PhoCusWright has again packed a lot of amazing networking, workshops and presentations into one conference. Well the morning of the main center stage conference is in full swing and the trending is looking interesting. We have heard from the VC community; William Carroll, Cornell, Jeff Clarke, Travelport Inc, Sophie Frost, Brightspark Ventures, Jake Fuller, Thomas Weisel Partners.

While there were strong references to economic trending with Philip C Wolf saying that “it didn’t look like a economy in recession at the bar last night”. Jeff Clarke was confident that there will be an upswing eventually. Jake Fuller on the other hand pointed out that there was no denying the current economic climate and how there was an inevitable loss of competition with smaller innovators being pressured out of the game. Sophie was talking about the drying up of investment capital for the next 18 months. She stated that that they are going to tighten their belts, cut expenses where ever possible, and then also lower their level of investment by an additional 10%. With Brightspark having a notable portfolio, this could be indicitive of a far reaching down swing in travel technology investment. Lets hope not..

We are really excited to be participating in the PhoCusWright’s Travel Innovation Summit (PCW TIS). Rezgo has come a long way since its inception, we are gaining attention, building strategic partnerships and have a robust feature set that really sets us apart from our direct competition. Well I may be a little biased, and I realize that our competition at PCW TIS is not direct market competition. As we are competing for innovation and ingenuity, I thought I would do a brief review of the presenters at PCW TIS.

This is not a complete list, and I will be adding others as more information is made available. I will be giving an overview of what they do and a rating based on potential to shake the industry, how innovative they are, and the likelihood of success. So here is a brief rundown of the presenting companies at PCW TIS thus far.

Cadabra

Overview: Looks to be a one stop shop for those going to New Zealand. PRO: You can generate a customized itinerary including hotel and activities and even book all items through their website. CON: Currently only in New Zealand, search for hotel etc can not be filtered and organized (price, stars etc)

Site look: 8/10

Potential to Shake Industry: 6/10

Innovation: 7/10

Success: 8/10

ekit

Overview: Their primary business is selling of SIM and calling cards for travelers, as an ancillary bonus, users are given a travel journal and a secure travel vault for storing important documents digitally. PRO: Free add-ons to a comodity type product. The live tracking features a really cool. CON: Not really an innovative product, there are numerous free mobile blogging and document storage platforms on the market.

Site look: 4/10

Potential to Shake Industry: 5/10

Innovation: 6/10

Success: 6/10

Innovata LLC

Overview: Innovata is positioning itself as the leader in Airline timedable data managing, hosting, and reporting. They have a number of services ranging from Data Licencing, Hosted Services to Analitical Services. PRO: Seem to have multiple strong revenue streams. CON: I am not sure how scalable this business platform is.

Site look: 7/10

Potential to Shake Industry: 6/10

Innovation: 6/10

Success: 8/10

NileGuide.com

Overview: I met the CEO Josh Steinitz at last years PCW, he has made NileGuide a shaker for the trip planning and UGC review sector. PRO NileGuide has great filtering features to help find hotels and activities that interest you, and they have a growing database of product. CON: Lack of transaction capabilities limits their revenue potential.

Site look: 9/10

Potential to Shake Industry: 8/10

Innovation: 7/10

Success: 7/10

Update:

It is refreshing to see the updates to content, UGC and usability on Nile Guide. Josh Steinetz is heading in the right direction, the guides that can be dynamically generated are a great merger of oldword guides meet custom travel planning. I will be using this site.

Roundtrip Systems

Overview: Roundtip Systems seems to be giving emails a dynamic booking capability. PRO: Piggy backing emails for booking, saves time, widely used technology. CON: Product bookings lack scope and range of options and media.

Site look: 5/10

Potential to Shake Industry: 6/10

Innovation: 7/10

Success: 7/10

WorldMate Inc.

Overview: World Mate offers mobile information for traveler. Their free product has weather, currency and time information, and their subscription service has flight information. PRO: Nice interface, free account is a good incentive to use. CON: With the proliferation of mobile information, all of their data can be accessed through traditional websites.

Site look: 8/10

Potential to Shake Industry: 6/10

Innovation: 7/10

Success: 7/10

UPDATE

Worldmate has just presented their live software, it looks to have a great user interface, and a impressive feature set. I am happy to see the progress in such a short time period. Good job guys!

Yapta.

Overview: I met Tom Romary and the Yapta Team last year at PCW. These guys have a great product for the american traveller. They track flight pricing for consumers and can help consumers get reemburced if the price of a flight changes before they fly. PRO: Huge market potential. CON: I hope they have a solid revenue model

Site look: 8/10

Potential to Shake Industry: 9/10

Innovation: 9/10

Success: 8/10

Rezgo

Overview: Well I can’t really be objective here, but I think we have a great product! So feel free to go to Rezgo.com and leave a comment on how you would rate Rezgo:

Site look: ?/10

Potential to Shake Industry: ?/10

Innovation: ?/10

Success: 11;) /10

What is the future for Travelocity?
“Expanding into the Asian and European markets. Shift from a price focused commoditization into an experience based format. Using Kayak, they still recreate the the Travelocity experience. More emphasis changing a transactional interface into experiential purchase.”

