This week innovation in the travel industry was addressed in a number of posts here on Connect. The debate has started about whether there is a lack of it or not when it comes to functionality and features improving the customer experience during the trip planning and research phase and how often confusing pricing models and hidden fees affect consumer perceptions and the experience of travel websites. The...
The effect of the economic downturn on the U.S. corporate travel industry has been significant with a 15% drop forecast by PhoCusWright in its recently published U.S. Corporate Travel Distribution Fourth Edition report. This will result in a market size well below the $ 100 billion mark it exceeded in 2008. A further 3% decline is predicted for 2010 with growth only returning in 2011. It will take...
There have been a number of recent articles in the mainstream media about the lack of innovation in online travel, at least the perception that there is none by the leading online travel agencies. The customer experience is variously called frustrating, tedious, confusing and overly time consuming. One result of this criticism has been the renewed prediction of a renaissance for travel agents as the...
Is not exactly the title of an MSNBC.com article providing very useful hints to travelers when planning a trip – the really part isn’t! Reading it, I was struck by a few things and the key feeling I got is one of frustration. It seems I am not alone here as the article itself states that while there are a whole lot of trip planning tools and it mentions a few, the fact is that Choreographing...
reads the headline about the latest global online consumer survey conducted by Nielsen in April 2009 with 25,000 internet users in 50 countries. The 90% who said they trust “Recommendations by people they know”, reinforces what has been known for quite a long time. Also high with 70% is the number who “Trust consumer opinions posted online”. While this survey did not address...
Reviews by family and friends have the highest trust and influence value when travelers choose travel services, especially hotels. They certainly rank higher than general reviews. Hotelicopter the Charlottesville, VA based hotel search company formerly known as Vibe Agent has just introduced a new feature that will allow users to log-in to the site using Facebook Connect. This will result in reviews...