online travel companies

A Faster Way to Search Google Flights – Cut and Paste

by RobertKCole on September 15, 2011

Google Flights heralds Google’s formal entry into the travel meta-search arena. Much has been made of the absense of intermediaries such as online travel agencies and meta-search competitors in lieu of direct booking with the airlines. Unquestionably, the game has changed.

Google Flights Releases Air Search Powered by ITA Software

Since the announcement of Google's acquisition of ITA Software, everyone knew it was going to be a game changer

The Fairsearch.org immediately reacted with a blog post asking if partners will be coerced into working with Google, if the new search technology will secure premium placement in search results, or if the content will be intermixed with search results. Valid questions. To which Google will undoubtedly reply with something along the line of “whatever provides the greatest utility to our users and yields the greatest benefits to our partners.”

As with all things Google, democratization of information and disruption of established business practices typically involves a balancing act between users and partners where the scale normally (and appropriately) tips toward the user’s end of the spectrum. Many partners understandably don’t like this and Google Flights will certainly be the poster child of the coming US Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights hearing.

For now, let’s forget about all that – there will be plenty of coverage in the coming weeks on the strategies, symbolism and voodoo surrounding Google’s deeper dive into travel. Much will be conjecture, lots will not be true, and some will be flat-out crazy.

One thing however, is for certain – Google Flight Search changes everything, but in more ways than you might think. It actually enables a very old school approach to searching air fares. continue reading →

Tagged as: airline, Google, innovation, online travel companies, search, technology, travel, travel search

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What are Most Trusted Sources for Hotel Reviews and Ratings?

by RobertKCole on September 9, 2011

Hotel reviews and ratings are a hot topic of discussion and it’s getting hotter. Recent PhoCusWright research finds 43% of travelers are influenced by social media and that two-thirds of hotel reviews are submitted on Online Travel Agency sites, with the remaining 34% posted on travel review sites. However, various groups are also accusing TripAdvisor of not doing enough to identify and eradicate phony hotel reviews.

Five-star Hotel Plaque
Creative Commons License photo credit: jcberk

Hotel ratings and reviews are an invaluable resource for travelers, but with no industry standards and a black-hat element of the industry transitioning from Online Reputation Management (ORM) to Fake Review Optimization (FRO) can they be trusted?

All of the action isn’t necessarily taking place online. Earlier this year, Forrester Research found 29% of leisure travelers would work with a traditional agent, if they could find a good one. That statistic is sharply up from 23% in 2008.

To make matters worse, there are no global standards for hotel ratings, subjecting the prospective hotel guest to a litany of rating scales, often graded by vague, inconsistent, and frequently contradictory measures.

Regardless, the stakes have now been raised dramatically. User generated reviews now factor into search engine results, so enterprising Search Engine Optimization specialists, perhaps recently thwarted by Google’s Panda updates to its search algorithm, have now turned their sites on exploiting the system by doctoring user reviews to enhance search engine rankings.

Some intrepid pioneers brazenly promote their ability to bury negative reviews with positive ones originating from 10,000+ IP addresses and thousands of email addresses. Not surprisingly, there is no mention of these reviews originating from actual guests, a blatant violation of US Federal Trade Commission official guidelines governing endorsements and testimonials. Similar rules prohibit such black-hat practices throughout Europe and elsewhere.

Google itself is also making waves in the review space as it solidifies its local strategy surrounding its Places pages – already a hotbed of activity with hotel price ads pitting hotels against online travel agencies, this time using context sensitive inventory and pricing as the weapons of choice. Simultaneously, with Google’s launch of Google Plus, the decision to require individuals to identify themselves only by using real names adds an additional method to structurally inhibit illegitimate reviews from anonymous sources.

Perhaps Google’s most bold move is its purchase of Zagat, and its highly curated, yet crowd-sourced review platform. With Google internalizing a respected review platform, undoubtedly with an idea of expanding it dramatically, it gets much closer to the deep content that drives customer engagement, validation and relevance. This is particularly important when leveraging semantic search technologies capable of introducing much needed context into travel search processes.

Who Do You Trust?

So, where do travelers look for recommendations regarding their lodging choices? The burning question is more importantly, whose advice do they truly trust and act on when making a hotel reservation?

Considering the fact that I interact with a large number of sophisticated travelers, I prepared a brief 1-page survey to find out whose hotel reviews and ratings the travel cognoscenti trust. The resulting 34 potential sources are roughly divided into three categories – types of individuals, prominent hotel review sites and general categories of sites hosting reviews.

The survey has been designed with a single question and should take only a couple minutes to complete.

