2010 January

TravelFish unveils Angkor iPhone app, says the giants of publishing cannot compete

January 27, 2010 By Kevin May 1 Comment

South East Asian travel content site TravelFish has unveiled its new iPhone app for the Angkor region of Cambodia and launched a thinly veiled attack on bigger travel publishers.

The app features guides, recommendations, tours and images for the historic Khymer temple site near Siem Reap and is available from the iTunes appstore.

But with a plethora of iPhone travel content apps launching in the store almost on a daily basis, TravelFish managing director Stuart McDonald says publishers need to think carefully about the pros and cons of investing in products.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: apple, iphone, travelfish

Wiki vs Professional debate returns as Earth.org tries to muscle into content arena

January 26, 2010 By Kevin May 5 Comments

Earth.org is beginning a push to hit mainstream audiences as it looks to capture the eyeballs of travellers seeking out new travel-related content.

The fledgling site reckons it will “create a reliable travel guide written by you and like-minded travelers from all over the world”.

On the one hand Earth.org works on the same principle as the well-established WikiTravel system where users add content about destinations and attractions and the wider community edits, enhances or removes.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: content, earth.org, journalism, wiki

Private jet service just edged-out by Twitter in 2009 largest VC investments

January 26, 2010 By Dennis Schaal 2 Comments

While the travel industry has been weighed down by discounting and deal-hunting, the largest venture capital investment in travel in the U.S. last year went to XOJET, a private-jet service, according to a new report.

Documenting the top 10 venture capital investments in the U.S. in 2009, a PriceWaterhouseCoopers and National Venture Capital Association report identifies XOJet as tied for the fifth largest venture-capital recipient in 2009 at $100 million — and the only travel company in the top 10.

Twitter was the fourth largest VC investment of 2009, edging out the investment in XOJET by $200 [i.e. two hundred dollars] at $100,000,200. The top VC investment — some $286 million — went to solar energy equipment manufacturer Solyndra.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: twitter, VC financing, venture capital, XOJET

US Travel Site Crunch: Data Week End January 23 2010

January 26, 2010 By Kevin May 3 Comments

Most popular travel websites in the US for the week ending January 23 2010.

Data includes Top Ten travel search terms and the Top Ten Agency, Airline and Destination/Accommodation sites.

Filed Under: Data, News Tagged With: hitwise, US site data

Industrial Relations 2.0 – Unions turns to Twitter in fight against British Airways

January 26, 2010 By Kevin May 3 Comments

Company-employee disputes are not like they used to be – if the latest spat between British Airways and a union representing cabin crews are anything to go by.

The long-running face-off between BA and Unite has gone from being ugly to downright vitriolic as Twitter accounts are launched to spread their message through social media.

Unite has already created a video for YouTube outlining its position against the company, but the use of Twitter marks an new approach and is aimed at building support from the flying public.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: airline, bing, british airways, Google, search, trade union

Did drug-maker influence lead to WHO H1N1 overkill?

January 26, 2010 By Dennis Schaal 3 Comments

The World Health Organization denied Jan. 26 that undue influence by pharmaceutical companies led to the UN health agency’s declaration last year that the swine flu was a pandemic, Reuters reports.

The Council of Europe, a human rights organization with 47 member countries, conducted an emergency hearing into the issue after widespread accusations that the WHO was pushed into the pandemic declaration for H1N1 by drug companies anxious to win vaccine contracts.

The Council’s lead health expert, Wolfgang Wodarg, charged a couple of weeks ago that major drug firms orchestrated a “campaign of panic” to elicit the pandemic finding. Wodarg characterized the WHO decision as “one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century.”

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Council of Europe, H1N1, swine flu, WHO

Aldi axes travel website after just 12 months

January 26, 2010 By Kevin May 2 Comments

European budget supermarket chain Aldi has scrapped its online travel service almost a year after it launched the product amid great fanfare in the sector and with a promise of cheap holidays.

Aldi Travel UK was unveiled in January 2009 as a result of a deal with On Holiday Group to run the servicing and package holidays offered on the site.

The site currently says it is “reviewing” its travel service but customers that have already booked trips are not affected by its closure.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: aldi, on holiday group, online travel agency

Amadeus introduces fare-merchandising tool for travel agencies

January 25, 2010 By Dennis Schaal 1 Comment

Amadeus introduced a tool which it hopes will help travel agencies, both online and offline, better merchandise airline fares.

The intent of Amadeus Master Pricer Agent Fare Families is to enable travel agencies to group airline fares with similar restrictions — nonrefundable or fully flexible fares, for instance — into categories or “fare families” for merchandising purposes. Agencies would be able to establish up to six categories of fares from different airlines.

The not-so-subliminal message from Amadeus is that if airlines can get involved with fare families, then travel agencies can get into the act, as well.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: amadeus, fare families, merchandising, travel agencies

Beyond the press release: TRX, Amex amend service agreement

January 25, 2010 By Dennis Schaal 2 Comments

TRX, a provider of travel-transaction processing and data services, and American Express agreed to amend and extend certain aspects of a service agreement through the end of 2014.

The TRX press release notes that the renewed agreement means American Express Business Travel will use the TRX CORREX automated quality control and electronic ticketing platform through 2014, and adds that, “The new contract provides direct growth opportunities for TRX in the South American, Asia-Pacific, and previously untapped European markets.”

All of that indeed may turn out to be true. However, a TRX filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission paints a portrait of the renegotiated agreement that has potentially darker hues.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: American Express, CORREX, TRX