Win Discounted Passes for EyeforTravel@Mobile World Congress 2014!

We're very excited about teaming up with Mobile World Congress to present the only focused 2 day mobile strategies conference to be held at MWC.

To share the excitement, we're offering two heavily discounted passes to attend EyeforTravel@Mobile World Congress (Feb 25-26, 2014).

Access to the conference will also give you access to MWC main exhibition area (valued at €750) and the mPowered keynotes, giving you access to a full 4 day event (24-27 Feb.) including the 2 days of our mobile in travel conference (25-26 Feb).

Details on the Discounted passes: 

We are offering two discounted passes:

1. One €800 discounted conference pass, and
2. One €400 discounted conference pass

What You Need to Do to Win:

Entering the competition is simple, simply tell us how you see mobile changing the way the industry works right now, be it for travel distribution, marketing, social media, revenue management or pricing.

We're looking for your insights into how you feel mobile will disrupt and change the travel landscape.

The deadline for entries is February 1, 2014.

How to Enter: 

• Twitter: Simply tweet us @EyeforTravel with #TravelMWC in your tweet. You can include a link to your longer submission as well. 
• Email: Email Mariah Assuncao (mariah@eyefortravel.com) with your submission with the subject 'EyeforTravel@MWC contest'

Enter now! Remember, you lose 100% of the shots you don't take. Good luck!

The fine print:

• The discount applies to full price on any conference price of your choosing. 
• Accomodation and travel is not included. 
• The discount is not transferable to other EyeforTravel conferences.
• EyeforTravel reserves the right to disqualify entries without notifying the entrant
• Terms & Conditions apply

Voting Opens For 3rd Annual Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards

Recent EyeforTravel research found that 37.3% of global travel consumers prefer to start their travel research via a mobile device (smartphone or tablet).

It’s therefore no wonder that many travel brands have decided to act fast to position themselves to take advantage of the ability to target customers on the move and not risk leaving them to find their competitors. 

Deciding where to invest in mobile for maximum return still poses a major challenge right now for e-commerce and product development directors.   It is a costly decision and there are numerous pitfalls to avoid.

‘The rush to go mobile is on and we are seeing some fantastic innovative approaches from travel brands.  It is however easy to fall into the pitfall of entering into mobile just to tick a box rather than truly understanding the important role it will play in travel consumer behaviour and transactions now and in the future‘ says Gina Baillie, GM, EyeforTravel Ltd.

EyeforTravel is seeking to reward those brands who are investing intelligently in mobile right now and paving the way for the rest of the industry to follow. 

‘As an industry we are actually already falling behind in the mobile space.  Those brands that are risking their valuable time and resources now, are helping to drive through mobile innovation across the industry and in our view deserve to be rewarded,’ continued Baillie.

EyeforTravel’s 3^rd annual Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards will take place in San Francisco, March 17th and sees numerous travel brands put forward their mobile apps, mobile user experience, solutions and overall mobile strategies.

KLM, Wyndham, Hilton, Revinate, Club Med, Kayak, TripAdvisor, Accor, Worldmate, Checkmate, IDeaS, Net Affinity, Marriott, Hotels.com are just some of the brands to be nominated.

The nomination stage is now closed however online voting is now active until February 28^th.  The industry is invited to vote for their favorite initiative.

The awards will be held as part of EyeforTravel’s Mobile Strategies for Travel conference, March 17-18, an event which is co-located with EyeforTravel’s popular Social Media Strategies for Travel conference (now in its 7^th successful year).  

Check out who’s nominated, have your say and vote for your favorite entrant here.

For all enquiries on this theme please contact:

Gina Baillie, GM, EyeforTravel Ltd., gina@eyefortravel.com

Here are the best tweets from our Online Marketing, Social Media and Mobile Strategies conference in Amsterdam

Best Tweets from TDS North America 2013

#TwitterParty and #TwitterSuites...and how social rules in Sol Wave House

Today people are spending more time on social media that what they did 5 years ago.   Time spent has increased from 2.6 hours a month in 2007 to 6.9 hours a month in 2012. 

Well that’s not any news, but what is really interesting is how travel executives are trying to work out how to take these trends on board for their hotel strategies. After all, people love communities and sharing with their friends and families what they have been up to, especially when they are on holiday.

Back in 2011, we featured Palladium Hotel Group’s successful launch of a revolutionary online Facebook sharing experience: where guests of Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel were able to share their experiences on Facebook in real time using radio frequency bracelets. 

In 2012, they became the first hotel in the world to offer PayTouch, an innovative cash-free system that allows visitors to pay with just once touch of their fingertips through biometric technology. I don’t know about you but I was very excited by it as a Social Media lover!

