TravelBizBuzz

As a player in the travel game, you must continually sharpen your survival tricks — especially those that will expand your business.

Growing your travel sales pipeline can be especially challenging in the ever-changing travel industry landscape. But you can learn from successful travel companies that have managed to secure a never-ending stream of referrals and new clients — and a nonstop revenue stream to match.

TDR and AudioEducator.com have teamed up to present an educational audioconference that offers expert prospecting tips to help you secure the long-term prosperity of your company. Discover how to set up and cultivate a client base that renews its loyalty again and again.

When: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 ~ 1:00 p.m. EST ~ 90 minutes
What: Live audioconference
Who: Hosted by Steve Crowhurst, CTC
For more information, click here — or call 800-472-1252 to enroll.

Posted by The Bureau at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week, as the press releases flowed into my inbox as usual, I noticed an unusual slew of announcements on new mobile technology. Granted, the corporate travel world has already been using a fair number of mobile applications, but to the unmanaged business and leisure travel world, this is news. (The only mobile application I was aware of was Sprint’s April 2006 announcement of enabling mobile ticketing for Las Vegas Monorail passengers.)

Here’s a sampling of what I believe to be just the tip of the mobile tech iceberg:

1) May 21: Acxiom and Acuity Mobile announced a new mobile marketing solution that combines Acxiom’s data and analytical capabilities with Acuity Mobile’s location-based technology and “Spot Relevance” offering. The innovation allows companies to deliver mobile content to the right user based on time, context, location and user preferences.

2) May 22: TripSync (a free application developed by Portaga that links bookings and itineraries into Microsoft Outlook for the unmanaged business traveler) unveiled TripSync Mobile — which allows a traveler to book air, hotel and car rental reservations on the go.

3) May 22: iMAN Inc. and NewYork.com introduced a mobile hotel reservation site. Textechnologie Inc. subsidiary iMAN has developed technology that allows NewYork.com’s visitors to search, view, reserve and pay securely for hotel rooms on their mobile wireless devices — without a downloaded application.

4) May 22: Pegasus inked an agreement with Mobile Travel Technologies (MTT) to launch a new distribution channel allowing hotels to offer guests booking and customer service via their mobile devices.

5) May 23: Northwest Airlines has put booking power in mobile devices. The airline announced that customers can now purchase tickets, check in and complete any transaction on nwa.com via handheld devices and wireless browsers. Northwest claims to be the first airline to provide its complete Web site in this format for mobile users.

Will the consumer jump on the boat? Forrester Research VP and principal analyst Henry Harteveldt pegged mobile applications as a budding traveler trend in his TravelCom 2007 keynote presentation. “Mobile phone ownership among U.S. travelers is nearly ubiquitous” and “38 percent of U.S. online travelers who own mobile phones use mobile data services,” he pointed out.

So travel companies with mobile in mind are smart to stay ahead of the curve. But that doesn’t necessarily mean pulling resources away from traditional channels. “It’s not about how you want to sell, but how the customer wants to buy,” Harteveldt noted in a January 2007 Forrester report on e-commerce trends. And while a handful of techy travelers might book on their mobile device, the majority is still quite comfortable with a call center or their desktop computer.

Note: Check out the next issue of TDR for more on the mobile mayhem.

--Lindsey Rushmore, Editor-In-Chief, Travel Distribution Report--

Posted by The Bureau at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I came across a tech news story this week that makes “Travel 2.0” seem like old news. The Associated Press story, "Virtual Trip: Travel in ‘Second Life’” that crossed the wires May 11 left me wondering if virtual reality travel would create some competition for the travel industry.

A downloadable program called “Second Life” is offering serious Internet users much more than a 3-D photo tour of their hotel rooms: “… tourists can watch their online embodiments — known as their avatars — lounge at the beach, dine at a romantic restaurant or go out dancing at a crowded nightclub,” in destinations ranging from Ireland to Hawaii, the article said.

Surprise: It’s totally free — at least for now, and the program already saw one million visitors last April, according to the article.

I can’t help but chuckle at the novelty of this new hobby, especially when I read that users can not only tour real places around the world but also “hover,” “fly,” or even “teleport” along the way. But people seem to be taking Second Life pretty seriously. For example, longtime users are creating automated tours, opening virtual travel agencies and even publishing travel guidebooks, the article noted.

