's B2B environment is more complex, crowded, and competitive than it was in 2013. B2B buyers now insist on an "Amazon-like" customer experience with real-time interaction, extensive price and inventory transparency, and robust guided selling. B2B companies are still plagued by both internal and external channel conflict, which in many cases is impeding their forward progress with digital. And not only are offline companies moving online, but omnichannel competitors in adjacent categories and pure-play online sites are entering select markets as well.

It was against this backdrop that Peter and I evaluated several top B2B Commerce vendors. We found once again that hybris (an SAP company), IBM, Oracle Commerce, and Intershop led the pack. But this time around, Insite joined their ranks. NetSuite returned as a strong contender and was joined in that category by eBay Enterprise (Magento). New to both the B2B commerce space and our Wave evaluation is CloudCraze, a company offering eCommerce as a native application within the Salesforce environment.

As Peter Sheldon outlines in detail in his blog post:

Amazon And The Rise Of eCommerce In Mexico

Zia Daniell Wigder — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 10:29:25 +0000

Today Amazon launched full force in Mexico with items ranging from baby products to electronics to sporting goods--for the past two years, the company has sold only eBooks on its localized site in the country. Why Mexico now?

Mexico's eCommerce market has risen on global brands' priority lists. When it comes to eCommerce, Mexico is the India of Latin America: a small, early-stage market that has been overshadowed by rapid eCommerce growth in a much larger neighbor (Brazil in the case of Latin America, China in Asia). However, Mexico's time has come. As Brazil's economy has slowed to a halt, Mexico's continues to grow--at the same time, the cost and complexity of operating in the Brazilian market has become apparent, leading many US and European brands to turn their attention north to the region's second largest economy. In 2014 alone, Orange, Zara, Home Depot, Lowe's and Williams-Sonoma all rolled out eCommerce offerings in Mexico.

Driven by a variety of different categories, the online retail market is growing rapidly. We often talk about eCommerce markets evolving in four phases (see graphic below). Mexico has very much followed this trajectory. Early-stage online purchases were largely in the travel sector--then as consumers started to make physical product purchases online, they gravitated to categories such as consumer electronics and computer hardware. Going forward, these categories will continue to grow but they will be augmented by later-stage categories like apparel, beauty and grocery. We expect Mexico's total online retail market to grow by a CAGR of 19% between 2014-2019, reaching almost $7 billion by 2019.

Announcing Forrester’s 2015 B2B Commerce Suites Wave

Peter Sheldon — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 09:31:41 +0000

Twenty months have passed since Forrester last published our Wave evaluation of the leading B2B commerce suite vendors. During that time much has changed. B2B eCommerce transactions in the US have grown 40% from $559b in 2013 to reach an estimated $780b by the end of 2015. Furthermore, 74% of B2B buyers now research and 30% now buy at least one-half of their work purchases online. Manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers alike are investing heavily in next generation enterprise B2B commerce technology to ensure they are delivering world-class online buying experiences that are able to scale for anticipated growth. As a result of this wave of investment, manufacturing and wholesale trade firms will spend more on commerce technology by the end of the decade than their peers in B2C retail.

As eBusiness teams look for solutions in the market, not only are they benchmarking their future state online buying experience against B2B peers like Grainger, but also against B2C leaders like Amazon and Wal-Mart. This means they need solutions with a best-in-class foundation of B2C features such as robust marketing, merchandising and experience management tools upon which unique B2B capabilities such as contract pricing, quotes pricing lists, eProcurement, product configuration and customization, guided selling, bulk order entry, dealer management, and account, contract, and budget management are then layered on top.

B2B Commerce
B2B Order Management
B2B ecommerce
CPQ
Configure Price Quote
commerce platform

Video: Bill Sipple of HVS Capital discusses hospitality market activity and interest rates – 2015 Hotel Investment and Finance Opportunities

Wed, 24 Jun 2015 17:00:08 +0000

24 June 2015 Bill Sipple, Executive Managing Director of HVS Capital, speaks in the video below about activity in different markets, limited service properties, and whether rising interest rates will have an effect on transactional activity. Bill sat down with Bob Braun, a senior partner in the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®, as part of our […]

Video: Jack Westergom of Manhattan Hospitality Advisors discusses hotel operating agreements and asset management – 2015 Hotel Investment and Finance Opportunities

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 17:28:13 +0000

23 June 2015 Jack Westergom, Managing Director of Manhattan Hospitality Advisors, discusses hotel operating agreements, asset management, and the RFP process in the video below. Jack spoke with David Sudeck, a senior partner in the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®, as part of our video interview series on hotel finance and investment opportunities in 2015. A […]

Which Bank Has Emerged Top In Forrester’s 2015 Singapore Mobile Banking Functionality Benchmark?

Zhi-Ying Ng — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 01:59:10 +0000

Consumers in Asia Pacific have made the mobile mind shift--the expectation that they can get what they want in their immediate context and moments of need. This rings particularly true for consumers in Singapore, where smartphone penetration will reach a staggering 85% by the end of 2015. From researching products prior to purchase to booking of taxi services, consumers in Singapore are increasingly reaching into their pockets for their smartphones to get information and services in their mobile moments of need. And they have come to expect similar--if not better--information, digital services and customer experience from their financial institutions. It comes as no surprise then that competition in mobile banking has started to heat up in Singapore, with many banks enhancing their mobile capabilities to serve increasingly empowered customers.

In our inaugural 2015 Singapore Mobile Banking Functionality Benchmark report, we have evaluated the retail mobile banking offerings of four banks in Singapore using 41 criteria. We found that:

#Age of the Customer
Mobile Mind Shift
Singapore
mobile banking

City of Los Angeles v. Patel — US Supreme Court voids LA ordinance requiring hotel operators to turn over guest records on demand

Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:13:55 +0000

22 June 2015 US Supreme Court voids Los Angeles ordinance requiring hotel operators to turn over guest records on demand In a 5-4 opinion rendered on June 22, 2015, the United States Supreme Court held that a Los Angeles municipal code provision violates the US Constitution’s Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable search and seizures. The […]

Video: Vail Brown of STR talks about all-time highs in hotel supply growth, occupancies, and other metrics – 2015 Hotel Investment and Finance Opportunities

Mon, 22 Jun 2015 18:49:52 +0000

22 June 2015 Vail Brown, Vice President of STR, discusses all-time highs in the hospitality market for multiple metrics, her predictions for the next few years, and STR’s expansion into food and beverage analysis in the following video. Vail spoke with David Sudeck, a senior partner in the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®, as part of […]

Online Retailers Go In Pursuit Of Europe's Valuable Cross-Border Consumers Worth €40 Billion By 2018

Michelle Beeson — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:03:17 +0000

A few weeks ago I was in Barcelona for the Global eCommerce Summit (GeS). One of the hot topics on the agenda, and during the coffee breaks, was internationalization. How best to evaluate and prioritize new market entry? How far do you need to go with localizing your website and the customer experience? How do you manage different market regulations and nuances?

