With summer vacations in full swing, many travelers are looking forward to sharing the details of their trips with friends and family. In today’s world, the easiest way to share is through social media, but people should be conscious of when and what they share to avoid giving away too much information about when they’ll be away from home.

Nearly 30 percent of travelers have either never thought about precautions or do not take any precautions when posting about vacation on social media web sites. Twenty-seven percent post limited vacation information; the rest do not allow any vacation posts.

“It’s only natural to want to share your excitement about an upcoming trip on social media sites,” said Genevieve Shaw Brown, Travelocity’s senior editor. “But it’s probably safest to wait until you return to share the details of the trip.”

Get the full story from HotelMarketing.com

In the past, a customer’s bad experience may go as far as several friends. Now, a negative hotel review can be viewed by almost the entire world literally in only a matter of seconds.

Determine when not to respond: Sometimes the best online hotel marketing strategy for dealing with negative reviews is to simply ignore them. If you can answer yes to any of the following questions, it may be smarter not to respond to the review at all:

1. Are other users of the website already disagreeing with the initial review?
2. Has the user left many negative reviews on the site – are they a ‘born complainer’?
3. Is this the only negative review out of dozens of positive ones?

If you have answered yes to more than two of these questions, it may be best not to respond to the review. When there is a ‘troll’ on a blog who is posting inflammatory comments, it is sometimes best not to fan the flames and let the fire burn out quickly.

Deciding to respond: You or your online hotel marketing team must assess each case individually and decide whether to respond and what action to take. If you don’t respond, you not only run the risk of the review ‘growing legs’ and spreading across the internet, but you miss an opportunity to retain a customer and to possibly right a genuine wrong.

Good responses outweigh bad experiences: In most cases, you can actually improve your reputation online by handling a negative review well. It isn’t only the customer in question that will notice, either; potential and past customers will often respond better to a hotel that is consistent, mature and proactive in its handling of bad reviews through internet hotel marketing.

Respond in a calm manner: There are two things you need to do before you start typing anything in your response box. First, try to determine the facts of the situation. Secondly, make sure you’ve calmed down and are seeing both sides of the situation before you start your response. Don’t write anything that sounds angry, sarcastic or negative, even if it is ‘veiled’.

Apologise for the way the customer is feeling: If it isn’t appropriate, you don’t need to apologise for the situation that occurred or your staff’s action. However, saying something like “I’m sorry that you felt so unsatisfied with your experience” in no way admits guilt, but does help to start on a conciliatory note and help appease the hotel customer.

Correct the facts if appropriate: If a customer’s bad hotel review is based on incorrect facts, correct them politely. Check with the owner of the review website also – if a review is libellous or false you may be able to have it taken down. Even if the facts are false, don’t threaten either the reviewer or the review site – you’ll only damage your hotel’s reputation.

For full article see Hotel Internet Marketing

1. The future of revenue management will include a rapid evolution of data as a strategic asset that can drive future decision-making.

2. Hoteliers will track, analyze, and maximize social networking platforms as an integral part of revenue management – leveraging the power of tools that help them in managing consumer review sites and other forums. They will take a proactive approach to user-generated hotel reviews, blogs, videos, and images.

3. Revenue directors will reinvent their approach to be even more proactive and creative – conducting more research, focusing on demand generators, developing relationships with the competition, shifting market share, developing the hotel’s reputation, and directing sophisticated channel management.

4. Automated revenue management technology will become the dominant practice, quickly delivering significant increases in revenue and return on investments to those who adopt it.

5. The hospitality industry will focus time and resources on developing strong revenue executives—headlinedby the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) – who can deliver the best revenue strategy, top-line revenue, and bottom-line profitability.

Also serving as a publishing sponsor of the report is Smith Travel Research, the hospitality industry’s leading information and data provider.

“By relying less on spreadsheets and revenue directors with strong Excel skills, and more on central storehouses that compile all enterprise data and help hotels better analyze and process it, hotels will advance the impact of revenue management,” said Kristi White, TravelClick’s Director of Revenue Optimization. “Business Intelligence tools will be critical in this effort, producing objective, actionable information and analysis, and reducing subjective interpretations.”

White underscores the importance of sticking with a strategy, through good times and bad. “During good times, hoteliers are more apt to pay attention to their own needs and price as a benchmark of what the market will bear,” she emphasized. “During downturns, they shift to groupthink and merely follow the herd to the bottom of the bucket. There are always opportunities to maintain or grow rate – even in a down economy.”

