Ram Badrinathan, General Manager-Asia, PhoCusWright Inc

Q: What are the three things you think will happen in the travel distribution, marketing and technology space in 2011?
• Killer facebook travel experience
• Tablet will see big kickoff in Q2 2011 and new travel entrepreneurs with new applications
• In each market in APAC – deal sites like Groupon will come online including travel. Mobile will also be a huge part of this in Asia.

Q: What are the three things companies should invest in?
• Android travel applications in India and China – Apple in Australia, Singapore
• Integrating the DNA of media along with the DNA of transaction. Both together can be very powerful
• People in APAC – I think this is the biggest challenge in APAC. Hiring, retaining, attracting high quality talent into the TTH. We focus so much on the opportunity and run behind it but don’t want to or have the ability to invest in people. Remains a lip service. One of the challenges in Thailand and Malaysia has been lack of entrepreneurial spirit in the eco system.

Q: If you were an OTA, what should you be doing in 2011 if you aren’t already doing it?
I would really invest in understanding how OTA can engage with customer at the pre-trip and post trip experience in much deeper way.

Q: Three important pieces of data that you think points to the future.
• If Facebook were a country it would be third largest between India and the US
• Children today read less and watch and listen more. Video is booming online
• India and China have 1.5 billion mobile phones between them which will be smart phone enabled in three years
• Expedia expects TripAdvisor to be a billion dollar company.

Q: As the year winds to an end, what will you remember most about 2010?
Touch became mainstream in many parts of the world –

Morris Sim, CEO & Co-Founder, Circos Brand Karma

Q: What are the three things you think will happen in the social media space in 2011?
• Incriminating revelations about a specific industry or company (probably in the financial sector) will occur via WikiLeaks
• Facebook members will surpass 1B – it will go over 1 billion users.
• A social media player will file for IPO

Q: What are the three things you will be investing in? (as a business)
• Hiring great people
• For the first time ever, marketing and PR to increase our brand awareness
• Making our business locally relevant in key markets

Q: If you were a hotelier, what should you be doing in 2011 if you aren’t already doing it?
• Move 25-50% of my print/traditional advertising into digital marketing
• Allocate up to 50% of my digital marketing budget from 2010 to social marketing
• Develop and begin execution on a 2-year strategy to increase my direct business via bookings on my own branded website

Q: As the year winds to an end, what will you remember most about 2010?
• When Facebook surpassed Google in traffic in the US
• When Apple surpassed Microsoft in market value
• When I got an iPad

Q: The one thing I got wrong about 2010 was …
“This is the year of the mobile” would still mean nothing

Q: The one thing I got right about 2010 was …
International brands leveraging social media in China will have limited success in 2010

Q: The one thing I will get right about 2011 is…
Making the link clear between business results and brand investments in social media

Q: I am entering 2011 with …
Optimism, Purpose, Love

Q: I am leaving 2010 behind with …
• Feeling loved and supported
• Proud of the company and the accomplishments the team achieved
• Woohoo! We’re alive, kicking, and stronger than ever after 5 years.

Q: If I could do 3 things in 2011, it’d be ….
• Spend all of my time with my son
• Travel the world with the purpose of seeing it… not branding it
• Take the company public

Brett Henry, Vice President-Marketing & Vice President, India, Abacus International

Q: What are the three things you think will happen in the travel distribution, marketing and technology space in 2011?
• Mobile Leaders will emerge
• OTA’s will grow faster than the market – globals will become more serious competitors
• Hotels will have record year in occupancy and ADR

Q: What are the three things you will be investing in?
• Online and Mobile Travel Tech
• Next Generation Profile Systems
• Next Generation Point of Sale Systems

Q: If you were a travel agent, what should you be doing in 2011 if you aren’t already doing it?
Using Mobile as a service channel.

Q: As the year winds to an end, what will you remember most about 2010? 
• Siew Hoon’s wrap-up @ Web in Travel
• Guy Kawasaki @ AIC
• Launch of Abacus suite of mobile solutions

Featured image credit (World map painted on hands): Ockra/iStock