And forget about language barriers. Visitors can opt for a free translation program and have typed conversations in nine different languages.

Potential: When word of Second Life spreads to the public, I see doors opening for consumers that can’t afford to travel to their dream destinations. But at the same time, I wonder how tech savvy a user would need to be and just how much time she’d really want to spend behind a computer screen. I’m also interested to see if anyone tries to monetize this program.

Bottom line: As cool as Second Life sounds, and as much as I’d enjoy trying it out, I don’t think travel companies have to worry too much about competition right now because nothing can replace an authentic trip. If you foresee a different outcome, drop me a line.

--Lindsey Rushmore, Editor-In-Chief, Travel Distribution Report--

Posted by The Bureau at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I blogged a couple weeks back on Latin America as the next up-and-coming international market, and I was convinced even further that this is a growing hot spot after reading an American Express Business Travel (AEBT) press release.

I looked into Latin America's rise in leisure travel in the last issue of TDR (see Vol. 15, No. 10), and AEBT says business travel is seeing an increase too.

Reporting May 8 from the Association of Corporate Travel Executives Global Conference and Latin America Summit, AEBT named Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC) as one of the company’s fastest growth markets in 2006.

In fact, the LAC market was up 20 percent on a total travel sales basis -- following Greater China and India, AEBT said. The company also revealed that small-to-medium sized enterprises accounted for 65 percent of its 2006 LAC annual dollar sales volume.

Focus on air: The average domestic/short-haul economy airfare for LAC increased 2.7 percent between 2005 and 2006, while the international/long haul business fare grew 4.4 percent, according to the AEBT 2006 LAC airfares index. (The index tracks all city pairs flown by clients across Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico.)

The driver: Amex attributes the fare increase to a “strong business travel demand associated with economic growth and commercial activity” across the LAC.

Details: Argentina’s average short-haul fare spiked 18.2 percent to $133.17; Brazil’s increased 11.6 percent to $175.75; and Chile’s rose 10.4 percent to $272.75. In Mexico, however, new domestic carrier entrants increased airline fare competition and helped to push average short-haul fares down nearly 5 percent.

Average long-haul fares in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico increased 11.7 percent to $803.12, 4.4 percent to $475.81, 1.2 percent to $635.95 and 2.4 percent to $379.47 respectively, AEBT reported.

--Lindsey Rushmore, Editor-In-Chief, Travel Distribution Report--

Posted by The Bureau at 03:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Launching a blog is about more than showing site viewers that you’re cleverly following the consumer-generated content trend.

Carnival Cruise Lines and Southwest Airlines have taken a unique approach to their blogospheres: engaging customers on such a personal level that they feel close to the companies in a way that’s almost, well, chummy.

And who wouldn’t feel more inclined to book travel with a trusted friend?

Carnival’s approach: Carnival Freedom’s senior cruise director, John Heald hosts a blog complete with “humor” and Q&A between him and the readers on “a wide variety of topics,” according to Carnival. The cruise line announced May 2 that Heald likes his bloggers so much -- and is so impressed with the nearly 200,000 readers in less than two months -- that he wants to meet them: Heald will host Carnival’s first-ever “Bloggers Cruise” in January of 2008. I’d be interested to see the turnout…

Southwest’s approach: Southwest launched its blog, Nuts About Southwest, a year ago April 27 with the intent of allowing customer to “take a peek inside the culture and operations of Southwest Airlines,” according to a press release. The airline features employee bloggers ranging from pilots and flight attendants to customer service agents and mechanics. Southwest even goes so far as to say that employees have developed “personal relationships” with customers they have met on the blog.

So it seems as if interaction between consumers and employees, as opposed to just an open forum for consumers, sparks high user appeal -- that would hopefully lead to future bookings. Sure consumers love to rant or speak amongst themselves, but chatting with a professional is an instant recognition that their voice is being heard.

Extra: From a business perspective, if you open yourselves up to discussion with consumers, you get a “virtual focus group” at an “extremely low cost,” Southwest points out. “The passionate comments and opinions shared on the blog have shed light on customer perceptions and even swayed some recent business decisions.”

--Lindsey Rushmore, Editor-In-Chief, Travel Distribution Report--

Posted by The Bureau at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)