2009 December

OpenTravel launches discussion forum, kicking off debate about its model

December 23, 2009 By Dennis Schaal 11 Comments

Just how open is the OpenTravel Alliance? And, how much free stuff can a not-for-profit standards’ body give away while remaining independent and, well, open for business?

These questions were batted around a bit on Twitter — and likely elsewhere — as OpenTravel earlier this week introduced the OpenTravel Forum.

The forum, built on the phpBB platform, is designed as a resource for people implementing OpenTravel schema in the hospitality, transport, travel services, and tours and activities realms, and is moderated during work hours by Bonnie Lowell, the OpenTravel specifications manager and a former Starwood exec.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: forum, open source, OpenTravel, standards

Best Tnooz articles of 2009

December 23, 2009 By Kevin May 3 Comments

Tnooz will continue to operate throughout the Christmas and New Year break, but here are some items to ponder for those heading off for a well-deserved break to recharge the batteries.

In less than three months Tnooz has produced almost 450 articles from its group of editorial nodes around the world.

Here are 20 of the best:

Filed Under: News Tagged With: predictions 2010, tnooz

VisitBritain taking the tourist love of the movies to the iPhone

December 23, 2009 By Kevin May 3 Comments

Interesting initiative from UK tourism agency VisitBritain which has produced an iPhone app solely for film lovers touring around the British Isles.

The app is free from the iTunes app store and allows users to find locations where some of Britain’s most famous movies have been shot over the years.

Each destination includes background material about the film as well as details for how to find it.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: apple, DMO, iphone, visitbritain

Technology has led to travel in Europe being almost free from human interaction

December 23, 2009 By Siew Hoon Yeoh 4 Comments

If technology providers have their way, we would have zero human interaction when we travel. I think we’re halfway there already in Europe.

Arriving in Berlin at zero degrees close to midnight, after a long flight, there was no time for niceties.

The taxi pulls up, the driver takes my suitcase and I throw myself into the car. Other than telling him my destination, not a word is exchanged between us.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: airport, DMO

Day Ten of Ten – Building great web landing pages

December 23, 2009 By Special Nodes 2 Comments

A website is for life, not just Christmas:

Work on the website doesn’t end once the site is built and homepage optimised.

Filed Under: How To Tagged With: user experience, web design

Carnival, AA keyword policies: Trademark protection or stifling competition?

December 22, 2009 By Dennis Schaal 2 Comments

Despite protests to the contrary, the move by Carnival Corp.’s brands in North America to bar travel-agency partners starting Jan. 1, 2010, from participating in keyword bidding on the lines’ trademarks likely comes down to an economic decision.

You know, in these things, you have to follow the money.

It likely has become so expensive for Carnival to bid on keywords in the Google, Bing and Yahoo search engines and then to consummate a booking that it is tempting for the cruise company to try to swat away the bids of those online travel agencies and other cruise sellers that it can pressure to bow out of the process.

Carnival’s decision has created an uproar in the ranks of some major online cruise sellers.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: American Airlines, Carnival Corp., keyword, paid search

Japanese augmented reality destination app Sekai hits global stores

December 22, 2009 By Kevin May 3 Comments

The widely praised augmented reality iPhone app Sekai Camera has launched globally after a hugely successful introduction to the Japanese market.

Named the best app of 2009 by Apple Japan, Sekai Camera is the brainchild of the Tonchidot Corporation in Tokyo and throws location-based AR functions against social elements such as trip and point sharing and text/video communication.

Users are able to identify and obtain information about existing tourist sites and other locations on their iPhone, similar to existing AR tools on the market.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: apple, augmented reality, iphone, sekai

Online travel agencies, ASTA, USTOA sue NYC on new hotel tax law

December 22, 2009 By Dennis Schaal 6 Comments

MarketWatch reports that major online travel agencies, plus ASTA and the U.S. Tour Operators Association, filed a lawsuit against New York City over its new law that holds intermediaries responsible for the tax on the retail rate when they sell hotel rooms using the merchant model.

This marks the first time that tour operators have taken sides in the OTAs’ national battle with cities and counties about the hotel tax issue.

The law, which went into effect in September 2009, says “room remarketers” are responsible for the full rent, meaning they would remit tax on the net rate to the hotels, as OTAs customarily do, and then pay tax on the remaining rent, including service fees, directly to the NYC tax commissioner.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ASTA, lawsuit, NYC tax, OTAs, USTOA

Finland creates new visitor portal, launches campaign based on wacky stereotype

December 22, 2009 By Kevin May 3 Comments

Finland is the latest destination to try a quirky web-based promotion in the hope that it will be another stroke of viral marketing genius along the line of the Best Job campaign in Queensland, Australia.

The campaign asks for users to upload their wackiest travel-related photograph to the new VisitFinland website and let other visitors to vote on the best (or worst?!) one.

Launched this week to coincide with the new VisitFinland website, each photograph is also stamped with a “I Wish I Was in Finland” motif.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: DMO