Please Scroll Down to rate more sources of Hotel Ratings and Reviews.

Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. I am expecting to see some surprising results.

Tagged as: customer relationship management, Google, hospitality, hotel, insight, marketing, online travel companies, poll, reviews, search, social media, statistics, travel, travel agency

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Snippets and Factoids from Henry Harteveldt’s OpenTravel Presentation

by RobertKCole on April 26, 2011

Henry Harteveldt, Forrester Research‘s Vice President and Principal Analyst for Travel opened his keynote for the OpenTravel Alliance 2011 North American Advisory Forum with Bette Davis’ famous quote as Margo Channing in All About Eve, “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride
Creative Commons License photo credit: Jerad Heffner

Travel distribution executives are warned to fasten their seat belts. They may be encountering more than a bump.

Speaking to over 100 travel industry distribution executives at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Henry’s premise was that when the greater degree of customization demanded by consumers collides with the direct connections proposed by suppliers and is further complicated by market forces pushing for new Global Distribution System business models, the flight will encounter considerable turbulence.

The following is a synopsis of some key factoids and snippets of Henry’s always insightful perspective.

Travel Industry

  • Overall Retail Sector (all products) is up 13% year to date through March, 2011
  • Airlines Reporting Corporation reports that Airline Revenue is +10.7%, but the number of passengers flying is down 1.6%
  • Fuel price increases are removing discretionary income from travelers prior to the peak summer travel season
  • 30% of travel suppliers report that the booking window in 2011 is shorter than in 2010

continue reading →

Tagged as: airline, hotel, insight, marketing, mobile, online travel companies, statistics, strategy, technology, travel, trends

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2010 Unsuspecting Travel Hero and Travel Zero Awards

by RobertKCole on January 19, 2011

Recognition of the best and worst travel industry performances and practices of the year normally falls to major brands and/or high profile news events. The Unsuspecting Travel Hero Award and Unsuspecting Travel Zero Award are not about the bravado of highly promoted marketing strategies or dramatic customer service provided during times of crisis.

Duking it Out Creative Commons License photo credit: Claudio Gennari

The best in travel faced off against... all those other guys... when the dust settled, the winner was...

Instead, winners are recognized for exhibiting the foremost examples of customer centricity or customer hostility that occurred as a direct result of company policy or standard practice.

The awards recognize organizations that “get it” or “don’t get it” when it comes to customer engagement, eliminating unnecessary obstacles, and most importantly, unexpected performance that travelers would not normally associate with the typical travel experience.

For example, last year, Four Seasons Santa Barbara won the 2009 Unsuspecting Travel Hero Award due to its gracious handling of a turn-down music mix-up and AirTran Airlines was saddled with the 2009 Unsuspecting Travel Zero Award for unnecessarily harassing customers with its draconian advance seating policy.

Of course this past year it would have been simple to take rave about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, or malign Steven Slater’s JetBlue slide ride; perhaps whine about Icelandic volcanic eruptions or marvel at the Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas; it might even be easier to simply take sides on the American Airlines versus the OTA & GDS distribution war.

Each of the above stories dominated headlines, but my 2010 travels revealed two much smaller stories that went unnoticed. This year’s two honorees again illustrate startling customer orientation dichotomy arising within the travel industry. The best example was Enterprise Rent a Car’s exceptionally personalized check-in experience, and the worst was Hotwire’s incomprehensible decision to remove all meaningful content from it hotel star-rating categorization. continue reading →

Tagged as: airline, awards, customer service, hotel, online travel companies, travel

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Hotwire Breaks Brand Promise by Gutting Rating System

by RobertKCole on October 25, 2010

Hotwire, the opaque travel website created by Eric Grosse (Expedia President), Karl Petersen (TPG Partner), Greg Brockway (TripIt CEO) & Spencer Rascoff (Zillow CEO) was rated highest in customer satisfaction from 2006-2008 among independent travel websites by J.D. Power and Associates.

Cracked Empty Shells
Creative Commons License photo credit: DailyCraft

Eliminating specific criteria from hotel ratings leaves nothing but an empty and easily cracked brand promise.

Over the past year, I made 18 hotel bookings spanning 41 nights through Hotwire. Based on my most recent experience, however, the tenure of my loyalty is likely to be terminated. It is a shame as customer service was a traditional Hotwire strong point.

A few years ago, Hotwire made a mistake by booking me into a hotel that was incorrectly plotted on their neighborhood map. At the time, their customer care team immediately acknowledged the issue, refunded my booking, suppressed that property from being presented in the subsequent hotel search and provided a $50.00 booking credit for my troubles. The credit in particular was an unexpected and pleasant surprise.