The focus of these questions at GeS this year was the US and China. Yet, these questions also apply when considering market expansion in Europe. Forrester's new Western European Online Cross-Border Retail Sales Forecast 2013 To 2018 shows the opportunity for eBusiness professionals, pursuing European expansion through cross-border sales, is growing. In fact, European online cross-border sales will reach €40 billion by 2018, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11% over the five year forecast period.

Key takeaways from the forecast include:

Video: Stephen Rushmore, Jr. of HVS talks about hotel values and brand proliferation – 2015 Hotel Investment and Finance Opportunities

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 17:24:31 +0000

19 June 2015 Stephen Rushmore, Jr., President and CEO of HVS, speaks in the video below about hotel values in the next few years, new development, and brand proliferation. Stephen spoke with David Sudeck, a senior partner in the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®, as part of our video interview series on hotel finance and investment […]

Video: Deric Eubanks of Ashford Hospitality Trust talks about the hottest hospitality segments for investors – 2015 Hotel Investment and Finance Opportunities

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 16:18:20 +0000

18 June 2015 Deric Eubanks, Chief Financial Officer of Ashford Hospitality Trust, discusses why now is a great time to buy hotels, which segment provides the best opportunities, and how supply growth will affect the hospitality industry over the next few years. Deric sat down with Bob Braun, a senior partner in the JMBM Global […]

How consumers choose a destination – an untapped opportunity for travel startups?

Alex Bainbridge — Tue, 26 May 2015 13:30:56 +0000

Web 1.0 travel services tend to start with a website homepage with the question: “Where do you want to go?” The next ...

Travel startups: Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight

Alex Bainbridge — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 13:00:34 +0000

The travel industry has not been very receptive recently to digital travel startups. Yes, articles are written, conference startup pitch invites are ...

What if travel startup success was judged like art or music (rather than big bucks)

Alex Bainbridge — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 14:30:17 +0000

I was recently thinking (as a hypothetical exercise) about how families choose what day tours or activities to book whilst in a ...

Pivotal moments in 2014 – when digital travel finally matured

Alex Bainbridge — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 11:04:53 +0000

It would very difficult to put your finger on something that significantly altered in 2014. Yet perhaps the pivotal moment isn’t a ...

What travel startups MUST do when pitching in front of the industry

Alex Bainbridge — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:07:00 +0000

Every conference nowadays seems to have some kind of pitching opportunity for travel startups. Some consider these timeslots the ideal time to ...

Lessons for travel startups from Uber and OpenTable: Disrupt, fix or make money

Alex Bainbridge — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 12:00:12 +0000

The last few weeks have seen two major travel startup new stories, perhaps giving hope to countless young businesses in the sector. ...

OTA vs metasearch power struggle – Big Data could be a deciding (not boring) factor

Alex Bainbridge — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 13:35:00 +0000

Big Data is fast becoming one of those terms that is overused and applied to all sorts of data projects that are, ...

EUREKA! Where could your travel startup idea come from?

Alex Bainbridge — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 14:33:34 +0000

Depending upon your pain threshold, running a travel startup is either the most rewarding challenge in your life or it can be ...

George Washington BridgeGate: 5 Reasons Iowa Should Seize Control of the George Washington Bridge

Dennis Schaal — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 11:51:00 +0000

If you haven’t heard of BridgeGate, you soon will. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s administration is in damage control mode after revelations that staffers conspired with a Christie childhood friend and his appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to shut down a couple of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September as political retribution. The lane closures turned Fort Lee, New Jersey, which hosts the bridge on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, into a postcard for gridlock for several days, with public safety, convenience and rationality the clear victims.

Observers charge that the Christie administration’s political high jinx aimed to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat who has been sympathetic to Republican Christie in the past, but declined to endorse him in Christie'slatest gubernatorial run.

Given that the George Washington Bridge is a vital cog for tourists, commuters and area residents, and in light of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal yesterday that New York State take control of JFK and La Guardia airports’ redevelopment, which like the George Washington Bridge, is currently the responsibility of the Port Authority, we’ve come up with a sensible solution to fix the woes of the George Washington Bridge.

Let Iowa operate the George Washington Bridge.

Here are five reasons why it would be sensible for Iowa to seize control of the George Washington Bridge.

1. Iowa is not in New Jersey, and its bridge decisions would not be swayed by New Jersey’s legendary political corruption.

2. Iowa wouldn’t have to answer to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is a bloated, do-nothing bureaucracy filled with patronage appointments, when determining the traffic flow over the George Washington Bridge.

3. Christie reportedly sought the Democratic Fort Lee Mayor’s endorsement to show that Christie would appeal to Democratic and Republican voters in what until now seemed like his inevitable quest for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Iowa hosts the all-important Iowa presidential caucuses, but hasn't for several years put forward a hometown presidential candidate of its own. Iowa, therefore, could do right by the George Washington Bridge and would be mostly immune to political influence over whether roadways to the bridge would remain open or blocked.

4. Despite New York State’s proposal to usurp the Port Authority's power and assume control of the redevelopment of JFK and La Guardia, we have no confidence that New York State can improve New York airports or the George Washington Bridge. New York, after all is part of the problem as it runs the Port Authority in cooperation with New Jersey. Iowa has 24,000 bridges, and nearly 4,100 of them are the responsibility of the Iowa Department of Transportation so it has a lot of experience in over-water roadways.

5. Iowa needs a real bridge to run, one that is worthy of the Hawkeye State. The George Washington Bridge, it should be pointed out, is not a drawbridge, but we feel confident Iowans would rise to the occasion.

VroomVroomVroom – Why this Aussie company will succeed in the U.S.

Alison Osborne — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 23:03:47 +0000

VroomVroomVroom is already one of the most spectacular online successes of the 21st century in Australia, and now that the cool rental car price comparison site has launched in the U.S. market, the car rental specialists from down under are on their way to the top here, too. The company’s vision is a simple one: [...]

Google tightens grip on future of the travel industry – also puts startups in a tough spot

Alex Bainbridge — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 13:30:27 +0000

As entrepreneurs tasked with delivering the future, we need a simple model that we can use to evaluate opportunities and determine where we should be building technologies and functionality.

Warning: the big challenges for anyone involved in P2P tour and activity marketplaces

Alex Bainbridge — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 13:33:20 +0000

There has been plenty of coverage in recent months about the development and fate of person-to-person online marketplaces in the travel industry - not all of it particularly positive.

Dear travel industry, we desperately need more mentors for budding entrepreneurs. Thanks!

Alex Bainbridge — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 13:00:57 +0000

Building a travel startup is hard. Building a travel business is easier, but Tnooz TLabs is about startups with ambition to scale, not about creating companies that can provide an income for a team of people, but have no wider grand ambition.

If I was a digital guru at Thomas Cook…

Alex Bainbridge — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:21:12 +0000

Last week the industry and mainstream media in Europe were talking a lot about Thomas Cook. Why? Because new(ish) CEO Harriet Green has a plan to turn around the company.

