m-Travel.com and Travel Distribution News

Archive Category: Other

TUI narrows its first half loss

TUI Travel PLC's first half underlying operating loss improved by £71m to £250m (first half of 2007: loss of £321m).

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Ecommerce Traps: Price Fixing and Self-Packaging

Hotels sell rooms to tour operators at prices below their published rates. Operators sell those rooms on to consumers.

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TripIt supports travel confirmation emails from top cruise lines

TripIt has added cruises to its online travel organiser and social travel service.

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New online and call centre travel agency launched in the UK

Monstertravel, a new online and call centre travel agency, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, has launched its operations. www.monstertravel.co.uk focuses on selling holidays and short-breaks departing from all over the UK.

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English-language version of Ctrip.com up and running

Online travel company Ctrip.com has recently extended its services and expertise on travel in and to China to the English-speaking leisure and business travelers.

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Travelzoo targets Spanish audience

Travelzoo has launched its Travelzoo Top 20 newsletter in Spain. The company has operated an advertising sales office in Barcelona since November 2006. 

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Agents waking up to earning "good commissions" from budget accommodation

Budget accommodation specialist HostelBookers has witnessed a 514% growth in revenue from travel agency sales in the last five months.

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Abacus promises agents fingertip control of their businesses

Abacus International is ready with its new travel agency management and productivity tools promising large efficiency gains in the way travel agency operations are managed.

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MakeMyTrip extends its lowest-tariff guarantee to hotels category

Online travel site MakeMyTrip.com has launched a campaign to promote its guaranteed lowest tariffs for hotels.

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Opodo introduces five air tools, marks £1m for ad campaign

Online travel company Opodo has introduced five new air tools, enabling users to find the best price for their journey with minimum hassle.

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Social networking sites and data portability over the web

Facebook is ready with Facebook Connect, a new technology for members to connect their profile data and authentication credentials to external websites.

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Google dominates UK search advertising

Google continues to dominate UK search advertising, capturing 85% of search engine spending in the first quarter of 2008 and increasing its ROI by 14% since last quarter of 2007.

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Yahoo tests Glue Pages In India

Yahoo has chosen India for the beta test of its new search concept that aggregates text, images, and video results on a single results page.

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Airline ticket websites misleading consumers: EU

One in three European consumers buying plane tickets online is being misled, the European Commission has warned post  a survey that found that dozens of companies are probably in breach of European Union consumer protection law.

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Kees Koolen appointed as CEO of Booking.com

priceline.com has named Kees Koolen as Chief Executive Officer of its principal international business unit Booking.com B.V. The promotion will be effective September 1, 2008.

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priceline.com posts its highest growth quarter in over three years

Priceline.com Incorporated has reported first-quarter net profit of $18.2 million, or 37 cents per share, compared with a loss of $16.3 million, or 44 cents per share, a year earlier.

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Bezurk.com changes name to wego.com

Travel search engine Bezurk.com has opted for re-branding and will be known as Wego.com. The company acknowledged that Bezurk was hard to remember and spell, though it was quirky, fun and had a certain irreverence to it.

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Entrepreneurs announced for EyeforTravel’s inaugural Innovation Initiative – Travel’s ‘Dragon’s Den’

Whilst bank credit is drying up, canny investors still have huge potential to back fast growing, fast performing companies. Of course this is full of risks, so why not learn from 4 of the best VCs in the business and see how to discover, analyze and invest in carefully selected budding travel companies.. all with potentially massive futures.

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Amadeus launches its Middle East regional hub in Dubai

Amadeus has launched its Middle East regional hub in Dubai, with the new structure serving as travel technology company's regional operations centre in the region.

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Understanding unique economic environments and local customs of doing business in Asia

TDS Asia 2008 Special

Online consumer behaviour in Asia is characterised by differences in the level of macro economic development, telecommunications infrastructure, availability of payment methods, as well as presence of online players that drive growth in the local online space.

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Sabre announces no surcharge for Lufthansa and SWISS full content fares

Sabre agents in Germany, Austria and Switzerland who choose to participate in the Lufthansa and SWISS Preferred Fares programmes will be able to access and sell all fares and inventory without a fee.

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Orbitz's net loss widens

Orbitz Worldwide Inc  reported a first-quarter net loss of $15 million, or 18 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $10 million a year earlier before the company issued shares.