For full article see Hotel Marketing

Report available for purchase on HSMAI Site

Ruba offer users a way to visually browse through cities and their attractions around the world, offering photo-rich guides and an emphasis on making it easy to quickly discover new locations. The site is headed by Mike Cassidy, who has founded a number of successful companies, including Xfire, which sold to Viacom in 2006 for $102 million.

Guides are all written and submitted by users, with Ruba pulling from Google and Flickr APIs to help pinpoint locations and provide some sample photos (users can submit their own, too). The site, which is similar in some ways to TripAdvisor, features integration with Twitter and Facebook Connect, allowing users to broadcast where they’re headed and ask friends for input.

Google has been reportedly making a significant move to enter the online travel business, integrating hotel links into Maps and listing hotels with room rates. The search giant is also supposedly in talks to buy fare shopping software ITA software, according to the USA Today.

Read more at TechCrunch

Additional source: Ruba.com

Priceline.com had revenues in the 1st quarter of $584.4 million, a 26.5% increase over a year ago. The Company’s international operations contributed revenues in the 1st quarter of $215.8 million, an 88.2% increase versus a year ago (approximately 79% on a local currency basis). Priceline.com’s gross profit for the 1st quarter was $319.1 million, a 53.2% increase from the prior year. The Company’s international operations contributed gross profit in the 1st quarter of $214.9 million, an 88.8% increase versus a year ago (approximately 80% growth on a local currency basis). The Company’s operating income in the 1st quarter 2010 was $87.9 million, a 105.2% increase from the prior year. Priceline.com had GAAP net income for the 1st quarter of $53.9 million or $1.06 per diluted share, which compares to $25.0 million or $0.53 per diluted share in the same period a year ago.

Pro forma EBITDA for the 1st quarter was $111.7 million, an increase of 75.3% over the prior year. Pro forma net income in the 1st quarter was $87.2 million or $1.70 per diluted share, compared to $1.09 per share a year ago. The high end of priceline.com’s guidance for the 1st quarter was $1.64 per diluted share and First Call analyst consensus for the 1st quarter 2010 was $1.66 per diluted share. The section below entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” provides a definition and information about the use of pro forma financial measures in this press release and the attached financial and statistical supplement reconciles pro forma financial information with priceline.com’s financial results under GAAP.

“The Company’s worldwide businesses were able to maintain gross booking growth over 50% in the 1st quarter, powered by strong growth in hotel room nights, which increased 57% over last year,” said Jeffery H. Boyd, priceline’s President and CEO. “We believe all of our brands continued to gain share in hotel reservations during the quarter. International local currency bookings growth was 73%, representing continued high rates of transaction growth and stabilizing hotel room rates. Domestic growth at 16% came in at the high end of our range of guidance despite weaker results in opaque airline tickets and rental cars tied to reduced capacity in those markets.”

Looking forward, Mr. Boyd said, “We are pleased with the strong growth reflected in our 2nd quarter guidance despite the impact of several negative external factors. The Iceland volcano caused widespread disruptions in air travel which resulted in a significant increase in hotel room cancellations for our Booking.com business. Civil unrest in Thailand has substantially impacted hotel room reservations in Thailand, which is a key market for Agoda and Booking.com’s Asia business. Lastly, sovereign debt concerns in Europe have resulted in a significant decline in the value of the Euro as compared to the U.S. dollar which adversely impacts our financial results as expressed in U.S. dollars.”

Get the full article at hotelmarketing.com

Destinations in Ireland have appeared multiple times in TripAdvisor’s most recent “Travelers’ Choice Destination Awards”. The most impressive of which comes from Ireland’s third largest city, Galway, which was voted to be the 23rd best destination in the world. Dublin was voted to be the 4th best ‘Nightlife’ destination in Europe, and 8th in the world for the same category.

Killarney was voted the 5th best ‘Outdoor & Adventure’ destination in Europe while Wesport took the honours of 9th best ‘Relaxation and Spa’ destination in Europe.

We’ve studied the various categories and have picked out the most interesting/relevant.

