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Wellington rolls out free wi-fi September 30, 2011

Posted by janeefraser in NZ & Pacific Islands, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.
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Travellers wandering around central Wellington, NZ’s capital city, can now get free wi-fi internet access (cbdfree.co.nz) for smartphones and computers.

Travellers usually rely on finding free hotspots at fast-food chains and coffee shops but in Wellington they can pick up free access almost anywhere in the city centre. ”Free wi-fi is now available in outdoor areas from the stadium to the Embassy cinema, encompassing the waterfront, the Golden Mile and Cuba Street,” says the Wellington City Council, which has partnered with an NZ bank to provide the service.

With studies showing that
rapidly increasing numbers of travel searches are being carried out on mobile devices, it’s a smart move for tourism, as well as benefiting local businesses and residents.

Many cities across the world have started offering wi-fi, although they often (more…)

How to get hot travel deals first August 30, 2011

Posted by janeefraser in Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.
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Zuji Australia says it can get travel deals to consumers faster than any of its competitors, thanks to new technology that cuts out the middleman. The online travel agent has introduced automated technology that feeds deals into website banner advertisements the instant they are released, rather than waiting for them to be manually uploaded.

The head of marketing for Zuji, Katie Malone, says it would traditionally take up to 24 hours for a deal to make it onto the web, having gone through a product manager and various marketing processes. The new technology, previously only used in North America, can calculate the relevant taxes and get sale fares in front of consumers instantly – and also target customers’ specific preferences.

A consumer who had previously searched for fares to London would be shown the best London fares, while one who had shown an interest in certain hotel deals would be shown those.

Those who haven’t previously used the Zuji website will be (more…)

What’s hot, and not, in online travel July 6, 2011

Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Australia, Hotels, NZ & Pacific Islands, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.
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Online bookings account for more than a third of all leisure travel bookings  in Australia and New Zealand, according to research undertaken by the travel analysis company PhoCusWright. The online share of the market is  expected to reach 38per cent next year, up from 28per cent just three years  ago.

The PhoCusWright report says the Australia-NZ market is now almost on a par  with the US and Europe in terms of maturity and is ahead of the rest of the Asia  Pacific region in terms of penetration. Online booking growth is consistently outstripping overall market growth,  with an estimated 12per cent increase in online bookings in Australia and New  Zealand this year and a further 9per cent anticipated next year. (These  figures include leisure travel and ‘‘unmanaged business travel’’, or business  travellers who make their own bookings and therefore cannot be tracked.)

PhoCusWright says the economic downturn of the past few years has accelerated  the trend, with consumers going online to hunt for deals and suppliers turning  to online travel agencies to help bolster sagging sales. Online channels made ‘‘remarkable’’ gains even when the overall travel market was in decline, the  report  says.

However, all is not equal in the field of online travel  bookings, with some sectors surging ahead and others languishing. Those who book their car rentals online may be surprised to discover… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)

It’s raining travel apps June 6, 2011

Posted by janeefraser in Adventure travel, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.
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Travellers can search and book nearly 9000 tours and activities through a new mobile app released by Viator, an Australian company leading the way in online bookings for activities.

Separate iPhone and iPad apps allow travellers to search nearby activities from anywhere in the world, booking anything from bungy jumping to romantic dinner cruises. The free apps provide for last-minute bookings and use paperless e-vouchers, so travellers can book and get their ‘paperwork’ while wandering around a city. The activities have been rated by other travellers and there are also exclusive deals in five currencies.

Meanwhile, adventure travel operators Peregrine and Gecko’s are claiming to be the first Australian tour operators to launch apps for iPhone and iPad. These apps, also free, allow travellers to (more…)

Big Brother in the snowfields June 3, 2011

Posted by janeefraser in Adventure travel, Australia, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.
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Hotham Alpine Resort will use numberplate recognition technology to keep track of the 30,000 carloads of snow bunnies expected to visit over coming months. The technology, traditionally used in law enforcement, allows visitors to pre-purchase their resort entry via the internet (www.alpineeasyaccess.com.au) or a smartphone and then drive straight into the resort, with a computer recording their entry.

The system went live last week, ready for the official opening of the ski season on June 11. Those who do not have internet or smartphone access can purchase resort entry over the phone or at sales outlets, with their numberplate manually entered in the system.

Numberplate matching technology has the potential to be (more…)

The front desk in your pocket May 13, 2011

Posted by janeefraser in Hotels, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.
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When you’re out having a few drinks and it occurs to you that you should book a wake-up call for the morning, you don’t have to wait until you get back to your hotel. A new mobile app, travelButton, allows hotel guests to access hotel phone services and messages from their smartphone.

