DISQUS

Hi Neil - Martin Cowen from Travolution here.

Mobile does seems to be everywhere at the moment, if only because mobile phones themselves are everywhere at the moment!

There is a lot of nonsense talked around all new technologies, admittedly, and mobile is no exception. I covered a business travel conference recently when a consultant - specialising in mobile - told a room full of independent bricks and mortar business travel agents to start bluetooth advertising. People just don’t buy business travel in that way, but the room gushed and I’m sure the consultant is doing well out of it!

But that’s not to say the high street leisure agents shouldn’t be looking at keeping in touch with clients through SMS or the other freely available mobile phone functionalities you mention.

And the big OTAs in the States are doing some very high-end customer service initiatives using mobile. Kayak has also said that mobiles are very much part of its long-term thinking for Europe.

I also think that because of the WAP debacle, mobile has to work even harder to prove itself as a viable channel for travel suppliers. And that is a good thing.