2013 Archives

Lonely Planet has a ton of digital content, offers booking services through partners, and could round things out a bit with the acquisition of TouristEye for online and offline trip-planning purposes.

Lufthansa's new campaign stirs up interest in its target city, reaches Chicagoans who it doesn't interact with directly, and makes business travelers in other cities envious enough to hope the new service is headed their way. Success, indeed.

Is Facebook's reputation as a marketing vehicle for travel brands in jeopardy? It looks like Facebook's advertising challenges go beyond monetizing mobile -- Google can capture a traveler in shopping mode, but that's harder for Facebook to do.

Hotels are personalizing the guest experience through innovative amenity programs, while the free versus paid WiFi debate shifts toward bandwidth strength.

The Vacation Rental Management Association doesn't have the digital savvy or clout to forge a new set of business relationships between professional managers on the one hand, and online travel agencies and vacation rental sites such as HomeAway, on the other. Too little, and way too late.

Airbnb seems to almost encourage hosts, now budding entrepreneurs, to manage more than one Airbnb property by teaching hospitality skills and making it easier for them to accept bookings. Sharing is certainly big business.

The rate of innovation in mobile technology suggests that even if security still takes too long and seats are too small, flyers can at least rely on updated flight statuses and hassle-free check-ins.

The additional investment will allow Yapta to go deeper into corporate travel, and take advantages from its relationship with Concur to deliver savings to corporate travel bookers.