Time to feed the zombie travel startups to the lions (aka The Successful Ones)

Alex Bainbridge — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:32:49 +0000

One of the larger challenges running a complex, supplier-facing business within the tours and activities sector is the competitors (all startups) that are failing.

Travel startups: ditch the consumer traction and focus on data

Alex Bainbridge — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:34:58 +0000

There has been plenty of digital inches written recently about the Series A crunch. Is it real? I don't know.

A rough guide to eight big travel industry battles

Alex Bainbridge — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:00:39 +0000

To let you spend more time schmoozing (or sleeping), here is a wry take on what is often discussed in travel industry panel debates.

Time for an economics lesson and a sprinkling of the real world over tours and activities

Alex Bainbridge — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 13:36:55 +0000

Tnooz recently featured two somewhat academic articles about the economics of peer-to-peer travel marketplaces (Article #1, Article #2).

Hanging up my BOOTs

Tim Hughes — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 23:39:00 +0000

Dear Readers - It is time for me to hang up my BOOTs.

My first posts were published in June 2006. Six years later I have more than a 1,000 stories that have been viewed 400,000+ times. I have met hundreds of people, formed scores of business contacts and dozens of close friends directly as a result of this site. I made Bloggers "blogs of note list". I have travelled to conferences across the Americas and Asia Pac talking about ideas and company gossip. And I have bored my wife with endless stories of how to travel, what to pack, what to wear and how horrible business travel can be. The writing of the BOOT was the single best thing I ever undertook for professional development.

But it is time to pause. I won't say shut down as you never know what will come next. However for now, the BOOTs need to be hung up and the posts to stop. You can still follow me on Twitter (@hughestim). Also feel free to stay in touch by email at timsboot [at] gmail.com.

I want to thank you for taking the time to read my rantings. In particular I want to thank those that have contributed through tips and comments. Finally I want to thank Madame BOOT and the anklets. One day (just maybe), I will remerge in social media under the guise of the (old) COOT (consumer of online travel). Until that time - happy travels.

Thanks to daryl_mitchell for the image via flickr

Travel Massive June 12 / FED night June 19

Tim Hughes — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 04:59:00 +0000

Two interesting and engaging events coming up in the next few weeks in Sydney.

On June 12 at Bar 333 in George St Sydney there will be TravelMassive Sydney. Details here. More background on TravelMassive here.

On June 19 I will be moderating/chairing and Fourth Estate Domain (FED) night. Two very interesting speakers at this event. John Butterworth, CEO of AIMIA and Paul Fisher, CEO of IAB. Lots to talk about around online advertising and media in Australia and elsewhere. Shelbourne Hotel cnr Sussex and Market street from 6pm. Details here.

Both will be great events. See you there.

Tour of the 787 Dreamliner with Qantas and Jetstar

Tim Hughes — Mon, 28 May 2012 01:33:00 +0000

Photo montage/essay below of my tour of the Dreamliner 787 visiting Sydney. Thanks to Qantas and Jetstar for the invite

TravelMassive - great meetup group for travel industry people

Tim Hughes — Wed, 23 May 2012 00:20:00 +0000

If you are interested in regular meet ups with travel people - then I recommend you check out TravelMassive. This is a group that organises informal networking sessions across the world to talk travel, travel tech, marketing, supply and more. I have attended half a dozen in Sydney. Each one is different and interesting based on the mix of people attending. The next one in Sydney is today (May 23). Then London, Gold Coast/Brisbane and Melbourne on Friday 25, New York on May 29. Between now and the end of June meetings are also planned for Toronto, Colorado, Milan, Vienna and Bibao. Full details here.

For more background I asked Travel Massive Co-founder Alicia Smith a few background questions on the organisation. Here is the exchange

1. when did travel massive start

Travel Massive (formerly Travel Tribe) was started in 2009 in Sydney, Australia by Ian Cumming (getflight.com) and Alicia Smith (WorldNomads.com), two newly-minted Sydneysiders looking to connect with other people in the local travel industry.

2. what's the aim

The purpose of Travel Massive is to connect people in the travel industry locally, bringing together travel brands, startups, bloggers and socially engaged travelers. From attending the Travel Massive over the past two and a half years, the one thing I have realised is that we have truly created a pocket of people, who, in an otherwise bustling, too-busy-for-thou city, opens its arms to anyone who cares to sit and have a beer, swap travel experiences and share their ideas about the travel industry.

Since we have events globally, and we know that people who attend the meetups are often on the road (for both business and pleasure), the idea is that they can drop in to a Travel Massive event in another city they may happen to visit. This serves as an instant network, a like-minded crowd, where otherwise they may be on their own.

3. how many cities

We are currently up and running in 20 cities, with a few more on the horizon. New cities tend to spring up from word of mouth, people who have visited a Travel Massive event in another city and come back to their own to start one. In the case of France, the Paris travel industry started a Travel Massive, as they couldn't let Marseilles have all the fun.

4. great anecdote about a meeting

When we first heard that two travel companies were working together, that a partnership had been formed, after meeting at a Travel Massive event - that's when we realized we had something special on our hands. Since then we have had numerous cases of travel bloggers, companies and start-ups and individuals collaborating in all of our global meet-ups. We like to think that we've created a network that is bigger than each city, but links the travel industry across the world (or at least in 20 cities). Which may just be why there's a bit of a competition going on among members, to see who has visited Travel Massive events in the most cities - I think Gregg Tilston (https://twitter.com/ greggtilston) on Flight Centre holds the current record of 5 cities.

Stuck on a plane with a violin, trombone, trumpet, recorder and a bunch of hippies - what could possibly go wrong

Tim Hughes — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:55:00 +0000

A Canadian Airlines plane is delayed on the the Lemon Bucket Orchestra pulls out their instruments and goes all folk crazy in the da house. Love this. Watch the video and enjoy

Hat Tip the Consumerist

The best trip planning sites might be those that focus on motivation, not inspiration

Alex Bainbridge — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:45:34 +0000

For many people travel is all about realising dreams, a brief respite from the daily grind of life and the chance to get inspired by places that they visit.

The BOOT live at the Fourth Estate (FED) night on online travel, daily deals, social media, search and more

Tim Hughes — Wed, 09 May 2012 05:01:00 +0000

On May 2 I was part of an interview/Q&A session at the Fourth Estate (FED) series of Sydney interviews of digital people. Video for the event is now live here. Check out the Video to see me talking about online travel, daily deals, search, social media, Apple, start ups in Australia and much more.

Is turning dreams into reality the way to solve trip inspiration?

Alex Bainbridge — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:30:30 +0000

Inspiration. An over used-word around these parts. But inspiration remains one of the final remaining challenges in online travel.

Ahoy the Pirates of Penzance [Travel Industry Disruption version]

Alex Bainbridge — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:17:44 +0000

Being called a bunch of pirates in an industry isn't as bad an insult as it sounds - especially in the context of being seen as potential disruptive forces in the travel sector.

