2015 › November

Vienna represents the missing link to date between the rise of smart city infrastructure development and destination marketing aimed at next generation conference organizers.

It's a good way to make holiday travel a little more bearable, and a great way to fund in-flight Wi-Fi.

Hyatt is an early adopter of a new form of customer service for hotels: using Facebook Messenger to connect with guests, because in today's world, the key to being relevant is engaging with consumers on the platforms they are using.

Given recent terror attacks and widespread unrest in many parts of the world, continuously mining Big Data for travelers' perceptions of a place has arguably never been more important.

Wi-Fi for miles may be a good idea for some travelers but let the buyer beware because it could be relatively expensive and deplete loyalty accounts.

The Marriott-Starwood deal only emboldens the argument that hotel consolidation is active and nowhere close to winding down. Will hotels benefit with more direct bookings as a result?

The latest revenue numbers from Airbnb explain why Expedia is acquiring HomeAway, the Priceline Group is touting its 21 million bookable rooms, and Wall Street analysts are questioning hotel-chain CEOs on the prospect of selling hotel rooms through Airbnb.

HomeAway, as it becomes part of Expedia Inc., will become more urban-oriented, and Airbnb is determined to onboard vacation rentals in resort locations. All of which means that Expedia, Airbnb, and Booking.com will increasingly butt heads over the next few years.

This isn’t about the industry’s largest seat-back screens or more content than you can consume on 100 trips around the world. It’s about personalization. Giving passengers what they value most is the new brand loyalty builder. The key for airlines, which serve global markets, is to understand that what passengers value most differs by region, by demographic, and from individual to individual. Airlines either get that, or passengers will deplane and never come back again.

Detour has redesigned the audio walking tour for the mobile generation, and the user experience is almost flawless. But there's still a lot of work to do to convince travelers that audio tours are relevant in this day and age, and a long way to go until the economics make any sense.