Top five by traffic:

• How rich visuals generate more travel bookings
• Google Earth software engineer tracks flights, tours and trees
• With Google, Apple and Facebook on the prowl, will hotels lose even more control of distribution?
• TripAdvisor analytics tools enable hoteliers to monitor the competition
• Is it time for a global HotelWiki to assist the industry (and consumers) with hotel distribution?

Top five by comments:

• Reputation management firm Olery seals $1m funding for further expansion
• How rich visuals generate more travel bookings
• Is it time for a global HotelWiki to assist the industry (and consumers) with hotel distribution?
• MyGuidie aims to bring hand-picked local activities and experiences to the masses
• Zozi turns to celebrities to run travel experiences [NOT Charlie Sheen]

What you missed on TLabs last week?

• Tripbox wants to show life remains in the online travel agency model
• MyGuidie aims to bring hand-picked local activities and experiences to the masses
• Near2there brings alerts and ways to discover destinations to mobile devices

TnoozLIVE:

• TnoozLIVE – Episode #1: 2011 roundup and 2012 preview [VIDEO]

Forthcoming events:

• Tnooz-Tealeaf FREE Webinar: Understanding the challenges of the multi-channel travel booker
• Travel Technology Europe 2012

What you missed before:

• Best of Tnooz Last Week – Global hotel play, Startup killer, Solving industry problems

With the airline halting handing out prayer cards, which it has been doing since the 1970s, the Seattle-based airline says it wants to respect the diverse wishes of all its passengers and obviously feels that The Lord’s Prayer is no longer palatable as a side order of spiritual nourishment to accompany Cheese and Fruit Platters ($7).

A controversy over the airline discontinuing its dissemination of God’s words on high has been aired all over social media, including Twitter, with people expressing opinions split as widely as the parted Red Sea.

Even former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who has strong views about the separation of church and state, has chimed in, characterizing Alaska Airlines’ decision as “nonsensical.”

Somewhat comically, the cast of the ABC News TV show, The View, has discussed the issue, with Whoopi Goldberg opining:

I don’t understand why you want to panic me. You come over with a prayer card, you’re pretty much saying, ‘Look, I’m not sure what’s going to happen.’

Here’s a video of a discussion about the prayer card issue on The View:

Wondering what to think about the issue and where to turn next, I consulted Jenn, Alaska Airlines’ virtual assistant.

Jenn was totally willing to direct me to information about which Alaska Airlines flights offer meals for purchase, but the virtual assistant was perplexed about my prayer card questions.

The “conversation” follows:

Jenn: Hi, I’m Jenn, your virtual assistant for the Alaska Airlines Web site. If you need help or have a question, simply type it below.

You Asked: Hi, why did you discontinue the prayer cards?

Jenn: I would love to help you, but I am not sure I understand your question. Could you please rephrase that for me?

You Asked: I read that you discontinued handing out prayer cards with meals. Why?

Jenn: In addition to beverage service, you have the option to purchase a meal. Please check the details section of your itinerary to determine which flights offer food for purchase. Here’s more about our Northern Bites Service. View Page.

God bless, Jenn. With a little reprogramming, she’ll get it right eventually.

Actually you need both, but consider the experiences of travel metasearch site Kayak.

Kayak has attracted more than 10 million downloads of its mobile apps for iPhone/iPad, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Phone 7 and HP Touchpad, with iPhone and Android notching first and second place, respectively, in terms of apps which have scored the most downloads, says Paul English, co-founder and chief technology officer.

But there is a difference between the commerce proclivities of Kayak’s iPhone and Android users, English says.

In sum, iPhone users buy stuff online and Android users mostly don’t.

By “stuff,” of course, we mean travel products.

“People who have iPhones actually buy travel online and people who have Androids don’t really,” English says.

He wonders whether it is a “demographics issue.”

Regardless of the reason, Kayak’s iPhone users show more loyalty and click through more often than its Android users, English says.

Going beyond the anecdotal evidence, last summer the Hunch Blog published an infographic  detailing a user survey about the demographics’ and other differences between iOS and Android users.

Among the myriad findings:

•  iPhone/iOS users tend to have more females in their ranks, are older, have higher incomes and are more likely to have American Express credit cards in their wallets or purses than Android users;

• While Android users are “36% more likely to not remember their last vacation,” on the other hand iPhone/iOS users are 15% more likely to have taken a vacation in the last six months, and were 55% more likely to have used their frequent flyer miles to have taken several free rewards flights during 2011;

• Also, importantly, Android users tend to favor Honey Nut Cheerios while iOS/iPhone users favor Rice Krispies.

There is it is — the different tendencies and attributes of Android versus iPhone users — and the implications for travel commerce.

Snap! Crackle! Pop!

Launching in early-2009, unfortunately just as the global economic crisis kicked in, Best Job in the World and its various offshoots captured the imagination of marketers for its cross-platform approach and original idea, but visitor numbers to the Australian state did not mirror the enormous praise it received in numerous quarters.

Which is a shame.

But it does beg the question as to whether so-called innovative marketing campaigns, which are said to hit potential consumers in many channels and get huge mainstream media attention, actually make a significant difference compared to “traditional” methods such as long-term efforts through PPC, SEO, above-the-line advertising and others?

A relatively recent viral from MySwitzerland, the consumer-facing website from the Swiss tourism authorities, is called Holidays Without Internet and is, once again, a prime example of a campaign which captured the attention of many blogs, marketers outside of the travel industry and consumers.

