Gencedeki 17 metrlik tort haqqinda ve onun sekillari
http://www.day.az/news/society/102225.html

03 января 2008 г.
"Пацан и море" - Хемингуэй отдыхает
Turizm.ru

http://news.turizm.ru/usa/8983.html

В Турции принят законопроект о запрете курения в общественных местах
Kemerinfo.ru
http://www.kemerinfo.ru/ki_news.php?id= … news=12759

Etrafli burada - http://www.eyefortravel.com/crm/

В Италии наступило время традиционных карнавалов
Turizm.ru
http://news.turizm.ru/italy/9060.html

Tripr.TV pays travelers for their vacation movies

January 31, 2008

As the first worldwide video portal, Tripr.TV is launching a service in which travelers can easily publish video reviews of hotels. Filmmakers receive a commission when the video results in a booking of the filmed hotel.

Now everyone can easily publish and share videos via Tripr.TV. As soon as other travelers place a booking after watching a video review, the publisher of the film will receive one third of the commission fee. The customary commission rate in the hotel industry varies between 5 and 15 percent per reservation.

The videos are published on the Tripr.TV website as well as on other websites, which will increase the exposure and the income of the published film. Tripr.TV creates a unique virtual marketplace for video content in the travel industry.

Jan Kooman, founder of Tripr.TV: “We are basically a kind of YouTube for the travel industry. Everyone can publish their own videos. Hotels are marked with a flag on Google Maps so you can easily spot in which area a hotel is situated. Because videos are created by the travelers themselves, you will get a good impression of the hotel before making a booking. Moving images are much more realistic than the often outdated pictures of hotels.”

Related Link: Tripr.TV

Rising costs of business travel.
Friday, 8th February 2008
Source : Best Western

Despite economic slowdown prices are on the rise -what are the factors driving spending decisions?

Industry leaders from Best Western, JetBlue, National Business Travel Association and Advito/BCD Travel offer tips to stem financial strain.

Travel industry executives meeting last week addressed several ways companies and individual business travelers are curtailing expenses in this era of corporate belt-tightening and economic uncertainty.

Mary Ellen George, general manager of Advito, the consulting arm of BCD Travel, said that although high costs associated with business travel will not diminish any time soon, companies can use existing tools to keep their balance sheets in check.

“We’re counseling clients to better enforce their company’s travel policy to focus on what can be controlled,” George said.

Individual business travelers and corporate travel managers both realize financial savings and other vital benefits depending upon where they choose to sleep.

“A large number of travelers are taking advantage of the value-based, all-inclusive pricing model that we and other hotel chains in the midmarket category provide,” said Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Best Western International.

“Amenities such as free high-speed Internet access — standard in all Best Westerns in North America — help people save on the bottom line. In addition, rich loyalty programs like our Gold Crown Club International help increase compliance with travel policies while rewarding travelers for their continued business.”

Corporate travel managers are positioning their companies to take advantage of high-value hotel options. According to the results of a new survey conducted in January by Best Western and the National Business Travel Association (NBTA), more than half (52 percent) of respondents said that complimentary high-speed Internet access is the most important amenity when considering a midmarket hotel chain. Internet access, regardless of fees, was second (16 percent) followed by the quality of bedding/towels (13 percent).

The survey also found that nearly two thirds (63 percent) of travel managers rate convenience and proximity to meeting locations as the most influential factor they consider when making individual hotel decisions. These choices can have a significant impact on transportation costs.

Bill Connors, executive director and chief operating officer for NBTA, said that companies will see a positive impact, financial and otherwise, from investing in the implementation and/or growth of their managed travel programs.

“Corporations will continue to seek out managed travel programs because they’re worried about value, cost, security and, increasingly, liability,” he said. “We’re working very hard to help our members tackle these issues so they minimally affect their bottom line.” Taxes directed toward travelers and consolidation across multiple industry sectors, as well as infrastructure and travel facilitation issues, are also top-of-mind for the association this year.

