Disqus - Latest Comments for stephenjoyce

Re: Tours and Activities Software Provider TrekkSoft Raises $1.1 Million

Stephen Joyce — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 21:59:03 -0000

Thank you for mentioning Rezgo. Not to diminish Trekksoft's raise, it is certainly impressive and brings attention to the tours and activity sector, which is a good thing. I'd just like to point out however that being successful at fundraising and being successful are two very different things. Although your statement that Trekksoft has raised the most of its competitors is not inaccurate, it implies that Rezgo has raised and that somehow we have been unable to raise as much as Trekksoft. In reality, Rezgo has not raised at all. To paraphrase the old John Houseman Smith Barney commercials of yore, "We make money the old fashioned way, we earn it."

Re: Techvibes Canada Startup Index - August 2011

Stephen Joyce — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:49:26 -0000

I noticed that Compete score is not used for this month's ranking. Are you using Alexa exclusively now for the Index?

Re: Small is Beautiful

Stephen Joyce — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:47:43 -0000

Congratulations Todd. You'll be missed, but your legacy will continue. You've inspired a lot of people in the industry to strive and to take risks with technology. I look forward to seeing what you do with your skills at the Edge.

Re: Google to Launch Groupon Competitor [EXCLUSIVE]

Stephen Joyce — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:35:41 -0000

Any idea what Google's fee is on these deals? Groupon is 50% of revenue from deals which means 25% of actual retail cost. I'd be interested to know if their fee is less than Groupons. If so, they may win on that basis alone.

Re: 33 More Entertaining 404 Error Pages

Stephen Joyce — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:48:14 -0000

The Chillopedia 404 looks a lot like our Rezgo.com 404. Although, I have to say, the puppies are always cuter than full grown dogs. You can see it here... http://www.rezgo.com/404

Re: Travel Agent Survey – Growing Discontent, Social Media a ‘Waste of Time’

Stephen Joyce — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:47:21 -0000

Social media is a waste of time?! That's like saying "Communicating with customers is a waste of time" Ignorance is bliss for some I suppose. I'm sure we'll see their sales drop even further in the years to come if they maintain that attitude.

Re: Pardon This Interruption: Kanye West Joins Twitter

Stephen Joyce — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:03:14 -0000

Wow, Kanye West is on twitter? I think I visited there once. Isn't it just south of WhoGivesACrapVille? Or is it east of WhoCaresTown. I can never remember.

Re: Brand hijacking- How Tourism Australia could have avoided it

Stephen Joyce — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:56:39 -0000

These are great resources Graham. I know of at least a dozen small operators who have spent so much time registering and tracking social media site ids. This should make it easier for them.

Re: PayPal vs. Your Own Merchant Account: Which Solution is the Knock-Out Win for Your Business?

Stephen Joyce — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:44:03 -0000

Good article Michael. I have found that in the travel/tourism sector that many merchants have a very hard time getting merchant accounts because their businesses are considered "high risk". This is due primarily to the fact they are selling vouchers for their tours/activities in advance of delivery (which can be anywhere from a week to 6 months). Most merchant providers we have contacted on behalf of our customers want hefty ($15-30K) deposits and continuous rolling deposits to protect against cancellations and chargebacks. This ofcourse makes it almost impossible for a small tour operator to get a merchant account and, as a result, they turn to Paypal Pro for their processing. Many of our customers that have gone the Paypal Pro route because of the inability to get a proper merchant account are happy with the service, BUT they could be paying less if they had a true merchant account.

So my question to you is... do you know of any providers that specifically specialize in providing solutions for small tourism related businesses and what their rates are? I would love to recommend a non-Paypal solution to tour operators but right now the options are very limited.

Re: Google and ITA Software

Stephen Joyce — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:43:01 -0000

Google is already displaying pricing information with hotel search results. The option seems to either scrap existing sites to display pricing or simply acquire the technology. All things being equal, the acquisition route really seems to make the most sense here.

Re: Google reportedly in talks to buy $1 billion travel software company

Stephen Joyce — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:26:56 -0000

Google is already making waves with hotel meta-search. Air meta-search is a logical next step. Why buy Kayak.com when you buy the tech behind it.

Re: PayPal Website Payment Pro Instructions

Stephen Joyce — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:15:02 -0000

Hi Mathew, I'm not sure I understand. In this case you need to grant API access to Rezgo in order to use the Paypal Pro payment gateway. Rezgo is fully PCI compliant and uses a secure connection to the Paypal API so there is no issue with safety. Anyone technically can have a Paypal pro account but you need to go throug Paypals application process to get approved.

Re: The Problem With Conversational Marketing

Stephen Joyce — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:06:43 -0000

Well said @jebworks. Participation, community, and personal engagement. It's less about marketing and more about building trust, brand loyalty, and relationships with customers. Regarding Michael's comment, I don't think that you can have that many conversations either. Perhaps it's not going to be as effective for a brand like Best Buy to use social media for the purposes of having conversations, but rather do something that really uses the engagement that comes with social media. I don't think that social media is the only tool in your belt, it is just part of an overall strategy and it has to be used properly to be effective.

