February 19 – February 25: No price-fixing conspiracy, SoLoMo and the bottom line, Facebook’s next billion, In search of innovation and more…our pick of the week’s news

No price-fixing conspiracy

A US judge this week dismissed a claim that a group of major hotel chains and online travel companies, including InterContinental Hotels Group and Marriott International, Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline and EyeforTravel, had conspired to fix prices of hotel rooms. In Dallas, US District Judge Jane Boyle found that there was insufficient evidence that such a conspiracy existed and went even further to say that the rate parity agreements between each hotel chain and each online operator could be explained by ‘rational business interests’ rather than anti-competitive behaviour. As a global conference organiser of events for the online travel industry, EyeforTravel was pulled into the fray in May last year for allegedly facilitating “the conspiracy and agreements at issue” from 2004 to 2012 by conducting “private, industry-only conferences”. Commenting on the results EyeforTravel’s managing director, Tim Gunstone, had this to say:  “Eyefortravel’s only intention was to run conferences where travel industry executives could go and gain the knowledge and insight to create strategies that would make their organisations more profitable and more competitive. Price fixing was just not happening.” Boyle has given the plaintiffs 30 days to appeal, providing they can address the shortcomings in evidence.

SoLoMo, silo no!

If your aim is to be a digital innovator – and it should be - then ignore the growing trend to SoLoMo at your peril, writes Pamela Whitby on EyeforTravel.com this week. She talks to Australian destination marketer Tourism Victoria about how SoLoMo has altered the way they manage technology and content for the visitor – and it is changing all the time as new technologies like wearables, local search and local offers - come on line all the time. What is particularly clear is that metrics show rapid increases in the use of mobile at the destination, peaking at weekends and during holiday periods. Adding his insights is Mike Supple, Director of Social Media at Milestone Internet Marketing, who says that there can be no doubt of social media’s impact on the bottom line, if there are clearly measurable targets in place. One thing is clear, removing silos is essential to business success.  

Hell bent on the next billion

Whether this impacts the travel industry or not isn’t entirely clear but Facebook’s if you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em $19bn acquisition of WhatsApp last week is worth a mention. It seems Facebook is after the teenage demographic that is losing – or has already lost – interest in the monolithic social network, as well as markets that it hasn’t yet quite managed to penetrate. WhatsApp has 450 million users and at a price of $42 a head, with this purchase, Facebook is clearly hell bent on penetrating the $100bn SMS market and ensuring it acquires its next billion users.

Missing the boat?

Guest columnist Tom Bacon believes meta-search engines have gone a long way to improve the travel search experience but there is still plenty of room for innovation. “To build a new search capability however innovative - and to launch it on desktops rather than mobile is like creating a ‘faster horse’ – it is, in my view, timed for spectacular failure,” he writes on EyeforTravel.com. So what to do? Focus on being mobile enhancing rather than mobile compatible. Among the advice Bacon has to offer is that the next travel search innovator needs to be designed for small screens, ultra-simple navigation, social media sharing and efficient mobile payment processing. Not a lot to ask. Read the full story on EyeforTravel.com.     

More price pressure on the horizon?

The tourism industry is probably groaning after UK Education Secretary Michael Gove’s call for a petition to stop holiday companies from inflating prices at peak times. He suggested that the tourism industry ‘look at itself in the mirror’ to help hard-pressed parents. He’s worried about parents damaging their children's education by taking them out of class during term time. 

But the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pointed to fierce competition and said it was for the market to decide. Gove also gives schools the freedom to change term dates, but that poses its own problems.

Campaign fever

Skyscanner is clearly looking to boost its profile in markets where it hasn’t yet a huge presence. It recently launched its first UK-based integrated television campaign and now it’s heading into APAC starting in Singapore. Anywhere and Everywhere campaign started with a call to action to fans to send in a video of up to 15-seconds saying why they deserve to go on a trip around the world. The two-phase campaign, aimed to drive greater brand awareness, runs till end April and includes an interactive multi-phase consumer contest offering winners free air tickets to numerous destinations around the world.

Andy Sleigh, Skyscanner’s general manager for Asia Pacific is reported saying that APAC in 2013, the most successful to date growth has come predominantly from flight search bot on web and mobile platforms.