PhocusWright 2008 came to a close yesterday. During the four days, three trends surfaced. The first trend was the extreme pessimism about the economy and its impact on the travel industry, the second was the rising importance of video and the final trend was the impact of mobile on travel

1.  A global economic meltdown is worth discussing

Downward Spiraling DOW

If I wasn’t concerned before the conference, I am now. The state of the economy was discussed on stage, in blogs and during lunch breaks. It is obvious the travel industry is preparing to be hit hard and is doing its best to prepare. A few of the center stage speakers comments were noteworthy and offered some hope in the new economy:

Jean-Claude Baumgarten President and CEO World Travel & Tourism Council just arrived on stage direct from from India.  He encouraged and inspired attendees to look at India and China’s emerging economies are a realistic means of growing their travel businesses world wide. These two countries each have a thriving middle class with money to spend and a desire to travel.  His comments were inspirational and informed.

McKinsey supports Mr. Baumgarten’s message with these statistics in a recent report:

“The lure of China’s urban-affluent segment is easy to understand. These consumers earn more than 100,000 renminbi (about $12,500) a year and command 500 billion renminbi—nearly 10 percent of urban disposable income—despite accounting for just 1 percent of the total population. They consume globally branded luxury goods voraciously”

And TimeAsia offers the same growth statisitics from India,

” for the past 23 years India’s GDP has grown at an average annual rate of 6%, making it one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The growth rate may have been lower than that of China’s, but it is double that achieved by the West during the Industrial Revolution. As a result, India’s middle class has more than tripled in size to 250 million people.”

With record growth in these two economies, the west can look to the East for revenue and profits for growth or just survival during the next few years.

A few other speakers joined in the discussion, Stephen Kaufer, President of TripAdvisor, told the conference  he was irritated by the pessimism and found it “boring.”  Jeffery H. Boyd, President and CEO of Priceline, when asked if the economic climate could be a windfall to Priceline, responded, “we are not feasting on their pain, we are helping fill seats and rooms. This comment alone proves that even in a downturn, some firms may show record growth.

The overall message from the conference was that we must innovate, invest in the product, cut all possible costs and focus on profitability.

2.  The rising importance of video

Travel Channel

Most travel web sites don’t feature video. Beautiful photography, UGC and original editorial content seem to be everywhere, but not video, unless you look for it.  However, Charles Younge, President of the Travel Channel, stated that “video and travel go together like love and marriage, horse and carriage.”  With the growth and popularity of YouTube, the rising number of mobile phones (350 billion worldwide) and the fact that 1 in 7 people view a video prior to making a travel purchase, he may be right. He  mentioned that the TravelChannel had 30,000 visitors view a short video on a resort in the Bahamas, in just a few weeks that had had no promotional effort whatsoever. In his opinion, if video is done correctly it can be a game changer. To do that it must be:
Searchable-support multiple video platforms, optimize, etc.

Relevant-if presented correctly, it can be a deal closer

High quality-most viewers consider web- based video unsatisfactory, they want the good stuff

Trusted-”bad creates a premium for good,” he recommends 90 seconds that is  not overtly commercial, takes them beyond the obvious such as Intercontinental Hotel Group concierge series

Ubiquity-one reason travel planners don’t search for video is that they don’t think it exists

Two firms seem to be on trend,  TVTrip offers high quality hotel videos by professional photographers and TripTelevision offers an award-winning, intelligent media player that travel marketers can “visually direct their customers through an intelligent, TV like experience. It was only after Mr. Younge’s presentation that I realized TripTelevision with its high quality and searchability may be onto a good idea.

3. Mobile & travel may have made a match

IM@ wins Innovation Award for 2008

Mobile remains the new profit frontier because the industry leaders recognize its importance and the innovators are delivering a product that performs for everyone.

• Steve Kaufer mentioned, “TripAdvisor brought out a great mobile product a few years ago. It was used by 1,000 people.”

• The Travel Innovation Summit Innovator Award winner was IM@, Interactive Mobile @dvertising, LLC. They offer a free downloadable travel application for most phones. The application offers travelers information they need while on the road. It caught the audience and the judges’ award winning attention.