Best destination in the World – Monte-Carlo, Monaco

Best destination in the EU – Monte-Carlo, Monaco

Best ‘Beach and Sun’ destination in the World – Providenciales

Best ‘Beach and Sun’ destination in Europe – Oludeniz, Turkey

Best ‘Culture and Sightseeing’ destination in the World – Florence, Italy

Best ‘Culture and Sightseeing’ destination in Europe – Florence, Italy

Best ‘Emerging’ destination in the World – Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Best ‘Family’ destination in the World – Marne-la-Vallee, France (EuroDisney)

Best ‘Family’ destination in Europe – Marne-la-Vallee, France (EuroDisney)

Best ‘Food & Wine’ destination in the World – Napa, Califronia

Best ‘Food & Wine’ destination in Europe – Florence, Italy

Best ‘Nightlife’ destination in the World – New Orleans, Louisiana

Best ‘Nightlife’ destination in Europe – London, UK

Best ‘Outdoor & Adventure’ destination in the World – Queenstown, New Zealand

Best ‘Outdoor & Adventure’ destination in Europe – Interlaken, Switzerland

Best ‘Relaxation & Spa’ destination in the World – Sedona, Arizona

Best ‘Relaxation & Spa’ destination in Europe – Bath, UK

Best ‘Romance’ destination in the World – Oia, Greece

Best ‘Romance’ destination in Europe – Oia, Greece

Best destination in the World voted by Europeans – Byron Bay, Australia

Best destination in Europe voted by Europeans – Berlin, Germany

Irish Appearances:

Galway – 23^rd Best destination in the World

Dublin – 4^th Best Nightlife destination in Europe

Dublin – 8^th Best Nightlife destination in the World

Killarney – 5^th Best Outdoor & Adventure destination in Europe

Westport – 9^th Best Relaxation and Spa destination in Europe

See the full list of destinations at TripAdvisor

As 3-D technology improves, more people will be tempted to sightsee from the comfort of their own home instead of actually visiting other places, the report says.

Trends in Japan, which often predict what will happen here, indicate the travel industry will need to offer far more engaging experiences to tempt youngsters from their armchairs.

Futurologist Dr Ian Yeoman, author of Tomorrow’s Tourist and a consultant on the report, said: “They’ve had deflation and also the Japanese consumer has gone inward.

“So what they’ve seen in the last ten years is that they’re spending more now on in-home entertainment and technology rather than travelling the world.

“That’s an indicator of what could happen here.”

The Future of Free Time report was commissioned by online travel and leisure firm lastminute.com.

It says: “Perhaps worryingly, a new generation will reject travel altogether in favour of gaming, social networking and ‘always on’ media.

“As in-home leisure is becoming more engaging, a group of young people will emerge who do not go out any more.

“Rather than travel, this group of Go-Nowhere-Gamers prefer to transfer their lives into the home, playing computer games and watching interactive 3D TV.

“They will find out-of-home activity too ‘action-poor’.”

The report, compiled in association with think-tank Future Foundation – experts in future trends – shows that spending on out-of-home leisure activities fell during the recession.

However, sales of in-home electronics have grown and since 2000 spending on in-home leisure has increased by 2.5 times in real terms.

The new research also reveals that since 2007 people have gained increasing enjoyment from in-home activities such as socialising via the internet and using games consoles.

Social networking has leapt 52 per cent in people’s views of what they find entertaining.

The report states: “In the future, in-home entertainment technology will be more exciting, more interactive and more visually appealing.

“3-D TV will have made its way into British homes, content will stream from the Web at the push of a button, we will interact further with shows and even influence their scripts and outcomes.

“The internet and social networking online will make online video communication smoother and more real.

“The home as a centre of free time will become more appealing and compete with out-of-home free time.

“A forecast of British leisure expenditure shows that out-of-home leisure will eventually recover following the recession. In-home leisure will, however, grow at an even faster rate.”

Experts have expressed their concern at the trend to experience things virtually.

Patricia Yates, of travel organisation Visit Britain, said: “I think Japan is quite a worry.

“You would think that real life experience is so much better than sitting at home playing around with it, how can they not see that?

“But that is a real trend we’ve seen in Japan. What if kids decide that they’re going to stay at home and play on their computer rather than go out and explore the world?”

The report predicts that in future ‘young people might choose online chat rooms to less attractive face-to-face interaction with friends’.

It adds: “In the world of a Go-Nowhere-Gamer, rather than go zorbing, rolling down a hill with friends, young people may stay indoors and take on the role of an action hero in a computer game.

“Rather than take a weekend break in Europe together with friends, Go-Nowhere-Gamers might wander on an imaginary planet together.”