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"European web remains a dangerous place for business": study

A study by the European Commission had indicated that consumers using credit cards to pay for flights online and meals at restaurants are the most likely to be targeted by fraudsters.

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Understanding the motivations of customers when making an online transaction

CRM Special

HotelClub.com has laid special emphasis on CRM and the company has created a unique value proposition place in the online travel world.

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Advanced customer behaviour analysis of multiple online visits

Tealeaf has introduced Tealeaf cxResults, described as a first-of-its-kind product that changes the way organisations are able to analyse the business impact of the customer experience.

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ClipBlast! to index video content from CompulsiveTraveler.tv

Web-wide video navigation and distribution platform clipblast.com will index all current and future video content from CompulsiveTraveler.tv, encompassing professional and user-submitted travel video stories from 65 countries.

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25 million Americans will travel overseas this summer

AAA expects 25.1 million Americans to travel internationally this summer, an increase of 2.6%  over the 24.5 million, who were estimated to have traveled overseas last summer.

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Helping agents to book flights that are not yet e-ticketable

Sabre Travel Network is to launch a Virtual Miscellaneous Charge Order (vMCO) solution to help travel agents book flights and other miscellaneous transactions that are not yet e-ticketable.

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Google executive joins Cheapflights' Board

Internet media travel company Cheapflights Ltd. has announced the appointment of Liane Hornsey to the Board as non-executive director.

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Former Expedia CEO joins PickPackGo Board of Directors

Erik Blachford, formerly President and CEO of Expedia, Inc. and CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp's travel division, IAC Travel, has joined the PickPackGo Board of Directors.

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An OTA in India to compensate for flight delays

Online travel portal yatra.com has introduced a reimbursement policy for all domestic flight delays in India

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Ex-BA boss criticises Heathrow expansion

Former chief executive of British Airways has slammed plans to expand Heathrow airport and termed the development as a "costly mistake".

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New social travel guide and trip planner goes into private beta phase

Tripwolf.com, a social travel guide and trip planner based in Austria, has gone into private beta phase. The offering has been launched internationally by European-based IT and telecom incubator, i5invest.

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Microsoft Corp. withdraws its bid for Yahoo

Microsoft Corp. has decided to withdraw its bid to buy Yahoo Inc. after efforts to negotiate a mutually acceptable sale price proved unsuccessful.

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P&V Holidays gears up for UK, ties up with Harvest Digital

P&V Holidays has chosen online marketing agency Harvest Digital to manage its online media for launch in the UK.

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MCI Management picks up majority stake in Invia.cz

Polish private equity fund MCI Management has acquired a 50.1% stake in Czech online travel agent Invia.cz.

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What should all OTAs consider in order to offer a valuable channel to suppliers?

Interview with Zuji's Roshan Mendis

Given the advent of new technology and opportunities to direct connect more cost effectively, suppliers are looking for distribution solutions that offer them the ability to easily connect and market to the right audiences at the right value.

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Expedia posts first-quarter net income of $51.3 million

A mix of both transactional and advertising revenues has continued to deliver strong profitable growth for Expedia.

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Retailers are most in touch with social media

Retail is scoring over travel and financial sectors when it comes to adopting a proactive approach for engaging consumers through social media.

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Hotels.com launches local-language sites in six new Eastern European markets

Hotel booking site Hotels.com has expanded its operations in Eastern European market with the launch of six new local language sites in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovakia and Croatia.

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Kayak.com expands its operations in Europe

Kayak.com has announced the beta launch of its Italian site, http://www.kayak.it/.

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Kayak focuses on developing its own ad network

Kayak has appointed Brian Harniman as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Distribution. Harniman will help launch and oversee the newly developed Kayak Publishing Network (KPN).

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Opodo allots its search marketing account to The Search Works

Pan-European online travel service Opodo has chosen London-based The Search Works to manage its search marketing.

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HRG chooses Galileo as its global GDS partner

A new, long-term, global agreement has been signed by Galileo GDS and Hogg Robinson Group (HRG).

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Travelzoo's international operations tipped to continue recording losses in 2009

Travelzoo Inc. posted $1.0 million in net loss in the first quarter, with diluted loss per share of $(0.07), down from diluted earnings per share of $0.25 in the prior-year period.

