Internet travel metasearch

A certain number of alliances has taken place recently in the industry between major internet search providers and travel players. 
The first example is in early March this year when Microsoft's Bing partnered with Kayak.com to provide flight metasearch. It will allow internet travel shoppers to launch a travel search directly on Bing. The company had also created partnerships with Facebook, Twitter and Wolfram Alpha. 
The second example is Pegasus with Google. The central reservation system operator is currently working with Google to include hotel pricing and direct links to hotel booking sites alongside hotels listings on its new Google Maps hotel search function.

The above screenshot shows a hotel search on Google

 and with the new partnership, users will be able to select their hotel from a pricing list.

The aim of the partnership is to create a different search experience helping the customer to make faster and better informed decisions. For the internet search providers, it is a great marketing tool as it is a way to capture advertising and placement revenues. For central reservation system players, it allows them to attract internet travel shoppers and avoid them to go to online travel agencies. And on the other hand, for online travel agencies (such as Kayak), it allows them to create more awareness.

Trip to the moon by 2015!

The possibility of traveling into space is getting closer to become a reality. Richard Branson’s company, Virgin Galactic, had recently tested a novel system it will use when re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. Its first SpaceShipTwo spacecraft also called VSS Enterprise, took off from the Majove (California) Air and Space Port and landed back successfully on Earth.
The novel feature of feathered re-entry had been compared to the landing of a badminton’s shuttlecock, it relies on aerodynamics and the laws of physics speed control and altitude. This new characteristic allows more safety and makes sure that the craft return to Earth safely while crossing the thick atmosphere.
SpaceShipTwo was carried to its high-altitude drop zone by the WhiteKnightTwo mothership, VMS eve. Both were built by a company’s partner located in California: Scaled Composites of Mojave. The combination of the two vehicles serves as a launch system. SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry six passengers and two pilots to the edge of space and back.
Virgin Galactic will offer different types of flights. The first one will be a short flight of few hours. It is proving to be quite popular as, for the people that can afford it; the company reported that over 400 people already booked their $200,000 ticket. The second one is a longer trip of two days allowing passengers to go around the moon and back. The flight will only be able to carry two passengers and the price is supposed to be around $150 million dollars.
The new market seems very appealing for other major airlines players. It seems that Boeing has already invested to develop his own fleet.

American airlines starts testing in-flight video streaming

Last Tuesday, American Airlines announced that it will soon start implementing in-flight video streaming. Through a partnership with Aircell, customers will be able to watch movies and TV shows that they can stream from Wi-Fi enabled devices in the air.

The airline mentioned that it is currently testing the system on two Boeing 767 aircrafts on domestic flights. Customer testing will start early this summer and service development should be ready by 2012.

Rob friedman, American's VP of marketing said in a media statement that "American was the first North American airline to launch inflight Wi-Fi and today we again set a new industry standard as the first domestic airline to test inflight streaming video content... We know our customers wants to be connected on the ground and in the sky, so we are working hard to stay on the leading edge of connectivity through technology enhancements like this"

The company will offer these features by using Aircell's air-to-ground technology. The aircraft is able to connect to Aircell's broadband network using three antennas fixed on the outside of the aircraft.

Pricing has not yet been disclosed but as most airlines compete fiercely on airfares, improving in-flight entertainment is a way for them to differentiate themselves and create competitive advantage.

ICT and work travel

Work-related travel behaviors have significantly evolved since the last improvements in ICT.

First, telecommuting has been a significant trend since the past few years. It refers to various types of work: from home, a telecenter, home-based business, geographically dispersed teams, after hour, ... Pratt in "Teleworkers, Trips and Telecommunications: Technology Drives Telework – But Does It Reduce Trips?" agrees that workers travel behavior has changed but is wondering whether telecommuting was a substitution to in-person work or a modification of trips. I personally believe that there can't be any substitution to in-person work. I believe that if a person is telecommuting, he/she should go to the office on a regular basis in order to meet with his team or coworkers and be part of a group dynamic. So I tend to lean towards a modification of trips explanation, telecommuting is more a way to accommodate people's constraints. There is also a study made in 2003 showing that teleworkers tend to overwork (see the link to the article below). That's indeed interesting because teleworking from home for example implies that your home is also your office. There is thus no frontier in terms of space but also in terms of time. People are not deemed to follow the 9 to 5 basis, and will manage their time as they want.