First of all, the premise of what looks initially like a promotional video is funny – two elderly farmers from the sticks visit a Swiss town on their tractor, but just when the viewer thinks the clip will focus on stereotypes of a demographic not in tune with the web, both men walk into a cafe and open up their Apple notebooks.

Immediately, the pair start talking via the chat tools on Facebook, making quips about the inevitably rather attractive waitress and if she’ll become a “friend”.

And then the clever bit starts.

The men invite the viewer to connect with them on Facebook. If the viewer agrees (the two men wait patiently for the user to click the Facebook Connect button)

Once connected, the farmers start looking around the user’s Facebook profile…

Checking how many “friends” a user has…

And browsing through the image pages…

Before uncovering the most brutal element of the whole thing – how much time the user spends on Facebook every day (tapping into the API). Which leads nicely into the point of the campaign: the user should be getting away from the internet and enjoying some piece and quiet…

Clearly the cleverest part of the entire campaign is the integration of the user’s Facebook content into the film. It’s very slick and smartly done.

But back to the question: would the user be compelled to research more on the MySwitzerland website to find out where those out-of-digital-reach places are?

Possibly – but not guaranteed. What is most likely is the user would simply send on the link to try it out to their friends or share, inevitably, on Facebook.

NB: For the record, the author does NOT spend 2.67 hours a day on Facebook – just leaves the window open to monitor the Tnooz Fan Page

The market leader added a further 4% market share on its previous week, as TAM lost 2.75% of its own.

The gap between the pair 11% share of traffic, a far cry from two weeks ago when TAM was just 1% behind GOL.

Most popular travel websites in Brazil for the week ending January 21 2012:

Agencies

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Decolar	www.decolar.com	21.10%	1
2	ViajaNet	www.viajanet.com.br	17.02%	2
3	Hotel Urbano	www.hotelurbano.com.br	14.98%	4
4	Submarino Viagens	www.submarinoviagens.com.br	13.64%	3
5	CVC	www.cvc.com.br	7.89%	5
6	Mundi Buscador de Viagens	www.mundi.com.br	5.72%	6
7	Americanas Viagens	viagens.americanas.com.br	3.32%	7
8	Melhores Destinos	www.melhoresdestinos.com.br	2.99%	8
9	Rapi10	www.rapi10.com.br	2.06%	10
10	Que Tal Viajar?	www.quetalviajar.com	2.00%	-

Destinations and Accommodation

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Hotel Urbano	www.hotelurbano.com.br	16.19%	1
2	Booking.com	www.booking.com	12.14%	2
3	Trip Advisor Brasil	www.tripadvisor.com.br	7.54%	3
4	Mundi Buscador de Viagens	www.mundi.com.br	6.18%	4
5	Alugue Temporada	www.aluguetemporada.com.br	4.90%	5
6	Ferias	www.ferias.tur.br	4.60%	6
7	ShopF cil Travel	wwws.shopfacilviagens.com.br	4.29%	7
8	Hotels Combined	www.hotelscombined.com	3.01%	-
9	EcoViagem	ecoviagem.uol.com.br	2.63%	9
10	UOL Viagem	viagem.uol.com.br	2.57%	-

Airlines

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes	www.voegol.com.br	35.93%	1
2	TAM	www.tam.com.br	24.78%	2
3	Azul	www.voeazul.com.br	8.12%	3
4	Smiles Mileage Program	www.smiles.com.br	6.73%	4
5	TRIP Linhas Aereas	www.voetrip.com.br	6.19%	5
6	Webjet Brasil	www.webjet.com.br	5.01%	6
7	Avianca Brazil	www.avianca.com.br	3.19%	7
8	Tam Viagens	www.tamviagens.com.br	1.47%	8
9	Passaredo Linhas Aereas	www.voepassaredo.com.br	1.16%	9
10	LAN Airlines	www.lan.com	0.77%	10

NB: Data courtesy of Experian Hitwise

NB2: Image via Shutterstock.

The quirky promotion is being run over five weeks on the brand’s Facebook pages for the UK, France, Spain and Italy and invites users to take part in a Turn The World Around Game and explain why they want to visit the destination.

The initiative is part of a wider TTWA campaign with a second phase to be unveiled in the spring focusing on tourism facts and figures.

According to Bob Samii, head of social media and SEO for eDreams parent Odigeo, eDreams has spent the past year building up its social media team and presence and now has a five-strong team dedicated to social channels.

“Social media is a powerful communication tool and there are so many statistics and facts related to tourism that we thought we could try and create some awareness around those facts. There are some great locations around the world but for whatever reason they are not very commercialised so we want to see if we can create a buzz around them.”

The company is also using Twitter and YouTube to support the campaign.

Here’s a clip:

Erik Blachford, the second CEO of Expedia joins Gregg Brockway, founder of Hotwire and Tripit, and Brad Gerstner, founder of Altimeter Capital and Room 77 in the latest investment round.

The value of the round is not being disclosed, but is understood to be significantly less than the $13.6 million Ostrovok raised in July 2011.

That particular round also saw a string of big names decide to play in the burgeoning Russian online travel sector, including General Catalyst Partners (backer of ITA Software and Kayak) and Accel Partners (HotelTonight and others).

Others supporting the round included Peter Thiel and Founders Fund (Facebook), Niklas Zennstrom and Atomico (Skype), Mark Pincus (founder of Zynga), Esther Dyson (Yandex board member) and Fritz Demopoulos (founder of Qunar).

In addition, FairSearch contends that Google Flight Search may be moving toward a CPA (cost per acquisition) advertising model, which allegedly could be anticompetitive.

