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In the baggage claim at Dulles Airport there are a few cafes selling the usual last minute snack fare. At IAD, and most other airports, only difference between these vendors is how many steps they are from their customer at any particular time. Yesterday, as I waited to pick someone up, I (and most of … Read more
About two months ago, my wife joined the pilot Buzz Agent program for the new Priority Club Any Hotel, Any Reward program. The travel industry does not have a history of transparency, when it comes to pretty much anything. Hotels focus on the lobby, while the back rooms, employee elevators, and other hidden areas are … Read more
As part of the merger between US Airways and America West airlines announced in November last year (2005), they had an intriguing new decision to make about the beverage brands that they served on their flights. America West had Pepsi and Budweiser, US Airways had Coke and Miller. Over the past decade, both brands in … Read more
The rising popularity of online travel planning has made every element of the organizing experience easier from research and coordination to deal-seeking and booking. Over time the big online travel agencies (OTAs) like Orbitz and Expedia have even gotten better at allowing users to organize more complex itineraries including multiple destinations, hotels and rental cars … Read more
The online travel industry is one of the most competitive of any that I think exist online or offline today. In a market previously dominated by two or three players, the rise of travel aggregator sites such as Kayak and Sidestep has made travel an even greater price-driven commodity. These aggregation sites are increasingly becoming … Read more
I recently came across a great travel/advocacy campaign sponsored by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide (up from October 20-27). Taking the idea of donating your frequent flier miles to the next stage, the site features an online auction with more than 800 travel related items including a "Carolina Getaway with tickets to a pro football … Read more
Orbitz Chief Marketing Officer Randy Wagner says [in this week’s BusinessWeek article – "Cable’s Big Bet on Hyper-Targeting] reaching consumers with ads they won’t skip is a priority. She likens the goal to Amazon.com’s strategy of recommending products based on past purchases. "It’s so relevant, it feels like a service instead of selling." I had … Read more
On my way to a meeting in New York yesterday for a client in the travel industry, I started to consider the convergence of research reports that I have seen recently on both moms and travel booking online. A Disney-commissioned audience segmentation I read some time ago noted the following key segments of moms: "Tech … Read more
Orbitz.com is down – an extremely rare event for large ecommerce sites these days. I’m sure there will be articles in the coming days about the real cost of this outage for Orbitz. And at this point it’s still down with only their admission that "We are aware of the problem and are working to … Read more
Non-Obvious Thinking is my latest book about the 4 secrets of becoming a non-obvious thinker - relesaed 10/01/2024.
Rohit Bhargava is a trend curator, founder of the Non-Obvious Company and the 3-time Wall Street Journal bestselling author of ten books.
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In addition to Non-Obvious Thinking, Rohit is the author of 10 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.
