Eighteen entrepreneurs pitched a diverse range of new travel companies at this year's Get Funded Show taking place during World Travel Market (London). Entries ranged from mobile startups through to trip planning, holiday home rental and new airlines. And the winner is....... Read More

Here is some advice for the customer service challenged. Travel and self service should be made for each other. In most cases they are. However there is a significant disconnect of what to do when a user reaches a problem/issue that he cannot resolve himself.... Read More

Tnooz’s ten-part series Understand and Boosting Ancillary Revenue concluded this week. The articles were written by Janet Titterton of Collinson Latitude. Each day we featured a different approach t... Read More

I get paid, in part, to speculate, so here goes: First, the facts. The board of Travelport Ltd. named Gordon Wilson deputy CEO of the company, effective Nov. 5. Wilson, 43, who's been with the company for almost half his life, will retain his current position as President and CEO of Travelport GDS, as well as IT Services and Software.... Read More

In the days of Web-only fares on airline websites in the U.S., traditional travel agents moaned that airlines were basically screwing themselves with this kind of supplier-direct discounting because the travel agency/global distibution system channel is among the highest-yielding distribution options. After a period of abstinence, JetBlue re-entered GDSs in 2007, participates in the four major systems today, and views this involvement as a way to enhance its mix of corporate-travel bookings. JetBlue's strategy was highlighted with Travelport's announcement today of a new, multi-year, global full-content agreement with JetBlue.... Read More

TripAdvisor’s acquisition of Kuxun.cn, China’s No.2 travel search engine, kicked off its ambitious investment plan of US$50 million in China’s burgeoning tourism market over the next two years. Kuxun will join many other Expedia-owned online travel companies in challenging China’s number one online travel company, Ctrip, whose market share is five times bigger than that of its nearest rival. These include eLong (China’s number two online travel agency, acquired by Expedia in 2004), Daodao (the recently launched Chinese travel-review website, owned by TripAdvisor), and Egencia China (the travel management unit).... Read More

Tnooz is very excited to be involved a survey produced by pan-European digital marketing agency BigMouthMedia. The questionnaire is designed to gauge the industry's use of online media, marketing techniques, innovation in travel and predicted trends for 2010. Taking just five minutes to complete, each participant will also be sent their own copy of the final report in late-November.... Read More

Measure, review, refine: An ancillary revenue strategy shouldn't be short term - as with loyalty programmes, it's a long term commitment. This will benefit the brand as they can measure the programme over a period of time, making changes and refining the proposition based on review findings.... Read More

Google's move to acquire AdMob, which serves targeted advertising on mobile devices, coupled with a new Sabre survey on mobile services, punctuate the direction of travel advertising. It's standard practice these days for online advertisers and their networks to serve consumers with behavioral advertising when people surf from website to website. Your cookie data, with the personally identifiable information deleted, is a material asset. All of this targeted advertising will soon be coming to a mobile device near you, whether you are picking up your luggage at LAX and walking past a restaurant, or standing by a taxi stand outside the airport and waiting for some transportation to your next business meeting.... Read More

Follow TravelBlogCamp 2009 as it happens and take part using CoverItLive.... Read More

Broadcast advertising might not be in the dire straits that the marketing press claim it is if this current trend continues after news that Skyscanner is the latest metasearch engine to launch a TV ad campaign. The Edinburgh-based firm has followed its US rival Kayak by announcing plans to run its first ever TV ad campaign in early-2010. Launching initially on Scottish commercial channels and created and bought by Newhaven and Featherbrooksbank respectively, Skycanner eventually hopes to roll out the campaign across the UK.... Read More

I was thinking that a common subtext in the online travel agencies' discussions about their third-quarter financial results was the pressures on the car rental [or car hire, to some] industry. Major car rental firms, feeling the pinch from the rollback in their bread-and-butter corporate travel, have substantially reduced their fleets and raised car-rental prices. Consumers are wondering why car-rental prices have gone through the sun roof during a recession.... Read More

Most popular travel websites in the US for the week ending November 7 2009. Data includes Top Ten travel search terms and the Top Ten Agency, Airline and Destination/Accommodation sites.... Read More

Priceline.com recorded another three months of impressive financial results in the third quarter as it stole market share in hotels, with global room nights rising 56.3 percent, fueled by what the company termed "strong performance" in Europe, Asia and the U.S. The international hotel business, where those big margins are, is the grand prize in the online travel agency sweepstakes and Priceline stood out from the pack in the quarter. While Expedia Inc., with its Expedia, hotels.com and Venere brands, saw global room nights jump 27% to 21.7 million room nights in the quarter, Priceline, starting from a lower base, watched its global room nights shoot up 56.3% to 17.9 million nights through Priceline, Booking.com and Agoda.... Read More

News this morning that UK-based online travel agency TravelRepublic did not fall foul of guidelines over the selling of package holidays has the potential to unlock a raft of innovation in the online travel space and finally break the status quo. The case was brought about the Civil Aviation Authority after it argued TravelRepublic should have purchased an ATOL bond - a system for financial protection in the event of a travel company going bust - when customers bought flight+hotel package products on the site. TravelRepublic, a relatively new player on the UK travel scene which has leapfrogged into a strong position in recent years ahead of the likes of Ebookers and Opodo in terms of web traffic, stuck its heels in and told the CAA it would meet them in court.... Read More