ITSA is a travel trade group representing major global distribution systems and online travel agencies, including Amadeus, Travelport, Orbitz and Priceline, all of which sat on the fence (publicly, at least) during last year’s US Department of Justice antitrust review of Google’s now-consummated acquisition of ITA Software.

But, ITSA’s joining the anti-Google forces signals growing unease in the GDS and OTA sectors as the latter so far have been largely shut out of Google’s flight metasearch solution.

Brian Ek, Priceline spokesman, says “ITSA’s joining was discussed with ITSA membership and we supported it.”

That statement is a far cry from past comments by Jeffery Boyd, CEO of major Google customer Priceline, arguing that Google Flight Search would be likely to deliver more qualified leads to the OTA and thus could be beneficial.

When asked about ITSA’s new membership in FairSearch, Orbitz spokesman Chris Chiames played both sides of the street.

“We are still evaluating our options with regard to FairSearch,” Chiames says, “but are supportive of ITSA’s participation on behalf of the industry.”

And, asked whether ITSA’s new FairSearch ties mean Travelport is now joining the anti-Google forces, too, Travelport spokeswoman Jill Brenner stopped short of expressing that sentiment.

“ITSA is involved in many issues, and not all member companies agree on all issues all of the time,” Brenner says. “We continue to monitor Google in the space and welcome all new entrants, as long as there is a level playing field.”

Until now, FairSearch members included Microsoft, Kayak, Expedia, Sabre/Travelocity, TripAdvisor and others. In addition to ITSA, FairSearch now counts adMarketplace, Twenga and ShopCity.com as new members.

The lobbying organization — FairSearch, that is — is trying to keep a lot of heat on Google, with activities ranging from an ad campaign to blog posts and a position paper, Google Flights Search: Is Google Keeping Its Promises on ITA Software?

In the paper, FairSearch claims Google Flight Search may be violating consumer protection laws by failing to adequately to disclose airline code-sharing arrangements and bag fees.

A Google spokesman declined to comment on this issue.

In addition, FairSearch argues that Google Flight Search may be moving toward a CPA (cost per acquisition) model with airlines in which Google would receive a percentage of ticket sales.

“And, if Flight Search ads are being sold as CPA units, then Google benefits when consumers pay more for airfare,” the FairSearch paper contends.

And, by extension, this line of reasoning also holds that it would be in Google’s interest to fill its Google Flight Search pages with its own CPA-based product and to exclude less lucrative CPC links to OTA sites and those of other advertisers.

There are some possible gaps in these arguments, however.

First, FairSearch member Kayak uses the CPA model for a portion of its business. Kayak notes in its IPO filings that it uses both the CPC model for referrals to OTA and supplier sites, and the CPA model when consumers book on Kayak.com.

And, second, would Google really have an incentive to show higher airfares than the competition even if Google theoretically was taking in greater revenue using the CPA model?

Who would want to book these flights if lower fares would be available on competitors’ websites? Displaying higher airfares wouldn’t be a marketshare play for Google Flight Search.

FairSearch’s theories on Google using the CPA model — or how Google would use the CPA model — likely are speculation because it doesn’t seem like final decisions have been made.

Google is experimenting with various monetization modes on Google Flight Search, says a spokesman, who declined to get into any detail.

All concerned realize that Google will eventually monetize Google Flight Search pages in a variety of ways.

It is not difficult to envision sponsored ads framing the core flight search links in Google Flight Search before long.

And, if Google does opt for a CPA model for its airline booking links, would it be set in stone that Google would receive one flat percentage rate based on the ticket price?

Perhaps the CPA percentage rates could be tiered or, then again, maybe in some scenarios Google could charge a flat fee regardless of the ticket price.

And, what if Google decided to charge a lower CPA percentage rate for popular routes based on greater volumes of ticket purchases?

Might that even be financially beneficial for Google and consumer-friendly?

FairSearch does raise a valid point regarding Google’s statement during the regulatory process that Google Flight Search would benefit the entire travel ecosystem. Google stated at the time:

The acquisition will benefit passengers, airlines and online travel agencies by making it easier for users to comparison shop for flights and airfares and by driving more potential customers to airlines’ and online travel agencies’ websites.

But,  online travel agencies have been relegated to links on the bottom of Google Flight Search pages for now.

Google insists that it wants greater OTA participation in Google Flight Search, but that the airlines have stomped their feet, protesting that OTAs are not welcome dance partners.

Regarding dance partners of the business variety, one thing is clear — Google and FairSearch will not be whispering sweet-nothings to each other any time soon.

GrabASeat gained almost an extra 1.75% share of the airline category traffic on the previous week, as the mothership lost 2% of its own over the same period.

Rival carrier Jetstar also added 0.75% market share to its tally.