The BOOT live in Sydney May 2 as part of FED networking event

Tim Hughes — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:17:00 +0000

If you are in Sydney on May 2, then join me at a Fourth Estate (FED) networking event at the City Hotel, 347 Kent Street Sydney from 6pm. Journalist Brad Howarth will be interviewing me and leading a Q&A as we talk through online travel, the daily deal sector, social media, search and more. Here is the official speil

"The Australian retail sector is crashing down around our ears but travel and deals are booming. Offline and On – Australian's cannot get enough of buying travel and especially travel deals. Can it last and what can other sectors learn from the explosion in growth in online travel? Tim Hughes of the BOOT and Getaway Lounge will discuss on May 2"

The event is free to attend. Register here

The Fed was conceived by Mike Walsh and Sally Mills.

BOOT Moderating panel on Social Media at 2011 WebInTravelConference

Tim Hughes — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:54:00 +0000

WIT Conference 2011 - Get Into The Groove – The Future of Social from WebInTravel on Vimeo.

Above is video of the BOOT moderating a panel at the 2011 WebInTravel conference on Social Media. Panel members included:

Kristof Roemer, EVP Sales, TrustYou, Germany;
Danny Oei Wirianto, CEO, Mindtalk, Indonesia; and
Margery Lynn, Dachis Group South-east Asia

WIT has an upcoming event in Thailand on April 27 with 23 very interesting presenters - all Women. Check out the program here and registrations here.

Hyatt Concierge Twitter Feed Hacked

Tim Hughes — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:24:00 +0000

Bad day over the weekend for the Hyatt Concierge Twitter feed. They were hacked by some weight loss spammers. Top marks to Hyatt on spotting it quickly and dealing with it appropriately. Two screen shots below. Firstly the hack and then the response. A quick google search for the text of the tweet shows that a lot of people were hacked around the same time (April 14).

The Hack

The Response

Re-reading the Groupon IPO filing - some of my favourite moments

Tim Hughes — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 03:21:00 +0000

The Groupon IPO has been a "mixed bag" to put it nicely. They floated at $20 and are currently sitting at around the $13 mark (lastest GRPN quote here). The recent earnings re-statement by Groupon prompted me to go back to Groupon's original IPO filing and read through some of the risks highlighted in that document.

This list of risks highlighted by Groupon start on page 11 and go until page 31. Here are some of my favourites. I have highlighted the best bits.

"Our management team has a limited history of working together and may not be able to execute our business plan.

Our management team has worked together for only a limited period of time and has a limited track record of executing our business plan as a team. We have recently filled a number of positions in our senior management and finance and accounting staff. Accordingly, certain key personnel have only recently assumed the duties and responsibilities they are now performing. In addition, certain of our executives have limited experience managing a large global business operation. Accordingly, it is difficult to predict whether our management team, individually and collectively, will be effective in operating our business."

and

"Our management team has limited experience managing a public company, and regulatory compliance may divert its attention from the day-to-day management of our business.

The individuals who now constitute our management team have limited experience managing a publicly-traded company and limited experience complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies. Our management team may not successfully or efficiently manage our transition to being a public company that will be subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under the federal securities laws. In particular, these new obligations will require substantial attention from our senior management and could divert their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, which could materially and adversely impact our business operations."

and

"We cannot assure you that we will be able to manage the growth of our organization effectively.

We have experienced rapid growth in demand for our services since our inception. Our employee headcount and number of subscribers have increased significantly since our inception, and we expect this growth to continue for the foreseeable future. The growth and expansion of our business and service offerings places significant demands on our management and our operational and financial resources. We are required to manage multiple relations with various merchants, subscribers, technology licensors and other third parties. In the event of further growth of our operations or in the number of our third-party relationships, our information technology systems or our internal controls and procedures may not be adequate to support our operations. To effectively manage our growth, we must continue to implement operational plans and strategies, improve and expand our infrastructure of people and information systems, and train and manage our employee base."

and last but not least

"We will have broad discretion in using our net proceeds from this offering, and the benefits from our use of the proceeds may not meet investors' expectations.

Our management will have broad discretion over the allocation of our net proceeds from this offering as well as over the timing of their use without stockholder approval. We have not yet determined how the net proceeds of this offering to be received by us that will be used, other than for working capital and other general corporate purposes. As a result, investors will be relying upon management's judgment with only limited information about our specific intentions for the use of our net proceeds from this offering. Our failure to apply these proceeds effectively could cause our business to suffer"

Win a job! Go on a trip of a lifetime (unless you are a travel blogger)

Alex Bainbridge — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:30:03 +0000

Are you bored in your job? Looking for a new challenge!? How about come and work for us for a few months, probably unpaid, but will send you on a trip of a lifetime.

Revenge, attacks and possible gaol time: just another day in the life of a start up

Tim Hughes — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 03:16:00 +0000

Have you ever used YouSendIt? I use AirDropper but have used YouSendIt in the past. Did you know that one of the founders of YouSendIt has just been convicted of computer fraud for attacking YouSendIt's servers and is facing possible gaol time? You didn't? Well, you have to check out the full story over at Inc magazine titled "A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge". Finally Game of Thrones comes to life in Silicon Valley.

thanks to gluetree for the photo via flickr

Shocker: Hotel consultant switches sides, joins TripAdvisor foe

Dennis Schaal — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Now some will say he is really RockCheating.

In some travel tech news that will undoubtedly roil the hotel and travel-tech industries, hotel consultant Robert K. Cole of RockCheetah has abandoned his business -- and some would say his sanity -- and been hired as senior executive vice president emeritus, Hotel Monetization, Western World, for CheckChex.

CheckChex is an infamous reputation management firm, based in the Euro zone and on the Pacific Rim, which infamously has been a thorn in the side of hotel review site TripAdvisor and been on its case over CheckChex's unsubstantiated charges about an avalanche of fake reviews.

CheckChex's most notable accomplishment to date is that it has managed to coax EU authorities to deliver a slap on the wrist to TripAdvisor over trustworthiness boasts that TripAdvisor had abandoned months earlier.

So why is the Cole hiring such a shocker?

Cole has been a strong supporter of TripAdvisor and is on record as saying that its CEO, Steve Kaufer, is the smartest bloke in the travel industry. [You see Cole has just been hired and the American already is awkwardly and somewhat pathetically trying to speak Brit.]

Despite his support of the hotel review site, however, Cole has authored compelling investigative posts on the lengths that black-hat fake review factories will go to in order to slam competitors and he's unearthed many of their tricks.

So what compelled Cole to hitch his Lamborghini to CheckChex?

In an exclusive and insightful interview, Cole answered in a word.

"Boredom," Cole says.

Boredom?

Yes, Cole has reportedly grown bored with all of his sleuthing and investigative labors, especially his work on the best and least-read treatise (7,153 words) on the online travel agency hotel tax issue, Bathing in the Hotel Merchant Tax Quagmire.

Legions of Cole's blog and Twitter followers, as well as his erstwhile hotel clients, grew bored with the tome, too.

So Cole has thrown in the hotel towel and is tithing his fate and paychecks with CheckChex.

He is already in London today, April 1, which is April Fool's Day and a Sunday, not a work day in the UK.