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Podcast: Tim ‘The BOOT’ Hughes talks to EyeforTravel

Tim Hughes of The BOOT and VP Commercial at HotelClub.com talks to EyeforTravel on his thoughts chairing our Sales and Marketing in Travel Asia-Pacific 2008 conference taking place on 29-30th July in Sydney.

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Vanguard's new lawsuit lacks merit: Orbitz

Online travel company Orbitz has termed Vanguard Car Rental's lawsuit as a "baseless" one.

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Europcar commences first direct operations outside of Europe

Europcar has entered into an agreement to acquire the Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries of ECA Car Rental, which operates its "Master Franchise" within the Asia-Pacific region.

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Popularity of Hostelworld.com's pdf guides exemplifies tech-savvy backpacker's lifestyle

Hostelworld.com reached a significant milestone as it witnessed 1 millionth download of its Pocket Guide  from the site.

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"Consumers will be seeking different types of UGC at different times"

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

Even as the industry acknowledges that travel companies must be very clear in their objectives before they proceed with features such as videos, blogs or other UGC, from consumers' perspective, what is their preference when they associate themselves with UGC?

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American Express introduces an online travel community for its Cardmembers

American Express has launched www.membersknow.com, an online travel community for its card members to share travel insights from their personal travel experiences and knowledge.

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Google – ‘It’s not a pay to play model’

Google’s decision to change it’s trade mark policy in Europe will ‘hopefully not affect the time you have spent building your brand’  said Google USA’s, MD of Advertising & Marketing, Rob Torres. 

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GlobalCollect opens its Asia-Pacific office in Singapore

Leveraging its experience in setting up online payment processing platforms across Europe and in the US, GlobalCollect has opened its office in Singapore to cater to an increasing demand for e-payment solutions across the region.

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Direct Mail isn't dead but email is becoming a favoured vehicle for communication

Direct mail is not being replaced by email marketing, according to media monitoring service Mintel Comperemedia.

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VFM Interactive completes $13.5 million financing

VFM Interactive Inc. has completed its $13.5 million financing to support its ongoing expansion.

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Kuoni Group chooses Peter Rothwell as its CEO

Peter Rothwell has been appointed as CEO, Kuoni starting 1 January 2009.  Until the end of 2007, he served as the Deputy Chief Executive of TUI Travel Ltd. and as a Member of the Board of Directors at TUI AG.

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Developing a way for forum replies to be converted into tips with just a click

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

Every month more than 5.5 million unique users utilise VirtualTourist to figure out where they want to take their next vacation, and what they want to do once they get there.

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Only 21% of Britons book their breaks using a travel agent: survey

Highlighting the current trend of use of the Internet for booking, a new survey has shared that 58% of people prefer to book online, while just 21% go through a retailer.

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Dohop.com flight search engine's Chinese version unveiled

Dohop Ltd. has launched the Chinese version of its flight search engine. The initiative follows the recent launch of the Japanese version of travel technology company's Dohop.com Flight Planner.

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Google makes steady progress in China

China search engine market size (excluding the revenue from the channel) has reached CNY 922 million in the first quarter of 2008, down 3% over the previous quarter.

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Eyefortravel is hiring! - We are looking for a Research Analyst / Manager Job

We’re looking for a Research Analyst/Manager to start as soon as possible.   

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Favourable response for Expedia QuickConnect results in more scalable sales solutions

Travel Distribution Europe Special: Interview with Cameron Jones, Expedia

It was in mid-2007 when Expedia had introduced its connectivity product called Expedia QuickConnect (EQC), which allows hotels to connect directly to Expedia from their PMS or CRS, bypassing traditional incremental distribution costs.

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Significant amount of confusion surrounding e-tickets

By Cheapflights.co.uk general manager Francesca Ecsery

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QuadLabs introduces online marketplace for travel agents

Travel technology specialist QuadLabs has launched Farepool.com, an online service that helps travel agents access the best deals from multiple suppliers at one place.

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WAYN.com to launch travel insurance on Moneysupermarket.com

Following the recent launch of its travel insurance product, WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?) intends to compete with leading travel insurance providers on UK's comparison site moneysupermarket.com.

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Venere.com signs agreement with Derbysoft

European accommodation site Venere.com has signed a new agreement with Derbysoft that allows the leading Asian Channel Manager's travel agencies portfolio to resell Venere's hotels to their customers.

