TripAdvisor, Ryanair, Jumeirah, CTrip, Jetblue, Korean Air, Delta, Dubai, South Africa, and Google Maps all appear in our roundup of the stories making news and driving opinion on 15 October.
DISTRIBUTION
In case you missed it, TripAdvisor recently opened up participation in its "Show Prices" hotel rate shopping functionality to any hotel. The program, which is cost-per-click with a minimum spend of $500 per month, used to be restricted to major OTAs and large hotel chains.
The Chinese and Middle East markets get closer. Dubai's luxury hotel company Jumeirah Group, is the first Middle East luxury hotel group to use direct connectivity technology with Ctrip.com International, China's largest travel service provider. "Jumeirah expects the Chinese business to account for 14% of its global portfolio in 2013.
CAREER MOVES
US carrier JetBlue has reshaped its IT department. Donna Draghi-Lemay has been promoted to vice president, IT-Airline Operations. Blair Koch joins JetBlue as vice president, IT-Commercial. He was previously a managing director, IT at United Airlines.
AIRLINE ANCILLARY REVENUE
Ryanair said today that it has partnered with Moneycorp to deliver foreign exchange services. Ryanair.com's UK site will sell currency and deliver it by mail.
Korean Air business class award seats haven't been available online until now. But Delta.com has added Korean Air award space to its website, reports Gary Leff.
DESTINATION NEWS
Dubai plans to re-create the Taj Mahal. At four times the size.
"South Africa defies global economic downturn as visitor numbers soar," says the Daily Mail. Overseas visitors spiked 17%.
FUN WITH APIs
There's proof that Google is hard at work on an iPhone Maps app.
"If the Google Maps API is the most used API in existence then the London Cycle Hire scheme must be one of the most mapped data sources using the Maps API." See the latest results.
THANKS!
The Tnooz team wishes you a productive day. Feel free to e-mail us your tips, theories, and ideas for new TripAdvisor innovations.
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