To compete with the increased interest in virtual leisure, museums, galleries and exhibitions will have to make real experiences more interactive and more engaging.

The report suggests: “While now, interactive theatre may seem like an innovation, in the future, movies might be interactive.”

Get the full story from the Telegraph

This is so important as this is your brand that someone could be messing around with.

One of the examples of what is coming through was a hook trying to get you to click on the link. There was a little rude so I won’t include that as an example. I work with Hootsuite so I have a link previewer which is certainly helpful on occasions where your not to sure about the DM. (Direct Message)

So what do you do if your account has been compromised?

Have you noticed:

• Unexpected Tweets posting from your account.
• Unintended DMs (direct messages) sent from your account.
• You are unable to log in to Twitter (and you know you haven’t changed your password or username).

If so, you please take the following steps according to Twitter.

Reset your password and Revoke Connections

1. Reset your password.

If you can log into your account, change your password immediately from the Passwords Tab in your Account Settings. You can also use the Twitter password reset feature to request an email with instructions for resetting your password. Select a strong password you haven’t used before.

2. Revoke connections.

Once you’ve logged in, visit the Connections tab in Account Settings. Revoke access for any third-party application that you don’t recognize.

3. Update your new password in your third-party applications.

If a trusted external application or widget uses your Twitter password, be sure to update your password in the application. Otherwise, your account may be temporarily locked.

If You Still Can’t Access Your Account see www.status.twitter.com where you’ll also find more information about Safe Tweeting.

“It’s particularly encouraging to see that travelers are finally recognizing packages are the easiest way to save big bucks.”

Travelocity’s most recent poll shows a dramatic increase in travel intentions, indicating traveler confidence is on the rise. Travelocity’s second Traveler Confidence Report finds that nearly half of respondents plan to increase their travel in 2010 as compared to 2009. The Traveler Confidence Report gauges travelers’ plans and attitudes now as compared to six months prior and one year prior. The following findings are based on the intentions of more than 2,000 North Americans surveyed by Travelocity.

Traveler Confidence Report Highlights:

• Travel Intentions Up: Significantly more respondents (49 percent) plan to increase their travel in the year ahead, compared to 21 percent six months ago and just 10 percent in 2009. Another 44 percent plan to travel “about the same” as compared to last year. The number of travelers planning to decrease travel is down significantly to 7 percent, from 34 percent one year ago and 24 percent six months ago.

• Decreased Hotel Rates Have Positive Impact: When asked how lower prices would impact travel plans, 33 percent said they would stay in a higher star-rated hotel; 30 percent said they would take a trip they had not expected to take; and 18 percent said they would extend their stay.

• Travel Budgets on the Rise: The majority of respondents (56 percent) did not have a predetermined travel budget for 2010. Of those with a predetermined travel budget, 34 percent plan to increase that budget.

• Travelers Committed to Saving Money: An overwhelming 76 percent of respondents are at least somewhat likely to book a vacation package as a way to save money.

“Great deals, especially on hotels, have given travelers confidence to hit the road and take to the skies in 2010,” said Genevieve Shaw Brown, Travelocity’s senior editor. “It’s particularly encouraging to see that travelers are finally recognizing packages are the easiest way to save big bucks.”

Find out more at Travelocity.com

This scenario is not science fiction. It, or one similar to it, happens every day in airline cabins as tech-savvy passengers use social media tools to disperse information among their networks. Are airlines ready for this new world?

Although most of the industry is engaged online to some extent, there remains a lingering notion among a number of legacy airlines that social media is, to quote one senior executive, “just a silly fad.” Perceptions like these are reinforced by the fact that social media has yet to make a measurable impact on the bottom line of any carriers. But airlines such as JetBlue Airways and Virgin America are betting that their investments of time and resources in social media will pay off in the not-too-distant future.

While social media continues to evolve and the tools used to reach an engaged online community may change, the paradigm shift in customer habits is here to stay, say media analysts and airlines that have bought into the concept. “Shame on those airlines who think they can ignore this and that it will go away,” says Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with Forrester Research.

JetBlue has more than 1.4 million followers on Twitter, the micro-blogging site that allows users to update their networks in 140-character posts, called “Tweets.” That is more than any other airline, and among the higher number of followers of any corporation. JetBlue’s attention to social media requires significant resources. A team of six in the corporate communications department monitors the feed until the last passenger has left the last airport each day, says Morgan Johnston, manager of corporate communications.

Get the Full Story at Aviation Week