Best of Travelogue
5 Most Read Managed Travel Stories
Presented By The Travel Technology Association
Week Ending April 18, 2014
H.R. 4156: proposal based on lies Chicago Tribune
Last week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee marked up a proposed bill that would allow airlines once again to omit taxes and fees from advertised prices and instead add them in later, just before you buy. Make no mistake: This "Transparent Airfares Act of 2014" is an anti-consumer bill. It was drafted, marked up, and sent to the House without any input from consumer or business travel interests. And it is based on lies.
read full story at http://btcnews.co/1m6Eh3Y (2 minute read)
Do brands matter less? Travel Weekly
Emmanuel Perrin, CEO of Cartier North America, was the first to say it: "Client care is the final frontier. ... You can't go wrong investing in client experience. ... What is good for the client is good for the retailer and is good for us." A client-centric view of retailing and brand marketing was the subtext of last week's Luxury Summit, organized by the former American Express Publishing titles (Travel + Leisure, Departures, Food & Wine) that now live at Time Inc. Speakers at the Ritz-Carlton Naples gave advice on "seducing the customer," "the psychology of buying and selling" and "the new retail arena.”
read full story at http://btcnews.co/1mlOwBo (3 minute read)
The art of ‘something from nothing’ The New York Times
Entrepreneurs are lucky to have one big score. Richard Barton has had a string of them, by repeatedly asking the same simple question: What piece of marketplace information do people crave and don’t have? His answers have led to Internet businesses that seem to have little to do with one another. But the information they provide has often provoked anxiety among professionals in the categories his sites serve.
read full story at http://btcnews.co/1r6Q3vm (4 minute read)
Why high oil prices are good for airlines Fox News
Airline executives frequently complain about fuel costs. But the truth is higher prices actually have been good for business. In the past six years, airlines have overhauled the way they operate to adjust to this new reality. They've shown more discipline by offering fewer seats, which ensures airfares are high enough to cover costs. Unprofitable routes have been eliminated. And every expense has been scrutinized.
read full story at http://btcnews.co/QuQKDj (2 minute read)
The decline of the open web Gigaom
As the use of mobile devices continues to climb, the use of dedicated apps is also increasing — but is this a natural evolution, or should we be worried about apps winning and the open web losing? Chris Dixon, a partner with venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, argues in a recent blog post that we should be concerned, because it is creating a future in which the web becomes a “niche product,” and the dominant environment is one of proprietary walled gardens run by a couple of web giants — and that this is bad for innovation.
read full story at http://btcnews.co/1izk32j (4 minute read)
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Travelogue, in its 14th year of publication, is a daily compendium of managed-travel news from around the world distributed in some 80 countries. Only the most important stories are hand-picked by Business Travel Coalition (BTC) founder Kevin Mitchell to ensure relevance and quality. See member comments HERE.