A LOOK UNDER THE SHEETS AT THE EVER-EVOLVING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOTELS AND OTAs.
Of the two great innovations that technology has enabled in the hotel business in the past 15 years, only one has been truly disruptive: the rise of Online Travel Agents.
What makes the disruptive innovation of OTAs so fascinating is that they are simultaneously the hotels’ biggest competitor, and potentially their largest online sales channel (for all but the largest chains). The OTAs and the hotels clearly need each other.
Accepting this fact, how can hospitality brands make the most of their online friends-cum-enemies? Read the rest of this entry »
The QUOcast, a podcast about hospitality
Something we’ve started experimenting with recently, a podcast about hospitality. Discussion includes “the death of the brand”, and an interview with Minor International’s Dilip Rajakarier.
Checking into a hotel, the staff on the desk informed me that the minibar was “pressure-sensitive,” so if you took something out and then put it back, you’d still be charged. I couldn’t help but wonder why the minibar was smart enough to know when I had taken a beer, but not clever enough to forgive me after my moment of weakness.. I nodded in acknowledgment, thanked him politely and then shuffled off to my room, pondering the changes in technology and human behaviour, and how they affect the bottom line. Read the rest of this entry »
Mobile is a huge part of life nowadays. The stats all point to a huge increase in mobile usage, and our own experience as users shows how much it has grown to dominate our online behaviour. So it’s natural for business people to focus on what they can do to make best use of this new opportunity. However, there is a lot of confusion which gets in the way of successfully implementing a mobile strategy. Read the rest of this entry »
Fullscreen images have really come into focus in the past year or so. This is because the public in general now have faster internet connections. This, combined with more easily accessible Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) makes serving large images easier. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s time for all of us to think about how mobile affects our businesses.
If you don’t have a mobile site now, then you need to call up your developer, talk to your tech team, and make it happen.
On the 50 or so sites that we’re currently tracking, Read the rest of this entry »
Well, i said Google needed to do something bold about Android, and that was bold! Spending USD12.5 billion on a company that is losing lots of money is either madness or masterstroke. The internet has hardly stopped buzzing about this. Here are the key points:
1. USD12.5 billion is nearly 50% more than Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s the scene. Google is the dominant internet company, owning search to the point that it’s effectively a monopoly. It makes huge amounts of money from this, and the dominance in this area will continue for the foreseeable future.
Yet it’s also David in some other battles. Read the rest of this entry »
As an avid smartphone user (ok, geek), i look forward to using my favourite gadget while travelling. So much is available to the traveller, and so many apps have been created to ensure users have a great time while travelling: browsers allow you to go online and search for information as needed, and apps have functionality that is nothing short of magical. Many articles give the Top 10 Apps for Tourists, Best Apps for Business Travellers, highlighting everything from the prosaic — city guides, restaurant and hotel reviews — to the downright magical Read the rest of this entry »
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