2016 Archives

Smart business travelers tend to know what to expect from delays. It's the leisure travelers who get all out of sorts.

With JetBlue's 16th birthday coming up, and competition tight in the U.S. airspace, the timing of this refresh is ideal. The introduction of a new fully-connected in-flight entertainment system is nothing less than what we've grown to expect from forward-thinking JetBlue.

How Turkey Home utilized clever targeting, hashtag experimentation, and aspirational video content to become one of the most popular destination pages on Facebook.

Some entrepreneurs are subject to so much tunnel vision that they can't see when it's time to either pivot or give up. The themes of pivoting to B2B and targeting the vacation and short-term rental space are commonplace and it's realities like these that investors impress upon startups every day. Everyone trying to do the same thing without differentiating creates a lack of ambition, a sentiment shared by some investors we recently spoke to.

Contrary to the definition of "loyalty," navigating loyalty programs has become an ever-moving game.

Mergers, killing brands, globalization, and an ongoing fear of Airbnb and its ilk will keep 2016 interesting and prepare the industry for a bit of needed evolution.

Investors from the Middle East, Europe, and Asia are salivating at the prospect of breaking into the long-closed Iranian travel and tourism market. The CAPA Iran Aviation Summit is the first look for a broad base of business interests. They will have to gauge the risks that come along with Iran's foreign policy.

CES 2016 shows how conference organizers can reposition an event from a narrow industry focus to a global forum for discussion around larger themes impacting a broader audience.

Variety is the spice of life, but spices are merely seasoning. Airlines spend a fortune licensing box office hits and popular television programming, but adding some intellectual nutrition to the IFE menu is a smart idea.

We haven't reached the reality of travel hacks such as hourly hotel room rates becoming pervasive. But once booking sites understand this is how to win more business travel and hotels learn that they can fill more rooms this way that would otherwise go unbooked, travel hacking won't be a hack anymore--it will have business plans and more sophistication.