Last year, my co-founder and I launched Hello Scout to help hotels get more TripAdvisor reviews via an SMS concierge service. We’d signed up some great beta partners and built out a product that we were proud of. Now we just needed to get the word out. But as…
Honda is the latest automotive manufacturer to get involved in the ride-hailing sector, taking an equity stake as part of a wider strategic partnership with Southeast Asia’s Grab. Grab, formely GrabTaxi, claims to be the “largest transportation network and highest frequency mobile internet transaction platform in Southeast Asia.” The…
Many of the digital forces that have impacted on the travel industry in recent years have come from internal changes. Consider trends such as consolidation, meta-booking, the evolution of distribution models – each have been as a result of elements within the industry itself. But perhaps some of the most…
High quality hotel visuals increase bookings – that should be enough of an incentive for hotel marketers to create and distribute great visuals, right? But if you’re the type of person who needs more reasons and validation, then the list below should deliver. NB: This is an analysis by…
Sabre Labs has launched its first-ever Emerging Technologies in Travel report, identifying the three megatrends it believes will dominate the travel tech landscape in 2017. The megatrends are connected intelligence, conversational interfaces and digital reality. And there are six specific technologies driving one or more of the megatrends: augmented…
If you’re looking for customer loyalty, you won’t find much of it in the travel industry. NB: This is a viewpoint by Deren Baker, CEO of Jumpshot. While 74% of business travelers claim to prefer booking travel through one platform, only 34% actually do. To establish loyalty in a…
Ctrip bought Skyscanner for $1.75 billion in November, in what will undoubtedly be one of the biggest acquisitions to be announced in travel tech during 2016. Such deals do not come together without a lot of hard work, stealthy activity and soul-searching, whilst still maintaining a business-as-usual face both internally…
Analysts appear to be toasting the prospect of trading on Trivago with fairly hefty glasses Mulled Wine, ahead of its recently announced decision to IPO. The Germany-based hotel search engine intends to place itself on NASDAQ in the US under the TRVG symbol. The offering size, according to documents…
European travel giant TUI Group continues to increase the proportion of holiday bookings made online in all its major markets other than Germany. In the year to end-Sept16, 43% of bookings across the group were made online, a 2% increase on the previous year. Specifically, online accounted for 58%…
Blockchain technology is in its infancy, but it’s clear that it will change many industries in radical ways. The most brilliant minds of our time are trying to understand all the implications, but it will take some time. NB: This is a viewpoint by Maksim Izmaylov, founder and CEO…