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Cleartrip secures India's largest round of venture funding

Mumbai-based online travel agency Cleartrip recently received $18.5 million in venture funding, making this the largest round of venture funding in 2008 – according to India Venture Capital Report.

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Air Berlin Group expands its reach by signing deal with Expedia

Expedia, Inc. has signed a new multi-year agreement with Air Berlin Group.

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"Consumers are increasingly putting a premium on authenticity and convenience"

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

With the "always on" evolution of media, the world is a much more transparent place today than it was five years ago, according to VibeAgent Inc.'s Co-founder & CEO Adam Healey.

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Japanese version of Dohop.com Flight Planner launched

Travel technology company Dohop Ltd. has launched the Japanese version of Dohop.com Flight Planner, a  flight search engine.

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Travelport launches advanced emissions reporting tool

Travelport has introduced an advanced post-booking reporting tool, Travelport Carbon Tracker, designed for travel agencies and corporations to address the growing demand to measure and report carbon emissions as part of a sustainable travel programme.

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Travel Ad Network raises $15 million

Travel Ad Network (TAN) has closed a Series A round of financing. The $15 million round was led by Rho Ventures, Village Ventures and individual investors.

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Hilton Caribbean creates page on YouTube, shares official videos

Hilton Caribbean has introduced a page on video sharing website YouTube.com, where users can upload, view and share clips.

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Hilton Caribbean creates page on YouTube, shares official videos

Hilton Caribbean has introduced a page on video sharing website YouTube.com, where users can upload, view and share clips.

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TripIt receives $5.1m investment, to expand globally

Online travel organiser and social network TripIt has received $5.1 million in Series B financing from three  investors: Sabre Holdings, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and European Founders Fund.

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Flybe installs 64 Selfserv kiosks, plans mobile phone check-in

European low-cost regional airline Flybe has completed the installation of 64 new self service electronic check-in kiosks at regional airports across the UK.

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Microsoft acquires Farecast, reported price tag: $115m

Travel search site Farecast has confirmed that it has been acquired by Microsoft.

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Ambitious Middle Eastern expansion continues

The Middle East is the fastest growing destination in the world offering countless opportunities as a luxury market. The growth and popularity of this region continues to snowball every year, with 1.4 million people travelling with Etihad alone in the first three months of this year- 40% more than last year.

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Hotels.com, ICHG, Hyatt and Priceline Convene to Discuss the Latest Online Marketing Trends in Chicago this Summer

Find out how to harness the power of social media and track your marketing campaigns at EyeforTravel’s annual marketing forum: Online Marketing in Travel, this year, being held in Chicago at the Downtown Marriott, on 25-26 June

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China International Travel Service to list key assets: media

China International Travel Service (CITS) is expected to list key assets in Shanghai as early as June to help fund its expansion.

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Understanding role of mobile in overall communication strategy

Mantic Point is offering a free e-Book related to development of a mobile strategy for travel companies, as the company launches a consultancy service to help airlines, travel agents, and tour operators develop their mobile strategy.

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Virgin America signs deal with Priceline.com

Priceline.com and Virgin America have signed multi-year distribution partnership agreement, providing the online travel agency with access to California-based carrier's published fares, schedules and inventory.

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MakeMyTrip.com upgrades its international flight-booking engine

Online travel portal MakeMyTrip has upgraded its search engine for air tickets, providing up to 200 ready-to-book flight options to any international destination.

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TripAdvisor reaches 15 million reviews and opinions

Travel community TripAdvisor now features 15 million reviews and opinions, up from 10 million in June 2007.

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Cheapflights chooses Mo Bulbrook as new head of international

Cheapflights Ltd. has chosen its senior vice president Mo Bulbrook as new head of international. Bulbrook has been with Cheapflights for seven years.

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Asia traveler operators call for price sensitive strategies

TDS Asia 2008 Special

Revenue management alone without sensitivity to the impact of price on demand will fail to successfully drive business in 2008, according JDA Software Group, Inc.

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Scandanavian Airlines to save $3.6m by outsourcing voice services

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has chosen SITA as the sole provider of the airline's international voice telecommunication services, choosing a fully-managed end-to-end voice solution.

