Mercure kicks off international casting for journey to test #6FriendsTheory
Mercure Hotels has embarked on a unique experiment to check out the well-known six-degrees-of-separation theory, which claims that we are all only six people away from everyone else on the planet.It has introduced a worldwide digital operation, The Six Friends Theory, which is based on this principl [...]
The Wrap: Qantas tops AirlineRatings.com’s list of world’s safest airlines
In the news: Qantas world’s safest airline, Travelport's investment in travel-IT, taxi-transfer service from Amadeus and Cabforce, first prepaid card for MyanmarQantas tops AirlineRatings.com’s list of world’s safest airlines A new year’s honour for Australia’s Qantas, as it has been ranke [...]
He got out of poverty, now he wants Local Alike to champion community tourism
Growing up in the Isan village of Roiet, Thai entrepreneur Somsak Boonkam (Pai) knew he had to pursue education to escape poverty. At age 8, his parents managed to gather enough money to send him to Chantaburi High School. From there, he studied his way to university at Nakhom Pathom.“That changed [...]
Make a marketing splash with toilet tourism
At MyTravelResearch.com we often see a disconnection between what travellers want and what the travel industry delivers. Destinations obsess about their product or service in a way that customers don't. They lose sight of the basics and what is important to customers.Perhaps the ultimate basic exper [...]
Doing hotels differently, the Taipei Inn way
Like Warren Buffet, Taiwanese investor Jimmy Dai believed that if everyone was going one way, he would go the other. And so 10 years ago, when he thought of building a hotel in Taipei, he went against the trend and built the city’s first design boutique hotel.“At that time, the hotel industry in [...]
Post-Accor partnership, HUAZHU targets expansion, sharpens IT and distribution
Major hotel groups in China are eyeing a bigger slice of the fragmented market. ChinaTravelNews assesses how HUAZHU Hotels Group (also known as China Lodging Group, Nasdaq: HTHT） is planning to strengthen its network as well as direct sales capability, which currently accounts for 90% of its booki [...]
Looking back on 2014 and predictions for 2015, Part 3
As we kick off the new year, here are more reflections on the year that was and the one that lies ahead.Timothy Hughes, Vice President Marketing, Agoda1. The thing you will remember most about 2014 (personally)As 2014 came to a close the news sites once again filled with images of distraught relativ [...]
Together, we helped build a dormitory in Laos, thank you
If you were to ask me what I remember most about 2014, it’s the smile on Marie Cammal’s face when we told her about the amount we had raised at our WIT Charity Auction and how 70% of it would go towards her efforts to build the dormitory for young girls on the Thai-Lao border. (The rest goes t [...]
Looking back on 2014 and predictions for 2015, Part 2
Airbnb acquires HomeAway and consolidation in meta-search are among some of the predictions for 2015. Philip Wolf, Founder, Phocuswright1. The thing you will remember most about 2014 (personally)The contents and news of one global tragedy after another, and a personal inadequacy to digest them.2. Th [...]
London’s most popular city for New Year celebrations, says TripAdvisor
So where will you be to welcome in 2015? If you are in London, New York City or Paris then you are one of the top three destinations to celebrate New Year, according to data from travel site, TripAdvisor.In the listing of 15 most popular destinations to spend New Year’s Eve for global travellers o [...]