Second, teleconferencing is probably the most cost and time-efficient for a multinational company. Employees can now have a meeting where the participants could be thousands miles apart, share files, presentations, softwares directly. The managers at Headquarters can share pressing issues with their subsidiaries overseas and let them have first-hand information, and therefore be more reactive. All types of tools are available on the market, ranging from video cameras, web-sharing software such as Webex or Adobe Connect, multiple microphones, screens.Teleconferencing can thus help a company save millions of dollars on business travel and also allow employees to prioritize work travels. However, it is sometimes necessary to see your correspondents in-person in order to maintain an interpersonal relationship.

To complement this post, there is a very interesting article about the socio-cultural and behavioral impacts of ICT on work:

http://www.hhh.umn.edu/img/assets/8460/TSTtelecomTRBworkandshop.pdf

Electronic multimedia guides

When visiting a museum or a landmark in the city, I always liked to rent an audioguide. It provides context, history and information on the things being viewed. It doesn't replace the actual guide, but can be substituted to an audio documentary. It is also available in different languages.  

Last weekend in Philadelphia, I discovered something that revolutionized my touring habits: electronic multimedia guides. In the present example, the visitor calls a number displayed on the sign, enter a key number and the audio tour starts. No more line at the audioguides counter, no more outrageous prices, just the convenience of your phone.



There are different kinds interfaces to retrieve electronic multimedia guides: regular cell phones, smartphones, PDA, LED handheld device. They all allow audio, visual and textual content. Some even offers GPS location features that starts the part of the tour when it senses location and target object. More advanced devices include artificial intelligence that assess visitor's interests and aims. The audiotour will thus be tailored to the visitor and either extended or shorten.

Computer reservations systems

Did you ever ask yourself why airfares vary so much from one customer to another? Or how it is that these fares are established around the world?


The answer is Computer Reservation Systems (CRS).


Those systems allow you to stock and retrieve information and perform transactions on air travel. Airline companies initially designed them for their own use, then travel agencies began using them and they are now linked to major travel search engines on the web, with direct access to the customer. The systems now go beyond simple airline reservations to give access to hotel booking and rental cars.


The major CRS are: Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo or Worldspan.


What really amazed me is the degree of price discrimination on air fares. Depending on when you book your ticket, how long you are staying, or what class you select, individual fares for the same flight can cost nearly 10 times more than those of other passengers.


Check out this table extracted from Wikipedia. The range of prices for the same flight vary widely.

Listing of available fares on Delta Airlines (DL) from SFO to BOS as of 10/6/2010



Online booking

A couple of years ago, I was living in Angola and felt the need for a vacation. I decided to visit Namibia, a beautiful country with amazing wildlife and incredible landscapes. Although it is a former German colony, it has none of the efficiency you would expect of the Germans. I had to organize my trip through a travel agent, something I haven't done in a very long time. Despite using this old fashioned way for organizing my trip, I actually enjoyed my experience. I had very customized service (with an exchange of approximatively 30 emails) and more individualized trip. I knew what I wanted to see, and this highly personalized, pre-internet approach to booking my trip actually gave me a much better sense of what I was in for. It was a great tour, uniquely suited to my personal interest. 


This approach is less common nowadays with the advances in technologies and communication systems, and today's emphasis on "push-button" convenience. What you loose with this approach is the personalized touch. It's become so extreme that airline companies actually push their customers to use their websites as much as possible, instead of calling a call center. Their objective is not better customer service or convenience but cost savings.


Check out this interesting video comparing online travel booking and traditional travel agents:

Travel agents vs online travel booking

Introduction to travel technology

Travel & tourism have considerably changed in the last 50 years. The industry has been exposed to many forces of change, one of them being Information or Communication Technology (or ICT). This has particularly affected the areas of automation and networking of distribution channels. 


"Travel technology" is the term used to describe the applications of ICT in travel, tourism and hospitality.

I'm very fond of travel. Besides traveling in many parts of the world for leisure, I worked overseas for a major oil & gas company and had lived in several continents. Since I began my travels, I've seen things changed in the industry, I used different means for organizing my trips and saw innovations to facilitate travelers' lives.


My objective for this blog is to discuss the impacts of technology on the modern traveler and give my perspective on the implications.