The CheckChex press conference announcing its "get" of Cole is tentatively scheduled for April 2, pending the securing of a field house, Tim Tebow-like, for the press conference.

For the now-landmark "boredom" interview, Cole was reached at Hotel 41, in the shadows of Buckingham Palace. He is staying at the 5-star property in anticipation of the press conference, and may drop in on the Queen to see if she is in the market for some reputation management.

Why did Cole select Hotel 41?

"TripAdvisor hotel reviews," Cole replies smoothly.

Shhh. Don't tell CheckChex.

Tnooz post: four Australian start-ups revolutionising travel search

Tim Hughes — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:26:00 +0000

We are 15 years into the online travel revolution and travel search is still in its infancy. In a post over at Tnooz I discuss four Australian based start-ups trying to recreate the travel search experience. Check it out

"The future of travel search lies on a Silicon Beach (not in a Valley)".

Profiled in the piece are the following start-ups. Click on the links for detailed Q&A profiles

Adioso - natural language search;
Getflight - sale fare search;
Flightfox - human powered air search; and
Rome2Rio - door to door search.

Scoot - new airline, still a lot of SEO work to do

Tim Hughes — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 05:59:00 +0000

Scoot is the new (mid to) low cost carrier coming out of Singapore. They launched sales yesterday and have just commenced the first push in Australia with a sale for departures in June and October. Unfortunately they have not prepped properly for their launch. Have a look at the below Google search results for keyword Scoot. Lots of code in their ranking and Jetstar news article in number two. Gentle (if not firm) reminder how important it is to get SEO right at any time but particularly before a launch.

PS - they also need to get their twitter planned sorted out. @scootariline is not them and neither by any stretch is @flyscoot

Australian Search Start ups profiles

Tim Hughes — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:12:00 +0000

The next below four posts are profiles of 4 Australian based start-ups working to revolutionise the way travel search is undertaken. These posts are a prelude to a story I have written on Tnooz that will go live next week.

Getflight profile: exchange with Getflight founder Ian Cumming

Tim Hughes — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 22:58:00 +0000

Below is a Q&A exchange with Getflight.com.au founder Ian Cumming (pictured here on stage at WebInTravel). This is an instalment in my profile series on Australian travel search start-ups.

BOOT: Date founded

Cumming: January 2011

BOOT: Name of founders

Cumming: Ian Cumming

BOOT: Name of backers/investors

Cumming: Timothy O'Neil-Dunne (t2impact), Gill Hazel (travel industry advisor), Don Takaya (PR and media relations)

BOOT: How much money have you raised

Cumming: None.

BOOT: Description of the business

Cumming: Multi-channel distribution of sale airfares across web, social and email.

BOOT: What is the revenue model

Cumming: On the B2C side - Affiliate advertising (hotels, tours, car hire), and on the B2B side - Licensing of a white-label solution.

BOOT: Any success metrics you are happy to share (traffic levels, customer numbers, revenue numbers, number of searches)

Cumming: 8,723 alert subscriptions, 52,597 deals found, 268,652 deal alerts sent, 70,972 unique visitors, 47,935 searches to airline websites.

BOOT: Something you learnt along the way

Cumming: Online distribution of airfares is complex and innovation is in a stale-mate with the conversion rate.

BOOT: Something you wish you had done differently in launching a business

Cumming: Launched in an emerging market.

BOOT: What's next for the business. What are you working on that is exciting

Cumming: We are focused on developing a licensing model which allows OTAs to re-brand and integrate the GetFlight technology platform to increase distribution of their inventory and increase user engagement.

BOOT: Favourite non-travel website

Cumming:: readwriteweb.com

Flightfox profile: exchange with Flightfox founder Todd Sullivan

Tim Hughes — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 22:55:00 +0000

Below is a Q&A exchange with Flightfox.com founder Todd Sullivan (pictured here right on Mt Kilimanjaro with co-founder Lauren McLeod ). This is an instalment in my profile series on Australian travel search start-ups.

BOOT: Date founded

Sullivan: January 2012

BOOT: Name of founders

Sullivan: Todd Sullivan, Lauren McLeod

BOOT: Name of backers/investors

Sullivan: Startmate Startup Accelerator

BOOT: How much money have you raised

Sullivan: $25k to fund proof of concept

BOOT: Description of the business

Sullivan: Flightfox is human-powered flight search; we use humans to beat machines. For a finder's fee, flight experts all over the world compete against each other to find you the best flights. Unlike most flight search engines (and travel agents), our experts search all the major airlines, budget airlines, special offers, newsletters, forums, and frequent flyer programmes. They use their many years of flight "hacking" experience to route you through the best cities, get you on the best flights, and save you as much money as possible.

BOOT: What is the revenue model

Sullivan: We take a cut of the finder's fee, but with future investment we'll also generate commissions on flight bookings.

BOOT: Some examples of savings and interesting routings that people have comp up

Sullivan: Our most unusual trip was for a customer travelling with 3 cats. Of course, Expedia and Kayak don't cater to cats, and most travel agents will direct you to the airlines, but on Flightfox, our experts had experience travelling with pets and knew all the tips and tricks. For example, there are strict regulations regarding weather; in winter, many airlines restrict travel for pets. In terms of savings, we've saved people over $5,000 on complicated and premium class trips. Even on short domestic trips, our customers offload the searching to us and have peace of mind that our experts have found you the best price. On our average trip, which visits a few cities internationally, we save customers 27%.

BOOT: Any success metrics you are happy to share (traffic levels, customer numbers, revenue numbers, number of searches)

Sullivan: 5,000+ users and over $30,000 in finder's fees, all in our first 8 weeks since launching our beta product.

BOOT: Something you learnt along the way

Sullivan: Firstly, Startmate is the best decision we ever made. The pace at which we iterate and the access to successful mentors, seems to make start-up success so much more likely. Our other big lessons are all to do with marketplaces. But we're only a few weeks in, so I imagine we've barely scratched the surface.

BOOT: Something you wish you had done differently in launching a business

Sullivan: we'd learned many lessons from a previous travel start-up, so there's nothing significant this time. For example, this time we spent no effort on logos, business cards, company registration, SEO, social media, etc, until we'd proven the concept and had confidence in its sustainability.

BOOT: What's next for the business.

Sullivan: What are you working on that is exciting - we're currently raising a seed round of investment to catapult our growth. We don't necessarily need investment, but we have big plans and want to make the most of the opportunity. Specifically, we have a plan to multiply revenue per customer, but for that we need investment. We have pitch days in Melbourne (27th March), Sydney (30th March), then San Francisco (3rd April) and New York (17th April). Investors are more than welcome to contact us for more info.

BOOT: Favourite non-travel website

Sullivan: 99Designs.com

Adioso profile: exchange with Adioso founder Tom Howard

Tim Hughes — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 22:52:00 +0000

Here is a Q&A exchange with Adioso founder Tom Howard (pictured right with co-founder Fenn Bailey). This is an instalment in my profile series on Australian travel search start-ups.

