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samedi 15 janvier 2011

Almighty Tripadvisor

I want to show you today what Tripadvisor has done to be even more efficient and reliable. 
Tripadvisor has added in its website a flight ratting system, when looking for a flight.
It is based on the following criteria:

  • Baggage Handling - do the luggages get often lost in the shuffle, or will they arrive smoothly at their destination?
  • Check-in Experience - Is check-in a 2minutes dill or a daunting experience?
  • In-Flight Amenities - Can travellers expect seatback entertainment and in-flight Wi-Fi or hours of checking their watch?
  • In-Flight Service - Is flight staff friendly and attentive or rude and neglectful?
  • Punctuality - Are flights often on time or delayed?
  • Reasonableness of Fees - Does the airline make fees clear and reasonable or do they add a though hidden cost to the price of a ticket, as 10 bucks for a small bottle of water?
  • Seat Comfort - Can travellers expect a comfy ride or will they arrive with aches and pains everywhere?
  • Value - Is the total flight cost worth the value of this?
Each one of these criteria is rated by travelers themselves, on a scale from one to five.
It is an great tool in terms of customer relationship management, and it offers transparency because there is apart from the rating system, the possibility to add regular comments.

I think that Tripadvisor strives to give customers and advisors for their site, as much information as possible, so they can do their choice avoiding disappointment or mistake.

The other effect of this is that major airline companies will feel watched, so it reenforce again the customers' rights. If a company has a very bad rating, it will give her the opportunity to progress.

I hope that you find this article as interesting as me, thank you for reading it!


dimanche 9 janvier 2011

A new application with a huge potential: Hotel-Tonight

The article of today explains a new application for iPhones (and soon for Androids), that allows people to book a "hotel for tonight". That's the name of the App, and so far, it is only available for New York, San Fransisco, and Los Angeles, and it offers only 3 categories of Hotels in these towns: Hip, elegant or basic.
But can you imagine if this app is more developed?People who don't have the time or patience to comparison shop but still want a deal on their room will use it. The best target market might be businessmen, often in business trips for instance.
The way the service works is you are only able to book a hotel the same night, and for that reason, their prices seem to be better than many travel sites, and its much more hassle free to book.

Personally, I think that this kind of App will totally change a certain way of consumption people have today. If you try a booking for tonight in popular websites,  most of them could not offer you that, and it is a shame! 
Hotel Tonight sell hotel ONLY for the same night, and ONLY trough its iPhone app. Don't try to book a hotel on their website, it doesn't work!
Moreover, the app is very clever and fast to use, because it assumes that the reservation name is the iPhone's owner's one, so it permits to skip all the tedious steps of a regular booking.
Here's a video link for the readers who wants to see how it works.

I really hope that Hotel-Tonight will be extended to more cities in the world because it does sound promising!

mardi 4 janvier 2011

The new luxury landscape

The article I have chosen this week is about the impact of the Crisis on the Luxury business, and its way to be purchased and consumed.
Before that terrible economic crisis that has hit the hospitality industry these 2 years, the luxury consumtion was quite showy, and purchasing an expensive good was seen as valuable.
Nowadays, consumers seek more significance on what they purchase, than a certain standing of wealthiness. They think differently!

I can understand what the author of this article wants to explain: 2 years of crisis and economic decline have rang everybody's bell about value of thing, the meaning of "affordable" has been redefined, and even rich people think more and buy with conscientiousness.

The moral of this is that every Cloud has a silver lining: even if the crisis was terrible, it helped to keep some consumer's feet on the ground!