Groupon CEO quits, Google Business Photos in India, JetAirways and Carzonrent, AirChina's self service kiosk, Lonely Planet hitting million fans, Zipcar survey results, and more - make our shortlist in the Scan for March 1, 2013.
Maps, apps, deals, social wins and website rejigs
AOL's MapQuest has launched Travel Blogs, a feature designed to help travelers capture and share their adventures within an online travel journal while encouraging others to set out on their own journey. The Travel Blogs product is the result of the acquisition of Everlater. With the beta launch of Mapquest Discover at PhocusWright this year. MapQuest is continuing to roll out new products, as it looks to reposition itself into an inspiration platform for travelers to discover where to go and how to get there, while sharing their experiences along the way.
MakeMyTrip, India's leading OTA is testing a brand new home page design. The new home page has a neat and simple looking search widget that pretty much performs all functionality that the dedicated tabs for various line of business (Air/ Hotel/ Car) can perform.
CarRentalExpress.com (CRX) has launched its mobile website.
Lonely Planet has reached 1 million fans each on both Twitter and Facebook this week. To celebrate this milestone the company has launched “Thanks a Million” campaign. As part of this campaign, Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2013 ebook will be available as a free
download here.
Travelmob, a vacation rental and accommodation provider in Asia Pacific has launched “Last Minute Deals”. This will enable property owners to target last minute travellers and boost revenues. According to Travelmob, 50-60% of their bookings occur in the same month of travel and the booking window is less than a week.
Tech deals and partnerships
Pegasus Airlines has selected Honeywell Aerospace's IntuVue 3D Weather Radar Hazard Display Update V1.0 to maximize passenger safety and comfort.
IBS Software, an IT solutions provider to the aviation industry has secured a multi-million dollar, ten year contract with Turkish Cargo, the cargo division of the Turkish Airlines, for the implementation of its iCargo solution. IBS's iCargo solution will power the airlines’ entire air cargo movement worldwide and replace the existing home grown legacy system that was in use so far.
Indian carrier Jet Airways has partnered with Carzonrent, one of India's car rental portal to provide its travellers with cab booking facility. Travellers can book for a cab in Jetairways website.
Air China, the country's national carrier has made passenger-friendly airport self check-in available to its passengers at Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The implementation is in compliance with IATA's industry standards.
Market intel and reachZipcar, a car sharing network, released a study report on Millennials (18-34-year-olds), which examines the attitudes and behaviors of this generation related to urban transportation, technology and car ownership. The study conducted in December 2012 by KRC Research reveals that mobile devices and on-demand transportation apps are more important to Millennials than car ownership:
- 65% of Millennials say losing their phone or computer would have a greater negative impact on their daily routine than losing their car
- 25% say transportation apps have reduced their driving frequency, compared to less than 12% of those 45+
- 73% of Millennials would rather shop online than drive or ride public transit to the store
- 47% of Millennials sometimes choose to spend time with friends online instead of driving to see them in person
Google launches its
Business Photos service in India. This program gives Google users a virtual tour inside the businesses through an interactive 360-degree imagery created using Street View technology. This imagery can be viewed on Google Search, Google Maps, and Google+ Local Pages from a computer or smartphone.
People grooves and "moves"
Good interview with the CEO of flight search site Aviasales.ru in The Moscow Times (in English). Some highlights: 7% of online travel sales go through the site, which claims to be the Russia Federation's largest. Read more about - Russian travel distribution.
Yan Linkum, the Chinese official who lost his cool and broke systems in Kunming airport has been suspended from the mining company that employs him. Yan works as deputy chairman of Yunnan Mining Corp.
Groupon CEO Andrew Mason was fired for the company's questionable performance for past 1.5 years. Andrew says he's accountable for this situation as a CEO and wrote an email to his employees about his departure.