Christopher Elliott, as usual, provides special insights into the "blending" of online travel agents and the impact on travelers. In the Seattle Times, he suggests that Travelocity's "strategic…

The header at Hotelmarketing  was pretty blunt: social media travel sites are screaming for attention-but users and suppliers are not impressed.



According to the latest PhoCusWright data,…

“Female Eggs For Sale” may not be a sign you’ll see any time soon, but for all intents and purposes that’s what the global market for harvesting and selling women’s eggs is all about.



The in vitro fertilization market is a billion dollar industry that touches almost every country in the world. It touches the wealthy neighborhoods of London and…

Let me get my "conspiracy theory" out here first: Imperialistic, giant players like Google, Twitter, Facebook build  social nets to ensnare us into doing their bidding by populating them to an extreme, which in turn makes big bucks for them. Are we then willing tools of their master plan to do their bidding?



But to lighten up, it may simply be that…

The case involves Mr. Ziggy Hussain who runs the popular Ziggy's Spice House in downtown Halifax (Nova Scotia), Canada.



According to the…

The Wall Street Journal report pretty much says it all: At $6.9 billion, Expedia is now worth 40% less than TripAdvisor, which is worth more than $11 billion.



How did TripAdvisor, a recent former subsidiary of Expedia, pull off such a gain when just a year and a half ago, it was an Expedia…

Seeking the perfect travel website is a bit like seeking the Holy Grail. A long, usually fruitless endeavor.



But if the perfect travel website is ever built, we're pretty sure "they will come."

And maybe the website that Fi designed is it.…

So it was an easy chat with a friend who knew I had something to do with the travel biz. He knew I traveled. He knew I produced content (videos, Audio PostCards, travel news reports, trends) for our own site, New Media Travel,  Technorati Travel and…

Reviews do matter, but what seems to matter more is who writes them, and the question, can they be predicted?

And it seems Airbnb is saying, "yes."



Booking an Airbnb place anywhere can be a 50-50 proposition, but it's the very unpredictability and rich individuality of each place that makes…

Business road warriors have at least this much in common with ET: Calling home while away is their top priority.



But it seems in the 21st century, just hearing a voice on the telephone no longer suffices.



And that means they expect free Internet connections.

The InterContinental Hotels…

"Big Data" derived from social media has almost become a buzz word in decision-making, product-innovation circles. Now, a report coming out of Amadeus, a technology company that provides IT solutions to the travel and tourism industry, says that Big…

In a very compelling article somewhere on Lonely Planet's blog, Vivek Wagle, head of content and marketing at Airbnb, makes the compelling argument for "collaborative consumption," the basic business and ethical underpinning of his widly successful "places to stay" service and website.



Basically,…

by Kyle McCarthy with Kaleel Sakakeeny



With demand for …

If it's true that 1-minute of video is worth 1.8 million words, then hotels and travel destinations may have found the "holy grail" that converts the grazing online process of looking at hotels, to actually booking them.



And there isn't a hotel or destination in the world that isn't seeking the business alchemy that converts lookers into actual…

USAToday reported that online travel companies "lag behind e-commerce retailers...in delivering a positive consumer experience." No surprise here.



For anyone who has tried booking…

Airbnb 101: Using Social Media's Hottest "Places to Stay" Site



By Angie Picardo

with Kaleel Sakakeeny



As Airbnb says, "Find a…

If HuffPostTravel can declare that the "Old Travel Show is Dead, Long Live the New York Travel Festival," then we might be right in declaring that "Travel Destination Articles Are Dying, Long Live Social Media Travel Content."



So, when a senior…

Hotel guests have said it again and again: after location, and service that exceeds  expectations, free and reliable WiFi matters the most.

So why do hotels charge for WiFi and why do guests have to struggle find a location that works?…

by Hardie Karges and Kaleel Sakakeeny

(please watch the 1-min Video PostCard below)



Twenty years after the fall of communism, tourism is finally on the rise in Eastern Europe, and for those in the know, it’s the number one…

Hotels live and die by the number and kinds of reviews they get. Especially on TripAdvisor, because the quantity, quality and frequency of reviews a hotel receives there, determine a hotels  all-important ranking.

Very little is said about the authenticity of a review, but regardless, even a small change in TripAdvisor's rankings can send shock waves, and…