Not to be outdone, the PhoCusWright Conference has released its iPhone app available for download now through the App Store.
The PhoCusWright iPhone app was developed by Quickmobile, a firm based in Vancouver, BC who specializes in the development of mobile applications.
I have known the CEO, Patrick Payne, for a few years and we have had the opportunity to meet at a number of travel industry conferences during that time.
What you missed on Tnooz this week, Sunday 8 November to Saturday 14 November 2009.
Read on to see the most commented articles, every other article this week, and the most commented articles of all time…
Private equity has returned to travel with news that Hellman and Friedmann has purchased Dublin-based Web Reservations International, the budget accommodation booking service better known for its consumer brand Hostelworld.
WRI is not disclosing the fee paid for the company by H&F but some reports in the Irish media suggest a figure in the region of round Euro 200 million has changed hands.
Deals of this size in travel and travel technology have been rare since the major PE-led takeovers of the GDSs.
Sydney and California-based TourAbout has partially opened the doors to its new social distribution system, launching in private beta and expecting a public beta launch in January 2010.
The system works by allowing tour operators and activity providers to interact directly with potential customers through a number of unusual processes.
One of the primary ways is through a question and answer platform where visitors can throw a query into the system and any product provide can reply.
Travel technology beast Amadeus is developing its own consumer flight concierge app for the Apple iPhone after cracking down on an individual app developer who used the company’s data to build his own.
Amadeus is planning to launch its first flight planning app in the first quarter of 2010 and will include a number of the features included in what it appears to have to considered to be a naughty interloper of a system.
MyFlightsApp launched in August 2009 and included such tools as a portal to store booking details, aircraft information, confirmation numbers and the ability to compile lists of multiple trips.
Hot off the press and UK-only, but some interesting data out of the eDigitalResearch shop this week which reveals the extent of the economic crisis on travel patterns in 2009.
The Traveller Attitude and Behaviour survey of almost 1,200 consumers across the UK found that 30% are not intending on making any formal holiday plans – an increase of 7% when a similar question was asked in July this year.
A fifth of those questioned in the survey said they decided to take a UK holiday in 2009 and around the same number said they spent less on an overseas trip.
TravelMuse has broken with convention and appears to be the only travel company this autumn not talking about Twitter.
The California-based travel guide and trip planning website today launched a series of new features which utilise Facebook, rather than everyone’s favourite micro-blogging service Twitter.
The suite of tools include a trip recommendation tool, account syncing system through Facebook Connect and a new Facebook app allowing users to create trips or get advice from friends and connections.
After a tiff that went public less than a month ago, Choice Hotels and Expedia Inc. reached a new three-year agreement, which should have the hotel franchisor’s properties back on Expedia’s and hotels.com’s more than 80 websites within a week or so.
And, Choice-affiliated properties that want to participate in Expedia’s opaque channel, Hotwire, will be able to do so a later juncture, the companies stated.
From all outward appearances, it looks like Choice Hotels, despite its bluster, is the party that blinked in this skirmish, which seemingly revolved around last-room availability and rate parity.
Eighteen entrepreneurs pitched a diverse range of new travel companies at this year’s Get Funded Show taking place during World Travel Market (London).
Entries ranged from mobile startups through to trip planning, holiday home rental and new airlines.
And the winner is….
Here is some advice for the customer service challenged.
Travel and self service should be made for each other.
In most cases they are. However there is a significant disconnect of what to do when a user reaches a problem/issue that he cannot resolve himself.
As the always-connected traveller turns to mobile and other devices to search and book products, travel brands must finally grasp the importance of providing a seamless multi-channel customer experience.
Another year, another 2,500 articles published on Tnooz. But which stories attracted the most traffic or moved readers in their dozens to add their comments?
Tnooz is lucky and privileged to have some of the brightest minds in the industry reporting and contributing to its service almost every single day of the year.
With the rapid advancements in mobile and social media, travel companies often find themselves struggling to separate hype from fact.