The travel journey begins long before the bags are packed. It starts when a traveler selects where to go from the abundance of destination choices across the globe. But how do they decide where to go? NB: This is a viewpoint by Wendy Olson Killion, global senior director for…
Lufthansa has been developing a number of prototypes aimed at improving the customer experience at the booking stage, as well as the airport. The developments are part of the carrier’s SMILE program, unveiled two years ago to help Lufthansa focus on personalising the passenger experience. One prototype is being carried…
Carlson Wagonlit Travel will close its Worldmate mobile itinerary management service, four years after acquiring the company in a $20 million deal. The app stopped taking bookings for hotels and running its loyalty membership programme on January 1 this year and it will be taken off the Google and Apple stores…
What better way to get the attention of potential visitors to a destination than when they are stuck behind a wheel in road traffic, at one of London’s busy junctions? Sure, outdoor ads have been sited next to such hotspots all around the world for decades. But what if…
Hotels.com is teaming up with a myriad of companies to help power a new mobile app that it hopes will be everything a traveller needs once they arrive on a trip. Ignoring the fact that many of its hotel partners will probably be trying to offer the same time of service,…
In the rapidly growing ecommerce market, high-friction and time-consuming identity verification processes can have a significant impact on customer acquisition and retention rates. NB: This is a viewpoint by Abigail Singer, marketing at Riskified. Airlines and online travel agencies (OTAs) face the precarious balancing act of protecting revenue from…
Venere – the European hotel site once considered to be a part of Expedia’s attempt to counter the rise of Booking.com – is no more. Expedia Inc confirmed earlier reports into its demise, saying the brand has “faced a number of headwinds” and therefore a decision had been made to close the…
Finding the balance between form and function on the hotel dotcom, personalisation of marketing campaigns and the threat of Airbnb are among the issues hoteliers need to address in 2017 in order to attract more direct bookings. NB: This is a viewpoint by Max Starkov, president & CEO, and…
Virtual reality videos in travel, until now, have mostly focused on allowing users to experience a 360-degree view of a product or destination. Although the functionality can often be pretty good, where the camera goes is usually pre-set and the direction is what the user controls with a headset….
VirtualTourist, one of the first brands focused on providing online guides to travellers, is being axed by its parent company. TripAdvisor subsidiary Smarter Travel Media, home to a number of high-profile content sites, will turn off the lights to VirtualTourist during the latter stages of the first quarter of 2017….