EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit North America 2010 is scheduled to take place Oct 13-14, 2010 in Chicago. The theme for this year’s TDS is “Essential Growth Strategies for a Changing Travel Market.” EyeforTravel TDS North America The two day event includes four distinct travel conferences, with 70+ expert speakers and over 750 travel professionals on hand to fill up The...
TravelTech has wrapped up for another year. There were highs, lows and even a hashtag battle (!?) A ton of content was covered, so I’ll jump strait in to it. First up was Barney Harford, President and CEO of Orbitz with some discussion around the cost and benefit of consolidating the various booking platforms in the Orbitz group. In advancing booking platform technology as well as customer service...
A new report from Visa (Tourism Outlook: USA) shows that spending by international travelers in the US in the first six months of 2010 jumped 20% over 2009 levels. Visa Tourism Outlook USA 2009 Visa spending by international visitors had dropped 12% over 2008, from $32.9 billion in 2008 to $28.9 billion in 2009. The 20% jump from Jan 1-June 30, 2010 means that by the end of the year, 2010 spending could end...
Over the last 4 years we have trained thousands of hoteliers around the world in revenue management and distribution. All have made the same remarks; the travel industry is too price driven, the competition is driving down the price of the market. My question; what are you doing about it? It is so easy to point the finger at the competition isn’t it? It is always the hotel next...
On Aug 31, 2010 at 10 am, a civil war is about to erupt at the Comfort Suites in Gettysburg, PA, where the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is holding a public input hearing on the Mason-Dixon Resort & Casino project. Mason Dixon Resort, Gettysburg, PA The proposed $27 million casino will be operated by Mason-Dixon LP, whose main promoter is local businessman David LeVan. It would offer Gettysburg...
***This is an article written and published from scratch at 35,000 ft, in-flight on Virgin America flight 342 from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale. Made possible by Gogo Wifi. A first on SimpliFlying** In a recent conversation with a South American airline executive, we were talking about the state of commercial airlines in the US. And the consensus we reached was that the travel experience within...
This is not your grandpa’s choo choo train! SilverRail Technologies is transforming the rail market by creating the first global search & ticketing platform for the $300B passenger rail industry. Rail is experiencing a global growth explosion: trains now travel up to 350mph, governments are investing hundreds of billions of dollars, and high speed trains are stealing major market share...
Lots of interesting stuff this week: Luxury hotel private sales, Southwest to start service from EWR, a must-read for hospitality CISOs and more: Dell offers to buy 3PAR to get into the Cloud game…HP outbids…Dell matches…HP outbids…Dell matches. The current bid is now $1.8B! Giant game of chicken or is HP suckering Dell into a bad deal. All I know is that the 3PAR guys are...
My largest post ever is now live in four parts over at Tnooz. 2,500 words on "5 steps for a travel supplier looking to launch a social media strategy". 5 steps in four parts. Here they are with links to the individual piecesStep 1 - Decide who you want to talk to and what you want to sayStep 2 - Start monitoring social media. Make it a customer service and marketing priority Step 3 - Collect data...
Proposition 21 is a ballot measure that will decide whether to fund California’s State Parks with a $18 surcharge tacked on to the annual vehicle license fee. SOSP A coalition of business groups, including the California Travel Industry Association (CalTIA), NTA (National Tour Association), and a bunch of Northern California CVBs have officially endorsed Prop 21 and are advocating for its...