FastBooking hotels more visible to travel agents with Travelport’s hotel tool
The partnership between Travelport and FastBooking sees the latter’s hotels displayed and bookable via the latter’s newly-launched Travelport Rooms and More™.The tool also boosts the visibility of FastBooking client hotels among the 65,000 connected travel agency customers in the worldwide [...]
Part 2: Google’s Yilmaz on search vs social, and what’s next
Continued from last week: What did Google’s new Head of Travel for South-east Asia, Ali Yilmaz, discover when he set out to answer the question; “If I am a small hotel and had money for only one thing – website or Facebook – what should I do?”He found two pieces of research. A Goldman Sac [...]
Revolution from WHAIWHAI – playing the storyline through the city
So much so-called innovation is, as I have mentioned before, an evolution of a product or service rather than revolution.This new product from WHAIWHAI caught my eye and, I think, provides a good example of where some small revolution has occurred rather than mere evolution. I’ve not been able [...]
Rugby World Cup gives New Zealand a visitor boost
International travel to New Zealand is expected to increase significantly during the Rugby World Cup, according to analysis by Forward Keys, the business intelligence tool launched by Forward Data in partnership with Amadeus.The forecast for the event, which runs from September 9 to October 23, is [...]
Business events bring benefits beyond tourism
The Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau (MCVB) commissioned the longitudinal study, “The Holistic Value of Business Events”, to the Centre for Tourism and Service Research at Victoria University in February 2009.Conducted by Professor Leo Jago and his team it identified and quantified the a [...]
Luxury in the bush where it’s just you and the view
Forget bathrooms with views or even hotel windows with great vistas. With Wild Bush Luxury, Australia, you can literally sleep in a room with a view where the entire room is transparent and the view is, well, everywhere you look.This is what you get when you stay at Bamurru Plains, on the edge of [...]
Making the TV sexy again in hotel rooms
I don’t know about you but I find that just as I am watching less television at home, I too am watching less TV in hotel rooms.With so much screen time being spent in front of so many other devices, the old goggle box has become rather neglected. You can catch up on the news anytime, anywhere on [...]
Marina Bay Sands – Singapore’s coming out party
I've been to Marina Bay Sands (MBS) in Singapore a lot over the past few days - much to the annoyance I would imagine to those who have to suffer my Foursquare checkins. Incidentally, when is Foursquare going to grow up? What's next with Foursquare? More on that another time perhaps.I feel I've [...]
Mentoring event heads to Bangkok, hear from top travel start-ups and global brands
Want to be a start-up in the online travel space? Or find a job with a global travel brand? Then join our WITNext event in Bangkok on September 28.Yes, our inspiration and mentoring event is heading to Bangkok, the second time we are holding in the Thai capital.The first one, held last year, was wel [...]
Monopoly, disruption and game changers at the centre of the universe
I landed in Baiyun International Airport, Guangzhou past midnight this morning and felt like I arrived in the middle of an industry cocktail party.At immigration, I met a group of travel agents from Singapore on a Singapore Airlines fam tour. Airline objective: To promote their new late flight to th [...]