The app, currently available for Android phones and soon to be available for iPhones and Blackberries, is free to download and features all standard icons such as wake-up calls, room service and front desk. Any calls made to the guest’s room are received on their smartphone and guests who call the front desk from their smartphone appear to hotel staff to be calling from their room, with their name and room number displayed as normal.

To use the travelButton app, (more…)

In the airport of the future, Big Brother is watching May 4, 2011

Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.
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When you walk into an airport in a few years’ time, what will it look  like?

The first clue, if you’re trying to picture it, is that the rows of check-in  counters will probably be gone. And rather than looking for a departures board, you’ll probably be checking a  personalised, location-sensitive update on the smartphone in your pocket.

Should your flight be delayed, information updates and meal and accommodation  vouchers will be sent direct to your phone or iPad-style tablet computer. And should you be daydreaming in the airport shops when you’re supposed to be  heading to the gate, be prepared for Big Brother to send you a message to hurry  up. “Indoor location tracking” via smartphones is expected to become widespread  in airports in coming years, allowing airlines to know exactly where passengers  are in the airport and send reminder messages to those who are not where they  need to be.

Scary? Perhaps. But is it a price you’re prepared to pay if you don’t have to  stand in queues and your flight takes off on time?

“We are at the dawn of a new age in airport passenger processing,” says a new  report, Navigating the Airport of Tomorrow. “Mobile technology is providing a new platform to help airlines and airports  transform the travel experience into something to look forward to rather than  dread.”

The report, commissioned by technology provider Amadeus and written by  respected industry consultancy Travel Tech, says a lack of integration of  airline and airport technology systems has led to frustration among  travellers. “At one point in time, air travel was considered a luxurious experience,” the  report says. “Today, the airline passenger often encounters long lines, crowded spaces,  lost baggage and service delays.”

It suggests the key to making airline travel a seamless journey is… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)

You can’t even go to the loo in peace April 15, 2011

Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, North America, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.
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Don’t expect to see your flight-weary face in the mirror if you use the toilets in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. A new form of advertising is turning bathroom mirrors into large digital advertisements, giving new meaning to in-your-face advertising.

As you stand at the basin to wash your hands, the high definition advertisement retreats to the upper corner of the mirror, allowing you to use the mirror in the usual way.

Airport advertising company Clear Channel says the digital mirrors are being installed in 150 locations throughout O’Hare Airport, with each one representing a 100cm digital advertising screen. The company says the mirrors have additional features that allow advertisers to ‘interact’ with bathroom users, with consumer offers or competitions. The mirrors also include a sensor that measures the number of consumers who (more…)

The hip way to check in April 6, 2011

Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.
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In a sign of Facebook’s fast-growing role in travel, two airlines are now allowing passengers to check in and get their boarding passes via the social media site.

Malaysia Airlines is offering a Facebook application that allows you to book a flight, check an existing booking or check in and choose your seat. It will even tell you if any of your friends are travelling to the same destination and allow you to see which seats they have if they’re on the same flight.

Delta has launched a similar application, although it is not currently available to Australian travellers. Delta has been offering flight bookings through Facebook for some time and has expanded its offering to include check-in and the ability to view information such as flight status, frequent flyer points and inflight amenities such as inflight entertainment and wi-fi internet access.

Other airlines will almost certainly (more…)

What you need to know about booking fees April 4, 2011

Posted by janeefraser in Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.
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“We don’t charge flight booking fees,” the website trumpets. “See what you can do with $50 in the world’s biggest cities.”

But do you really have an extra $50 in your pocket if you book your trip through a website that doesn’t charge booking fees? Yes, you can pay $50 or more in fees when booking through other sites but is the comparison that simple?

Expedia would like us to think so. Its site has a list of booking fees charged by its competitors, alongside a booking engine that will help you spend the money you have “saved”. The company uses Webjet, which charges fees amounting to $49.90 for an international flight booking, as its justification for the $50 catchline. Expedia’s site lists other leading sites that charge flight booking fees, ranging upwards from $14.95 a booking.

The executive general manager of flights for travel.com.au, Helen Demetriou, accuses Expedia of a shameless marketing stunt. “There’s no point in just saying you don’t charge a booking fee; that’s just hogwash,” she says. “We could not charge a booking fee and absorb it into the fare but we don’t choose to do it that way.”

Demetriou says that while it is hard to compare constantly changing travel prices, travel.com.au does regular comparisons with other sites and comes up cheaper than Expedia, even with booking fees taken into account. She says travel.com.au is “very upfront” about charging a fee and there is nothing hidden or deceptive about it. Some booking sites “get” consumers at the back end, with fees and charges relating to… (click here to keep reading this articly by Jane E. Fraser)

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