Re: Who is the Most Trusted Authority in Online Travel?

Stephen Joyce — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:02:38 -0000

I'd have to agree with some of the other commenters. I would have to vote for @hharteveldt, @kevinlukemay, @denschaal for their objectivity and overall coverage of online travel. Many, including myself, are focused on one specific area or niche in online travel so I can't imagine I would be a trusted source when it came to airlines or cruise since I know very little about (and don't claim to know) those segments.

Re: Vendor: Show All Tours by Supplier

Stephen Joyce — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 00:47:54 -0000

Partly. Rezgo lets you set up booking agent administrators who can make bookings directly in your account. At the end of the month you can run a booking report which can be exported. If you import the report into Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice, or another spreadsheet program, you can sort the results by "Agent" and then calculate the commission owed for each. Here are a couple of articles you may find useful:

Creating Administrative Users
http://support.rezgo.com/re...

Using Offline Sales
http://support.rezgo.com/re...

Re: What to Look for in a Web Designer for Your Tourism Website

Stephen Joyce — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:23:52 -0000

Well, I can certainly acknowledge when I'm wrong. I can concede that a designer doesn't necessarily need to be active in using social media in order to know how to design for the social web. I would, however, still say that a designer who is going to be designing for clients who are going to be using social components should have a good understanding of how social elements affect interface design. Thanks to Matti, Jeff, and Designer for their input.

Re: What to Look for in a Web Designer for Your Tourism Website

Stephen Joyce — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:44:44 -0000

Matti, that's a great comment. I think for the type of businesses I am specifically talking about, the tour & activity operators, social media is a critical part of their on-line strategy, so I would think that an intimacy with the concepts and an understanding of the benefits of social media would affect the overall design. I do agree that CMS is important and in todays hyper updated world, having a designer/developer who can respond quickly is important.

Re: What to Look for in a Web Designer for Your Tourism Website

Stephen Joyce — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:54:32 -0000

For Fortune 500 websites, I wouldn't disagree with you, however, the businesses I am talking about here are small operators (usually single owner/operator). The use of social media, which by the way is no longer in its infancy, needs to be a critical part of their web strategy and hence, an integral part of their overall design. So, I disagree that the social web is one small part of building a quality website, it directly affects how visitors will interact with the business and therefore, how the interface needs to be built to support that interaction. As a designer, it seems necessary that you be familiar with or use the tools so that can you make design recommendations that are based on a clear understanding of the platforms.

That said, you bring up a very important point that the portfolio is a key and understanding the role of the designer is also key.

Re: Photoshop Elements + Photoshop.com + Shozu + iPhone = Awesome Travel Photo Package

Stephen Joyce — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:56:05 -0000

It can be a bit of a challenge on the smaller screen size but it's not bad. I have to get rid of the open projects bar at the bottom of the screen to maximize the work space, but other than that it's not bad. The biggest issue is the processing power for larger images. The small netbooks (powered by the Atom) are really not designed to handle processor intensive operations like photo editing. In general, for light web stuff, the netbook with Elements has been great.

Re: Making Video Part of Your Tourism Business

Stephen Joyce — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:53:28 -0000

That's a great point Alanna. I think you have to take a look and see if it works for you organization. If it becomes part of your offering (a differentiator) then that's great. Certainly in your case, it may not be the best fit for the type of service you offer. It really is about knowing what your customers want and it would seem that your customers want to enjoy the intimacy of the experience for themselves.

Re: Hosting and Sharing Your Tour Photos On-line

Stephen Joyce — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:16:34 -0000

Thanks Peter. I really like the way that SmugMug totally integrates with your site. I'm guessing there is a feature to co-brand the web address (i.e. using http://photos.rafting.co.uk instead of the standard SmugMug). The integration with the printing services is also a nice touch. I presume that's what you were referring to about the other companies making money from it?

Re: Making Photos Part of Your Tourism Business

Stephen Joyce — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:24:54 -0000

That's excellent advice Todd. Taking good quality shots with people's faces is so important. Makes them more "real".

Re: Travel Tech Review: Planning with DuffelUp.com

Stephen Joyce — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:56:50 -0000

Glad you like the post and that you like DuffleUp. I think it has potential as well. It's always nice to see small nimble start-ups coming up with clever stuff.

Re: Tourism Online Marketing Series – Day 5 – Web Hosting

Stephen Joyce — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:54:42 -0000

Technically I've already linked to it courtesy of your comment ;-) That said, I'm always happy to see new blogs about travel tech come on-line. Keep at it and remember to write about what you are passionate about.

Re: Tourism On-line Marketing Series – Day 2 – Choosing a Domain

Stephen Joyce — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:23:27 -0000

It is hard to change after the fact, but you can always add domains later if required. The thing to keep in mind is that you may end up causing brand confusion if you use a totally different brand.