The repeat visitor’s guide to Bangkok. Travel the world - news, guides, advice for travel in Asia and beyond. The Impact Of Social Media On Travel And Tourism [INFOGRAPHIC] Throwing voice search into the mix to get flight, hotel and rail results. Voice search, to some extent, is still in its relative infancy in the travel industry despite the buzz around Apple‘s Siri and the voice recognition capabilities of Google Android.
While a full blown service at a major travel brand has yet to materialise, companies such as Evature (or Eva, Expert Virtual Assistant) are trying their best to push the technology into the mainstream. Eva was one of the APIs thrown in to the pot for THack London this week, with founder Tal Weiss also having a go at creating his own hack for the event. Similar to the winning effort from SITA Lab from the first THack London in February 2011, Weiss’s effort uses Google Android voice recognition system to allow users to search for particular products.
For flight search the hack uses the API from Vayant; hotels come via Expedia Affiliate Network; and rail from Travelport. How to Bring Your European Trip Back Home. Every time I go to Europe, I swoon over how well organized the cities are, how good looking the people are, and yes, the heated floors.
Then I come back to America and sit on my couch, cursing urban sprawl while eating peanut butter out of the jar. This time when I return to The States, however, I have decided that there’s no need to romanticize the European lifestyle, because many amazing parts of it can be recreated at home! Be a frugal traveller, not a cheapskate - Adventure Travel. Have you and a platonic friend ever tried to convince a hostel owner to let you share a single bed?
Have you ever walked more than 20 minutes out of your way to save a few pennies on bottled water? Have you ever stubbornly hitchhiked for hours instead of paying US$2.50 in bus fare, or bragged about spending a month in Italy without shelling out for a single restaurant meal? World's Most Scenic Cruise Itineraries Slideshow at Frommer. Top 20 Travel Blogs You Should Read. Ina Posted June 14, 2012 Do you love travel?
They do also. DogVacay Adds Airbnb Investor Andreessen Horowitz To Its Pack Of Backers, Aims To Become The Place For All Pet Services. DogVacay launched in March this year as an Airbnb for dogs — offering owners an alternative to soul-less kennels and expensive dog sitting services for when they need to leave town and leave their pooches behind.
Since then, the service has picked up some traction with users tripling every month since launch, and to continue its growth, it’s adding another VC to its list of backers. Andreessen Horowitz, which also backs Airbnb, has signed on to DogVacay’s seed round at an undisclosed amount, joining existing investors First Round Capital, Science, Baroda, and Quest, which had put $1 million into the company. CEO Of London’s Tech City Project Departs, As Global Tech Race Heats Up. Eric van der Kleij is to depart his post as CEO of the UK’s Tech City Investment Organisation (TCIO) after his two year contract comes to an end this Summer.
The TCIO was set up by the UK government to promote East London’s pre-existing cluster of technology startups and is just one of hundreds of similar initiatives around the world where a city is promoted as a ‘tech city’. It’s a natural course to take, given that tech is one of the few economic areas growing during a downturn in developed economies. Even tech-obsessed San Francisco itself is thinking that way. Top 10 Most Astonishing Hotels - SweetyDesign. Home design, hotel design, celebrity homes. Here are the list of the most unusual hotels.
Some of them might not offer 5-star comfort but they truly are the world’s most amazing and most unusual hotels! 10. Hotel Silken Puerta America Madrid — SpainA futuristic hotel in the Spanish capital which has been designed by world-renowned architects and artists. The Most Amazing Places On Earth To Travel. 10 of the most beautiful places to visit in Turkey. Posted on: May 20th in Beautiful Places, Travel by Becky Padmore.
Like this Post? There is far more to Turkey than the packed holiday resorts. Explore the sights away from the crowds to find ancient architecture and some extraordinary landscapes. From snow-like natural wonders to hippy beach retreats here is my choice for 10 of the most beautiful places to visit in Turkey: Travel Tips and Inspiration. Feeling the Hospitality while Kayaking Croatia. Stepping foot on Croatian soil was a breath of fresh air.
10 favourite TBEX 12 moments. Rocky Mountains in Colorado, location for TBEX 12 In my ongoing quest to be a better travel blogger, I attended the annual travel bloggers conference, TBEX, that took place over the weekend of June 14-16 at Keystone Resort in Colorado, about an hour outside of Denver — and about 10,000 feet above sea level!
My altitude adjustment problem and introverted personality type made it a challenging and tiring conference — but also educational, exciting and rewarding. These are some of my favourite moments. 10. Are small tourism businesses really ready for the mobile revolution? For years we’ve been told that “this year will be the year of mobile”. Unfortunately, for many of us, this tiresome line became mundane and predictable years ago. You can only go to so many conference that tell you that mobile is just over the horizon before you realize that, at the time, no one was ready for mobile. Luckily, however, Apple and Google stepped up their game and it is now fairly safe to say that mobile has arrived. But are businesses, specifically of the small tourism variety, any more ready now than they were ten years ago, when WAP and cHTML were the name of the game? You’ve undoubtedly heard me previously mention the PhoCusWright report When they get there and why they go.
