Travel Agents Adding Value with Zicasso.com

In a recent post titled “Travel Agents Finding Relevance Amidst Web 2.0” I mentioned a site called Zicasso.com.  In the post I misspelled the domain and within a day I received a message from the CEO Brian Tan informing me of the error.  I corrected the mistake and thanked him for his attention to detail. Zicasso has garnered some impressive media coverage over the last few months, so  I contacted Brian and asked him about Zicasso and why he feels his site has become so popular.  I wasn’t really interested in the technology but rather the philosophy behind the site, after... Read more »

Combining Planning & Booking a Nice Combo with Travelmob.com

Before I talk about the primary subject of this post, Travel Mob, let me first point out that Adam Smith, the CEO of Travel Mob contacted me about the site two weeks ago.  The important part here is that he did it in a way that caught my attention and, from what I can tell, he actually reads the T4 blog, so when he sent me a message he knew that his site would have relevance to my readers.  That said, I wish all the pitches I received were as well formed as Adam’s.  In case you are a PR company reading this post, please refer to my earlier post entitled “Engaging Bloggers - PR dos... Read more »

New Open Review Website [TripReviews.com] in Private Beta

Occasionally I get the opportunity to participate in some very cool private betas.  In this case, a friend and colleague of mine, Sean Rollinson from Escapes.ca has recently launched a new project called TripReviews.com.  Besides being a lucky domain name score, the site itself has some strong potential in the travel review space. Some of the key differences between TripReviews.com and other review websites is the focus on openness, transparency, and supplier/operator participation.  TripReviews.com doesn’t just support hotels but also destinations, attractions, and cruises.  The rating... Read more »

EU Passes Anti-Flogging Law

Flogging is not only a form of punishment but now also refers to a form of blogging known as “commercial blogging” or “fake blogging“. Travelmole reported today that the EU has passed a law which makes it illegal for hotel (or other companies) to write false reviews on sites like TripAdvisor. The article further states that: The new law includes two categories of unfair commercial practise - misleading practices and aggressive practices. Whether a practise is deemed unfair will be judged in light of the effect it has on the average consumer’s consequent decision to... 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 »

Hospitality Managers Pay Attention! The Truth Doesn’t Have to Hurt

A big part of both the Canada-e-connect and the PhoCusWright Conferences revolved around user generated content and the effect that online review sites have on a companies reputation. The TripAdvisor presentation, which I reviewed earlier, pointed out that hoteliers and destination marketers don’t need to fear public opinion and that feedback in the form of reviews is a valuable tool from a customer service standpoint. This survey, by Marketing Vox seems to support the idea that reviews are really not as bad as hoteliers think. Here is a snippet of the results as posted by Joe Buhler: Fully... Read more »