Connecting with Dave Sanford from Yapta.com @ PhoCusWright 2007 in Orlando

I met Dave and the rest of the Yapta.com crew at the PhoCusWright Conference 2007 in Orlando. On the second night of the conference I had dinner with Dave, CEO Tom Romary, Jeff Pecor (Communications Director), and Mike Gurrette (Director with Alaska Airlines). The conversation was excellent and I got a chance to find out more about the company and the challenges of being a tech company in the NorthWest vs. Silicon Valley. In this interview, Dave gives us a better idea of what Yapta.com does and how it can save you money. Sphere: Related Content 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 →

Mr. Al Lenza - VP Distribution & E-Commerce North West Airlines

Paypal and billmelater technologies are being accepted by airlines now. Internet has been focused on low fares. Mandate is to focus on revenue and provide access to low fare information as it pertains to specific traveler requirements, for example the lowest direct fare, or the lowest first class fare, etc. Meta search and vertical search - What is NWA view of these intermediary channels (for example Kayak.com). Meta search is different because they have a different customer value proposition. They render lowest fares and that doesn’t help NWA revenues. Kiosk - 85% of passengers check... Read more »

Offset your travel carbon emmissions

My good friend Tatsuya Nakagawa over at Atomica Creative sent me a link to an post on 21st Century Citizen over the weekend. It was timely considering I just blogged about Carbon offsetting recently. The post is about how you, as an individual traveler, can offset your carbon emissions by using the Sustainable Travel International Carbon Offset calculator. The calculator lets you choose your departure and destination and then calculates the amount of carbon produced as a result of your trip. The calculator then uses a formula to determine a dollar amount associated with programs that would... Read more »

Canada’s First E-Tourism Strategy Conference

I am so excited to promote the first Canada-e-connect conference to be held in Vancouver. The goal of the conference is to profile Canada’s tourism industry and to highlight innovations in online marketing and technology that support tourism. This is especially exciting because this conference would normally have been in Ottawa or Toronto prior to the CTC’s move to Vancouver. This conference marks a milestone in the development of online marketing and tourism technologies because it is an acknowledgment and an acceptance that internet distribution, marketing, social media, and new... Read more »

Why Banks Consider Travel a Risky Business

Over the years I’ve worked with dozens of travel agencies and tour operators who have tried and been unsuccessful at getting a merchant account which allows them to accept credit cards for payments. In this credit driven world, it can be difficult to do business if you can’t accept credit cards for payments, especially on large travel related purchases. Some have come back to us in frustration to try and determine why they are being singled out by the banks and merchant processing companies. Many processors categorize travel with gambling, pornography, and online lotteries. For... Read more »