BOOT: Date founded

Howard: January 2008

BOOT: Name of founders

Howard: Tom Howard and Fenn Bailey

Both of Melbourne, Australia

BOOT: Name of backers/investors

Y Combinator, Paul Buchheit (Gmail, Friendfeed, Facebook), Alexis Ohanian (Reddit, Hipmunk), Stephen Bartlett-Bragg (Qantas, Sabre, EB2) and a handful of other investors from Australia & Silicon Valley

BOOT:How much money have you raised

Howard: $380,000

BOOT: Description of the business

Howard: Adioso is a travel search & discovery site that allows you to:

- search without constraints on dates & destinations ("Sydney to South East Asia late May", or "Brisbane to anywhere under $400")

- 'follow" destinations and search phrases to receive alerts as soon as new inventory is found that matches your interests and budget

BOOT: What is the revenue model

Howard: Initially, commissions on transactions facilitated via the site.

Later, services to airlines and suppliers.

BOOT: Any success metrics you are happy to share (traffic levels, customer numbers, revenue numbers, number of searches)

Howard: We don't consider our traffic particularly boast-worthy at this stage, but our we're approaching 100K visits/month, and we refer about $2million/month in leads to airlines. We're expecting much more rapid growth in coming months once we start rolling out the new features we have in the pipeline.

Our favourite stats are:

- Avg session is > 8 minutes

- Average active visitor worth >$45 in referred airline revenue

- Our user-satisfaction survey told us that 95% of visitors would be at least somewhat disappointed if we didn't exist; 50% of those said they'd be very disappointed.

BOOT: Something you learnt along the way

Howard Travel's an awfully tough business for start-ups as you're up against decades-old technology and business practices. But if you can persist long enough to find a way through, the opportunities are vast and exciting.

BOOT: Something you wish you had done differently in launching a business

Howard: Though a lot has gone wrong, I wouldn't wish it to be any different. We'd be better off if we hadn't taken so long to get our back-end technology working properly, and sometimes I lament the 12-18 months we've been delayed due to going about that the wrong way.

But because of that challenge we've been forced to learn so much more about the fundamentals of the travel industry and of building a great company, and have had to do it on a shoestring budget, so overall we're much better off,

BOOT: What's next for the business. What are you working on that is exciting Howard: Just last week we turned on the new version of our site UI. It doesn't actually have any major functionality over the previous version, but it gives us a platform to start doing a lot more cool stuff.

We're in the process of finishing our new search platform, that will enable us to scale to handle global airline inventory, including full-service carriers via GDSs (to-date we've been limited to low-cost airlines).

We've been trialling a hotel search feature, using HotelsCombined and Airbnb as suppliers, and we'll soon be adding this into the new version of the app.

We've also been trialling our "following" feature, that allows people to subscribe to alerts on destinations, flights, hotels and activities that are of interest, and get highly focused notifications when relevant products and deals become available.

Finally, we've conceived a new approach to browsing, sorting and filtering search results, that is testing very well with users.

We're gearing up to start rolling out these features steadily over the next few months. We're pretty excited to get it all out there.

BOOT: Favourite non-travel website

Howard: HackerNews

BOOT: Where did your name come from

Howard: It was on a brainstorming list that Fenn came up with. "Adios!" seemed to nicely represent the idea of finding a cheap flight to an exotic destination and spontaneously taking off out of town.

We wanted something that was short, had the .com available, and wasn't overly literal like so many travel product names. Most of the discarded options were things like "Save-o-flight". I'm so glad we didn't go with something like that, and I'm surprised even today how many travel start-ups have these kinds of name

Rome2Rio profile: exchange with Rome2Rio founder Michael Cameron

Tim Hughes — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 22:44:00 +0000

Below is a Q&A exchange with Rome2Rio founder Michael Cameron (pictured left with co-founder Bernie Tschirren). This is an instalment in my profile series on Australian travel search start-ups.

BOOT: Date founded

Cameron: September 2011

BOOT: Name of founders

Cameron: Michael Cameron and Bernie Tschirren

BOOT: Name of backers/investors

Cameron: None to date

BOOT: How much money have you raised

Cameron: Nothing, so far we are bootstrapped.

BOOT: Description of the business

Cameron: Rome2rio is a platform for organizing and searching the world's travel information. We have built a unique repository of train, bus, ferry and air routes across the globe. Users of the site can discover how to get to any city, town, or landmark - rome2rio will show several alternatives routes by air, rail, bus, boat and car.

BOOT: What is the revenue model

Cameron: Our consumer site makes revenue through hotel and rental car commissions. We also receive revenue from airline and transport provider affiliate programs. Going forward, we also aim to make revenue through partnerships licensing rome2rio's search technology and transport repository.

BOOT: Any success metrics you are happy to share (traffic levels, customer numbers, revenue numbers, number of searches)

Cameron: In January we recorded our 1 millionth query, and broke 120,000 unique users for the month. We marked this milestone with a blog post.

Something you learnt along the way

We've been surprised by the popularity of rome2rio in India; rome2rio has received more Indian visitors than visitors from any other one country. We believe this is due to a number of factors, including a burgeoning middle class and popularity of rail travel in the subcontinent. Also, rome2rio so far has received most of its visitors from English speaking countries, so we have started work on translating the site.

BOOT: Something you wish you had done differently in launching a business

Cameron: So far, on the whole, we're happy with the approach we've taken to launching rome2rio. We launched the site early, with a minimum viable product, and used lean start-up principles to iterate and refine the product. As the product has developed and gained traction with users, we've now started to focus on the business model.

BOOT: What's next for the business. What are you working on that is exciting

Cameron: We're continuing to add more transport to the site. We recently added trains in Japan and Sri Lanka. Coverage in Australia has been expanded too. We almost have complete rail coverage, so we'll be focusing on adding more bus and ferry routes this year. We also plan to add support for building complex, multi-hop itineraries; a feature that has been requested by several users.

BOOT: Favourite non-travel website

Cameron: Who can go past the amazing digital resource of Wikipedia?

Tingo.com: Orbitz Price Assurance + Expedia Inventory = Bingo?

Hudson Crossing — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:56:00 +0000

Tripadvisor launched a new online hotel booking site today: Tingo.com. Dont look for it (yet) on the Tripadvisor site however - not even as a search comparison option.

Tingo takes a little bit from Expedia (hotel inventory), a little bit from Orbitz (Price Assurance) and combines them into what is pitched as a new offering where consumers "just can't lose"

After a consumer books, Tingo continues to monitor the price of the booking to determine if the price has dropped. As many insiders know, hotels often actually drop rates as the departure date nears when demand fails to materialize. Yes, they raise rates too, but that isnt the issue if you have already booked. If Tingo finds the price has dropped, they rebook the room at the new price and refund the difference back to the hotel guest. Sound familiar?

Similar services exist today for air - Yapta anyone? Tripit Pro offers a similar feature for air. And Orbitz offers Price Assurance for hotels (and air) where they refund the difference if the price drops. Orbitz Price Assurance, however, requires another consumer to actually book the exact same stay (or airline ticket) for the refund to kick-in. Tingo promises the refund no matter what - back to "you just can't lose"

or can you?

