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.
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
by RobertKCole on October 26, 2010
I was honored to present the closing keynote for the Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association 2010 Annual Conference and Tradeshow held October 25-26 in Green Bay.
While I frequently joke about Wisconsin representing the center of the travel universe, there is more to it than most would give credit. Several members of the Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association are definitely doing a lot of things right.
Meeting attendees included representatives of the innovative The Iron Horse Hotel, voted hotel of the year by the Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association, mega-indoor waterpark operator Kalahari Resorts and the uniquely diversified Marcus Hotels & Resorts. All three Wisconsin-based groups are raising the bar in very different ways for quality, guest-centric, hotel and travel experiences.
The presentation was titled “Future Lodging Trends and Emerging Technologies.”
The full versions of the three videos that were embedded in the presentation are included below: continue reading →
Tagged as: future, hotel, innovation, lodging, marketing, mobile, personas, security, technology, travel, travel search, Web 2.0, Web 3.0
by RobertKCole on September 9, 2010
The United States Government is the world’s largest purchaser of travel, with an estimated $20 Billion annual spend.
The Society of Government Travel Professionals is comprised of a diverse group of government employees, travel management companies and travel suppliers. I was honored to have an opportunity to share some thoughts on the factors I see influencing the future of both government and civilian travel. The talk was titled “Future Trends and Leading Technologies.”
There were also edited versions of four videos embedded in the presentation – the full versions of each are included below: continue reading →
Tagged as: government, innovation, insight, mobile, personas, security, technology, travel, travel search, Web 3.0
by RobertKCole on August 10, 2010
The Orbitz press release boldly announced “Orbitz Launches Groundbreaking Hotel Search Experience with Industry-Leading Property Comparison Features.”
photo credit: Erik CharltonThe Orbitz hotel user interface may be new and improved, but is it enough of a dramatic step forward to catch the attention of travel shoppers?
Wow, sign me up! Nothing grabs my attention better in online travel than a big leap forward for hotel search innovation.
In reality, calling the enhancements “groundbreaking” or “industry-leading” is a stretch. These changes are incremental, mostly derivative and unfortunately not significantly innovative.
Not to denigrate this big step forward for Orbitz, but given the hyperbolic claims of the press release, I was expecting changes that would dramatically surpass the current hotel search paradigms.
Orbitz has definitely provided a more Kayak-like experience, with some improvements like including user ratings when mousing over a property on a map, but in many cases, Kayak still offers better functionality.
What was added?
- Google Maps, including street-view
- Location, hotel classification, customer review score, amenity and brand filters
What was removed?
- Hotel neighborhood / star classification matrix
Orbitz’ attempt to translate the airline carrier/number of stops matrix display to a hotel star rating/neighborhood format never really resonated with users due its inability to categorize and differentiate a hotel product that is much less commoditized than air travel. continue reading →
Tagged as: Expedia, hotel, innovation, Kayak, online travel companies, Orbitz, Priceline, search, travel, travel search, Travelocity, user interface
by RobertKCole on March 24, 2010
I was frankly surprised and shocked that people were surprised and shocked by Google’s announcement that they are experimenting with including hotel pricing in Google Maps search results for a small. select group of users.
photo credit: IkaInkGoogle, how dare you put hotel prices on your local map listings! Now you've ruined everything!
Google’s mantra is to organize the world’s information and to simplify the user’s search experience. Price plays an important role in the hotel purchase decision and Google’s research undoubtedly indicates that people would like to know the price as soon as possible for their desired dates as they research various travel options.
Google Maps is not the endgame here, That is ultimately the search results page. One must understand that Google is merely testing the water on the Maps platform in preparation of launching the hotel price integration into the Universal Search results on all Google results pages.
Universal Search is the nifty technology that provides all those great image, video, news, map and shopping links in the Google search results page. Everyone agrees that Location Based Search and Mobile are major drivers of travel innovation – this new functionality is both geo-centric and reduces clicks /keystrokes.
Did anyone seriously expect Google to pass on this opportunity? Especially since Bing is already providing full date-driven hotel meta-search capability? continue reading →
Tagged as: Google, hotel, online travel companies, travel search
by RobertKCole on December 15, 2009
Compete recently presented a report based on data through September 2009, concluding that different travel categories (hotel, cruise, air, car rental) have recovered at different rates. Hotels and cruises were highlighted as recovering more quickly than airlines and car rental.
photo credit: Emery WayUS Hotels are having to jump through hoops to fight competitors and Online Travel Agencies for leisure customers seeking unprecedented deals
It may give some comfort that year-over-year website traffic is increasing in the travel sector. Understanding that this is normally considered a leading indicator, this could serve as a basis for optimism. Unfortunately, for the US hotel industry, increased website traffic has not translated into incremental bookings and the business transacted online is at dramatically lower average rates.
Compete’s panel of Two Million US internet users should hypothetically provide a statistically significant barometer for the US hotel activity levels and would ideally correlate well with the performance of the US hotel industry. Unfortunately, it does not. The US hotel industry is a complex, multi-dimensional vertical that sources business through a variety of distinct market segments and distribution channels.
What the analysis captured was a radical change in consumer hotel travel shopping practices in light of a deep economic recession. Several different factors contributed to the disruptive change impacting the US hospitality industry that emerged in November 2009 and has continued over the past year: continue reading →
Tagged as: average rate, Compete, hotel, occupancy, online travel companies, recession, RevPAR, statistics, travel search, trends