How do you plan on doing that?

“We need to separate and segregate the customers base. Different people have different travel needs. Experience finder helps people scroll through a series of media and reviews. We need to partnership at a deeper level. Leverage the relationship and maybe integrate UGC to enhance the online experience.”

How will you handle Longtail product?

“So far we are all terrible at it, but getting better. There is an audience for a smaller product, and the trick is to not crowd the site with all of the content out there, provide relevance, and great parters.”

Build vs. buy

“We will not be specialist content providers, we can do it through partnerships.”

Charge booking fees?

“Increased services, and consumers have confusion with service fees, if you provide value, consumers will pay for the service.”

Her thoughts on long tail products make me think of how Sentias can leverage Rezgo to help OTAs distribute disparate tour suppliers. Give me a call Michelle,

On February 9th, the first TourismusCamp (think Barcamp meets tourism) was hosted in Eichstaett. This meet up was organized by my associate, Jens Oellrich who will also join the me at ITB. Here is a link to the event wiki, translated into English.

I have had the pleasure of coordinating the first international bloggers summit; the PhoCusWright@ITB bloggers summit is bringing a group of over 30 bloggers from more then a 12 different countries together. This event is combining a Tips From The T-List workshop that is open to the public, exclusive blogger interviews with travel industry executives, access to the great PhoCusWright conference information and some good times.

We have brought the bloggers together into one place for everyone to stay up to date on the latest blogger content, go to itb2008.tipsfromthetlist.com for photos, videos and the latest blog posts from an international group of bloggers on this amazing event!

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TourismTrends

Topics discussed for January 11^th:

1. The First International Bloggers Summit with PhoCusWright@ITB
2. Site Review: www.Kango.com
3. Joe Buhler’s Predictions for 2008
4. Stephen’s 5 must do travel marketing investments with online services:

• • Blogging - Blogger.com, Wordpress.com
  • Photos – Flickr.com
  • Video – Vidler.com, YouTube.com
  • Podcasting – Podomatic.com, Bigcontact.com
  • Blog Directories – Blogcatalog.com, Mybloglog.com

5. IFITT Enter 2008 conference - www.ifitt.org

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TourismTrends

Travel Industry Bloggers welcome and idea sharing
Wednesday March: 10:30am – 12:30pm
Includes exclusive access to travel industry leaders, the Bloggers Briefing session will give bloggers a chance to generate the latest news.

Tips From The T-List presents Blogging with the Long Tail of Tourism
Workshop to be presented and open to all ITB Berlin attendees
Wednesday March 5 in Hall 7.1b, Auditorium London 3: 2:00pm – 4:00pm

This workshop will show how an active, content-producing network of bloggers can have a growing influence on customers’ online spending habits.

Travel Industry Bloggers meeting
Wednesday March 5, 4:30 – 5:30pm
Gather and share techniques, strategies, contacts and more

PhoCusWright@ITB Conference
Thursday March 6, Hall 7.1b, London 3: 10:15am – 6:00pm
Hall 7.1b, Auditorium London 3
Take advantage of PhoCusWright@ITB, one of the premier events of ITB’s Convention.

Bloggers Summit Final Gathering
Regroup after PhoCusWright@ITB and discuss highlights, lowlights and everything in between
Cocktails and chatter - this event will NOT be hosted, and it will be an informal gathering
Thursday March 6: 8:30pm - late

This wifi enabled trendy bar will be a great back drop to unwind and recap all of the great finds from ITB. Anhalter Bar Mövenpick Hotel in Berlin. A private area of the bar will be reserved, wifi will be available, and there will be drink specials. Hope to see you there!

This summit is included with your PhoCusWright admission, and travel industry bloggers can apply for a bloggers entry pass. For more information join the Facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6574840815

Email me if you are interested in attending: phil.caines [at] rezgo.com

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TourismTrends

At the PhoCusWright conference in Orlando, Stephen said “Trust online is gold dust.”

You need:
1. Honest brokers - People that can give you truth
2. Social networks - A group that you can trust

When travelers ideas are varying then the knowledge of the mass prevails and averages the results.

TripAdvisor has made headway in the social aspect of their online reviews. They allow you to get your friends on your own traveler’s network by connecting with friends with an interactive map. When you are browsing the site, your traveler’s network automatically populates their recommendations. This will give great trust based reviews with depth unmatchable by traditional travel agents.

Have you used Tripadvisor, or has your property been effected by a review? Do you trust the reviews?

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TourismTrends