Kayak is blaming the rise of the iPhone and the popularity of its app but the metasearch engine has effectively turned its strategy on its head with an important announcement overnight. The company has released a new version of its iPhone app and says in 2010 it will be taking bookings via handsets. These aren't ordinary bookings, of course, but what sound like good old fashioned "give us your credit card details and we'll do the booking for you".... Read More

Google says it has no plans to extend its recently launched Comparison Ads project to include products from the travel vertical. The confirmation comes during a busy week for Google as it rolls out the real-time search, boosts it mobile play and launches the photo search Goggles application. The Comp Ads scheme was unveiled in October 2009 and creates a list of mortgage products automatically taken from paid-for ads included in its AdWords system.... Read More

Consumers should get ready for a form of e-ticketing for airline bag fees, wi-fi service, lounge access and other ancillary services in 2010. Travel industry tech folks, including ARC and Farelogix, say they are readying the behind-the-scenes technology that will enable consumers to purchase and print [or otherwise receive] coupons or electronic receipts for purchases of an array of add-on services. It might work in a similar manner to the way consumers print -- or opt to receive electronically -- boarding passes for flight e-tickets.... Read More

Most popular travel websites in the US for the week ending December 5 2009. Data includes Top Ten travel search terms and the Top Ten Agency, Airline and Destination/Accommodation sites.... Read More

Metasearch is finally climbing into what could be an exciting second phase with news that TravelFusion is developing new functionality to allow full travel plan searches. The UK-based firm will launch an overhauled version of its consumer-facing website in early-2010 to include point-to-point metasearch featuring a breakdown of time and prices of transportation to and from the main departure and arrival points of a trip. The functionality is similar to the widely praised, closed-beta only Zoombu metasearch engine, which also has point-to-point search capability.... Read More

Keeping It Fresh: Both website users and search engines love fresh website content. A site that is stale can have that “we’re not longer in business” feel, which isn’t the image you want to project.... Read More

Amadeus recently announced a partnership with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to provide the GDS’s customers information about their air travel carbon emissions. Given the negative environmental impact of travel coupled with widespread online distribution of travel content (schedules, pricing, images, product details, etc.), I wondered how all the GDS’ were addressing the growing demand for more specific CO2 emissions data, specifically in air travel. First, some terminology.... Read More

UK online travel agency OnTheBeach claims a world first today with the launch of a Facebook application to allow a customer to organise bookings for friends. Once the BeachMate application is shared around a group of people, each member can input a unique BeachMate reference number of another person's holiday into the service and be directed to the relevant booking page on the OTB website. The application then aggregates friends into groups of those going on a particular trip.... Read More

Information is beginning to leak out that travel technology provider and global GDS Amadeus and British Airways are ready to sign a new multi-year, full-content deal. The Madrid-based firm will be the second of the global GDSs - after Travelport in November - to secure a long-term deal with the under-pressure BA. BA officially says that for the moment the negotiations are still ongoing, but it is understood that both parties are in agreement and an announcement will be made shortly.... Read More

Linking It Up: Hopefully you have a few key, select social media networks to help promote your business and your website. Your social media profiles probably link to your website (if not, fix it) but make sure your site links to your social media presence.... Read More

Travel technology beasts Sabre and Amadeus are at the centre of rather bizarre war of words - except one is gagged from saying anything. Two weeks ago Amadeus issued a press release to say it had won a standard but nice piece of business within the STA Travel empire - grabbing the GDS elements of the agency's retail presence in the UK. The sense of excitement was obvious given that "STA Travel is one of the UK’s largest travel agents and was previously with Sabre". Unfortunately, not all was as it appeared.... Read More

In a suite of announcements today - including how real time search will look in results - the new photo search product Google Goggles has plenty to get the traveller excited. The new product has a limited release on Android-powered mobiles at present but is essentially a photo recognition system which allows users to send a snap from their phones to Google and receive information back about it. Sounds simple - and it is.... Read More

Solutionz Media, a new venture by travel industry veterans Chicke Fitzgerald and Tiffany Topcik, partnered with GuestCentric Systems to go after business from independent hotels looking to enter into and/or monetize their social media efforts. Solutionz Media, a unit of the Solutionz Group, will do much of the consulting and strategizing for independent hotels as they implement GuestCentric Systems' Customer Engagement Platform, which was an entry in PhoCusWright's recent Travel Innovation Summit in Orlando. The platform, available in Software as a Service mode for a monthly flat fee, contains marketing and distribution components, including social media monitoring and promotions.... Read More

Most popular travel websites in the UK for the week ending December 5 2009. Data includes Top Ten travel search terms and the Top Ten Agency, Airline and Destination/Accommodation sites.... Read More

Get an External Opinion: You, your designer, and your staff are too close to your website. You can’t see how the latest tweaks are meshing with the original structure, and you’ll look past minor niggles that could be causing real problems.... Read More