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Archive for July, 2010|Monthly archive page

Where are the niche hotel websites?

In General on July 27, 2010 at 21:58

One thing that surprises me is that there aren’t more hotel websites for specific niches, for people with particular passions, needs and pastimes. Of course, you aren’t likely to be aware of these niches unless you have a particular need, but still, there seems to be very little in the way of hotel sites catering to families with kids, or people with disabilities — and these aren’t really niches at all, in that they apply to an enormous number of people worldwide.

I was reading Chris Anderson’s excellent Free the other day, and he talks about the internet reducing the marginal cost of reaching a lot of people, reaching the very people with special tastes and requirements that had been difficult to market to in the past.

So why isn’t it happening? Am I being shortsighted? Are there lots of niche hotel sites out there? I’d love to see some examples of these…

Anthony Green – July 2010

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The internet really HAS changed the hotel industry!

In General on July 13, 2010 at 22:11

Fabrice asks What did the Internet REALLY change in the hotel industry? — and although i don’t have the inside stats that he’s looking for (my experience over the last 10 years has been as a supplier, not as a hotelier), i would hazard a guess that the biggest recipients of any benefits would be small independent hotels. Read the rest of this entry »

Online hotel booking findings from the ITB World Travel Trends Report

In General on July 2, 2010 at 11:37

ITB World Travel Trends ReportITB is a huge endeavour, with 108,000 trade visitors, and over 10,000 exhibitors from 180 countries at its Berlin show (not including the ITB Asia show), and the participation of so many travel related companies gives it access to an impressive amount of data.

Looking through this, i was excited to see the continued growth in online bookings, especially in a difficult year for travel and tourism. Read the rest of this entry »