We are officially celebrating the one year anniversary of the GFC - Global Financial Crisis meltdown. I think by now much of the stories and speculation have been written. So let's look at some website traffic stats and see if there is anything we can deduce from them.... Read More

Among the Chinese diaspora in the world, we have just bade farewell to the Hungry Ghost month. That’s the period when underworld spirits supposedly come out to roam our world and it’s not considered an auspicious time to travel far, go out at night, let alone launch a new business venture. As a spirit-fearing Chinese – who isn’t these days in a world when real money has proven to have as much value as the paper money we burn at funerals and other religious ceremonies – the launch of TNooz thus comes at an auspicious time.... Read More

British Airways is remaining tight-lipped for the time being but it seems the idea of creating online social networks for business and frequent travellers is catching on at its Waterside HQ in West London. Hot on the heels of its MetroTwin project, linking London and New York, comes a very low-key launch for MetroTwin Mumbai. The site is currenly a blog-type feed of destination content, penned by a range of India and UK-based bloggers.... Read More

Attention airlines, global distribution systems and websites that subscribe to fare updates from the Airline Tariff Publishing Co – you’ll have to wait until mid-2010 for hourly updates of international fares. ATPCO, the global disseminator of air fares, delayed implementation of a plan to increase updates of things like New York to Paris or Beijing to Bangkok fares. Slated to go with a speedier update system about a month from now, in November, ATPCO revealed that the new timetable is May 2010.... Read More

Suddenly, with the credit and stock markets thawing a bit, a slew of travel companies may be talking to investment bankers and testing the IPO waters. Consider that the Boston.com reported that Kayak is talking to investment bankers about going public. And, Reuters disclosed that the private equity and airline owners of Amadeus, the global distribution system and technology company, hired an investment bank to mull taking the company public.... Read More

Bing… incoming press release from HotelsCombined, a Sydney based hotel reservation company. They have launched a new scheme to guarantee 100% up-time to their affiliate partners. Is this for real or just a wacky plan that has been dreamt up in a marketing meeting in order to achieve a quick PR buzz boost?... Read More

A new service which aims to provide super-cheap, bandwidth-wide telephone calls in hotels was unveiled today – though bosses admit they are to some extent at the mercy of mobile network providers. Clasix is an ambitious project run out of Toronto, Canada, but with a focus on European hotel chains to give owners what it says will be a 100MB pipe into properties. The consumer pitch is a competitive 60 minutes of talk time for Euro 5.99, with Clasix (chaired by Adrian Science in Toronto and biz dev handled by Michael Lacy in London) throwing a free installation proposal at prospective chains and hoteliers.... Read More

Google Sidewiki, just introduced in beta and accessible through an updated Google toolbar, enables anyone to publish and share comments about almost any web page. Viewable in a window that opens alongside Web pages, you can also read and rate others’ comments about those web pages.... Read More

Formed in 1995 in Sydney, Viator, with its Paris Chocolate and Pastry Food Tours, as well as the traditional Moulin Rouge gawking fests, is all grown up. Headquartered in San Francisco, with regional offices in Las Vegas, London and Sydney, the privately held global tour and activities provider is expected to do about $87 million in sales in 2009. And, that’s not peanuts for a company that acts as an intermediary for suppliers ranging from big guys like Paris Vision, but more commonly for a disparate legion of mom-and-pop ground operators around the world. I caught up with Viator CEO and President Barrie Seidenberg, and founder and Chairman Rod Cuthbert, to see where this whole thing is headed.... Read More

What is my agenda for the site, what do I say, what is my voice, my goal, my cause, what will I write about? Those of you who know me well are already aware of what drives my personal ambition as well as my writing: travel, technology and the environment. And while future posts, articles and theoretical ramblings will present a stronger focus on tourism technology, I felt it appropriate to address a larger subject. Global, if you will.... Read More

Twitter has become an interesting playground for brands of all shapes and sizes to test their marketplace - or at least their followers. Travel brands are no exception, throwing out links to new pages and products on their websites. It's a quick and dirty approach which yields next to no fantastically empirical results yet can give some indication of enthusiasm - or not - for a new offering. Step forward TripAdvisor, the hotel review site everyone loves to have an opinion on.... Read More

Radisson Hotels & Resorts has become the latest in a long line of hotel chains looking to boost their responsibility to modern CRM by launching a consumer mobile platform. Created and operated by Dublin, Ireland-based Mobile Travel Technologies, Radisson will allow customers in the India, Australia and the UK to book rooms and browse through pages of information and images about individual hotels.... Read More

The importance of Rome-based Venere to the wider Expedia Inc empire is becoming more apparent by the month following its acquisition of the brand in July 2008. The streamlining of the Expedia businesses late last year indicated a need by chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi wanted to position its myriad of brands in a more efficient way, with accommodation-based services such as hotels.com and Venere falling under the auspices of David Roche, who became a president of the business.... Read More

Expedia appears to be seeing the benefit of partnering with as many third parties as possible through its Affiliate Network. After stating earlier this summer that there is “no technical limit” to the number of organisations it can sign content deals with, Expedia’s roster of partners keeps growing – probably faster than any other part of its business (apart from TripAdvisor).... Read More

UK-based travel technology outfit Comtec took a reasonably brave step in 2008 when it committed itself to expanding into the North American marketplace. An injection of capital a few months before as a result of a management buyout led by chief executive Simon Powell gave the company a warchest of sorts to open an office in Alexandria, Virginia, led by ex-Sabre hand Denise Womble.... Read More