Well just today I was reading through some articles and guess what I found. Twitter is now a part of the action too. It has provided its technology for the first Twitter hotel experience for all the Tweetaholic at Sol Wave House in Mallorca, one of the main Spanish gateway islands.

The hotel has created Twitter-themed rooms, drinks and a virtual community where they can be easily found by a simple #SocialWave. Guests can use Twitter to interact and flirt with one another, and if you want to meet up? Simply just arrange to meet them on that #TwitterPoolParty.

Sounds good so far? Well it’s about to get better. It doesn’t stop at the parties, as soon as you start the ball rolling there is the Twitter party suite waiting.  The twitter themed suites are designed for twitter lovers – decorated with sky blue balloons, with chilled cava at the ready, a big mirror that is definitely worth tweeting about or the opportunity to relax on VIP sunbeds.

What was really thrilling though was the minibar service. Did you run out of champagne or do you happen to feel hungry? Well, you can just tweet with your request and #FillMyFridge. Spotted someone you like near the pool or the bar? Send them a drink by tweeting @SolWaveHouse.

I believe this is great, innovative service, it not only allows the guests to communicate with the staff but also with the community and the people around them. For me, I’d go there in an instant, it just sounds like the place to start you #SummerBromance. Oh summer, aren’t you just so short?

Posted by Ina Zekaj (EyeforTravel’s sunshine party loving marketing intern)

The subscription economy and the travel industry

Right now some of the fastest growing companies are now membership based. Danish company Zendesk 0 to 30,000 companies in 6 years, Box 0 to 10,000,000 in 8.

In deed this trend has been recognised by analysts Gartner “By 2015, 35% of Global 2000 companies with non-media digital products will generate incremental revenue of 5% to 10% through subscription¬based services and revenue models.”

Certainly we have had some impressive travel resultsi in this space.  AirBnB, a membership accommodation provider has been around since 2008 and has arranged over 10 million nights booked.

Of course we have had membership elements in our industry for years.  Travel media companies have subscribers and loyalty schemes for hotels and airlines are a recognised business model. But reading the comments of Zuora CEO the subscription SAAS provider for Zen desk and Box you would think it’s a complete new way to drive your busisness

They say that they enable membership organisations to be flexible and to test products, pricing and marketing deals and build a long term relationship with the industry.

Right now I am looking for travel companies that are doing this utilising these new subscripotion services. Personally  I think that the annual rather than more frequent buying pattern for a lot of our products may limit the impact of the subscription economy. But it is a interesting trend.

TDS Asia 2013 beats records for gathering biggest and best travel experts in APAC

The 9th Annual Travel Distribution Summit, Asia (28-29th May, 2013, Singapore) broke record numbers in attracting APAC’s biggest and most influential travel executives to speak, network and learn over two days of industry packed insights and strategies.

Held at the prestigious Raffles Convention Centre, Singapore, the travel industry experienced globally renowned travel brands discuss insights on how to roll out successful strategies for their own organisations.  Speakers included Starwood, Marco Polo Hotels, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Malaysia Airways, Royal Brunei Airlines – to more internet and online focussed brands including Booking.com, Expedia, Google, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Global Senior Director - Social Media - OTA Partnerships & Innovation Projects, Worldhotels said on this year’s event, “EyeforTravel is one of the premier digital conferences in the hospitality space. It's a must-attend for anyone responsible for enhancing their company's digital footprint.”

On top of this, perhaps an equally as valuable opportunity was the networking, as Lawrence Kuok, Manager - Social Media and Mobile Strategy AP, Starwood Hotels, Asia Pacific pointed out, “I think these conferences are always great and you can meet so many people. The panels allow for you to re-examine yourself - for better or for worse. The networking is also quite helpful. In just two days, I already met two people that I have immediate future business opportunities with and three that have potential.”

Judged by a number of the EyeforTravel team and based on the amount of fantastic feedback, EyeforTravel also awarded the winner of this year’s ‘Best Speaker in Show’ to Duncan Bureau, Senior Vice President Distribution, Malaysia Airlines.   Duncan Bureau was the winner of the 2 night’s stay at ‘L Hotels’ - a luxury boutique hotel in Bali.

Conference Director, Emily Assender commented on the event this year, “The reason this event keeps getting stronger and stronger is due to the need for information on the rapidly evolving online travel space, coupled with the ever-increasing market share of online global sales, which the travel industry owns.  The opportunity to network with the biggest brands in APAC’s travel industry and learn how to be ahead of the game is paramount, and this event facilitates that perfectly.”
If you’d like more information on any of EyeforTravel’s upcoming events, click here: http://www.eyefortravel.com/events