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Orbitz localises holiday planning experience with live destination specialists

Orbitz has introduced live destination specialists for select vacation hotspots, who are available to assist online bookers in planning their vacation.

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Lonely Planet launches travel video channel on YouTube

Lonely Planet has recently launched a travel Channel (www.youtube.com/lonelyplanet) on online video community YouTube.

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Farecast sold in $75 million deal: media

Travel search site Farecast has reportedly been sold in a deal that values the company at more than $75 million.

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MSC Cruises partners Indiatimes travel

Indiatimes Travel has tied up with Italy's cruise line Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) in a deal  described by the Indian online travel portal as the first-of-its-kind strategic alliance.

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Amadeus brings together three leisure technology businesses

Amadeus has created a new unit to provide tools for international leisure distribution.

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AOL Germany to recommend Travelzoo Top 20 newsletter

Internet media company Travelzoo has formed a strategic marketing alliance with AOL Germany, an  Internet network with over five million unique users per month.

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"I believe that individual hotels have lost out on technology and support costs"

Travel Distribution Europe Special: Interview with Andrew Rubinacci, IHG

Traditional considerations for choosing a particular distribution channel and optimising channel profitability include booking fees, credit card fees and commission fees. 

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"We see TripIt as a small example of how the Semantic Web is developing"

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

It was in September last year when TripIt (www.tripit.com), the first online service that automatically organises all of travel information into a master travel itinerary – no matter where you booked, was introduced.

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Fierce competition in the Asia Pacific travel market

Online travel in Asia Pacific – already a huge market – is growing at an unprecedented rate towards its potential which exceeds any other market on the planet.  Asia Pacific already has the highest number of internet users worldwide and this is set to almost double by 2012 – in the same period ecommerce sales will triple. 

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EyeforTravel launches European Social Media in Travel conference

Following the success of our inaugural Social Media Strategies in Travel conference held early this year in San Francisco, EyeforTravel is launching a European version of the event to be held in Berlin, 14-15 October.

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Expedia focuses on corporate travel services in China

Expedia is reportedly formally bringing its corporate travel services to China.

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FastBooking signs agreement with Bezurk.com

Travel search engine Bezurk.com has signed a marketing partnership with FastBooking, a provider of advanced Internet Booking Systems and e-marketing Services for the hospitality industry.

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HUBS1 collaborates with Venere.com

Venere.com, an online hotel reservations provider specialising in European accommodation, has signed a partnership agreement with HUBS1, a distribution platform which connects more than 2000 hotels in China including Jin Jiang Hotel Group with global travel distributors.

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Hostelworld.com to allows users with PayPal accounts to pay online

Hostelworld.com has added PayPal as a payment method for its customers.

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React decisively to any discrepancy between the official and unofficial content

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

The travel industry is using social media monitoring solutions, which track and analyse all forms of social media, including blog sites, top video-sharing sites and opinion review forums.

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Building trusted relationship via top social networking websites

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

According to data available, users are spending on an average of 30 minutes on top social networking websites on a monthly basis in the US.

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Assessing opportunities on social networking sites from OTA perspective

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

How can an online travel agency make judicious use of social networking sites for building its profile and other opportunities?

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Long-term business case for travel and social networking has not been established

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

There are several opportunities for Travel 2.0 within social networking sites, such as engaging travelers with various entertainment or tactical travel tools, according to Diane Clarkson, Travel Analyst, JupiterResearch.

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Teleticket launches new email facility for agents

Flight consolidator Teleticket has launched a new email facility to enable them to offer a quicker and more efficient service to all of their agents.

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Scandinavian travel search engines forays into UK

Danish company Travelmarket has launched www.travelmarket.co.uk, a UK version of Scandinavia's largest independent travel search engine.

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Expedia develops a co-branded offering for fish4holidays.co.uk users

Expedia Distribution and fish4.co.uk, the UK's largest classified website for jobs, homes and cars, have formed a new partnership to create fish4holidays; an online one-stop-shop for consumers to source and book hotel accommodation and packages .

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Travelport GDS acquires software assets and intellectual property from G2 SwitchWorks

Travelport GDS has entered into an agreement with G2 SwitchWorks Corp. under which it has acquired certain software assets and intellectual property to be used in the development of a future Travelport agent desktop solution.

