Articles tagged “google”

Like low-cost carriers before them, low-cost hotel chains are playing a big role in the growth of online travel in Southeast Asia, according to a new Google report.

We can shop for TVs and clothes on our phone, but booking flights remains stubbornly old school. Skyscanner is one of a few online players working with airlines to fix that.

Closing islands for a rehab seems fashionable in Southeast Asia. It shouldn’t be. Authorities must first assess options carefully, and by no means should premature announcements be made. Just look at the Komodo Island example and the wrong messages Indonesia has sent about one of its most unique tourism assets.

We've seen this playbook before. Google isn't making much money off its vacation rental business, and doesn't need to sweat it. With its domination of search, Google will take its time, build its global property numbers, and test what works. Competitors know what's coming.

Is the Boston-Airbnb settlement, which calls for short-term regulatory platforms to comply with a city ordinance, a model for future agreements? Too soon to tell but what's clear is that the alternative accommodations industry will one day transition from outliers to regulated entities.

When you're Google, you can take more than a decade to hone a product such as Google Maps and attract more than a billion users without having to worry that it isn't making lots of money. But the monetization of Google Maps will soon start in earnest, and travel marketers, for the most part, will hustle to get in.

A new loyalty program and a brand campaign to bolster direct traffic and user engagement are among the measures TripAdvisor is working on to counter the fact that Google is getting more stingy in providing free traffic. But TripAdvisor is also hoping — and anticipating — that U.S. regulators will step in.

Glenn Fogel adding CEO to his Booking.com title as Gillian Tans transitioned to a one-year chairwoman role was not the only element of the management shakeup at the parent company's largest brand in June. The executive changes were more far-reaching, and the implications are open-ended.

Many hotel groups are directing more of their ad budgets toward price-comparison search sites. That's a boon for vendors providing connectivity and automation services. But it's also a welcome, if still modest, injection for metasearch players like Trivago that have recently been struggling.

Trivago is trying to make peace with its largest advertisers, especially the biggest, Booking Holdings. These peace overtures seem to be working for now, but metasearch and advertising can be very fickle things.