Disqus - Latest Comments for chickefitz

Re: Phocuswright founder Philip Wolf dies at 64

chickefitz — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 22:44:53 -0000

Such a great loss to our industry. So many great memories over the years, all around PhoCusWright. You will be missed Philip.

Re: The Four Horseman of the Equity Apocalypse

chickefitz — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 14:15:59 -0000

You're my hero Mike. I'm a huge fan of your methodology.

Re: The Good Way to Say Good Bye

chickefitz — Sat, 19 Aug 2017 14:31:47 -0000

Is it common to have a written agreement with your startup team, but to outline that if they leave within say 3 months of joining, they voluntarily give up their rights to their slices?

Re: Exclusive: Amazon to Get Into Hotel Booking With Launch of Travel Site

chickefitz — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:24:43 -0000

It remains to be see whether Amazon will really deliver a product for travelers who elect to drive versus fly or do what Expedia did a few years ago of searching within a 6 hour radius of your home and call that shortcut approach a "drive market product".

Re: Will Downton Abbey End After Season 6?

chickefitz — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:25:15 -0000

NO...... I love this show.

Re: 4 Vacation Rental Guru Predictions for 2014

chickefitz — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:20:21 -0000

With the top player in the industry (HomeAway/VRBO) having a $3b market cap and Google having investment in them, I think it is safe to say that the year of the giants isn't prediction, it is reality.

Re: SAP’s $8.3 Billion Acquisition of Concur Means the Death of the Perfect Trip

chickefitz — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 10:23:47 -0000

Agreed on TripIt Dennis. I think the best reason for Concur to purchase that product was to get online access from anywhere to the itinerary, no matter where it was booked. Traxo has always been a better option for that, since it polled all of your travel sites, versus the "push" model that TripIt built on.

The ground products that you refer to are sold to the air traveler, they are not the drive market. The difference in the two markets is the mode of transportation for the trip itself. Another big difference is that the air market is focused on the top 100 cities, versus the drive market which acknowledges that people go to the 89,900 cities, towns and villages in the country for many reasons beyond a business meeting or vacation.

I know you've never been convinced of the drive market opportunity. But the numbers don't lie. Either way you slice it - life travel market at 67% of total (versus 8% for vacation and 25% for business) or air travel (11% of total overnight trips) versus car travel (89% of total overnight trips), the travel industry is missing a big opportunity. My Solutionz.com blog today is Travel industry: There is an emerging market in your own backyard - what is your grade? and I expose the grade for each of the top online sites in reaching 100% of travelers.

One day this lone voice in the wilderness will be heard. I am determined!

Re: SAP’s $8.3 Billion Acquisition of Concur Means the Death of the Perfect Trip

chickefitz — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 08:36:32 -0000

Dennis, when we look at the pace of innovation for entrepreneurs that have been acquired by giants, the track record is NOT good.

I hope that SAP will not slow Concur down. Their acquisition of GDSx
last year gives them some incredible talent and technology that could
actually be the new connectivity that the industry has needed and
getting it ON the travel agency desktop. As you know, G2Switchworks
(technology now owned by Travelport), ITA (now owned by Google) and
Farelogix (funded by Sandler Capital) all tried to change distribution
from the supplier side. So perhaps that could be the bigger ticket for
SAP beyond just corporate travel apps.

On the pace issue, case in point is Google's acquisition of ITA. There may be things going on behind the scenes there that will knock our socks off, but on the face of things all the momentum that Jeremy and team had seems to be gone. I know Google has a long term view, so again, perhaps one day we will see some new innovation from Google and know that it was ITA that made it happen. I hope so.

And on the innovation fund, I reached out to Steve Singh over two years ago about the corporate drive market and while I understand him not responding personally, when there is 67% of your target market that you do not reach, it would seem that it would be wise to at least talk to the industry expert that has done a syndicated study on the topic!

I'll leave the light on....

Re: SAP’s $8.3 Billion Acquisition of Concur Means the Death of the Perfect Trip

chickefitz — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 08:21:48 -0000

I believe you are right and hope you are wrong, all at the same time.

There is SO much innovation still to occur in our industry. With 67% of corporate travel happening by car, even Concur doesn't begin to effectively touch travel planning in that market. Those trips only show up during the expense report process and as such, the ability to negotiate based on the total hospitality spending of a corporation is not tapped.

