During the OpenTravel Alliance half day session at Eye for Travel’s Distribution Summit in Chicago, we had an opportunity to discuss new and emerging distribution channels including, believe it or not, destination marketers.  Although many of the comments were not particularly supportive of this model, I think there is a huge opportunity for destinations to open up distribution and generate revenue, not only for themselves but for their...

Last week I had an opportunity to talk to Claude Guay, formerly an analyst with PhoCusWright but now the CEO of iPerceptions, an analytics company based out of New York.  iPerceptions recently published their Hospitality Index report around the same time that Forrester research came out with their report indicating the customer satisfaction in the Travel Industry has continued to decline.  From a technologists point of view, the thing I found...

This is not really a technology post, but since I have received over a dozen comments from disgruntled individuals complaining about either Travelocity or TripAdvisor, I thought it was appropriate to write this article. At the PhoCusWright 2007 Conference in Orlando, I had the opportunity to listen to some pretty high profile speakers and CEOs like Stephen Kaufer from TripAdvisor, Michelle Peluso from Travelocity, and others.  I wrote reviews...

A recent survey by the Kelsey Group recently announced that consumers are willing to pay at least 20% more for products and services receiving a 5 star (or excellent) rating versus those receiving a 4 star (or good) rating. The study also indicated that about 24% of the Internet users that were surveyed use online ratings during the research and buying process. More than three quarters reported that the online reviews played a significant role...

A big part of both the Canada-e-connect and the PhoCusWright Conferences revolved around user generated content and the effect that online review sites have on a companies reputation. The TripAdvisor presentation, which I reviewed earlier, pointed out that hoteliers and destination marketers don’t need to fear public opinion and that feedback in the form of reviews is a valuable tool from a customer service standpoint. This survey, by...