Most popular travel websites in New Zealand for the week ending January 21 2012:

Agencies

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Expedia.co.nz	www.expedia.co.nz	13.22%	1
2	Webjet New Zealand	www.webjet.co.nz	12.81%	2
3	House of Travel	www.houseoftravel.co.nz	11.25%	3
4	Flight Centre New Zealand	www.flightcentre.co.nz	6.46%	4
5	Jet Abroad - NZ	www.jetabroad.co.nz	3.52%	5
6	Kayak	www.kayak.com	2.30%	7
7	Orbitz	www.orbitz.com	2.12%	6
8	Agoda.co.nz	www.agoda.co.nz	1.91%	-
9	STA Travel NZ	www.statravel.co.nz	1.76%	9
10	FareCompare	www.farecompare.com	1.62%	10

Destinations and Accommodation

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	TripAdvisor	www.tripadvisor.com	6.43%	1
2	stuff.co.nz - Travel	www.stuff.co.nz/travel	5.05%	2
3	Booking.com	www.booking.com	4.38%	3
4	Wotif.com	www.wotif.com	4.21%	4
5	HolidayHouses.co.nz	www.holidayhouses.co.nz	3.87%	6
6	Yahoo!xtra - Travel	nz.totaltravel.yahoo.com	3.58%	5
7	Book A Bach	www.bookabach.co.nz	2.93%	8
8	AA New Zealand Travel Guide	www.aatravel.co.nz	2.79%	7
9	Jasons Travel Media	www.jasons.co.nz	2.52%	9
10	Travelbug	www.travelbug.co.nz	1.67%	-

Airlines

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Air New Zealand	www.airnz.co.nz	35.91%	1
2	Air New Zealand - grabaseat	www.grabaseat.co.nz	24.09%	2
3	Jetstar	www.jetstar.com	9.52%	3
4	My Air New Zealand	www.myairnz.co.nz	4.62%	4
5	Virgin Australia	www.virginaustralia.com	3.54%	5
6	Emirates	www.emirates.com	3.42%	8
7	AirAsia	www.airasia.com	3.30%	6
8	Qantas	www.qantas.com.au	3.27%	7
9	Singapore Airlines	www.singaporeair.com	2.07%	9
10	Cathay Pacific	www.cathaypacific.com	0.76%	-

NB: Data courtesy of Experian Hitwise

NB2: Image via rook76/Shutterstock

But, is Travelzoo Local Deals’ growth trajectory disadvantaged because it has to expand the business while still making an overall profit?

Telling analysts and investors about Travelzoo’s fourth quarter of 2011 earnings today, CEO Chris Loughlin said it may take longer for Travelzoo to build its Local Deals business than some competitors because it has to do so while remaining profitable.

Loughlin didn’t name names, but he may have been thinking about recently public company Groupon, which has seen soaring growth for its flash sales and vouchers, but had a net loss of $10.6 million in the third quarter of 2011.

Loughlin said it make take Travelzoo longer to capture share in the Local Deals market, but it will get there while remaining profitable as some competitors, with all their red ink, fall by the wayside.

For the fourth quarter, there were bright spots and causes for some investor concern in Travelzoo’s earnings.

Net income grew 70% year over year to $6.4 million on $35.2 million in revenue, which climbed 23%.

Glen Ceremony, CFO, explained that the fourth quarter was the company’s fastest growing in four years, and that there was record operating income, and historic profitability in Europe.

However, with investors looking for a growth story, especially in Local Deals, North America sequential revenue in all Travelzoo’s business segments from the third quarter to the fourth fell 8.9% to $25.6, and European sequential revenue dropped 9.3% to $9.7 million.

Meanwhile, Travelzoo started breaking out its businesses into Travel (Top 20, Newsflash and Getaway vouchers), Search (SuperSearch and Fly.com) and Local (Local Deals vouchers and entertainment vouchers and direct bookings) for the first time.

In North America, Travel revenue increased 9.2% to $14.3 million sequentially (slowed by airline competition and consolidation), Search revenue decreased 33.8% to $4.7 million as Travelzoo ratcheted down marketing spend because of seasonality, and Local revenue dropped 16.7% to $6.5 million because of “internal sales staff moves and sickness and seasonality…” according to the company.

Europe’s debt woes and the accompanying uncertain economic climate, along with seasonality, hurt the Travelzoo European Travel segment, where revenue decreased 11.4% to $6.2 million. Search revenue in Europe declined 31.3% from the third quarter to the fourth quarter (reduced marketing spend and economic uncertainty) and Travelzoo Local revenue increased 14.3% to $2.4 million.

By mid-afternoon EST, Travelzoo’s stock price was down more than 9% for the day.

The funds, which have come from an undisclosed source, will also be diverted to new and existing product development and Olery plans to unveil a new product at ITB in Berlin in March.

The company specialises in tools which monitor social media presence and what is being said online and engaging with customers.

The technology can also benchmark performance against rival businesses in the leisure and hospitality sector.

Olery was founded in 2010 and customers include InterContinental Hotels, Best Western and Dorint.

The service is a project from Google Crisis Response disseminates information around natural and humanitarian disasters.

The project is also supported by Google.org which aims to take the best of Google’s search and technology capabilities to help address global challenges.

Currently the service only features weather and earthquake information but the search giant is keen to incorporate alerts from ‘authoritative trusted sources’ that provide information on other crises.

Less of a ‘don’t travel’ planning tool than a travel planning tool but useful for a travel industry that is no stranger to dealing with crises.

It’s not the first time the search giants maps have been combined with crisis information with Visit Florida using Google Maps to show areas affected by the oil spill in 2010.

And, last year the UK’s Guardian newspaper plotted government travel advice on the maps.

Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?

Tripbox was born out of the need to provide cheap holidays for friends and family. Tripbox has since evolved into a fully fledged online travel agency, selling holidays to the wider public whilst adhering to its low cost ethos.

It was founded by Savio Fernandes, a travel enthusiast with experience in software development and design.

What financial support did you have to launch the business?

Tripbox has been bootstrapped up to this point; however, we do have some exciting ideas that need developing which may require us to raise capital in the future.

What problem are you trying to solve?

