Dreamers may still win the day in online travel as brands go “upper funnel”
Ten years ago, we struggled to get the word “inspiration” mentioned at online travel conferences. Everyone was more interested in clicks, conversions and transactions.
I remember a debate we had at the WIT Conference over “Inspiration vs Transaction” and the dreamers among us voted with o [...]
Art in hotels, and the role it can play in the grey space
This was my third stay at The Gibson in Dublin. I like this hotel. It has the right touch of creativity without being too contrived. Its staff are friendly without trying to be too cool. Its rooms are contemporary in design but functional and comfortable.
Themed around music – it’s located ri [...]
The intent behind Air Black Box and how it got to power Value Alliance
The technology powering the just-announced Value Alliance, which sees eight low cost airlines partnering on a sales and distribution platform allowing customers to book on all of them, including ancillaries in a single booking, was developed by UK-based startup, Air Black Box.
ABB was set up by c [...]
Value Alliance, a breakthrough in low cost airline distribution
When you think about it, the first pan-Asian low cost airline alliance, Value Alliance, launched today in Singapore is a pretty big deal in the annals of airline distribution.
One, it’s a world first and shows Asian LCCs ahead of in their innovative thinking and two, it is primarily a technolog [...]
Responses to Google’s travel plans – “bad news”, “they can go wrong” and “transformational”
A sampling of responses to Google’s talk yesterday at Phocuswright Dublin.
Rod Cuthbert, CEO, Rome2rio
“Google's relentless push to replace existing travel intermediaries with their own solutions is bad news for the whole travel industry. Their key products -- Flights, Hotels, Transit [...]
Google’s quest to become our personal travel assistant – to be loved or feared?
You could almost feel the air being sucked out of the room as Oliver Heckmann of Google closed off Day 1 of Phocuswright Dublin with a talk on everything the world’s largest search engine was doing in travel. I sensed everyone was grappling with the massive implications everyone of its products wo [...]
Whether you’re a surfer or sumo wrestler, the big wave in online travel is coming
Perhaps it was the Bali setting which has a way of inspiring anyone to flights of fancy but in the opening session of WIT Indonesia, there was talk of surfing, aquariums and team sports, even sumo wrestlers.
The conference opened with the premise that technology is like a surf – it starts slow, [...]
She escapes a revolution, starts a ‘LinkedIn=Kickstarter’ for women entrepreneurs
Tunisian-born Mouna Aouri Langendorf remembers the Arab Spring well. Her first child was born three days before the outbreak of the Tunisian Revolution in January 2011.
“I was lucky to get to a hospital and within days of delivery, we were trapped in our house. There was a curfew and my husband [...]
This was the news today – consolidation continues, money flows in, Huston exits
Proving that there’s never a dull moment in travel, while WIT Indonesia was happening inside the ballroom of Grand Nikko Bali yesterday, these things happened in the world outside.One, China’s HNA Group, which is on its path to building a global travel empire, buys Carlson Hotels Inc., owner of [...]
Letter from Bali: It’s Indonesia’s time in the digital sun
It’s a full flight. The beginning of a long weekend for Singaporeans and Bali’s always a quick and good two-hour-flight escape for stressed out city folks.There are lots of Australians too on the flight, connecting via Changi which, to no one’s surprise, has just been named “best airport to [...]
