Blog to Book - A Recap of the T-List Book Project

Well, it had to happen eventually. Thanks to the efforts of all the members of the T-List, the overwhelming support we got from the contributors, and the team at Rezgo, we have been asked to participate in the first ever Blogger Summit and Workshop at the PhoCusWright conference in Orlando. I have to give a big thanks to Jens Thraenhart without whom this project would have not been as widely publicized. Jens introduced the idea to many of his contacts around the World and promoted it through his T-List Facebook group. To give you a quick rundown on how quickly a diverse group can collaborate... Read more »

Only One in Four Top Canadian Travel Sites Support Carbon Offsetting

Today is blog action day, a day when thousands of blogs from around the world, including this one, are posting articles about environmental sustainability. I first discovered this on Kevin May’s Travolution blog. On his post he compared the top five U.K. travel sites and reviewed their environmental policies. Of the top five, only one Easyjet has incorporated carbon offsetting directly into the checkout process. Of the remaining four, only one, Lastminute.com allows customers to offset carbon using a seperate carbon calculator.So, in keeping with Kevin’s analysis, I went online... Read more »

Impact of Online Social Networks on Hotel Search and Referral Behavior

Julia Holzgreve from ” Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne ‘07″ is working on her dissertation about “Impact of Online Social Networks on Hotel Search and Referral Behavior”. She needs your help to compile data for use in her study. If you have a few minutes, please take the time to complete the survey. Here is the message she posted on the WIWIH forums this past week: Dear Survey Participant, As a graduating student at the École hôtelière de Lausanne, I am currently writing my bachelor thesis / dissertation about the topic of online social network services and their... Read more »

Bringing Long Tail Content to the Fore

There has been a lot of discussion over the last year about the long tail of travel and the move to market and sell specialized travel products. PhocusWright’s Senior Strategist John Bray, in a presentation at the 2007 IFITT Enter Conference, elaborated on the primary differences between Travel 1.0 and Travel 2.0. Mr. Bray pointed out that travel 1.0 was about “Searching for the Lowest Fare” whereas Travel 2.0 is about “Finding the Perfect Trip”. What does this mean exactly? Well, it means that consumers are researching, asking questions, and looking for alternatives... Read more »

DMOs should focus on web initiatives

I read a post today by Joe Buhler about the Caribbean Tourism Organization and the excellent job being done by Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace. The part of the post that resonated the most with me is the following quote: “What I also applaud him for is the strong focus on web based initiatives to get the message out and stimulate market demand. It is today the most effective means of communications with any audience. Also, the tight integration of information with a direct online booking functionality for the entire region will only increase the effectiveness of effort and improve the ROI of... Read more »