Searching for a holiday on the web can be a stressful experience, not helped by the gaudy colour schemes and deals and advertisements that usually clutter travel websites.

So, we wanted to develop a website where the holiday search experience would be enjoyable with the information always displayed in a comprehensible manner.

Describe the business, core products and services?

Tripbox sells low-cost hotels, travel ancillaries and flights to a wide array of destinations. The website is plugged into most major bed banks and ancillary suppliers offering great choice to customers.

Who are your key customers and users at launch?

Our key customers are couples and families mostly interested in beach holidays. Our main age demographic is 18 – 40 years old.

Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?

Customers have commended Tripbox for its fresh look and straight forward booking process.

What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?

Tripbox is solely reliant on online bookings and does not take bookings over the phone. This results in low running costs and helps us sell holidays at a cheaper price.

SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?

Strengths:

• Engaging website with an inspiring, clean and consistent layout different from the homogenous ‘travel agency’ look.
• Search results only display the essential information in an intuitive manner and a range of easy to use filters help make the volume of information easily comprehensible for the user.
• Straightforward booking process.
• Sell holidays as cheap as possible.

Weaknesses:

• New player in a very crowded marketplace and lacking brand awareness.
• Reliant on data from slow third party content providers.

Opportunities:

• Build a steady customer base as users become more price conscious.

Threats:

• Larger, well-established online travel agencies.

Who advised you your idea isn’t going to be successful and why didn’t you listen to them?

We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of support from people who have appreciated our concepts from the very beginning.

We did have some people say that good design is not the thing that may attract and inspire customers, but we believe that design coupled with low prices make a very effective combination.

What is your success metric 12 months from now?

In 12 months time, we hope to have found a good foot hold with a decent customer base, aware of our brand and our low prices.

We would also like to further enhance our site and include some interesting features which are in a conceptual stage at the moment.

NB: TLabs Showcase is part of the wider TLabs project from Tnooz.

Most recent updates first…

Thursday 26 January 2012:

• Amadeus signs four-year distribution agreement with Travix mega-group. The deal covers the portfolio of Travix brands such as CheapTickets, Vliegwinkel.nl, Flugladen, BudgetAir, Vayama and Easytobook. The Amadeus Extreme Search system is also included as part of agreement.
• With Google, Apple and Facebook on the prowl, will hotels lose even more control of distribution?
• Is it time for a global HotelWiki to assist the industry (and consumers) with hotel distribution?

Wednesday 25 January 2012:

• Travelport signs major agreement with Satguru Travel & Tourism to expand operations in Africa. The partnership is said to be the largest of its kind signed by Travelport and gives it 16 new country distributor agreements across the continent, growing its existing network from 27 to 41 and extending GDS operations in a further two. National distributor centres for Travelport will run in the following countries: Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan and Togo. Existing Satguru ecommerce tools will be made available to customers as part of the deal.
• North American hotel prices – January to March 2012

Monday 23 January 2012:

• Amadeus signs Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission to promote travel between Europe and South America. The agreement is part of a wider scheme to increase traffic to other regions around the world during low seasons by utilising spare airline and accommodation capacity. The programme will encourage airlines that are ready to offer fare concessions through travel agencies and tour operators that would organise relevant travel packages, as well as with the European Commission.

Saturday 21 January 2012:

• Travelport has tapped Amadeus for senior executive Gilles Mascaras who joins as vice president for channel strategy and pricing. Mascaras will be responsible for identifying and prioritising markets, channels and customer groups for Travelport GDS products and services.  Mascaras had a 19-year career at Amadeus and was most recently ran the global online travel agencies and large leisure travel agents group.
• Priceline has successfully integrated Travelport‘s 360 Fares system. The global fares and pricing system powers all fares and pricing transactions for Travelport’s global distribution systems.
• Travelport announces three-year agreement with global IT outsourcing company Stefanini. The new partnership continues an existing agreement for Stefanini to provide Travelport with multi-lingual customer help desk services to its global distribution system and Galileo customers in Asia, alongside existing global Worldspan customers and Galileo customers in Europe.
• Why the mechanics behind travel distribution will blow your mind
• Travelport: IPO still a consideration, admits mistakes made with introduction of Agility
• Can a global distribution system be cool?
• Amadeus strengthens hotel offering via HRS distribution deal

Tuesday 17 January 2012:

• Travelport and TAP Portugal agree to extend distribution agreement. The deal gives all Travelport-connected agents around the world full access to TAP’s fares and classes. The pair have also agreed to work on a number of strategic projects including development of merchandising and group booking systems.
• Siri the mobile travel agent [VIDEO]

Saturday 14 January 2012:

• Start of American Airlines-Sabre antitrust case extended two months.
• Travel technology steady hand test [GAME].
• Financial analysts downplay Room Key threat to Expedia and Priceline.

