The angry customer wins?
As the plane landed, a ball of fire lit the sky. Paris on an early summer morning. Glorious. The promise of a beautiful day ahead in the French capital.Unfortunately, I won’t be enjoying it because I am in transit at Charles de Gaulle to Rabat, Morocco, for a couple of days.Getting here wasn’t e [...]
The “Hand” opens on a new Singapore
Thursday evening, standing out on Marina Bay, waiting for the Wonder Full sound-and-light show that would herald the grand opening of Marina Bay Sands, a thought struck me – I will have to get used to a new Singapore.A new Singapore where people can come and go and gamble anytime they want, just l [...]
Hotels, ‘last milking cow’, grappling with rising customer acquisition costs
With customer acquisition costs escalating in an increasingly intermediated distribution environment, hoteliers need to re-think their sales and distribution strategy and regain control of their inventory.Bob Gilbert, CEO of HSMAI (Hotel Sales & Marketing Associates International), visiting Sing [...]
mTrip Travelguide review – Augmented Singapore on the iPhone
This morning I read about the mTrip travel guides – Android and Apple application guides to about 20 destinations. So I downloaded the app from the Apple App store – GBP3.99 (approx US$7 or so). Each city is one app (as with the LP guides) and the Singapore version is not small – pack as muc [...]
Open Sesame – but to what? More information, only faster?
In a month, maybe three, I will be able to stream videos, music, anything I want at, I am told, 10 times the speed I am doing now. I don’t know whether to be excited or terrified by the prospect.Excited, I suppose, because I will no longer have to wait and twiddle my thumbs for 60 seconds while wa [...]
Pay in instalments when flying Brazilian low cost airline GOL
Just booked a ticket between Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo on the Brazilian low-cost airline GOL and came across two new features that I've never noticed on any other LCC website, where the norm tends to be for a rather convoluted and often annoying experience while booking online. Just think of Air [...]
Postcard from Sydney: Reflections of a traveller from Asia
I’ve been to Sydney three times in my life, but this past week was my first experience in Australia with a sprinkling of Chilean volcanic ash. The cloud disrupted air travel resulting in the cancellation of ANZPHIC where I was scheduled to speak.However, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and Sie [...]
Powered by smartphone, and how it all came unstuck
“So which restaurant shall I go to tonight,” I asked my friend when I was in Sydney. “Ask Google,” she said, waving her hand in dismissal at a question she obviously thinks shouldn’t be asked by any traveler with a smartphone.We were at a Japanese restaurant somewhere on the Rocks, which w [...]
APAC travel in shift mode, one-quarter was booked online in 2013
The Asia Pacific (APAC) travel market is in the midst of a huge and rapid shift from offline to online and mobile channels. Although online travel penetration is increasing at a slower pace than in prior years, a new PhoCusWright study shows that APAC's online bookings are skyrocketing – increasin [...]
Lost in the silence of the Sounds of Marlborough
The weather couldn’t quite make up its mind whether to be autumn or winter the day we left for Nelson, gateway to the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island.The last time I had been in Nelson was to attend the Wearable Arts Festival and I remember meeting the then-Prime Minister Helen Cl [...]
