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….
This is a roundup for product news and announcements for travel systems in tourism and hospitality for January 2017. Friday 6 January 2016: VIA introduces cash-on-delivery system The online travel agency will now allow travellers to make a booking for a flight and then pay in cash at any…
There is a scene in the movie Brazil, a Terry Gilliam film, in which one of the characters gets killed by an overabundance of paperwork. Papers begin sticking to him, ultimately covering him from head to toe, and eventually taking his life. While this is a very extreme example…
Founded last year, Survaider wants to help hotels and other hospitality view and act upon customer comments across social media, email, phone calls and feedback forms. The idea is to aggregate all of the interactions in one place and in real time enabling hospitality businesses to communicate with customers, highlight common…
Much-hyped concepts “wearable tech” and “internet of things” may soon become practical realities for tens of thousands of travelers, as the cruise industry makes a massive investment in sensor-based technology and data analytics. In November 2017, the Princess Cruises’ ship Regal Princess will debut wearable technology for guests. Some analysts believe this…