21 December 2010 ~ 6 Comments

What will 2011 bring for tour and activity providers

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  When I first starting commenting on the tour and activity segment almost five years ago, it didn’t take long for me to see the opportunities with small tourism businesses.  It took me a little longer to identify the challenges however.  The tour and activity segment [...]

Continue Reading

11 December 2009 ~ 7 Comments

Travel Tech Review: Planning with DuffelUp.com

Travel Tech Review: Planning with DuffelUp.com

What do a cork board, sticky notes, note cards, and an Apple style interface have in common? Travel planning of course.  Start-up DuffelUp.com is trying carve out their niche in the crowded online trip planning space by offering something a little different, an interface that is simple and familiar.  When you plan a trip with [...]

Continue Reading

04 November 2009 ~ 0 Comments

Converting the Masses – Using Social Media to Improve Customer Conversion

This is a copy of my presentation at the Adventure Travel World Summit.  Ofcourse you lose the audio content that goes with it, but you get the gist. I’ve added an outline of the slides along with some commentary that adds context to the slides. Using Social Media Techniques to Improve Customer Conversion View more [...]

Continue Reading

09 October 2009 ~ 16 Comments

#followfriday – Part III – Travel People on Twitter

This list is sourced from the Uptake Twitter list which can be found at http://www.uptake.com/blog/blogging/the-t-list-does-twitter-join-the-travel-twitterati-beta_239.html.  I wanted to separate it out so that I could generate a TweepML list that would make it easy for you to follow them. UPDATE: To prevent having to maintain two lists, one static and one on the TweepML site, [...]

Continue Reading

09 October 2009 ~ 2 Comments

#followfriday Part II – Travel Providers & MetaSearch On Twitter

This list consists of a mix of OTAs and metasearch sites that provide a service to consumers on-line.  Granted there are some sites that probably fit in here that are communities as well, but I am going for just the sites where people would generally book their own travel. You can follow this list with [...]

Continue Reading

09 October 2009 ~ 2 Comments

#followfriday Part I – Airlines on Twitter

For research purposes I have been trying to gather together lists of travel related companies that are using Twitter.  I am slowly but surely putting together some for my own, but hopefully also your, use.  Here is my first list of companies starting with airlines.  If you know of any ideas, please add them to [...]

Continue Reading

06 October 2009 ~ 8 Comments

Are you coming to the Adventure Travel World Summit?

Are you coming to the Adventure Travel World Summit?

The Adventure Travel World Summit is on October 19-22, 2009 in historic Quebec City.  I’ll be attending this year as a speaker focusing on Social media and distribution systems for the adventure segment.  I am really excited about being part of the conference this year because it is really well executed and, from what I [...]

Continue Reading

28 September 2009 ~ 0 Comments

Kijubi.com – New Destination Experiences Contender

Kijubi.com – New Destination Experiences Contender

It’s not altogether surprising to see more experience based travel sites popping up. Unlike the “all-in-one” travel sites, this segment still has a tremendous amount of room for growth. Enter on the scene, Kijubi.com, the experience marketplace. It took me a moment to realize that the name, as twodotohish as it is, is actually pronounced [...]

Continue Reading

27 September 2009 ~ 12 Comments

The Potential Impact of Google Side Wiki on Travel Websites

The Potential Impact of Google Side Wiki on Travel Websites

Google just released their newest foray into the world of ratings and reviews with their Sidewiki product.  The first, and I think one of the most important things to consider, is that Sidewiki is only available for users who download and install the Google Toolbar.  Although there are probably millions of people who have installed [...]

Continue Reading

10 August 2009 ~ 13 Comments

Travel Has Much to Learn from E-Commerce – Recommendation Engines

Travel Has Much to Learn from E-Commerce – Recommendation Engines

In 1999 I had an opportunity to work with a variety of best of breed e-commerce products for a large retailer in the U.S. midwest.  One of the products I worked with was NetPerceptions.  The software was developed out of a research program at the University of Minnesota in 1992 and is based on the [...]

Continue Reading