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Terminal 5 chaos to cost British Airways £16m

British Airways reportedly disclosed a 5% fall in business-class passengers last month and a £16 million bill for the chaotic opening of Terminal 5 (T5).

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Expedia to be the exclusive travel booking provider for PlanetOut websites

Online travel company Expedia.com has partnered with PlanetOut Inc., a media company exclusively serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

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Amadeus to allow airlines to act like true retailers

Amadeus has unveiled its Amadeus Airline Retailing Platform, one which will transform company's global distribution system from a purely distribution channel to a retailing platform.

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Over 550 attendees already signed up for Travel Distribution Summit – click here to see a full list

“Registrations are coming in at a far faster rate than in 2007, so we are expecting to easily exceed the 1800 attendees we attracted last year. But most importantly, the majority of attendees are senior executives making this the world’s biggest annual meeting place to network with online travel decision makers” Tim Gunstone, MD, EyeforTravel

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Balancing gripping consumer experience with valuable business application on 2.0 sites

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

Travel suppliers and intermediaries have started to partner social networking sites, integrating relevant content from such sites. 

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Travel suppliers have to become "producers of fresh online content"

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

Web 2.0 and social media represent a new dynamic in communication by allowing consumers to drive the content.

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Rate Tiger enhances online customer support

Rate Tiger has strengthened its online customer support as the online distribution and revenue management specialist introduced website redesign offering 'live chat' to all prospective and existing customers.

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Hertz to offer a range of travel products on its site

In what is being described as a car rental industry first, Hertz has launched a one-stop shop for booking the ultimate holiday experience including car hire and travel extras. Hertz has teamed up with a number of partners for the same.

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Hertz shares move downwards on projected lower profits

Share price of Hertz Global Holdings Inc. dropped on worries that lower demand for rental vehicles and a possible drop in used-car values could result in lower profits.

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Desiya strengthens its distribution network by adding 2500 agents

India's top online hotel consolidator Desiya.com has added 2500 travel agents in a short span of nine months.

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VEGAS.com Assumes Operations of Mexico.com

(LAS VEGAS, March 31, 2008) – In a deal announced today, VEGAS.com, the #1 city site in the world, has entered into a joint venture with Mexico.com to run the site’s operations and marketing with the intention of bolstering tourism to Mexico. The new Mexico travel site launched March 31 and features air-hotel packages, hotels, cruises, tours and attractions and will provide expert content and advice for travelers.

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Europcar tops €2 billion-mark in revenues

Car rental company Europcar has shared that its group revenues surged from €1,544 million in 2006 to €2,047 million in 2007, representing a 32.6% increase.

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Hotelopia signs deal with Gulf Air in the Middle East

Online hotel booking specialist Hotelopia has signed an airline partnership with Gulf Air to provide accommodation services on www.gulfair.com.

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hotel.de AG launches international evaluation and booking platform

Online hotel reservation services provider hotel.de AG acquired all rights for the domain www.hotel.info and thereby took over hotel.info HI GmbH.

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Assessing customers' biggest priorities through the rental car process

Price transparency and the ability to book a specific make and model of car are the most important factors for customers when renting a vehicle, according to a survey by Avis.

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Hostelworld.com introduces iPhone application for tech savvy backpackers

Hostelworld.com has launched an iPhone specific version of its budget accommodation service.

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Lixto introduces new Hotel Online Market Intelligence Solution

Web intelligence company Lixto Software has launched new Hotel Online Market Intelligence solution, designed to be used by revenue and pricing managers in online travel companies to increase revenue and profit through higher average daily rates and higher occupancy levels.

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Makemytrip.com expects to break-even in this year

Online travel company Makemytrip.com (MMT) expects to achieve break-even by December 2008.

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"Dramatic e-commerce growth" positions Europe ahead of Asia

TDS Europe 2008 Special: Interview with Glenn D. Fogel, MD International, Priceline

Priceline firmly believes that its wide geographic reach, new market initiatives and extensive inventory are providing sustained impetus for growth. The company’s network of businesses and affiliates now operates in over 60 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, with content available in 22 languages. Earlier this year, Priceline stated that it is currently well-positioned to continue building out its global hotel business with new inventory and geographies and mining the synergies available when it build links among its regional businesses in the United States, Europe and Asia.