Double Star-Crossed
My experience this week fell at the opposite end of the customer service spectrum. I booked a 3-star hotel in the Las Colinas area of Dallas for a client visit, knowing the area well and knowing that a variety of good 3-star hotels are located in that specific neighborhood. Much to my surprise, Hotwire confirmed a La Quinta.

I have no issue with La Quinta – they are a good chain that offers a consistent, quality product. The problem is that they clearly operate limited service, 2.5-star properties. If I had wanted to book a 2.5-star hotel, I could have selected that classification and paid 30% less per night.

Given Hotwire’s fundamental brand promise: a hotel matching a desired classification, located in a particular area for a specific price, I anticipated this issue could be cleared up with a simple phone call. Ultimately, Hotwire would prove that assessment to be incredibly naive. continue reading →

Tagged as: branding, customer relationship management, customer service, hospitality, hotel, Hotwire, marketing, online travel companies, strategy, travel

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Mad as Hell About Airline Fees – How Hidden are They?

by RobertKCole on September 26, 2010

A few weeks ago, a coalition of travel and consumer groups took on the airlines, declaring “I’m Mad as Hell About Hidden Airline Fees and I’m Not Gonna Take This Anymore!”

Mad as Hell
Creative Commons License photo credit: Ferdi’s – World

Blind Rage is a bit closer to the sentiment “Mad as Hell Day” should inspire. Perhaps “Confused & Mildly Frustrated Day” would have been better.

It all culminated Thursday, September 23: “Mad as Hell Day.” Considering my Catholic upbringing and familiarity with the 1976 film Network that popularized screaming “I’m Mad as Hell,” I was naturally anticipating disruptive actions of Armageddonal proportions.

Mad as Hell Day commemorated the deadline for public comment on proposed US Department of Transportation consumer protection rules outlined in docket number DOT-OST-2010-0140.

The combination of high rhetoric and selection of a baffling video spokesperson appears to have resulted in a considerable portion of petition signers whose stories oppose the airline fees or baggage policies themselves as opposed to the petition’s request that airlines display ancillary fees on web sites and distribute them through global distribution systems.

To set the record straight, for 30 years, I have been a strong proponent of providing consumers with clear policies and total pricing, upfront in the shopping process, inclusive of all mandatory taxes and fees – not just for airlines, but hotels, car rental, cruises, tours and event tickets. I completely agree that travelers should be able to easily compare product features and pricing.

Unfortunately, coalition founders American Society of Travel Agents, the Business Travel Coalition and the Consumer Travel Alliance, don’t provide sufficient detail regarding when and how these fees should be presented.

It would have been more beneficial if the petition provided specifics like presenting baggage fees prior to payment entry, on booking confirmations, etc. continue reading →

Tagged as: airline, customer relationship management, GDS, online travel companies, security, strategy, technology, travel, travel agency

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Orbitz Improves Its Hotel Search – Is It Enough?

August 10, 2010

A recent Orbitz press release touted “Orbitz Launches Groundbreaking Hotel Search Experience with Industry-Leading Property Comparison Features.” In reality, the changes are incremental, mostly derivative and unfortunately not significantly innovative. With Orbitz indicating that growing its hotel business is a top priority, they need superior product functionality to climb back up to last year’s second place share of unique visitors from this year’s fourth place share. While the enhancements give Orbitz functionality similar to its competition, its price guarantees remain the most customer friendly in the industry.

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Hotwire Expands Menu – Adds Bed Choice

July 20, 2010

Hotwire appears to be testing the ability for travelers to select a specific bed type from participating hotels offering opaque product with its new Bed Choice option. This move benefits travelers by offering greater choice, and hotels with the attractive capability to upsell. This further differentiates Hotwire from Priceline who has not fundamentally changed its Name Your Own Price hotel product since its inception. A greater question is how this move impacts OTA share in the opaque product space and hotel profitability if it increases opaque product sales.

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Day 2 Highlights – 2010 Association of Travel Marketing Executives Conference

June 18, 2010

The second day of the 2010 Association of Travel Market Executives conference included keynotes by marketing leaders from Priceline and Wyndham, sessions on mobile marketing and new distribution channels, plus perspectives on retail and the airline industry. This year’s conference theme was “The New Now & The New Next”

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Day 1 Highlights – 2010 Association of Travel Marketing Executives Conference

June 16, 2010

The first day of the 2010 Association of Travel Market Executives conference has wrapped up and provided its audience of travel marketers with statistics, strategies and technologies to consider. The conference theme was “The New Now & The New Next”

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