Zipcar, Tourico Holidays, JumpFlight, Yelp, Onefinestay, RSPB, Facebook, and the colour blue all appear in our roundup of the stories making news and driving opinion on 24 October.
TOP LINES
Euro zone businesses in October suffered their worst month in three years. [Reuters]
Australia's dollar may hit new highs, which is good news for Fiji, Thailand and other popular vacation spots. [WSJ]
Delta, the world's second largest airline, reports earnings today. Has business travel dropped off? [BusinessWeek]
DIGITAL MARKETING
Blue is the favourite colour of half the world. That's according to "a raft of surveys" reviewed in the NYT. Blue even appeals to the colour-blind. So why not copy Facebook and add some blue to your website?
Pixel 77 suggests the following song: "News sites are red, Business ones are blue, Life&Style is brown, and Travel is blue."
Hourly car-sharing service Zipcar says it is "likely" to launch a loyalty rewards programme for frequent renters "as early as next year." The US-headquartered company has seen its stock price drop 40% this year.
The market for hourly car rentals is between $1.8 billion and $3.3 billion in North America. Or so guess Researchers IBISWorld and Frost & Sullivan.
DISTRIBUTION
Today wholesaler Tourico Holidays announced that it is expanding its direct-connect network of branded hotels. IHG Group, Wyndham Hotel Group, and Choice Hotels International will now join existing Direct Connect partners, including Hilton Worldwide, Best Western, and Caesars Entertainment.
Notes a Tourico Holidays spokesperson:
"Not only are they providing their distribution clients with hotel pricing and inventory data, but they also offer technology services and white-label products that enable them to sell that inventory."
Air ticket exchange system JumpFlight continues to grow slowly but steadily. It's a side-project by German enthusiasts, with no full-time staff.
JumpFlight founder Constantin Falcoianu tells us that users have posted 4,500 flights for re-sale since 2010. The site, which Tnooz spotlighted in 2010, recently added a forum. It also plans to offer additional services, e.g. to inform users on their rights of claiming back fees and taxes for their unused flights -- meaning the site will help passenger claim back taxes on flights they weren't able to take at the last-minute.
DEVICES/MOBILE
Yelp's purchase of Qype is a mobile play, too. Qype says mobile contributes one-quarter of revenues, and that 30% of reviews are written from mobile devices.
Impressive! From $0 to $1 Billion in two quarters, Facebook's mobile ad business is suddenly huge. It's definitively a successful Mobile Money Machine, according to a Slideshare presentation of earnings.
46% of the world's total population of 7 billion have at least one active mobile (cellular) device. Or so says The Economist.
CLEVER TRAVEL INITIATIVESIt's a "tourism first" for Britain's nature conservation. The RSPB, Europe's largest wildlife conservation organisation, joins Our Land, a responsible tourism initiative aimed at boosting tourism revenue in southeastern England while protecting local environments.
CAREER MOVES
Onefinestay (www.onefinestay.com), the world’s "first unhotel" chain in New York and London, has appointed John Clarke as head of worldwide sales, charged with executing the roll-out of a worldwide sales organisation. Clarke was most recently director of sales and marketing at Great Hotels of the World.
THANKS!
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