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"I still see significant upside for online travel companies in the US": Orbitz's Aaron Cooper

Online Marketing in Travel Special (25-26 June, Chicago www.eyefortravel.com/smusa)

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IBS Software invests in HBSi

IBS Software Services, PLC, has acquired the controlling interest in Hotel Booking Solutions, Inc, (HBSi).

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Trust to support Total Pricing in all four GDSs

Trust International has added Amadeus to the group of GDSs for which the `Total pricing' feature is supported by the Trust|Voyager CRS.

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"50% of page views on the Internet are on social networking sites": Google's Ted Souder

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

Travel industry is using social media monitoring solutions, which tracks and analyses all forms of social media, including blog sites, top video-sharing sites, opinion review forums.

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UGC sites - a dream come true for loyalty marketers or a total nightmare?

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

Recently, a senior hotel executive mentioned that loyalty marketers are inherently successful at utilising the social media/marketing environment because they've been doing it in the real world for years. 

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"Social media is not a trend, it's a whole new way of understanding markets"

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

How is social media being perceived by those who are integral part of travel industry?

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Human capital takes a front seat

Human capital is becoming an increasingly important measure of business success.  In the Sunday Times’ recent Best Companies to Work For competition, the share performance of the top 31 listed companies out performed all those in the FTSE 100 index.

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Pegasus extends its agreement with BCD Travel across its global network

Travel management company BCD Travel has renewed its contract with Pegasus Solutions for commission processing in the US, EMEA and APAC.

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Travel Industry’s “Dragon’s Den” attracts key investors to TDS Europe 2008

In an increasingly unstable economic environment, where do you think the travel industry's most successful money men will be investing in 2008? And is uncertainty in the global economy likely to stifle innovation or will it instead open up opportunities for the right products and solutions to really get the foothold they deserve?

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Personalisation and CRM increasingly important in a web 2.0 environment

As the way people use the internet for communication and information sharing continues to change, travel companies need to consider how to adapt their customer acquisition and retention strategies in the new online paradigm.

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Carrentals.co.uk prepares for European roll-out, targets £23m turnover

Price comparison site Carrentals.co.uk has announced that Gareth Robinson will take on the role of Managing Director, responsible for the strategic development and direction of the brand as it looks to achieve £23m turnover by January 2009.

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HolidayIQ launches in-video advertisements

Holiday planning website HolidayIQ has launched in-video advertisements on the recently launched travel video section on its website.

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Mobissimo expands to Poland and Spain

Travel search engine Mobissimo has announced the launch of two new travel search sites in Poland (www.mobissimo.pl) and Spain ( http://es.mobissimo.com).

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"Today's traveller is an information consumer who thrives on channel jumping"

TDS Asia 2008 Special, Singapore

The recent years has seen emergence of several new airlines business models. In such scenario, how has the definition of a `traveler' evolved?

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Can "online" travel leapfrog the regular Internet to mobile in Asia?

TDS Asia 2008 Special, Singapore

Markets in Asia have been leading the way in technology adoption, be it mobile or Internet penetration.

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TUI's underlying loss before tax reduced by 51% to £60m

TUI Travel Plc has made a strong start to the year, with a £73m improvement in underlying operating loss (Q1 08 loss of £41m; Q1 07 loss of £114m).

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Adding value as a GDS while dealing with change on a daily basis

TDS Asia 2008 Special, Singapore

"Indirect travel distribution lives and dies by the value it creates for supplier and traveller alike."

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"Online and offline will become more complementary"

TDS Asia 2008 Special, Singapore

Favorable macro-economic conditions, fast expansion of air capacity and major investment plans of the hotel industry for Asia will require alignment of distribution capabilities to cater to the fragmented demand pools and different product types in the time to come.

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Are legacy carriers are shackled to the GDS?

TDS Asia 2008 Special: Interview with Simon Nowroz, Travelport

Low cost carriers are growing rapidly in Asia. But full service airlines, too, are responding on their part by revamping operations and offering lower fares to compete with the LCCs. In addition, some of the established airlines have  introduced their own LCCs.

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CarTrawler expands its reach in North America

Global car rental distribution system CarTrawler and Airline Reporting Corporation have agreed to deliver the CarTrawler platform to over 20,000 travel agency locations and corporate travel departments across North America.