Although business travelers are being impacted by the reduction in airline seat capacity and rising fuel costs, and will likely experience decreased route and pricing options as a result of pending airline mergers, a number of widespread initiatives are underway to make air travel less stressful and more productive.

The re-slotting of John F. Kennedy International Airport should ease congestion and delays for business travelers, according to Noreen Courtney-Wilds, vice president of sales for JetBlue Airways.

“In addition to our partnership with OPEN from American Express, its small business card program, we also just added a new refundable fare, and have plans to launch a meetings and conventions program as well as a product for the mid-sized corporate market later this year,” said Courtney-Wilds. “These and other initiatives by other low-cost carriers to develop more offerings for business travelers will increase options and help keep last minute and walk-up fares competitive.”

Top Trends Impacting the Travel Industry Revealed.
HEDNA's December Conference
Tuesday, 12th February 2008

Attendees at HEDNA's December Conference learned about the top trends facing the hotel distribution industry and how to benefit from them.

Kicking off the meeting was the keynote address by Henry Harteveldt, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. is theme was "when you're relevant and desirable, engagement is possible." How can the travel industry be relevant and desirable? One way is to understand the customer as a whole person, says Harteveldt.

For instance, travelers tend to be more financial confident than non-travelers. This outlook is exemplified by the fact that travelers don't expect to cut back on travel in 2008, nor do they intend to look for lesser quality accommodations.

However, Harteveldt sees the industry as moving backwards when it comes to meeting travelers' expectations. His research shows that "43 per cent believe travel Websites shopping experiences have become less useful, 15 per cent feel the Internet doesn't help them save money and 11 per cent of US online leisure hotel guests say it's more difficult to shop for travel online now than when they started."

While 47 per cent of travelers are happy to fill out user profile forms, more than half of those travelers say they're not happy with the benefits received. Travel companies need to do a better job of mining the data that is compiled. Instead of presenting tailored information to guests, "we send guests into information comas, instead of helping them," Harteveldt says.

Most travelers using online services are "fed up," Harteveldt says and "would use a good offline travel agent if they could find one." Further, "21 per cent feel they can find the best travel information using offline resources."

How can the travel industry make the experience more user friendly? Harteveldt advises that "we need to make online booking easier, be clear instead of confusing, reflect customer preferences, do a better job providing content and make it easier for guests to reach us" and vice versa. "We need to meet travelers on their terms, with tools that matter, to (re-)engage them," Harteveldt says.

Engaging the customer

Efforts to reach customers have grown from using the telephone to flooding the Internet with information, says Mike Kistner, chief operating officer of Pegasus Solutions. Hotels began launching their own Websites, trying to "integrate guest information and desires into the experience. We started to add value," he says.

When the online travel agent (OTA) Websites were started, many thought it would be the demise of traditional travel agents. As the online sites drove traffic to the hotels, a question about who owned the customer arose -- who's guest is this? Is it the OTA's or is it the hotel's? Interestingly, the answer is the OTA. 

Despite all the online offerings, travelers are using more voice bookings. In fact, voice bookings are on the rise, says Kistner. Perhaps it's due to a more personalized feeling that the traveler gets when booking over the phone.

Personalization is key and may lead to the next disruptive change in the market. Kistner predicts that the personalization people receive from social networks will change the customers' expectations of the travel market and how it caters to them.

Does Brand.com rule?

The success of individual or hotel group Websites has led to the idea that 'Brand.com" Websites will replace everything - voice, GDS, OTAs. But will it?

John Burns, CHA  owner of Hospitality Technology Consulting, sees all the channels are being important. Yes, consumers are comfortable shopping online. Yet, Burns sees voice as a growing and preferred booking channel, especially in the next decade.  From the hotelier's viewpoint, voice has its advantages, since it's an excellent opportunity to up-sell products and services to the customer.

The issue of payment

Once you have the customer's interest and commitment, how will the customer pay for the services? If you think it will be only via credit card, please think again. Mike Carlo, business development manager for Global Collect , says that up to 56 per cent of online shoppers don't have a credit card. In addition, payment habits differ depending on the culture - Europeans use a different mix of payments than those in Asia.

