Here are some quick notes from the Dealbase presentation:

“The best place to find great travel deals for consumers and for hotels to market their specials.”

10,000 deals in one place with 2500 sources makes them the largest collection of deals today.

Dealbase optimizes selection for the customer by offering filters and removing the ambiguity out of the process.  They have created a structure that makes it easy to compare favorites and make a decision.

If a customer is just looking for a great deal they can search for  best deal, by type of hotel, savings and timing of trip.

Hotels can directly post deals on the site and it is quite easy to submit, just a few minutes and it is posted live.

Next year, they will be launching deals from across the world, developing new categories and the ability for hotels to promote their deals.

Detailed product information collected from across thousands of sources

UpTake announced yesterday that we increased our total number of indexed sources from 1,000 to 5,000 making our database of individual travel sites nearly 10 times greater than any other travel search engine. The sources indexed by us include trusted sites like Expedia, Fodor’s, goCityKids, TripAdvisor, Virtual Tourist, and Yahoo! Travel.

Our database now delivers summarized information about more than 775,000 U.S. products.

Take a minute and understand the enormity of that number…

It is a great many places to stay and things to do. It includes 600,000 U.S. attractions (landmarks, parks, beaches, etc.) and more than 175,000 hotels, B&Bs, resorts and campgrounds and well “alternative” lodging. Yurt, anyone?

We also collected more than 20 million opinions from across the 5,000 web sites, an unmatched breadth of understanding about travel.

Why does this matter?

By doing all of this data gathering, we are decreasing the amount of time a travel planner has to search for information. We gather, organize and  sift the information and then deliver it to you in a succinct summary.  All the information you need to decide on your trips–in one place.  We want you to be able to make a swifter, better decision about your precious vacation time.  I like to think of of us as the most helpful, obsessive, compulsive travel search engine around.

I hope you do too.

Here are eight more innovative firms selected by PhocusWright to present during the Travel Innovation Summit:

View from a featured property on The Society

The Society of Leisure Enthusiasts has the “largest online network of hand-selected vacation rental homes around the globe.” A quick search revealed beautiful homes for rent, the starting price was $500 or more per night but the homes appeared well worth the price. The homes ranged from beautiful to outright fantastic. They examine each property to ensure a quality experience and promise you can rent a vacation rental home in confidence from them. If you are looking for a unique and impressive vacation rental, search here.

Travelbeen Home Page

Travelbeen™ is “a social search engine for travel.”  They are collating  and indexing travel websites.   Users can determine how popular a site is based on the number of bookmarks it received. Bookmarking can be done within the site or or on travel websites that have signed up for the service.  Over 15,000 travel companies are already included and our next target is 200,000.  Officially launched on November 11th November, 2008 by Ed Whiting and Gene Campbell, both from New Zealand, the site is still in beta.

TravelMuse

TravelMuse “combines original editorial content and destination city guides with powerful planning tools.”We reviewed TravelMuse when it launched, you can find more information about it here.

Itinerary Sample

TripChill bills themselves as an automated travel agent and offer an itinerary management feature, a gadget to find out about travel conditions and allows you to tell contacts your travel plans have changed.  It seems designed for the road warrior rather than a mom going to take her kids to meet Grandma. If you are planning a long trip with several stops, hotels, flights etc it may be worth a try.

An itinerary management service

TripIt launched to great fanfare a year ago. It offers assistance with managing itineraries.  It is easy to use, and efficient.  Once again, a good choice for complex trips.

TripJane --not available for viewing

TripJane was not available for review.  I registered for a beta invitation and i hope they let me have a sneak peek.

Triporati--

Triporati offers “a personalized recommendation powered by expert travel advice.” I entered a number of options and it returned many possible trips around the world to consider.  They offer expert advice, a wide selection, are experienced travelers, good writers with a good travel blog, too. Take a look.

Itinerary Planner

TripSketch, “makes strategic recommendations for any journey.” They have reviewed the attractions and services in major destinations and  collected logistical details–allowing you to create the ideal itinerary (e.g. make sure that restaurant is open on Monday).  I really liked the San Francisco recommendations, but they had nothing for Hollywood, I was hoping for a restaurant recommendation while at PhocusWright. Cool planning tool, they just need data.

Everyone can use a little break in their pocketbooks these days. As times are tough financially for many, some companies are offering free or discounted rates to customers. This helps companies acquire new customers in the long run or retain existing ones.  Either the true purpose is to capture a greater share of your wallet by baiting you now, or really looking after the interests of us, it’s always good to know what’s available.

Case in Point # 1 – I received an email yesterday from my favorite dedicated server provider, Rackspace. Here’s an excerpt from the email written by Brian Woolard, a Business Development Consultant at Rackspace:

“I have been authorized to offer you the rest of the year on us for any net new devices you add to your existing configuration… to help enable you to move forward with any pending projects or new opportunities that you are considering for the remainder of 2008. It’s Fanatical Support® for your pocketbook.”

I’ve always been a fan of Rackspace because of their renowned “Fanatical Support,” which sometimes required their going the distance to provide me with great service (and this is coming from someone who has had his fair share of nightmarish server stories from other providers).

Case in Point # 2 – From now till December 31st, 2009, you can register to receive your free admission on your birthday during 2009 to one of the Theme Parks of Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort.This would be really valuable if you’re the ONLY one going to Disney on your birthday. But since your friends and family will end up tagging along with you to celebrate, it’s a great marketing strategy for Disney to incur business (from your friends and family) that would have otherwise not existed. Let’s face it, the food and Mickey paraphernalia at Disney are not cheap. But then again, it’s free for you and the chance to be a kid again for a day is priceless.