OAG Travel News

European Commission revealed last week that 27 European aircraft have been equipped to allow the use of standard mobile telephones onboard since the EC created the regulatory framework for such a service last year and that it expects the number of aircraft to double by the end of 2009. Ryanair, TAP Portugal and bmi currently offer the service through either OnAir or AeroMobile, and technical trials are underway at other carriers, the EC said. EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding outlined conditions for continued successful adoption of the technology: "Inflight mobile phone use should not disturb other passengers, for example, by leaving ample room for quiet zones during air travel, just like in trains. Secondly, attention should be paid by the operators that prices for these services remain at a reasonable level. If these two conditions are met, then offering onboard mobile phone services can be a bonus for European companies in the competitive global air travel market." The EC said "current indications" are that onboard telephone calls start at around £1.60 ($2.13) per min. and that SMS messages cost £0.43.
 
Acer Personal-Computer Sales May Rise 30% This Quarter, Chairman Wang Says. Acer Inc., the worlds third-largest computer vendor, said shipments this quarter will rise as much as 30 percent as it introduces low-power laptops that may help it challenge Hewlett-Packard Co. for top spot in the notebook market.

The Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA) and Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association (AHATA), through a public private partnership, launched Arubas new website, www.aruba.com, complete with a social networking feature. Visitors to Aruba.com can share experiences, pictures and videos from their Aruba vacations with other travelers and Aruban locals through personalized profile pages. The website also features a new booking engine, allowing travelers to research, plan and directly book vacations to Aruba. Our visitors have always commented that it is the hospitality of our people that brings them back each year. It is only natural then that we would be the first to utilize this tool in reaching out and enabling even stronger ties between visitors and local residents, said Myrna Jansen, ATAs managing director. It adds a completely new dimension to the entire vacation experience, which can begin long before the guests arrival and can last long after, with a return visit to the island instantly transformed into a homecoming. www.aruba.com.
 
Bluetooth 3.0, which pairs the 3 Mbps low-power frequency hopping radio system of 2.1+EDR with high-speed transfers via 802.11 standards. The idea is that a properly integrated Bluetooth 3.0 system will have a bulk-transfer mode that two devices can swap into. (Note that the SIG is referencing 802.11, the generic standard, as it doesn't have a specific program in place with the Wi-Fi Alliance--yet?--for cross-certifiation.)

For the first time, travelers to Holland will be able to use an iPhone or a mobile web browser to explore the city of Amsterdam from the palm of their hand. The Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, dedicated to providing free advice and resources on travel to Holland, announces the launch of the Amsterdam Mobile Guide; a new, free iPhone application available now in the Apple App Store. Anyone with a mobile web browser can also view the Amsterdam Mobile Guide at www.us.holland.com/mobile.
 
Live Search Farecast helps online travel shoppers make smart travel-purchase decisions with an airfare prediction for their specific trip. The airfare prediction shows whether the lowest fares appear to be rising or dropping and provides a recommendation to buy now or wait. In April 2007, Navigant Consulting Inc. tested more than 44,000 airfare predictions and confirmed their accuracy to 74.5 percent. Live Search Farecasts Hotel Rate Key helps consumers know at a glance if the offered rate for a hotel is a deal based on historical rates. Hotel Rate Keys are available for more than 5,000 hotels in 30 major cities across the country, for reservations up to 90 days in the future. Live Search Farecast, acquired by Microsoft in 2008, provides flight and hotel search, airfare predictions and Hotel Rate Keys. For more information, visit www.farecast.live.com.
 
The Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT) has launched a mobile website geared toward mobile phones and devices. The site provides instant information about where to stay and what to do in Nevada cities. Browsers click on nv.mobi, select a city and get an overview, lodging and events listings, information on things to do, and weather. Cities are listed alphabetically from Austin to Winnemucca. Click on lodging and get hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfast inns and RV parks, each with an addresses and phone number that places a call with another click. The site also provides information about NCOT and an opportunity to subscribe to a free NCOT e-newsletter and order a Visitors Guide. The same information is also available on NCOTs regular website. The mobile website made its debut at the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association) wireless convention in Las Vegas on April 1, where dotMobi, the company behind the mobile Internet address created for all mobile phones, announced that NCOT was the first state tourism agency to receive a two-letter domain name. To access the mobile website, visit nv.mobi. For more information, call 800-638-2328 or visit www.travelnevada.com.

Orbitz.com has announced the Fly Fee Free promotion, removing booking fees on flights booked on or before May 31, 2009. The new Fee Free program dovetails with the Orbitz Price Assurance program which guarantees that customers will get the best Orbitz price for their flights. Consumers book a flight on Orbitz, another Orbitz customer subsequently books the same ticket at a lower published fare, Orbitz automatically sends the first customer a check for the difference, from $5 up to a maximum of $250 per traveler. Price Assurance is a permanent offering -- the only one of its kind in the industry -- and its completely automatic. CheapTickets.com, which is operated by Orbitz, has also removed booking fees on domestic and international airline tickets through May 31. For more information, visit www.orbitz.com/nofees or www.orbitz.com/priceassurance.

Online travel agent Orbitz Worldwide Inc., moving to boost traffic at a time when recessionary pressures have squashed business and recreational travel, said Tuesday that it will waive its normal booking fees on flights booked by May 31.