In a few short days, a leader in travel mentions he tried to capture the power of mobile, but failed.  Conference participants chose IM@ from32 innovators as one of the top six, and then a panel of experts selected it the winner of innovation for 2008. It won because it promises to make mobile work for the consumer and for advertisers. That says potential… Here is the link to the demo video from the Innovator stage presentations.

(now you see what I mean about video, if only this worked better, and was searchable…)

Three trends:

1. A economy spiraling out of control;

2. Video gaining momentum; and

3. Mobile applications delivering on both sides of the travel equation.

I will be interested to see what happens in the next year, who is flourishing and who is not and if these trends continue to rise in importance.

Reuven Levitt, CEO/Co-Founder of Tripbase

During the PhocusWright conference, I asked emerging companies’ leaders a few brief questions about their company, the economy and their thoughts about the conference.   Reuven Levitt, CEO of Tripbase took a few minutes to discuss Tripbase. Tripbase offers the travel planner vacation and destination ideas:

Who are Tripbase’s target customers?

We target the undecided traveler.  About 20 to 30% of travelers don’t know where they want to go or what they want to do

How is Tripbase different or better than the competition?

We are the only site that takes into account data including price, weather, amenities, etc.  We offer comprehensive information about 20,000 destinations and are growing daily. We are still in beta and continue to test and refine our product by getting feedback from customers about our service.

How are you preparing for this new economic downturn?

We are in a good situation because we are small and are privately funded by two private investors.

What is the biggest insight or surprise you gleaned from the conference?

This is a productive conference for us–the conference participants are open to hearing new business propositions and ideas.

What is your customer acquisition strategy?

We have recently begun offering our technology to third parties. Ideal partners range from airlines, to travel guides and hotels.

The key to our customer acquisition strategy is search engine optimization, much like UpTake.  It is a very competitive strategy because even though there is a long tail, the vast majority of search is focused on a few key words.

Can you describe your technology as simply as possible?

Our technology scours the internet looking for the most current relevant info to help us understand the nature and quality of a destination. We use artificial intelligence and data mining to build our comprehensive travel knowledge base.

TVtrip offers extensive videos of hotels

During the conference, I am asking the some of the conference participants a few brief questions to gain a quick overview of their business. I just interviewed Marc Ruff, CEO and Steve Stollerman, VP North America from TVTrip.  TVtrip allows you to see your hotel via an online video, before you book.  Here is the brief interview:

Who are your target customers?

Our customers are people who are looking to book a hotel room but want to know exactly what type of quality they will be getting upon check-in.

How is TVtrip different or better?
We use professional cameraman all over the world for all of our filming.  (I looked at a few of their videos, tThe results, are noticeably different than other hotel videos online.  Would definitely check them out before checking in…

How are you preparing for this new economic downturn?
From a business perspective, we are venture funded and can weather the change in the economy.  We think vacationers will be more budget conscious and want more reassurance that they have booked the right hotel.  Our service gives that added reassurance–we show exactly what a hotel property is like.

What is the biggest insight or surprise you gleaned from the conference?
As europeans, we are a bit surprised at the pessimism about the economy. We were also surprised at the number of vacation rental and trip planning sites presenting at the Innovaton Summit.

What is your customer acquisition strategy?
Our original content allows us to be found via organic search and via search engine marketing.

Kevin Fliess, Co-founder and CEO of TravelMuse

During the conference, I am asking the Innovation Summit participants a few brief questions. My first interview was with Kevin Fliess, co-founder and CEO of TravelMuse:

Who are your target customers?
Our market is the complex leisure travel planning market; including families, which TravelMuse considers under served and the 55 plus market with time and complex trip planning needs.

How is TravelMuse different or better?
Our “Inspiration Finder” helps you find where to go based on rational and emotional needs.  Our open platform allows people to save information from anywhere using the TravelMuse trip planner tool.

How are you preparing for this new economic downturn?
From a business perspective, TravelMuse is running a very lean operation to weather the current “perfect storm.” From a budget conscious customer perspective, they can find their preferred destination our site and then find bookable options that fall within their budget.

What is the biggest insight or surprise you gleaned from the conference?
At this conference, three years ago, people said, “travel is done.”  These presentations prove that travel is far from done.

What is your customer acquisition strategy?
Our original content allows us to be found via organic search and via viral sharing through our planner.