The Great Travel Site Showdown – Group 1

Let the battle begin.
Group 11. Maine2. Minnesota3. California4. District of Columbia
Voting is available at traveltrendreport.blogspot.com and open until Saturday.
More on the Great Travel Site Showdown is available at the Travel 2.0 blog.
Remember to tell us why you voted in the comments section.

The Great Travel Site Showdown

As a member of the travel industry, I am constantly looking at what my peers and counterparts throughout the country are doing. And quite often, co-workers and constituents ask me who has the best website.
I have some standard answers (none of which will be divulged here), but that got me thinking…we should really have a [...]

Form + Function – The Evolution of Digital Design

Rather than craft a one-off Web site…advertisers want to build brand loyalty by providing utilities that both improve people’s lives in some small way…and directly pad corporate bottom lines. Funny microsites are giving way to useful, sometimes entertaining applications; the showing off of flashy technology is yielding to design geared towards generating sales; and [...]

How Netflix Made Me Smile

Have you made your customers smile lately?
A few weeks ago, I told you about an e-mail snafu at Travel Oregon that resulted in us issuing a tongue-in-cheek “mea culpa” that resulted in phenomenal “love” from our consumers. This week, I was on the receiving end of such an e-mail that reinforced my love for [...]

Travel Trends – Deltalina, YouTube, Michigan, Wealthy Consumers

Deltalina – From now on, all Delta flights are smokin’. (Zing!)
That oh so cute line from the Atlanta Journal Constitution is in reference to the increasing publicity that Delta and more specifically, Katherine Lee (Delta + Angelina (Jolie) = Deltalina…which was thankfully not coined by yours truly) is receiving from the mainstream media [...]

Too Much TripAdvisor

Jim Brody, our rep at TripAdvisor, passed along this email earlier in the week. Apparently it is making the rounds at TripAdvisor HQ not because it is negative, but actually because TripAdvisor has sent our friend Bob too much business.
Behold the power of the internet. And specifically, user-generated content / reviews.

From: “Bob Wombacher, [...]

State of the Industry Conversations

After starting the Travel 2.0 group on LinkedIn (741 members, thank you very much), several peers asked how we could further the conversion and discussion beyond the networking opportunities of LinkedIn.
We gave it some thought, and decided the best way to approach this was to start a simple Q&A or conversations series that would live [...]

Now You Can Take Us Seriously

Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking to Laura Bly from the USA Today to contribute to her recent story, ‘Blogs start a dialog between travelers, those serving them‘ (See next post). Needless to say I was quite humbled to speak with Laura, the idea behind the blog was simply to inform and [...]

Responding to Negative News Via Your Blog

…Southwest Airlines discovered that this month when its 2-year-old Nuts About Southwest blog fielded some 300 public comments about a proposed $10.2 million fine by the Federal Aviation Administration and accusations that the airline flew at least 46 planes without required fuselage inspections. >>Full Story

Thoughts// As many of you know, Southwest Airlines has been [...]

And the Winner Is…

Innovation has long been the harbinger of progress. Innovators have touched every facet of our lives, from electricity to penicillin to the microchip. Innovators are those who bring the future to the present via their dreams and willingness to take the risks that others often eschew. TIA honors innovation, via the TravelCom Innovator Award.
Thoughts// [...]