Thursday 12 January 2012:

• Sabre identifies government regulation of airport security, emissions and taxes as one of the top issues affecting airlines. The bi-annual survey found fuel prices (81%), government regulations (72%) and airport security (59%) as the key challenges for the aviation sector. Issues having a positive impact included revenue/yield (81%), customer loyalty (81%) and IT investment (76%), according to executive at 80 regional and global airlines across the world.
• Room Key: Open to all, will lower hotel distribution costs, features and marketing to come
• Hotel giants come together to launch Room Key search site
• Amadeus report shows travellers willing to trade personal information for less travel stress
• US rejects delay request from global airlines on bag fee transparency
• Practical application of semantic technology and personalization in travel

Tuesday 10 January 2012:

• Amadeus signs distribution deal with Travelodge. The agreement gives Amadeus-connected agents access to 490 properties on the Travelodge portfolio in the UK, Ireland and Spain. Travelodge will also be included in the Amadeus Selling Platform and Hotel Plus tools. Travelodge aims to double its number of properties by 2020.
• Tnooz-Tealeaf FREE Webinar: Understanding the challenges of the multi-channel travel booker
• Airports – the new frontier for travel loyalty services
• Middle East hotel prices – January to March 2012

Thursday 5 January 2012:

• Big Data and the infinite possibilities for the travel industry
• What else? Web usage report, AMR delisted, ARC chairman, Cheapflights ticked off
• Why you need to care about travel technology, semantic web and ontology

Tuesday 3 January 2012:

• Amadeus launches Hotel Optimisation Package system for leisure and business travel agencies. The system has a number of services including the LinkHotel service, 50,000 properties from the likes of Transhotel, as well as a multi-GDS Business Intelligence platform to handle pricing and contracting with hotels.
• Travelport makes changes to Agility package for agencies in Americas
• Travel technology in 2011 – most popular, most commented and other highlights on Tnooz
• Big shuffle in the world of hotel marketing and distribution in 2012

NB: Image via Shutterstock.

Previous GDS updates:

• GDS news from Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus – December 2011
• GDS news from Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus – November 2011
• GDS news from Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus – October 2011
• GDS news from Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus – September 2011
• GDS news: Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus – August 2011
• GDS news: Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus – July 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs – June 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs – May 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs – April 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs – March 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs – February 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs – January 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs – December 2010
• GDS Bitesize – January 2010 to November 2010

The report is from research organisation ChildWise and looks at technology in the lives of children aged between five and 16.

The past year has seen a surge of children with their own internet-enabled mobile phone with 61% saying they have one and especially those aged 11 and over where the figure rises to 77%.

The mobile phone has now become the item they can least live without according to 30% followed by computers 23%, games consoles 17% and television 15%.

Children are spending more than an 90 minutes a day using their mobile phone for activities other than calls with 52% using them before they go to school and 45% using them in bed at night.

Most youngsters, 58%, can now access the internet in the privacy of their rooms and 74% have their own laptop or PC although the ChildWise Monitor demonstrates the trend towards portability with 61% having a laptop, 11% a tablet and 26% a PC.

More than half of all children who access the internet had visited Facebook in the previous week and the website emerged as favourite for a quarter of children compared with YouTube for 12% and 5% who say they like Moshi Monsters best.

Of those accessing Facebook, 39% were under 13 years of age.

Kids are most likely to use media after school with 60% using the internet then, 59% are listening to music, 47% using their mobile phone, 47% watching the TV and 46% using a game console.

On average they are engaging in more than three of the above activities at this time of day.

Surprisingly, given the choice children still prefer to communicate face-to-face with 53% saying it is their top communication channel for talking about something serious and 43% prefer face-to-face for a private chat versus 13% who say phone and 11% who say text.

The research was carried out by interviewing 2770 children aged 5-16 in 108 schools across the UK.

Qantas is now around 4.5% market share ahead of Virgin after adding 1.75% to its previous tally. Virgin lost a 1% share of the airline category over the same period.

 Most popular travel websites in Australia for the week ending January 21 2012:

Agency

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Webjet Australia	www.webjet.com.au	13.36%	1
2	Expedia Australia	www.expedia.com.au	11.80%	2
3	Flight Centre	www.flightcentre.com.au	9.38%	3
4	Lastminute.com.au	www.lastminute.com.au	5.76%	4
5	Best Flights	www.bestflights.com.au	2.83%	5
6	Jetabroad	www.jetabroad.com	2.40%	6
7	Airfares Flights Australia	www.airfaresflights.com.au	2.11%	7
8	ZUJI Australia	www.zuji.com	2.00%	8
9	Kayak	www.kayak.com	1.82%	10
10	travel.com.au	www.travel.com.au	1.79%	-

Destinations and Accommodation

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Wotif.com	www.wotif.com	6.20%	1
2	TripAdvisor - Australia	www.tripadvisor.com.au	5.92%	2
3	Booking.com	www.booking.com	4.73%	3
4	TripAdvisor	www.tripadvisor.com	3.95%	4
5	Stayz	www.stayz.com.au	3.67%	5
6	Totaltravel.com	www.totaltravel.com	2.12%	7
7	Agoda Australia	www.agoda.com.au	2.01%	6
8	Hotels.com	www.hotels.com	1.61%	8
9	HotelClub	www.hotelclub.com	1.08%	-
10	Agoda.com	www.agoda.com	1.07%	6

Airlines

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Qantas	www.qantas.com.au	23.18%	1
2	Jetstar	www.jetstar.com	18.24%	2
3	Virgin Australia	www.virginaustralia.com	17.62%	3
4	AirAsia	www.airasia.com	7.33%	4
5	Emirates	www.emirates.com	3.68%	5
6	Tiger Airways	www.tigerairways.com	3.44%	6
7	Singapore Airlines	www.singaporeair.com	3.02%	7
8	Air New Zealand	www.airnz.co.nz	2.20%	8
9	Air New Zealand - Australia	www.airnz.com.au	2.04%	9
10	Malaysia Airlines	www.malaysiaairlines.com	1.55%	10

Search Terms

Rank	Search Term	Percentage of Clicks	Percentage Paid	Percentage Organic	Previous Position
1	google maps	1.60%	0.07%	99.93%	1
2	jetstar	1.01%	0.88%	99.12%	2
3	webjet	0.77%	0.06%	99.94%	3
4	qantas	0.76%	15.14%	84.86%	4
5	maps	0.65%	0.18%	99.82%	6
6	wotif	0.64%	4.11%	95.89%	5
7	flight centre	0.52%	49.63%	50.37%	7
8	metlink	0.44%	0.14%	99.86%	10
9	airasia	0.37%	5.52%	94.48%	-
10	air asia	0.36%	7.51%	92.49%	9

NB: Data courtesy of Experian Hitwise

NB2: Image via Shutterstock.

