Here & There: Hospitality Industry 2013, Mobile Apps Updates, Survey Results
Today’s Here & There covers updates from the airline industry, hospitality industry outlook for 2013, travel industry survey results, updates on travel mobile apps and thought provoking reads like – What does it take to fly for free? Increasing demand for self-service functionality at airports.
Here & There: Etihad Sets New Record, IATA Passenger Demand Report, List of Travel Industry Survey Results
Today’s Here & There covers updates from airlines/airports, hospitality/restaurant, cruise line, some interesting and notable travel industry surveys, travel companies update, awards and recognitions and career changes in travel industry.
Best Practices To Manage Reviews In Google+ Local Pages – By A Google Employee
Google+ Local is a godsend feature for local businesses. It’s a feature within Google+ for businesses to establish their online presence. It’s extremely important for (at least, local and small) businesses to create a Google+ Local page. The page should be kept up-to-date in terms of description, address, contact details, pictures, videos (if any). The one thing that adds power to this entire equation is – Reviews.
Infographic: Top 10 Meeting Trends For 2013 – By HotelNewsNow
HotelNewsNow.com has released an infographic that brings out the top 10 meeting trends for 2013. Points 4 and 5 in the infographic is interesting and motivating. Overall – a positive outlook for hoteliers.
Vacation Rental Service Provider TripRental.com Secures Series A Funding
TripRental.com, a startup focusing on vacation rental market has secured Series A funding of $500,000 from private investors including William Vaughn Moore. TripRental is planning to fuel this investment capital to expand their sales team across the country (US), expand product development, increase traffic to the website, provide high quality content on site and marketing efforts.
Here & There: Booming Asia Pacific Hospitality Market, eRevMax Distribution Product Updates, Tourism Updates
Today’s Here & There covers news from hospitality sector where Asia pacific is seen as a lucrative market, product updates from eRevMax (Rate Tiger), tourism updates about India’s FTA, Nepal’s tourism decline, Singapore Changi Airport’s all-time high traffic.
Startup Spotlight: The Other Home: Provides Homestay, Vacation Rental & Outdoor Adventure Services In India
Non-Hotel based accommodation business is booming globally and India is no exception to this trend. India based travel startup ‘The Other Home‘ has nailed this market and they provide various other add-on services apart from the core business of providing non-hotel accommodation. We discussed with Jaspal Singh, Co-Founder of The Other Home about their business and revenue model, competitors, their unique ‘bunny’ mascot. Interview below.
Here & There: High-tech Luggage Bag, Tips For Small Scale Restaurants, Aircraft MRO
Earlier this week, we launched a new offering in Travopia, its called Here & There, where we present tidbits of varied type of travel industry news in a single article. This article marks the launch of Here & There. In this article, we discuss about technology to monitor alcohol abuse, high-tech luggage bag, tips for small scale restaurants, hospitality industry scope for 2013, aircraft MRO market and career changes in travel industry.
Zomato Launches Its Restaurant Review Service In London
Zomato, India’s leading restaurant review portal has launched its services in London (UK). The initial plan was to launch the service by Christmas of 2012, but with a two-week delay finally Zomato did it. An interesting point that blew our mind – we learnt that only on Nov 20, 2012 Zomato decided to launch its operation in London and they set themselves an ambitious deadline of Dec 25 for the launch, that’s just 35 days from the day of thought. Finally, just after 49 days of effort, Zomato is in London now.
Digital Concierge Arrives For Hotels, Futuristic Guest Experience Scenarios
Earlier in Travopia, we wrote about next generation customer experience scenarios in hospitality industry. Some of these scenarios are turning out to be real day by day. The latest addition to this list is the launch of “iRiS Lobby” by iRiS, a leading technology company that builds innovative products for hospitality industry. iRiS Lobby is an app that can be displayed both on an iPad and larger format touch-screens.
Nor1, Data Driven Upsell Solutions Provider Secures $9 Million Series B Funding From Concur
Nor 1, a data driven company in Silicon Valley that provides upsell solutions for hospitality industry raised $9 Million in Series B funding by Concur. This funding will be utilised for continued growth through product innovation and market expansion. Nor 1 has various products like eStandby Upgrade, PRiME, eReach, FrontDesk Upsell. As part of this investment,
Apple Working On Head Mounted Display (Glass) – What This Means For Travel Industry
The only thing that is constant in this world is – Change. We could not agree more on this statement. Looking at the various technology spins that happened in the last decade+ years in travel industry, this statement will remain relevant for years to come. Among all technology advancements, lets look only at consumer gadgets that influenced travellers and travel companies. These are primarily – desktops, laptops, mobiles, tablets. With every introduction
Do Travellers Book Hotel From An Airline Website? Answer is a strong YES
In travel industry, the one question that can never be certainly answered is – Who eats who? By ‘eat’, we mean the marketshare. We will keep things simple and say that – In the year 2000, Online Travel Agencies (OTA) took a major marketshare from offline Travel Agents, and now (post 2010) Airline websites are posing a serious threat in taking over marketshare from OTAs. This is seemingly becoming evident in the last couple of years.
50% of Online Hotel Bookings In India Are For 3 Star Hotels – Infographic by Goibibo
Indian hospitality market is clearly marching forward with a very positive future. In 2011, India witnessed 740 million travellers and 6+ million Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA). India is considered as an attractive market for hotels and has second biggest construction pipeline in Asia. India has 1.7 lakh hotel rooms and an estimated 60,000 rooms to be added in the next 3 to 5 years.
MakeMyTrip Acquires Major Equity In ITC Group – Deal Worth of USD 3.3+ Million
Just couple of hours ago, MakeMyTrip announced its acquisition of major equity interest in “ITC Group”. ITC Group comprises of International Tour Center Co Ltd, ITC Bangkok Co Ltd and ITC South Co Ltd. MakeMyTrip paid USD 2.2 million to the existing shareholders for the same of their shares in the ITC Group and paid USD 1 million for subscription of new shares in ITC Group. The company will also acquire
