The latest marketing news, launches and more from around the travel, tourism and hospitality industry in June 2013.
Thursday 27 June 2013:- A month ago, Novotel implemented a virtual concierge system across 100 of its properties and its already noticing increased customer satisfaction levels,increased adoption rate across all target demographics. The roll out is in a phased manner across its 400 properties across the globe. The virtual concierge system curates content to provide information about the hotel's offer, tips about local surroundings, local maps, flight information, weather, news and connectivity to social media to send localised postcards. This implementation has been achieved using the Monscierge software frameworkwhich enables hotel groups to provide uniform, branded content alongside local hotel information in a single flexible and scalable platform.
- CheapOair has rolled out a spanish language version of its site for both desktop and mobile. Customers will be able to search and book flights in Spanish. This move from CheapOair comes after a detailed study on their booking data that revealed majority of its travellers purchasing travel to and from Spanish-speaking destinations. CheapOair is also noticing a strong demand for travel to Asia and will soon offer the option to view its site in Chinese.
Thursday 20 June 2013:- Cleartrip, India's OTA has completely redesigned its flight, hotel products homepage and search result page. It's an all new design where Cleartrip maintains what the company has been known for - its design. The new homepage and search result pages are neat, simple, with lof of white space and there are no ads. Search results appear faster than before. This redesign marks the third and last phase of its overall site redesign project, internally codenamed as "Tuxedo". Last year the company redesigned its 'My Account' section and booking process. Recently, Cleartrip rolled out an innovative feature that allows travellers to modify/cancel flight bookings entirely online.
Tuesday 18 June 2013:- Viator has unveiled its re-design, which puts a greater emphasis on images, a simplified search tool, and user reviews of 15,000 tours and activities -- with optimization for mobile device browsers.
- Clear Channel Airports, a division of Clear Channel Outdoor, has been chosen by San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to provide digital media and sponsorship solutions throughout airport terminals. A unique digital display system of 30 installations will create an advertising concept focused on storytelling through imagery, illustrations and inspiration by famous quotes referencing familiar Bay Area themes. The system aims to engage the 10 million+ passengers traveling via SFO annually.
- Confirmation emails from Hotels.com (for selected destination) and Zuji (a WebJet company now) have ArrivalGuides' destination guides PDF attached to it. This initiative is to increase customer experience and brand loyalty. Around 20% of customers who receive the email download the guide and 90% print it and take it to their trip.
Monday 17 June 2013:- Airbnb has launched its 'Neighbourhood guide' for Bangkok. Users will be able to navigate to sections of their choice - Historical, Shopping, Temples etc - and locate rental places in each section.
Sunday 9 June 2013:- Expedia to push same-sex marriage video to national TV. The ad - Find Your Understanding - was first aired on YouTube late last year but will now be turned into a regular TV ad-spot and shown on US cable channels including CNN, Bravo, History, Logo, A&E, H2, and Ovation.
Friday 7 June 2013:- Revinate launches inGuest Surveys tool. The idea is to integrate existing guest surveys used by hotels around the world into its online review and social media platform. Hoteliers using the service can evaluate the experience of a guest but also encourage sharing of comments on social networks and other review platforms.
- Travel review site HolidayCheck unveils new-look website. The overhauled service includes wider use of images and improved navigation for users. Central to the new look is also a focus on boosting the site's speed.
- AceRooms to offer excursions as part of online portfolio. The UK-based agent-only platform will feature over 10,000 destination products such as city tours, theme parks passes and theatre-dinner tickets.
- OneFineStay locks up tours walking with Context Travel. The partnership gives OFS guests the chance in London and New York to hire local experts to guide them around various destinations and things-to-do.
Tuesday 4 June 2013:- Rocketmiles reveals data from its first two months. The average hotel rate paid per night by Rocketmiles customers was $195, and the site awarded an average of 7,000 free reward miles per hotel booking.
Monday 3 June 2013:- Priceline unveils new Shatner-fronted TV campaign. The latest ad features the former Star Trek star with Kaley Cuoco on a trip to Siberia, where the Shatner's Negotiator's finds himself in jail, facing a new enemy in the shape of Russian guard (and real-life martial art expert) Taktarov. The 30-second spot appears on US TV screens from this week.
Previous roundups:NB:Marketing image via Shutterstock.