The online travel consulting company PhoCusWright has released a report which reviews mobile technologies, explores travelers attitudes toward mobile functionality, and quantifies the growth and business value of mobile as a communication and booking channel. According to this new report, U.S. travel industry bookings will reach $291 billion in 2010 and online transactions will top $90 billion. The report projects mobile bookings to reach $160 million during the same period. While the revenue figures remain low, there exists a vast potential for growth for mobile applications that empower mobile travelers, improve travel efficiency and build ancillary revenue. www.phocuswright.com.

SynXis, the Sabre Holdings business that provides hotel distribution and Internet marketing services globally, announced that Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has switched their current hotel portfolio to the RedX Distribution Management System for distribution across all channels. Since 2000, SynXis has provided Mandarin Oriental hotels with a customized booking engine service, which includes a wide range of merchandising features to ensure high conversion rates. Using SynXis RedX for distribution to all channels now allows the group to connect to travel agents, via the global distribution systems (GDS); consumers, who book through online travel sites; and the SynXis global call center service, which is available in 12 languages. SynXis provides Mandarin Oriental with the appropriate tools to enable their sophisticated revenue management strategy. In addition, The group will also benefit from Property Connect which seamlessly integrates RedX to the Springer-Miller property management system allowing for a single-image of inventory and the ability to achieve parity across all channels. For more information, visit www.synxis.com.
 
To help companies keep travelers on the road doing business with customers, colleagues and others while controlling costs, StarCite, Inc. has announced the launch of the StarCite Stimulus Plan -- a free offering of StarCites meetings management software in 2009 for qualified new customers through June 30. StarCite provides the only true end-to-end meeting management technology platform on the market, automating every facet of corporate meetings and events. Our goal is to make it easier for companies to get back to business by delivering savings through StarCites meetings management technology, said Greg Dukat, chief executive officer of StarCite. We've seen strong and increasing corporate adoption of cost-saving meetings management programs and technology. Meetings management software is critical to not only save money but also to reduce the business risks of failing to properly follow Sarbanes-Oxley, TARP, and pharmaceutical/healthcare regulations. For more information, visit www.starcite.com/starcite/planners/requestmoreinformation.

Travelocity Business has unveiled a unique package of alert services for business travelers, ensuring road warriors are informed about required international travel documents, unexpected flight alterations and on-the-ground events at destinations. Travelocity Business, a full-service corporate travel management company, offers multi-national companies a compelling combination of best-in-class automation with a complete array of traditional travel management services. The Roaming Travel Alerts serve a larger purpose of reducing the annoying surprise elements that often play a role in business trips, particularly journeys to international destinations. www.travelocitybusiness.com.
 
Hurtigruten announced a partnership with Travelocity, which will feature a web page dedicated to the Norwegian line. The page will include an introduction to the brand and its onboard experiences, descriptions and prices as well as directions on how to book a cruise. Also included will be a link to the Hurtigruten website. For more than 100 years, Hurtigruten has sailed the fjord-filled west coast of Norway every day, year-round, between Bergen to Kirkenes and also caters to the soft-adventure traveler. From October to March, the expedition ship Fram sails 13- to 17-day itineraries to Chile and Antarctica, and longer 22-day sailings to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands. In the spring, the Fram sails several itineraries in Europe, spends the summer in Greenland and, in September, sails on an 18-day adventure from Greenland to New York with stops in Canada. From June to August, other ships visit the Arctic island of Spitsbergen. For more information, call 800-323-7436 or visit www.hurtigruten.us.

Tripology, the online travel referral service, has been named Innovator of the Year as winner of a U.S. Travel Association TravelCom Award. Tripology was presented with the New Innovator Award for companies less than five years old at TravelCom 2009 held last week in Atlanta, Ga. Being voted Innovator of the Year is an honor for everyone at Tripology, said John T. Peters, CTIE, president and CEO of Tripology. We are delighted to be recognized by the travel industry at-large, who voted for Tripology, as well as by an esteemed panel of industry leaders who cast the deciding votes. We were competing against an impressive selection of companies and are thrilled to come away with this great acclaim. The U.S. Travel Associations TravelCom Innovator of the Year Awards recognize companies whose outstanding innovations in the areas of technology, eCommerce and distribution have transformed their business and have a broad impact across the travel industry. www.tripology.com.

Everyone was aflutter with Twitter at Search Engine Strategies New York. This was helped by the conference being kicked off by an energetic keynote speaker and Twitteraholic Guy Kawasaki. Twitter is free. If a local plumber has 1,500 followers, even if it's likely most of them aren't listening at any given moment, as long as at least one person is, that's all that matters. If that one person has a plumbing issue, the plumber now has a shot at new business, especially if the plumber acquired these followers simply by limiting his search.twitter.com query to people within a 25-mile radius. For that plumber, that one listener goes from a nobody to a somebody in a hurry. The biggest uses of Twitter right now are: 1. Businesses following what is being said about them or their industry -- Zappos, JetBlue, Comcast, etc. 2. Celebrity updates -- Lance Armstrong Tweets about his collarbone. 3. Real-time updates of news events, especially natural disasters. 4. Niche topics, like #MSU or #UNC during March Madness. 5. Individuals/companies promoting themselves. In the future, instead of getting a witty and salient reply from a CEO or well-informed employee, you'll most likely get an uninspired reply from a call center (tweet center?) in New Delhi -- if you're lucky to get a response at all. Remember, I received no response to my #JetBlue tweet, where I was surprised and delighted by the Travelocity response.

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