Re: Maybe I should have checked out Roomstays before I booked?

chickefitz — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 12:17:41 -0000

Tony, as measured against the other 14,000+ travel agencies in the US (online and offline agencies), Roomstays is #57 based on annual revenues (based on Travel Weekly's PowerList, which shows the major players in the industry). I believe that statistic shows that Roomstays is a "real" company and not at all fly-by-night.

As the NY Times article stated, my firm has been contracted by Roomstays to handle all their escalated customer complaints precisely because of our customer advocacy passion and more specifically my industry reputation.

What you don't see on the BBB site when you just read the surface of the complaint is the level of detail that we go through with each customer to get their situations resolved. I personally invest as much as 2-3 hours per complaint. As a result, we are very close to achieving 100% customer satisfaction post-complaint and 100% closure on complaints, which is why Roomstays has an A- rating with the BBB (the highest possible for a company less than 5 years old). And with the current BBB stats of 139 complaints on over 2 million room nights over the past three years, that is a complaint ratio of 0.0000695.

And while there are complaints on other sites, the bulk of the time they are done anonymously, which makes it harder for us to respond and clear up the situation.

We encourage consumers to go through the BBB when they are frustrated or to work with someone reputable like Christopher Elliott who is a true consumer advocate, as that ensures that the complaint is funneled to the responsible party and that the consumer actually is "heard" versus just venting anonymously.

Re: Maybe I should have checked out Roomstays before I booked?

chickefitz — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 08:48:43 -0000

Tonya, I have contacted Mr. LaPella directly, as the resolution of each customer complaint involves the privacy of the guest and we value our commitment to that privacy. Once I receive his itinerary number, we will take care of getting a courtesy refund processed for him for the service fee and will look into the discrepancy in the rate that he reported. We represent over 100,000 properties and need to check into the specific situation with the specific room type booked for the specific dates.

I have also spoken with Christopher, the author of this column about each of the issues, many of which span every category of online buying and not just travel and he has agreed to write a follow on to this article.

I am an industry expert on travel distribution and have written about many of these issues on my blog, as educating consumers and being their advocate is something I also care greatly about.

http://blog.solutionz.com/2...

Re: Maybe I should have checked out Roomstays before I booked?

chickefitz — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 09:41:05 -0000

Please note that the address on the BBB site is for the Tampa office that handles all of the escalated complaints for Roomstays and handles the BBB relationship. Like many individuals in this country, I work from home and use a mailbox for my business mail.

This company is not a scam. It is the #57 travel agency in the country based on 2012 hotel sales (out of over 15,000 online and offline travel agencies).

Re: New Skift Report: The Rise of Location Data in Travel

chickefitz — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 10:04:51 -0000

The challenge the travel industry continues to face is the singular focus on the air traveler, disregarding that 85% of all overnight travel in this country (over 850 million trips) are by car. Location based services are key in car travel, but the travel industry has not integrated navigation into travel planning.

Also, there is an focus in our industry on the business and vacation travel markets, which represent 25% and 8% respectively out of all travel in this country. The balance (67% of total) is "life travel", including milestone events such as weddings, funerals, anniversaries, birthdays and family and class reunions, plus care travel (hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, funeral homes) and then travel around one's passions - sports, entertainment, giving, learning and just spending time with friends and family, which can be both obligatory or for pleasure.

Business and vacation travel focus on travel to an airport or a city center/destination, versus the real place that the person needs to be (a venue or an event).

It is time for a change in focus so that the industry can not only tap the 85% that drive, but the 67% that are not on a business trip or on a vacation. That is the mass market approach and a hyper-local focus is critical to serve that market.

Re: Top 75 Apps for Enhancing Your Facebook Page

chickefitz — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 12:08:07 -0000

I wish to post shows from blogtalkradio on a page and tie them to the events page. What format could I use to align the shows by column and how do I keep the event from going away after the date it airs?

Re: The Habits of Successful People: Thinking in Ratios

chickefitz — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 14:03:27 -0000

Joel, this is so true. You should read Go for No by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz. It describes this premise to a T.

If you want the cliff notes version, I interviewed them on my radio show back in 2003. Best to download this episode and fast forward to the 30 minute mark, as it is a 2 hour show and they were the second guest.

http://www.blogtalkradio.co...

