Are Carbon Offsets the New Snake Oil? - Planning for a Greener 2008

So the response to my original post has been pretty good. I managed to stir up some emotions relating carbon offsets to snake oil, but that was after all my point. I didn’t really want to sensationalize it too much, but I did want to make the point that, right now, it is buyer beware. Scott, from Search Intelligence, Peter from Sustainable Travel, and Ian from Philathropic Travel all brought up really good points about the industry so I thought I would shift focus away from the potential problems with the market and focus on what you, as an organization or a consumer should look for in... Read more »

Connecting with the crowd at the Google After Party @ PCW 07

Here is a quick montage of the Google after party at the PhoCusWright Conference 2007 in Orlando. In the montage are Eric Bjorndahl from Travbuddy.com and Martin Schobert from the Austrian National Tourism Office. By the way, Google knows how to throw an awesome party. Check out the glowing Google cups! I wish I had the foresight to keep one as a momento. Sphere: Related Content Read More →

Tips from the T-List Site & Download Available

I got so caught up in getting the “Tips from the T-List” site launched that I completely forgot to post anything about it. Well, the site is live now! You’ve probably already read about it from one of the other T-List authors. I think most of them have already blogged about it. Regardless, I’m pretty happy with the site and its features, which include: Profiles for all authors including links to all their blogs Links to all author’s RSS feeds so you can subscribe to the one’s you want right on the site. The four most recent posts for each author. A consolidated... Read more »

Are Carbon Offsets the New Snake Oil?

** Note: I updated the post based on feedback I received from Peter at STI. Thanks to Peter for helping to clarify some of the inaccuracies. Additions are noted in green. I was contacted recently by a client who wanted to integrate a carbon offsetting program into the checkout process of their travel booking engine. They had been recommended to partner with a company (who shall remain nameless) who sells Carbon Offsets. Upon further investigation, I learned some very important information about Carbon Offset schemes. In response to the request from my client, I contacted Peter Krahenbuhl,... Read more »

Connecting with Kevin May, Editor at Travolution.co.uk @ PhoCusWright 2007 Orlando

I had a chance to catch up with Kevin May, editor of the populat http://travolution.blogspot.com blog. I asked him what he thought of the Tips from the T-List book, the blogger workshop, and the conference as a whole. He had some great points. By the way, big thanks to Kevin for contributing to the book and for including the book as a download for the Travolution conference. Sphere: Related Content Read More →

More Support for Truth being Online Gold Dust

A recent survey by the Kelsey Group recently announced that consumers are willing to pay at least 20% more for products and services receiving a 5 star (or excellent) rating versus those receiving a 4 star (or good) rating. The study also indicated that about 24% of the Internet users that were surveyed use online ratings during the research and buying process. More than three quarters reported that the online reviews played a significant role in their decision to use a product or service, with the highest percentage allocated to hotels. So, this is yet another confirmation for those of you... Read more »

Long Tail Suppliers are starting to have impact on Online Travel

PWC recently stated that suppliers are gaining ground over aggregators in the online travel marketplace. I had discussed this in context to another recent survey that said the same thing, however, what I liked about this article from Travelmole.com was the following quote: “Already there are companies offering a wider range of services unrelated to travel - theatre tickets, restaurant bookings and theme park entry for example. This can result in increased customer loyalty and higher revenues per booking for the online operator.” This quote represents a significant shift in how aggregators... Read more »

New Travel Bookmarking Site a Cross Between Del.icio.us and LonelyPlanet

I recently came across a new website called TravelBookmarking.com. I found it quite by accident while using Stumbleupon to look for travel related sites. TravelBookmarking.com is a sister site to SoMuchWorld.com which is a free web based travel guide similar in nature to Wikitravel.org or World66.com but written by a set of professional travel writers. The reason why I like TravelBookmarking.com is because it gives travelers the ability to bookmark sites (in del.icio.us style) in order to create their own personal travel guides. Travelers can even copy and paste in creative commons or open... Read more »

Google and the Wisdom of Crowds with Tim Armstrong at PhoCusWright Orlando 2007

Did you know that 22% of traffic to travel sites is driven by Google! No wonder Google is interested in this area given the amount of traffic around travel websites and the amount of money spent on advertising through Google’s channels. Mr. Amstrong started by saying that connecting with consumers is an important part of the success of marketing a destination. New Zealand Tourism, for example, has done an excellent job of connecting with consumers. The site contains a variety of assets including videos and photos. By combining a variety of assets, they have encompassed all aspects of the... Read more »

Michelle Peluso - CEO of Travelocity - Evolving the user interface

Michelle Peluso, CEO of Travelocity focused her talk on improving the user interface for consumers of travel products. The presentation was the first of an excellent series of presentations by top brand executives. Here is a summary of her presentation and my commentary from the PhoCusWright Conference 2007 in Orlando. Ms. Peluso’s opening comment was that the collective travel user interface needs be bigger and bolder, but that I believe she was referring to the need to provide more overall experience for the end consumer, rather than simply providing an interface to purchase travel products.... Read more »