Travel advertisers are now the second biggest spenders in the UK on online banner and video ads, splashing out over £350 million annually. However, they’re wasting about 42% of this – £150 million – on ads that never have the chance to be seen in the first place. So,…
Jenny Wu, who has been in charge of Ctrip‘s investments over the past few years as its chief strategy officer, is joining the new investment fund from Baidu. The Chinese search engine, launched Baidu Capital last month. The fund has a $3 billion war chest to invest in growth…
Thomson is claiming a first with the launch of its virtual assistant using IBM’s Cloud platform and Watson technology. The travel search service will enable customers to get immediate responses on suggestions for holiday destinations and experiences. The tour operator says it’s trialling the tool, which uses natural language,…
Ryanair has axed an agreement with Momondo to legitimately display its fares, claiming a breach of the contract between the pair. The European low-cost carrier says Momondo is displaying its fares and then linking to online travel agencies such as Opodo, which it is in dispute with over screenscraping and…
Two trends are driving the travel industry right now, and they represent a great opportunity for travel insurance brands. One, more people are travelling more often, and two, more travellers are considering trip protection. NB This is a viewpoint by Beth Godlin, president, Aon Affinity Travel Practice. When it…
Imagine what would happen if a member of your staff blatantly ignored guests at the front desk who wanted to discuss their hotel stay. What if this employee promptly deleted emails with guest feedback or hung up on anyone who called in a complaint? You would probably fire them….
Such is the desire to stay connected as much as possible these days, travellers will go so far as to only select products based on their ability to provide wifi. Countless studies have shown that wifi has become as important a consideration for hotel guests in recent years as…
WeSwap, the currency swapping service, has raised just over £2.4 million through a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. The peer-to-peer service, startup pitch here, raised the funds with 2,961 people investing in it – a record for an independent business on a UK crowdfunding platform. WeSwap plans to expand its…
Travel recommendation platform Gogobot rebranded last week as Trip.com and added several new tools that it believes will enable it to outwit larger efforts at in-destination and “in-country” tourism by Google, with its new Trips app, and Airbnb, with its new “experiences” effort. A geeky question, first: How did…
“Instant Gratification 2.0” is how the Priceline Group is defining how tech will influence travellers as they look for and interact with travel brands. The industry powerhouse behind companies such as Booking.com and Kayak reckons one of the key trends to affect the consumer landscape over the course of the…