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Posted Jun 9, 2010
Admittedly, I like language and the how words lend themselves to interesting twists, origins, and uses. For instance, I enjoyed when Ricardo Montalban (welcome to Fantasy Island) came on the Tonight Show and admitted that Chrysler called the leather in their Cordoba “Corinthian Leather” simply because they liked how the word sounded when he said it. There really wasn’t such a thing as Corinthian Leather. Also, why are people overwhelmed, but nobody is just plain whelmed?
In that vein, I have often seen the terms “scorecard” and “dashboard” used interchangeably and thought it might be helpful for the industry to have someone unpack these terms and provide a quick overview.
Posted Jun 9, 2010
Speaking during this week’s New York University International Hospitality Industry Investment conference, Best Western International CEO David Kong said since June 4 hotels located around the Gulf Coast experienced a "tremendous amount of cancellations" and "the number of inquiries coming in have dropped significantly" due to the British Petroleum oil leak raging through the Gulf of Mexico.
Posted Jun 9, 2010
Sabre Holdings is running a "stealth" prelaunch product campaign on Twitter called Red Is Coming, which says nothing about what it is except a "new generation" for Sabre-connected agencies coming "this summer." The company has some ads out along these lines, as well. Red apparently will be revealed as part of Sabre's announcement, due next week, of a global "total travel agency solution." We also assume that if a rumor about Sabre partnering with TRX is true, that agency automation provider is involved. But Sabre didn't confirm that when we asked ...
Posted Jun 7, 2010
IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani today once again took the occasion of the group's annual general meeting to lash out against global distribution systems. Two years ago, he suggested airlines are "held hostage to GDSs." Last June in Kuala Lumpur, he said that airlines "cannot accept" $4 per transaction fees charged by "Western" GDSs. Today in Berlin, it was clear that his language had become more colorful and combative.
Posted Jun 2, 2010
Airlines have always been challenged with finding a viable way to measure contracted market share expectations in such a way that is fair to both the airline and the corporation. As data consolidation continues to become more refined the use of QSI (Quality Service Index) as a measurement tool has become an industry norm.
This article is not intended to knock QSI (as for the most part it works very well), but instead is meant to help corporate travel managers navigate their way through QSI and how certain common data scenarios can create unintended results. Not unlike the cult-classic movie Zombieland, there are a few rules that are good to abide by when dealing with contract terms and QSI measurements:
Posted May 31, 2010
Before I launch into this subject I think I had better make one thing very clear. What I write about this and all the other subjects past, present and future is my view and not necessarily those of any company I have worked for. I am sure they are very capable of giving their own opinion if asked! I am in a position where, within reason, I can say what I want now that I have retired.
Posted May 27, 2010
Good innovation solves worthy problems. Here are three problems that strike me as worthy, and their very rough calls to action.
Posted May 27, 2010
My old firm HRG has just announced its results and I must say I am impressed. It seems they can and have managed without me quite well. And there was me thinking I was indispensable.
Posted May 24, 2010
Business Travel Coalition (BTC) has long viewed airline mergers and industry consolidation with a good measure of skepticism regarding anticipated benefits for all stakeholders. While we are still working to formulate a public position on the proposed Continental (CO) – United (UA) merger, there are several areas of concern worth noting ahead of U.S. Senate and House hearings that suggest the antitrust analysis should go beyond management spin that this is an end-to-end network combination made in heaven that will drive benefits for all and that should be approved post haste.
Posted May 21, 2010
Regarding Management.travel's interview with Sapient global travel manager Michelle De Costa:
Deltek has also implemented a new social media program where travel shifted from the company intranet to a company Sharepoint blog. We are the first department to begin using Sharepoint in this manner. All content was moved regarding travel and the corporate credit card program.
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