The 214-page study, Distribution Channel Analysis: A Guide for Hotels, warns that third-party “gatekeepers” such as Google, Facebook and Apple, will expand their influence as “preferred points of entry” when consumers search for hotels and make reservations.

“… It is plausible that upwards of half of the hotel business could ultimately pass through third parties before being delivered to a hotel or brand …” according to the study, which is billed as a special report from the American Hotel & Lodging Association and STR (formerly known as Smith Travel Research).

The study, published by the HSMAI Foundation, was written by Cindy Estis Green and Mark Lomanno. It is geared toward the US market, although many of the interview subjects have global operations.

The study estimates that US hoteliers paid $2.7 billion in online travel agency commissions in 2010, with another $1.3 billion going to traditional travel agencies through global distribution system bookings.

“… The prospect of paying double these costs to a widening array of third-party intermediaries within 3 to 5 years may be shocking, but it is not unrealistic,” the study says.

And, referring to “this emerging new network” of gatekeepers, the authors argue that US hoteliers may end up paying them 10% to 20% of revenue in distribution costs.

The big intermediary brands are coming, and as the study states:

New players, such as Facebook, already in a relationship with Microsoft (active in travel search with Bing), and Apple, possibly in partnership with Kayak (or other meta-search sites, like Room Key, with access to a robust travel inventory), are dabbling in travel and can gain traction quickly due to deep pockets and a high level of consumer adoption. Likewise, large consumer sites like Amazon, eBay or other consumer-savvy retailers as well as media companies who need to expand their traditional reader base like USA Today or The New York Times may well get in the game. It is not clear which business models they will offer and what kind of control a hotel may have to gain visibility and participate cost effectively.

The study further contends that channel vendors “are unlikely to bring meaningful incremental demand into any US marketplace in the near term.”

And the primary source of new hotel demand in the US come from an influx in visitors from India, China and other international markets, the study says.

And, while major hotel brands are expanding in markets such as China and India, “third parties with marketing savvy and substantial budgets” are focusing on tapping into their inbound potential, the study says.

And this, the study suggests, will further entrench intermediaries as “crucial players in the consumer hotel selection process.”

And, speaking of demand generation, the study raises questions about the billboard effect, which is the theory that a brand’s presence on OTA sites such as Expedia creates incremental demand for the hotel’s own website.

The billboard effect theory was most prominently espoused in 2009 and 2011 studies by the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research.

But, the AH&LA and STR study faults the Cornell research for failing to prove cause and effect between a brand’s presence on Expedia.com and increased bookings on brand.com. The AH&LA and STR study notes:

The more comprehensive April 2011 study of 1,720 hotel bookings does not give any credit to the other seven to eight travel websites visited by consumers in the run-up to each booking, nor does it evaluate email, offline advertising, banner ads or any other commonly used promotional vehicles, each of which may create the effect of an added ‘billboard’ on a travel shopper’s path.

No one doubts, however, the current clout of the OTAs, especially during recessionary periods. The AH&LA and STR study estimates that OTAs accounted for 11% of room nights and 7.7% of US hotel revenue in 2010.

So, with hotels’ frenemies at the OTAs still forces to be reckoned with, and with the likes of Facebook, Apple, Google and other gatekeepers fast-emerging on the scene, what is a hotel to do?

The study offers several strategies for hotel managers or owners — none of which on the surface sound promising as a means of stemming the tide.

Among the recommendations:

• Manage the hotel’s most beneficial channel mix;

• Manage your channel mix against the competition, and compare channels in terms of shifting share, their fees and how they encourage consumer engagement;

• Invest in sustainable channels which enhance customer retention;

• Conduct systematic channel audits to ensure they are reaching the customers that they are supposed to be targeting.

• And, safeguard your pricing, brand and inventory, and “price smart.”

WestJet had been clinging on in recent weeks, but a drop of just over 3% market share saw it finally move under Air Canada, which had a nominal increase of its own of 0.25%.

Most popular travel websites in Canada for the week ending January 21 2012:

Agency

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Expedia Canada	www.expedia.ca	13.86%	1
2	itravel2000	www.itravel2000.com	5.22%	3
3	Flight Network	www.flightnetwork.com	4.40%	2
4	Red Tag Vacations	www.redtag.ca	4.31%	4
5	Sunwing	www.sunwing.ca	3.71%	5
6	Voyages Arabais	www.voyagesarabais.com	3.45%	6
7	Tripcentral.ca	www.tripcentral.ca	2.99%	7
8	Hotwire	www.hotwire.com	2.61%	8
9	Travelocity Canada	www.travelocity.ca	2.53%	9
10	priceline.com	www.priceline.com	2.35%	-

