British Airways gets the X-Factor

The British Airways boys at last week’s Travolution Summit premiered a project they are working on with Microsoft. The audible gasps from some parts of the room when the demo was shown by Carsten Willert and Chris Carmichael indicated that this is A Major Thing for BA and the industry in general. The company is going beyond selling a single product to creating “experiences”. Of course BA has an advantage because of its breadth of product and the soon-to-be-launched dynamic packaging capability. Nevertheless, it’s a big deal. And the fact that an airline has done it is nothing... Read more »

How does a swanky airline tell its customers it’s going out of business [EOS style]

The relationship we have is very special. You have shown a true appreciation for the commitment and service that defines Eos Class and it has always been our pleasure to deliver Eos Class service to you. The sense of camaraderie and level of engagement we’ve developed together transcends the traditional airline space. The customer service puffery on the EOS homepage is followed by something far more difficult to convey: It goes on to say how the business class-only airline between New York JFK and London Stansted has filed for bankruptcy in the US and will fly its last scheduled service tonight... Read more »

Stelios and the Travolution Achievement Award

Someone emailed earlier to ask us to publish the citation I gave: The Achievement Award is an accolade Travolution gives each year to an individual whose influence has – we believe – helped shape the online travel industry into what it is today. Last year’s recipient was Brent Hoberman, co-founder of Lastminute.com, who many of you would have heard speak earlier today. So tonight we are pleased to honour yet another pivotal player of the last ten years in online travel. Our individual does not come from a pureplay online company, one which was created on the web and with the web in mind. In... Read more »

Consumerist: Lonely Planet Writer Admits to Fabricating Guide Book Based On Info From Girlfriend

I love the Consumerist blog. Not sure what to think of Lonely Plant after this story about the shenanigans of guide writer Thomas Kohnstamm - “Lonely Planet Writer Admists to Fabricating Guide Book Based On Info From Girlfriend” This article was originally posted on The BOOT - The Business of Online Travel.You can read and comment on the original article here.  Read More →

Buying blogs must be in vogue

A sure-fire way to monetize an independent blog is to sell it. US-based SFO Media has sold Jaunted.com and hotelchatter.com to CondeNet, the online publishing division of Conde Nast, for an undisclosed sum. The plan is for the two blogs to sit alongside its concierge.com travel site, operating as standalone brands, cross-promoted where relevant on concierge.com. Jaunted and hotelchatter have nearly 1m unique users a month. The press release added that ‘The Concierge.com sales team will sell placement on the blogs, both individually and included in packages with Concierge.com and cntraveler.com.’ Mark... Read more »

Travolution Awards 2008 - Winners

A full list of winners and comments from the judges is now available on the Travolution website. Pictures and exclusive video from Stelio Haji-Ioannou to be posted later today . Kevin May, editor, Travolution This article was originally posted on Travolution Blog.You can read and comment on the original article here.  Read More →

Specially positioned, dangerously

Kuoni UK’s MD Nick Hughes has admitted that his business has one foot in the middle-ground between scale and niche. This is where businesses die in any mature market, according to lastminute.com’s Ian McCaig. He admits that his opinions about scale and niche are ‘even more entrenched’ since he talked about them at last year’s Summit. But Kuoni is moving upmarket, offering customers the tailor-made high-service travel experiences ‘that they expect from us’. This high service offer will require a multi-channel approach. He admits that while there is ’significant... Read more »

Quotoid #12

Lastminute CEO Ian McCaig is still feeling a little upset despite an hour of therapy at lunchtime he tells us. “I don’t know if there is anyone from Google left in the room but it’s lastminute.com from a trademark perspective. Sorry, I know that’s cheap, well, certainly cheaper than protecting my trademark on Google.” This article was originally posted on Travolution Blog.You can read and comment on the original article here.  Read More →

Quotoid #11

Yen Lee, president, Uptake (formerly Kango) When asked about differences between the US and Europe: “What’s surprised me is that when there are so many really strong brands in Europe, we’ve spent 80% of today talking about price. People don’t go to Barcelona because it’s cheap. They go because of what they can do there. Think more about the experience, rather than the cost.” This article was originally posted on Travolution Blog.You can read and comment on the original article here.  Read More →

Predicting flight delays

is what Delaycast does as explained in the latest issue of Springwise the trend newsletter. Should become a welcome and useful tool for travelers as we head into the summer season. This article was originally posted on Marketing on the Smart Web.You can read and comment on the original article here.  Read More →

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