Given Tingo offers hotel inventory only from Expedia (dig deep into the Ts&Cs for that) vs. a meta search model - this looks like just a slightly better place to buy a room from Expedia. And that is if you don't value Expedia Rewards....

Guestmob: A New Level of Stupidity for Hoteliers?

Hudson Crossing — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:19:00 +0000

This morning, we saw a FB posting from a good friend about a new website, Guestmob.com. Guestmob claims to offer prices "20-50%" lower than Kayak by pitting hotels "against each other for the right to fill empty hotel rooms"

Consumers enter the site and pick a destination and dates par usual, and then offered a selection of hotels grouped by star quality and neighborhood. Sound familiar to Hotwire or Priceline? Yes, except the hotel name and brands are exposed. As are the retail prices for these hotels.

Next, a consumer selects the area and star level they want to stay in and is taken to a confirmation page showing the selection of hotels that Guestmob will later solicit (like a mini RFP) for the consumer's stay:

3 days before arrival, Guestmob lets the consumer know which hotel has "decided" to let them stay.

Hoteliers: downward rate spiral, anyone? Haven't we seen this movie?

Lets dive a little deeper, however...

First, we doubt that all of these hotels are actually participating in this platform. We kinda doubt that the distribution hawks over at Marriott have embraced a less opaque version of Priceline when they don't even participate in Hotwire. As for the other brands listed throughout the site, good for Guestmob if they have really signed up these chains but we think they are probably shills.

Second, Guestmob is listing competing OTAs and their "pricing." We imagine that the OTAs will probably find this rather distasteful for obvious reasons.

Finally, for hotels that actually are participating in Guestmob, I ask one question: WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

Hotels have been complaining for years about OTA margins and the lack of consumer brand loyalty. Opaque sales are an important revenue management tool but no one in the industry is particularly excited about growing the segment.

And yet, we still have hoteliers who apparently are seemingly not bothered by ANY of these issues and are willing to give street cred to what may be a very destructive model. Wow.

Where to find 130+ travel APIs including Expedia, Kayak and Hotelscombined

Tim Hughes — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:58:00 +0000

A typical email to me from a start up founder will go something like this

"Dear BOOT

Where can I access lots of information on APIs from travel companies. Building out all the data is really expensive. Are there any short cuts? Any indexes to travel APIs?"

Until now I have had replied with muted answers and near consultant babble speech about places to look and people to speak too.

But now I may have a better answer. This morning I came across a directory of 134 Travel APIs care of Programmable Web

thanks to thesmith on flickr for the photo

Three New Free Travel Apps

Donna M. Airoldi — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:02:19 +0000

There seems to be no slowing down in the desire for travel companies to launch (or reboot) applications for a population that’s increasingly tuned into mobile devices. Here’s a look a three new free travel apps that have hit the market in recent weeks.

IHG to Launch Wellness-Themed Hotel Brand EVEN

maggierauch — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:57:28 +0000

For all those who blame travel for their tendency to fall in and out of a healthy routine, Atlanta-based InterContinental Hotels Group is launching a new brand for the U.S. market that aims to eliminate that excuse.

Seat Review: Qantas A380 International Economy Class

Tim Hughes — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:15:00 +0000

I have reviewed Qantas long haul economy before but recently had my first chance to try out the new(ish) A380 version of economy class. I have long held the view that the A380 is just another plane and not deserving of the hype and theatre that accompanied its launch. Sure it is a lot quieter than other aircraft but it is still just a box in the sky with customers doing whatever they can to get through the next 24 hours tightly packed with 500 other souls. That said, Qantas have taken the time with this new aircraft to revamp their very good economy class product. Unfortunately, in classic Qantas fashion there are parts of the product that fall a long way short of the promise of the marketing. But on the whole the BOOT was very happy with the experience. The BOOT rating for Qantas International. Economy on the A380 is 4.5 stars out of 6 or "Great Seat". Here is the detailed review
Getting on Board	Score 0.5
I may have lost Platinum status (call me Ivanka) but I am still Gold meaning I can enjoy premium check in either when in economy. Oddly there were only two premium counters in operation in Singapore when I was checking in. Meant that even though my status should provide boarding benefits above the normal economy experience, I spent a more than usual amount of time waiting to be checked in. The delays were extended at the gate where there was poor demarcation between premium and non-premium boarding queue. This made for a delayed and close to disorganised boarding process. If boarding for an economy class passenger with high status is confusing and slow, we can safely assume that for regular economy class customers there are still a lot of kinks and improvements for Qantas to make in boarding this large aircraft quickly and efficiently. My status also affords me business class lounge access. The Qantas Business Class Lounge in Singapore has all that is needed in areas of space, quiet and Wi-Fi. There is plenty of room such that an A380 full of people on status does not overcrowd the lounge. The seating and facilities allowed for all that is needed to get comfortable, connect to power and get to work. However the food and drink selection left a lot to be desired. Only a limited selection of drinks, some cheese and crackers and poor selection of tea and coffee (Ivanka I really do miss you) . I have seen better food selection in the Qantas lounge at terminal 2 at Sydney domestic (the backup lounge at Sydney domestic in the Virgin dominated terminal).
The Seat	Score 1.0
By design I was a long way down the back of the bus - row 80. Top tier flyers at Qantas can no longer rely on being assigned exit seats. Qantas how charge $80 for access to an exit row. I am 185cm so paid the extra money. The leg room improvements from the exit row are substantial and for a business traveller worth the extra costs. But there are also some clear downsides to the exit row. You need to measure the gains in leg room over the losses in video access and a narrower seat. With no seat in front of you, there needs to be more in the arm rests. Having the video screen and tray table in the arm rest reduces the width of the seat meaning that some of the gains in leg inches are lost in the width. I found myself in a bank of four seats 80D-G with three other large businessmen. All of us had paid the extra money for the exit precisely because we were larger than the average traveller. Four bigger guys in four narrower seats is not as uncomfortable as four bigger guys in four seats with cramped leg room but it does make for a very tight elbow experience (making eating and computer usage a cirque de solei like contortionist experience). The other disadvantage is that while Qantas has finally made the upgrade necessary to launch their entertainment system prior to take off, with the video screens in the arm rest exit row passengers need to wait an extra 30 minutes until the plane is in the air. The Seat itself has some nice touches. It has a twin recline movement. As the head-rest goes backwards the seat of the seat slides out. Means that while the backwards recline is on par with one's expectations of an economy seat (ie not much), the effect of the seat sliding forward is a much more comfortable and perceptively deeper recline. Last comment - it may just be an issue for the exit row, but the tray table sat oddly against the video screen when both were open. Left me with my hand permanently on any drink when I was watching a movie with the tray table fully open for fear that glasses on the table were not stable enough
The Service	Score 1.0
The crew on this flight were in a good mood and this translated into good service. They were particularly helpful to me in agreeing to hang up my suit bag. I like to carry a suite and a couple of shirts onto the plane in a suit bag. If I can hang this up for the flight it dramatically reduces the need for ironing at my destinations. Staff on this flight were kind enough to hang up my bag in the business class coat area.
The Food	Score 0.5
Qantas continue to deliver in the food area. They provide the best economy food in the sky. A complaint in past reviews has been around out of meal service request for food and drink being handled badly by QF staff. I have found this in business, economy and premium economy of Qantas. If I press the call button and ask a crew member for something to eat or drink outside of a particular service, then Qantas staff often respond with a face that says "can't you see I am resting here" rather than one that says "welcome to the new spirit". Qantas have tried to compensate for this with their new economy class galley/bar area. The fancy flash A380 sales piece on Qantas.com talks of a self-service bar area filled with fruit, ice-creams, snacks and more. The reality is another Qantas promise to reality crash landing. On my flight there were four different cans of soft drink and two types of cookie. Hot drinks were not on display. A very limited selection tucked right and the back of the plane. Not worth the walk.
The Entertainment	Score 1.0
The area of biggest improvement across all Qantas classes in the last two years has been in their entertainment system. Four big improvements. Firstly the screen is a massive size and is clear. I used to squint looking at Qantas screens from the size and from the darkness. With old screens I was leaning forward and pressing the brightness button constantly wishing it went to a brightness setting of 11 to finally realise that watching movies with night time scenes was just a waste of time on Qantas flights. Now the screen is big enough and the resolution good enough that these problems have gone away. Secondly the system is faster. On some Qantas flights I felt like I was watching the interstitial "Q" symbol as much as I watched movies. Now loading times have dramatically increased and programs start almost immediately. Thirdly the audio. Qantas have not stumped up for noise cancelling headsets in economy but they have put in a very nice sound feature. When the entertainment is interrupted by a PA announcement, the volume through entertainment system goes down. This means that movies are interrupted by a quiet word from the captain rather than an ear splitting and brain shattering scream about reaching 35,000ft (I assume this is a deliberate feature). Finally they have a easy to find "kids button". A one push that opens up all of the kids entertainment options. A little touch that spares parents from the shuffle around every 30-90 minutes to help their charges navigate through all the explosions, rom coms and episodes of Top Gear and find the demanded Pixar, Dora and smurfs that children prefer.
BOOT Factor	Score 0.5
There is something really strange about plane design when it comes to the simple things. In the non-plane world we have fantastic designs for simple things like taps and seatbelts. With taps you can turn them on, wash your hands, then turn them off. With seatbelts, everyone from age 5 and up can put on a car seatbelt without the need for a detailed in car instructional video. But on planes these designs gains in the ground-based world were forgotten. Taps need three hands. One to push the buttons and two to be washed. Seatbelts need instructional videos and roving staff to help. Qantas have changed all this. In a hardly revolutionary but very welcome move they have taps that can be used to wash hands easily and a seatbelt that looks and works like a car seat belt. Previous BOOT factors have been much more glamorous than taps and belts but in the airline world sometimes the simple things need a special mention
Final Score	4.5 - Great Seat
Details and scoring system for airline seat reviews Thanks to Tim Riley via Flickr for the photo