Tripku allows adventure travellers to plan, get social, hook up and go. Running with a traditional commission model Chile-based Tripku is an application marrying trip planning for adventure travellers with social networking, itinerary sharing and finding buddies to go with. The concept, first open beta just released, comes from Beatriz Cardona and Alice Neves as well as part-timers Jesus Salgado and Shaheen Samavati and a partnership with Path11.com – a team of developers and user-experience specialists. Funding has so far been via family and two government grants and tripku also recently became a member of Start Up Chile, a government programme to encourage entrepreneurs to develop businesses in the country. Tripku’s target market is the US$82 billion spent by soft adventurers with this market growing more than 20% annually but it also believes it’s well placed to tap into the trend towards more challenging travel experiences.
Second time Visiting Turkey. Moving to a different culture in Istanbul The landing announcement echoes through the plane triggering the memories of 12 years ago. In 2000 I was arriving from a 17 hour flight with a virgin passport. It was the first time I had left the US – and I was more scared than excited landing in Istanbul. This time I am arriving from a 3 hour flight with a passport full of 50+ stamps from different countries.
On Orbitz, Mac Users Steered to Pricier Hotels. Business News & Financial News - The Wall Street Journal - Wsj.com. HOW TRAVEL AGENTS CAN MAXIMIZE LAST MINUTE BOOKINGS WITH IAVRA.COM. B2B, holiday rental company helps Villa Agents fill up their summer calendars with a special offer for new Travel Agents (TRAVPR.COM) UK - June 26th, 2012 - In an effort to fill up the remaining few weeks in the summer property calendars, B2B holiday property rental site www.IAVRA.com is offering new Travel Agents a special promotion. IAVRA. MOMONDO NAMED OFFICIAL PARTNER OF SENSATION TRAVEL. Cost of Living. Worldwide ! - Eardex. Cost of Living. What Makes a Good Travel Blog?
European Train Travel. How design students think the travel guide of the future might look. More Travelers Take Their Tech With Them [STUDY] News Headlines. US News. Room Key - Search. Book. Relax. Hotel Blogs - When Hotel Marketing gets Social: When hotel groups rewrite a story: RoomKey. Academic research and trend analysis of developments influencing the future of tourism and leisure. A beginner’s guide to Serbia. Picture everything you want from a classic European country, then add a level of quirk that you won’t find anywhere but the Balkans.
Serbia is one of Europe’s more sizeable countries, and yet it remains largely overlooked by travellers who tend westward rather than venturing east. Kayak acknowledges privacy breach, says problem resolved. Cheap flights search engine. Which travel sites are most visible in organic search? Techie Traveler. Google Rumored To Launch ITA-Powered Travel Search Product Soon. Travelers wifi, travelers and internet, tablets and travel, Technology Digital. Momondo Expands in the Nordic Countries. Online Hotel Marketing Services, Hong Kong and Philippines Hotel, Spa and Restaurant Software. Social media really does matter to travel brands. The EuroZone Crisis and its Impact on Tourism. What Else? TripCraft, TouristEye, Venere-HotelsCombined, Dolphin Dynamics-STA, Revoo. Wanderlust's top 7 travel essentials. It’s peak travel season for investors.
Italy’s best-kept secrets. Three questions travel bloggers must address right now. Five Ways to Screw up Your Vacation. Paris: Pack the perfect picnic with these meats from the butcher. Five Foods To Avoid in Italy. $10 billion lost per year in travel scams. How Do You Know When a Place is Safe? Last-minute travel app HotelTonight books $23M in funding. 10 of the best cheap eats in Penang. Latest news, sport and comment from the Guardian. TripAdvisor Gets More Social by Opening Reviews to Friends of Friends - Tricia Duryee - Commerce.
Is TripAdvisor Now A Social Network? Twigmore shows how to use friends on Facebook to find locals in a destination. Gidsy.com: book and offer tours, activities, workshops, local events and more exciting things to do. Unbiased, Data-Driven Comparisons. Super-creepy! Privacy in the age of Big Data and personalization in travel. 50 things to do for free in Asia from Hostelworld. Traveler's Road to Decision 2011. Travel writers' favourite tiny and unusual airports. Gezifesto : People online in tourism m... Mmmule. Five Tips for Traveling in Europe.
Travel Industry Statistics and Popular Destination Information - KAYAK. İstanbul Şehir Fırsatları. Planning Travel on the Web. Crowdsourcing at TripAdvisor.
Crime Comparison Between Istanbul, Turkey And Barcelona, Spain. Food Prices in Barcelona, Spain.