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isango! receives $8m funding

isango! has received $8m in investment to fund its next stage of growth. The funding round, which is the first institutional round for the company, was led by SPARK Ventures, a leading quoted early-stage venture capital company in Europe..

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Lines continue to blur between supplier and retailer models

EFT Ancillary Revenue in Travel 2008 Special

Travel service providers and intermediaries are constantly working on covering all of customers' travel needs and keep them loyal by packaging additional content.

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Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 officially opened

Queen Elizabeth II formally opened a controversial new terminal at London's Heathrow airport, built at a cost of £4.3 billion after 15 years of planning and protests.

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"User-Generated Content: The Functional Level Re-examined"

In Response to: "Key to Ensuring UGC Works Well at the Functional Level" (3.06.08), By Reggie Bradford

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Expedia acquires CarRentals.com

Expedia, Inc. has acquired online car rental marketing and retail firm CarRentals.com.

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Kuoni posts record net result of CHF 136.3 million

Tour operator Kuoni has reported a 16.8% increase in net profits to CHF 136.3 ($135 million) last year. The profit was the highest ever recorded by the Kuoni Group.

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TravelCLICK and IDeaS to deliver dynamic pricing

TravelCLICK and revenue management solutions provider IDeaS have integrated their respective offering to give hoteliers immediate control of pricing decisions that maximise revenue per available room (RevPAR) and drive hotel profitability.

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Mobissimo launches Italian site

Mobissimo has become the first US travel search engine to launch in Italy (www.it.mobissimo.com) with local content specifically tailored for Italian users.

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Large international contingent at the Travel Distribution Summit Asia shows regions global appeal

Asia Pacific’s premiere online travel event, the Travel Distribution Summit Asia, begins in Singapore next week. The global appeal of the Asian region as a vital international market is highlighted by the 54% international delegate profile of this year’s event.

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Travelmarket’s interactive division enters the UK market

The Scandinavian based travel search engine travelmarket.com which officially launched in the UK on February 29th has just announced a special offer for the travel trade. Purchase marketing on the travel search engine – and receive free web production.

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Allotz.com to showcase its online inventory distribution solution at EFT's Asian conference

Allotz.com, a new technology which manages the inventory for hoteliers and online resellers, is set to share its offering in the forthcoming EyeforTravel Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2008 in Singapore.

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Taking care of "brand" concerns when it comes to garnering ancillary revenues

EFT Ancillary Revenue in Travel 2008 Special

From traditional carriers perspective, it is being said that airline executives have other non-operational concerns about launching ancillary revenue strategies.

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Expedia Distribution appoints Tamer Tamar as MD

Expedia Distribution recently promoted Tamer Tamar to managing director and vice president role for Europe Middle East and Africa region (EMEA).

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UGC sites - a dream come true for loyalty marketers or a total nightmare?

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

Recently, a senior hotel executive mentioned that loyalty marketers are inherently successful at utilising the social media/marketing environment because they've been doing it in the real world for years.

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European Commission raids airlines offices over price-fixing suspicions

European Commission regulators reportedly raided international airlines on suspicion that the carriers may have operated an illegal cartel on long-haul passenger flights.

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"Travel 2.0 sites are more about branding, discovery, and especially research"

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

Suppliers are increasingly getting represented in a genuine fashion on YouTube, Second Life, and Facebook.   

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VibeAgent to introduce its Facebook application

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

VibeAgent, a travel 2.0 company that combines meta-search, user reviews, and social networking to provide hotel recommendations, is set to introduce its Facebook application called jetsetter. It is targeted towards frequent travelers.

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Tripmela.com re-launches website

Tripmela.com, a source of online travel specials related to India, has re-launched its website with a new design and features.

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Travelport GDS opens new revenue streams for agents in Asia Pacific

Travelport GDS has enhanced its online itinerary tool ViewTrip and announced the launch of  a new customisable version (white label) which will enable agents in the Asia Pacific region to earn new revenue streams. 

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Cheapflights restructures its Board, Chris Cuddy chosen as CEO

Internet media travel company Cheapflights Ltd. has restructured its Board to position itself for its next phase of growth and international expansion. 

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How are "older" online Americans getting hooked onto UGC experiences online?

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

"If you create a MySpace page with little value other than cartoon characters and funny video snippets, you'll attract high school and college kids. But there are other UGC experiences online that older demographics are starting to engage with more frequency."