Destinations and Accommodation

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	TripAdvisor Canada	www.tripadvisor.ca	10.13%	1
2	Booking.com	www.booking.com	5.34%	2
3	TripAdvisor	www.tripadvisor.com	3.43%	3
4	Hotels.com	www.hotels.com	2.79%	4
5	TripAdvisor France	www.tripadvisor.fr	2.43%	5
6	BookIt.com	www.bookit.com	2.22%	6
7	Vacation Rentals by Owner	www.vrbo.com	1.63%	7
8	InterContinental Hotels Group	www.ichotelsgroup.com	1.41%	-
9	City of Toronto	www.toronto.ca	1.37%	8
10	Monarc.ca	www.monarc.ca	1.25%	10

Airlines

Rank	Website	Domain	Percentage of Visits	Previous Position
1	Air Canada	www.aircanada.ca	27.03%	2
2	WestJet	www.westjet.com	25.91%	1
3	Air Transat	www.airtransat.com	6.65%	3
4	Allegiant Air	www.allegiantair.com	3.98%	4
5	acaeronet.aircanada.ca	acaeronet.aircanada.ca	2.41%	5
6	Air Canada Employee Travel Site	travel.aircanada.com	1.98%	6
7	Delta Air Lines	www.delta.com	1.95%	-
8	Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air	www.alaskaair.com	1.69%	8
9	Spirit Airlines	www.spiritair.com	1.68%	-
10	American Airlines	www.aa.com	1.65%	-

NB: Data courtesy of Experian Hitwise

NB2: Image via Shutterstock.

There is a certain helplessness creeping in around online hotel distribution which is worrying hotels in Europe and worldwide.

In recent weeks, Germany’s market leader HRS increased commission fees by more than 15 %, just two months after acquiring Hotel.de, the number three in the German market.

Simultaneously the screws were tightened in a frightening manner as rate- and availability-parity clauses applicable throughout all (!) online and offline distributions channels were inserted into the terms and conditions.

Now we are not talking only about last room availability, but we are confronted with anytime-access to the entire hotel inventory, a veritable product-parity.

Since then there has been increased murmurings in the discussion forums and chat rooms of the hotel industry.

For the sake of fairness, it should be mentioned that HRS also announced an automatic GDS-connection via Amadeus for HRS hotels, including a flat fee.

This particular booking portal’s power and the eventual dependency of hotel businesses on it raise fundamental questions.

Why couldn’t the hotel industry oppose these mechanisms of online distribution in time, and why did it leave the increasingly one-sided booking conditions in place?

At least in Europe the cause lies in the conditions of the market, where a constantly narrowing oligopoly on the side of the supplier faces a fragmented hotel sector.

As a consequence, unfair market practices are established which the hotel industry can barely defend itself. In economics this effect is known as The Prisoner’s Dilemma.

What is the way out?

Sure, every hotel has a whole lot of homework to do to strengthen its direct bookings via its own website.

Hotel associations inform their members and give a wide variety of help with direct-booking strategies, hotel reviews, content, customer loyalty, context and search engine optimization.

The development of a booking system belonging to the hotel industry is hardly the tool of choice due to the market and painful experiences of the past, no matter how promising new approaches, such as RoomKey, may sound.

And also Google will not incorporate the heroic epic of the so-called White Knight into its repertoire.

But how can the markets be held open in the medium and long term?

The hotel industry must have a vital interest in preventing monopolies in the growing markets of online travel agents, hotel review sites and search engines.

For this the barriers to entry for third parties such as agencies, app-developers, booking service providers, channel managers, online-merchants, search engines, think tanks outside the industry, garage startups and any other market participant, must be kept as low as possible.

This enables real and latent competitive pressure to be generated though alternatives, which sustainably prevents monopoly rents from being siphoned.

This allocation of industry know-how must be perceived and organised as a public good, the use of which is accessible to the general public at a low cost, or for free.

Why don’t we, as an industry, combining our knowledge and expertise, build a comprehensive hotel database – a worldwide Hotelwiki?

It would include unique global identifiers, address data, GPS-coordinates, photos, videos and in particular deep links to the favourite booking page of each hotel would have to be added and inserted there.

This project could be cast in the shape of a foundation. Or it could be built up from already existing industry initiatives such as Dothotel, HEDNA, HFTP, HTNG, OpenTravel Alliance, RoomKey or TTI, you name it.

Who takes the lead is secondary in the end. We need this industry’s joint show of strength – worldwide, undistorted, neutral.

It’s time for a Hotelwiki!

NB: This is a guest article by Markus Luthe, CEO of the German Hotel Association.

NB2: Images via Shutterstock.

The local, or geo-targeted, deals sold at the kiosks will include Groupon Now (which must be redeemed that day), Feature deals and Groupon Getaways with Expedia.

The rollout of kiosks, which begins today in Chicago at places such as Navy Pier, Water Tower Place, Soldier Field and Michigan Avenue, will be expanded to other big cities throughout 2012, a Groupon spokesman says.

Here’s a Groupon concept image of the kiosks:

There is an initial plan for 100 kiosks and the rollout is expected to take up to 90 days.

This is Chicago-based Groupon’s first kiosk and offline deployment, although online travel agencies, such as Travelocity and Expedia, have tried such bricks and mortar presences in locales such as Las Vegas and Hawaii.

Groupon’s kiosk rollout comes through a partnership with smartDigital, a Chicago company offering kiosks and software.

smartDigital says its kiosks “retain behavioral data and report targeted consumer results and predictive analytics.”

Groupon says consumers will be able to pay for Groupons at the kiosks using credit cards or their existing Groupon accounts.

Groupon has consistently stated that travel is one of the pillars of its strategy and the rollout of outdoor kiosks at tourist attractions and other areas frequented by tourists is further evidence of the flash sales company’s travel ambitions.