Weekly Roundup: Travel, Tech and Social Media
Happy Friday! Did you miss your travel and hospitality news this week? No need to worry! We’ve put together our weekly roundup to bring you the latest in the industry. I hope you find it interesting. Have a great weekend and don’t forget to check back next week for more great picks!
Industry News
TripAdvisor Instant Booking Finally Expands to More Markets
TripAdvisor has expanded instant booking for hotels to nine English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and South Africa.
How Expedia Is Rebuilding Its Presence in China
Expedia, after selling its stake in eLong last year, is re-building its presence in China. In this article, Mieke De Schepper, VP Asia-Pacific at Expedia Lodging Partner Services, shares some interesting insights from Expedia.cn.
Ctrip and Tencent Get Their Hands on eLong
eLong has finally accepted a takeover offer from a group of investors including rival Ctrip and Chinese internet powerhouse Tencent, six months after the consortium made its move.
Trends and Insights
5 Easy Steps to Get More Review Content on Google
We all know: having as much content on Google as possible helps to get ahead of the game. Travelers use search engines to get an overview of hotel options in their desired destination and already start making booking decisions. Therefore, it is definitely recommended to have as much information as possible among the search results about the accommodation, pricing, and of course guest reviews. The latter play a very important role in the booking process.
Google Revamps Mobile Travel Search Results, Almost Making Web Results Irrelevant
While an incredibly nice user experience for those looking to travel, those optimizing for travel search might not like Google's new mobile trip planning experience. The results of the new changes make it really hard to get to organic web results.
5 Steps to Increase Bookings with Facebook Remarketing
Today, more than 70% of travel’s digital ad dollars go to direct response advertising. Intent-based search advertising takes the lion’s share and has proven to drive revenue reliably and effectively and generate online bookings.
Google Search Is About to Get A Lot Smarter
Google's current head of Artificial Intelligence has been promoted to run the company's search business. The move shows how important AI is for Google as it tries to shift away from search just being bound by a query box to more of an assistant that can predict what you need.