Carlo says that the more methods a hotel accepts, the better the sales conversion rate. For instance, if a hotel accepts only one method of payment, the conversion rate is just 60 per cent. But that conversion rate rises to 82 per cent if the hotel uses four or more payment methods. Those methods can be regional credit cards, bank transfer, direct debit, E-wallets, cash and checks.

Commissions remain a thorny issue

Another type of payment that needs to be addressed is travel agency commissions. According to Cynthia Castillo, head of hospitability distribution projects at Amadeus IT Group,  the number one travel agency obstacle is commission recovery. To help overcome this problem, Amadeus introduced its Worldwide Commission Manager this year. The Manager is a platform that agencies can use to track and manage commission payments. To date, nearly 50 hotel chains have signed up to use the product.

Speedy payment does have its advantages. "When commissions are paid promptly, more hotel bookings will be done by travel agents," Castillo says.

Processing payments efficiently is key, says Angela Ybarra, commercial vice president for Worldwide Payment Systems. Suppliers face challenges in processing commissions including small payment amounts, high banking costs and payment reconciliation. Using services to help process commissions can surmount these challenges and improve business relationships.

Looking at trends

What can the travel industry learn from the real estate industry about online sales and presence? Quite a lot, according to Spencer Rascoff, chief financial officer of Zillow.com. Zillow.com has listings of almost every property that exists in the US, allowing customers to view properties and make comparisons easily. Zillow.com is akin to Trip Advisor in that the Website doesn't perform any transactions. Its revenue comes from advertising.

Would this work for hotels? Rascoff thinks that hotels should be looking at putting advertising on their Websites, which could generation additional revenue for the hotels.

Rascoff also believes in leveraging the power of the Internet but courting real estate bloggers. When Zillow.com began, it made a point of contacting the top 10-20 influential bloggers in real estate. He sees bloggers having potentially huge impact in the travel business.

Moving the travel industry forward is a trend that influences the work of the three main travel associations. Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG), Open Travel Alliance and HEDNA. The association panel - Douglas Rice, executive vice president and CEO of HTNG; Valyn Perini, executive director of Open Travel Alliance; and Edward Perry, secretary of HEDNA - discussed how the three associations can work together to assist members in utilizing distribution technology.

Social trends that affect distribution are increasingly important to the success of the travel business, says Daniel Levine, founder of Avant-Guide. Once you've identified that there is a trend, it means the demand already exists. All you need to do is discover how to tap into the market.

Levine sees five key trends - personalization, targeted segmentation, mobile lifestyles, lifestyle visibility and life-easers. All these trends speak to addressing the needs of the customer and making life easier.

Whether it be personalized digital versions of ads, better communication via PDAs or appealing to individual lifestyles, these trends will be impacting the travel industry and how it chooses to interact with its customers.

Необычный дизайн аэропорта в Веллингтоне
» 2008-02-26 03:30

То ли скалы, то ли тыквы?

Новый дизайн, разработанный для аэропорта в Веллингтоне за 39 млн. долларов, был одобрен мэром города. Здание терминала, детище архитектурной студии Studio Pacific Architecture, будет напоминать двойную скалу.

Глава аэропорта Stephen Fitzgerald утверждает, что такой дизайн хорошо вписывается в местную среду, и архитекторы прекрасно отразили концепцию города. Fitzgerald заявляет, что как только проект будет закончен, терминал в час сможет принимать еще на 1000 пассажиров больше.

Критики же говорят, что представленный дизайн больше напоминает две тыквы. Мэр же возражает, что такой необычный вид только станет изюминкой города, и будет выделять этот аэропорт среди других.

Такой потрясающий образ, который отлично сочетается с южным побережьем Веллингтона, будет напоминать прибывшим, что они оказались не где-нибудь, а в творческом городе, в столице Новой Зеландии.

Несомненно, такое инновационное архитектурное решение будет вызывать как положительные, так и отрицательные отзывы, но в любом случае, посещение аэропорта станет незабываемым опытом.