Articles tagged “online travel agencies”

Starwood's decision to follow Marriott into TripAdvisor Instant Booking begs the question: How long with InterContinental Hotels Group and Hilton Worldwide continue to be conscientious objectors? Hint: TripAdvisor officials say they are talking to everyone.

25 Moments that Mattered in 2015: To make our selection of 25 moments, we thought back to the stories that drove reader engagement and sparked discussion among both travel experts and the general public. Some stories were quick blips that represented bigger things while others were narratives that built slowly through out the year. Each one, though, spoke to where we are right now when it comes to the big business of global travel.

25 Moments that Mattered in 2015: To make our selection of 25 moments, we thought back to the stories that drove reader engagement and sparked discussion among both travel experts and the general public. Some stories were quick blips that represented bigger things while others were narratives that built slowly through out the year. Each one, though, spoke to where we are right now when it comes to the big business of global travel.

For online travel agencies and hotel chains, the new cryptic brand messaging in Google Hotel Ads is a quest for identity and differentiation. Little things -- and a handful of characters -- will mean an awful lot. Want to know the difference between Booking.com and sister company Priceline.com? It's all there in the short bursts of brand blurbs.

Every smart travel agency and consortium has plans to better integrate one-on-one service with mobile technology. But maybe English, with his established tech savvy, can finally crack the perfect formula for bringing agents into the digital age. The hard part will be acquiring customers, especially when using a mobile app as the sole method of client interaction.

Hilton's CEO's statements that the chain achieved three key goals in negotiations with major online travel agencies show that the parties' standard ways of doing business are evolving. If Nassetta's statements are to be believed, then Hilton won some tools for improving its economic position and winning back some direct traffic.

Mobile is the present and future of travel booking as desktop slowly creeps out the backdoor during the next decade. Mobile's future also doesn't necessarily mean apps, as brands devote major redesign efforts to their mobile sites for travelers weary of having too many apps.

TripAdvisor wanted to keep the details secret. But the price for finally getting the Priceline Group/Booking.com into TripAdvisor Instant Booking was playing the online travel agency exclusivity card. Expedia is shut out for now and can join later. Will Book on Google play a similar game?

Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin thinks the hotel industry has failed to get a wake-up call over the last 15 years and has missed out on wave after wave of digital innovation. He's saying all the right things about Accor addressing these past shortcomings, although the jury is still out on how much he'll be able to accomplish.