Re: Cult of Context

chickefitz — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 07:37:07 -0000

Always entertaining Jim. Just sorry I wasn't there to see it in person. I attended PCW remotely this year.

Re: Sabre Tells Cranky Flier Farelogix Is “Mocked-Up”

chickefitz — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 07:52:02 -0000

Jim, they have totally underestimated you and your talented team. I'm hoping you will have a consultant's day to follow your successful media day. Looking forward to seeing your latest/greatest.

Re: Stay Stupid

chickefitz — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 08:21:47 -0000

Michael, you are so right. Dumbo is actually my cartoon hero, as he didn't know that he couldnt fly, so he did. He ignored all the obvious evidence and just did it.

Re: COMMENT on COMMENT: AA ‘Direct Connect’ Is A Walking Corpse

chickefitz — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 08:49:12 -0000

I feel a blog coming on......

The Dinosaurs versus the Zombies. The Battle of the Century. It's not over yet!!

I always appreciate your boldness in setting the record straight Jim. It is a very complex issue and a complex and even incestuous industry ecosystem that we have.

Re: Was Barry Diller uncomfortable with giving up control of Expedia?

chickefitz — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:58:54 -0000

I think the amazing thing is that IAC never took advantage of the potential synergies between Expedia and its other properties. While they have since sold Ticketmaster, there was an obvious potential there and I still see a clear link to what could have been done with eVite. But do love the notion that every billionaire needs a trophy OTA. I have one in mind!!! Only billionaires need apply!

Re: Confronting The Glass Ceiling: Largely Female Population Notwithstanding, Corporate Travel Industry No Better On Gender Equality

chickefitz — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 12:39:46 -0000

I would like to see us get beyond
‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in this endless ‘gender war’ and shift the dialogue to profitability. It is well documented that companies with
both boards and executive teams that have more women are more profitable. Enough said.

Re: Notes from travel's chief innovator

chickefitz — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:19:20 -0000

Terry has long been my inspiration for innovation. I met him in 1982, just as ADS was being bought by American. We did a lot of game changing things at ADS under his leadership before he moved over to the Sabre side of the house (Sabre/ADS two-way on Digital's first mini-computer, airline direct settlement in the mid-80s, Capture and Sabrevision).

He had an uncanny ability to pick the winners, even in the very early days of the Internet. But beyond that, he is just a genuinely nice, humbly brilliant guy who is fun to be around.

Re: Sabre and Case #067-249214-10: Direct Connect—The Technology That Almost Wasn’t

chickefitz — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:24:41 -0000

Jim, you will find it interesting to know that I worked on a team at Sabre/ADS in 1984 that created the infrastructure for Direct Connect by the airlines (we called it DAR Direct Airline Reporting). We knew it was inevitable, but had no idea how it would play out.

Re: Her plans changed, but now her travel agent wants her to pay up

chickefitz — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 22:43:15 -0000

Unless the ticket was purchased on a Monday and form of payment was cash (which would have been foolish on the part of the agent), the ticket could still have been voided before ARC report was completed.

Re: What happened to the great American road trip?

chickefitz — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 08:40:49 -0000

While I applaud what Mark has accomplished with Road Trip America (and his staying power!), I don't agree about there not being constants in marketing to the drive market.

Last year I got a group of prominent travel industry and technology companies together in something we called Project 85 and we did a syndicated study and held a Think Tank in Las Vegas in conjunction with an industry conference. AOL/Mapquest put together a wonderful summary of that study. It can be found on http://www.project85thinkta... (lime green in right column of home page).

There are many constants when you look at the 1 billion trips taken annually in the US that involve at least one overnight, one of which is that 69% of them are traveling for "life", not pure vacation or business. The latter two trip catalysts represent just 8% and 23% respectively of overnight trips. It is those life catalysts that are consistent and that fuel the decision to drive.

Life travelers get an invitation to attend an event, they have a passion (or are supporting their kids' passions such as sports or music competitions), they are caring for someone or they have some level of obligation (attending aunt Mary's 80th birthday party). And most of the time these take them to the 89,900 cities, towns and villages that are not easily reached by air.

While my last venture into the road trip space did not have enough capital to get much beyond launch (although we did win the startup of the year award at PhoCusWright 2007, just weeks after launching on Travelocity), my new venture is addressing life travel and streamlining the planning process for invitation, passion, care and obligation as trip catalysts.

Stay tuned!