Exciting News – Uptake joins Groupon

Yen Lee — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:17:53 +0000

Uptake has been acquired by Groupon! We had been watching Groupon for some time, and admire how they created a powerful new business model, assembled a world-class team, helped consumers discover deals with increasingly tailored recommendations, and saw global, record-shattering growth along the way. Today, we’re delighted to announce that Uptake is now a part [...]

Nasty Viral: American Airlines Flight Attendant Spins YouTube Hits Into Petition

maggierauch — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:27:29 +0000

What began as some bad YouTube publicity for American Airlines is growing into an employee-led drive for change in brand positioning and corporate leadership at the legacy carrier.

Planning a Presidential Road Trip

maggierauch — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:19:47 +0000

If you’re taking a road trip this holiday weekend, and want to work in some detours to some presidential landmarks in honor of Presidents’ Day… There’s an app for that from RoadsideAmerica.com.

Views from a Corner Suite Blog Fountain

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Continued growth did not depend on IPO, says On The Beach's Cooper

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Amazon's Dash Buttons: Smarter Than They Seem

Hotel Lawyer on EB-5 developments? What’s happening with EB-5 renewal legislation?

Beyond Language & Payments: Website Localization Must-Haves For Global eCommerce

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FCC says blocking FCC-approved Wi-Fi hotspots is “patently illegal” and imposes $750,000 fine on Smart City.

What every hotel owner (and operator) needs to know about “data security” after the Wyndham Worldwide case

How Will You Communicate With Your Customers If They Don't Read Email?

European Cross-Channel Retail Sales Forecast, 2015 To 2020: Measuring The Influence Of Your Digital Assets Offline

The Cross-Border eCommerce Opportunity Unfolds

Millennial Shopping Experience Series: A Stroll Down Fifth Ave: Digital? Yes. Helpful? Not so much.

Which Banks Lead In Mobile: Forrester Benchmarks 41 Providers Around The World

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Digital Storefronts Give Way To In-Store Experiences

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How to make your company the most awesome place to work. #EVAR!!!

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Don’t Buy Into “Buy Buttons” Just Yet

It's Here...The Forrester Wave: B2B Commerce Suites, Q2 2015

Amazon And The Rise Of eCommerce In Mexico

Announcing Forrester’s 2015 B2B Commerce Suites Wave

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Video: Bill Sipple of HVS Capital discusses hospitality market activity and interest rates – 2015 Hotel Investment and Finance Opportunities

Video: Jack Westergom of Manhattan Hospitality Advisors discusses hotel operating agreements and asset management – 2015 Hotel Investment and Finance Opportunities

Which Bank Has Emerged Top In Forrester’s 2015 Singapore Mobile Banking Functionality Benchmark?

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City of Los Angeles v. Patel — US Supreme Court voids LA ordinance requiring hotel operators to turn over guest records on demand

Video: Vail Brown of STR talks about all-time highs in hotel supply growth, occupancies, and other metrics – 2015 Hotel Investment and Finance Opportunities

Online Retailers Go In Pursuit Of Europe's Valuable Cross-Border Consumers Worth €40 Billion By 2018

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Video: Deric Eubanks of Ashford Hospitality Trust talks about the hottest hospitality segments for investors – 2015 Hotel Investment and Finance Opportunities

How consumers choose a destination – an untapped opportunity for travel startups?

Travel startups: Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight

What if travel startup success was judged like art or music (rather than big bucks)

Pivotal moments in 2014 – when digital travel finally matured

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OTA vs metasearch power struggle – Big Data could be a deciding (not boring) factor

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George Washington BridgeGate: 5 Reasons Iowa Should Seize Control of the George Washington Bridge

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Hanging up my BOOTs

Travel Massive June 12 / FED night June 19

Tour of the 787 Dreamliner with Qantas and Jetstar

TravelMassive - great meetup group for travel industry people

Stuck on a plane with a violin, trombone, trumpet, recorder and a bunch of hippies - what could possibly go wrong