New Website Offers Deals on Last Minute Getaways

MSNBC: First came LivingSocial Escapes, which offers customers discount vacation packages.

Now comes LivingSocial Instant Escapes, launched Thursday, which offers customers last-minute travel deals up to 55 percent off.

Doug Miller, senior vice president for LivingSocial’s new business initiatives, told msnbc.com that he’s seen a lot of interest from customers in last-minute travel. While most LivingSocial Escapes packages can be booked several months out, Instant Escapes deals are aimed at travelers who don’t have plans for the upcoming weekend. “Our focus is on creating demand,” he said.

Customers can find these last-minute deals on the current LivingSocial Escapes website or mobile app or sign up to receive weekly e-mails. New deals will be posted on Wednesdays, focusing on destinations within driving distance and are good for either that Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. Most deals are one-night stays, Miller said.

The first Instant Escapes deals include:

- $139 per night at the Larkspur Hotel in San Francisco, which also includes a $15 credit to the on-site Bar 1915 and a $75 credit to rent a luxury car;

- $265 per night for a room at The Hudson Hotel in the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City, as well as free WiFi, late check-out and continental breakfast for two; and

- $84 per night at Washington, D.C.’s Hotel Madison with a complimentary room upgrade and late check-out.

Since launching a year ago this month, LivingSocial Escapes has sold nearly 600,000 room nights at more than 800 different properties around the world. It was quickly followed by Groupon Getaways, which launched over the summer.

Carroll Rheem, director of research for PhoCusWright, said the challenge for deal sites is to drive incremental bookings, not undercut the price for a customer who was already planning a trip. She sees last-minute escapes as a niche market.

“If you’re kind of bored for the weekend, that’s a very different experience than ‘I know I was going to take a trip,’” she said.

New Website Lets Hotel Workers Complain

CNN: With so many means for guests to leave feedback on hotels worldwide, it's easy to take those opportunities for granted. But what would workers in the hospitality industry say if they were asked to comment on their employers?

We'll soon find out, thanks to a new Tumblr page that lets hotel employees share stories of demanding bosses, long shifts and finicky guests.

The inspiration for "Joey Quits" comes from a likely source: Joey DeFrancesco, who became a viral video sensation and working-class hero in October for posting a YouTube video of him resigning from his hotel job accompanied by a marching band.

With more than 2.8 million views in just over a month, the YouTube video generated more than 4,000 comments and even more e-mails, Facebook messages and cell phone texts, DeFrancesco said. Much of the response came from current and former hotel workers who said they related to DeFrancesco's complaints of struggles with management.

"We did not expect to get all this attention. But when we did, we knew we had to do something with it," the 23-year-old Rhode Islander said.

Websites such as Hotel Workers Rising are backed by unions and address conditions from a labor standpoint. But "Joey Quits" appears to be one of few forums dedicated exclusively to letting individuals air grievances.

The site's masthead bears a screen grab from the YouTube video of DeFrancesco's triumphant face next to messages in Spanish and English urging users to submit stories about their hotel workplace.

"Inspired by the success of the 'Joey Quits' video and responses to it from other hotel workers, we created this site to collect stories about unjust working conditions in the hotel industry," the site says, also in Spanish and English.

The feed, which launched this week, had 10 entries as of Tuesday morning, including videos of DeFrancesco and other former employees of the Renaissance Providence, the site of DeFrancesco's famous resignation. The rest are anonymous or come from users claiming to be former hotel industry employees. CNN could not verify their claims.

The goal is not to encourage boycotts of the accused hotels but to hold them accountable by raising awareness of undesirable conditions, hopefully paving the way to stronger labor laws, DeFrancesco said.

"The site is intended for workers so they can read it and know they're not alone, that others are experiencing the same things as them, creating a sense of working-class identity and hotel worker identity that's crucial to transforming the industry and forming unions," he said.

"The other audience is the public that's visiting the hotels, so they know how bad conditions are and let their disapproval be known with their wallets until things change."

Pressure Increases on Tripadvisor

The Telegraph: TripAdvisor, the travel review website, may have to change the way it operates if proposed changes to defamation laws go ahead and a new complaint being considered by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) is upheld.

The website has come under increasing pressure from hoteliers and restaurateurs who claim that many of its anonymous reviews are either fake or defamatory. The issue was at the heart of Channel 4’s recent documentary Attack of the TripAdvisors.

The website is already being investigated by the ASA over the way it advertises its content. A report is likely to be published in the coming weeks. Should the complaints be upheld, many of the claims made by TripAdvisor about the reliability of its reviews may have to be scrapped.

TripAdvisor recently replaced its long-established slogan “reviews you can trust” with “reviews from our community” on all of its hotel reports. It claims this was not in response to the ASA investigation.

Several hoteliers are also taking legal action individually against the website for alleged defamation and subsequent loss of earnings. They are presenting their case through KwikChex, a “reputation- management” company.

Proposed changes to defamation laws being considered by the Justice Department could prevent sites such as TripAdvisor from publishing reports by anonymous reviewers.  The Joint Committee on the Defamation Bill, which drafted the proposals, said: “We wish to promote a cultural shift towards a general recognition that unidentified postings are not to be treated as true, reliable or trustworthy.”

It has also been revealed that a second complaint is being investigated by the ASA over the way hotels and restaurants market their businesses using positive reviews from TripAdvisor.

“The whole issue is coming to a head,” said Chris Emmins, co-founder of KwikChex. “Should these new regulations be accepted, TripAdvisor will have to alter its methods fundamentally.

“Laws and regulations are starting to catch up with the way the digital world has evolved. It’s not a witch-hunt; we just want to see the right thing happen.”

This week, TripAdvisor started a support line for disgruntled business owners – a development likely to be viewed as an attempt to appease them. The company said it wanted to send a “strong message about our commitment to delivering quality customer care for accommodation owners”.

The support line has been criticized by early users. Katie Mackay, who owns Tiroran House on the Isle of Mull, called the number to complain about a four-year-old review that relates to a section of the hotel that has since been rebuilt. She says she was told that the review could not be removed unless the entire hotel had closed.

“It was the same response I’ve always received from TripAdvisor,” she said. “They were polite, but they didn’t change anything and just read aloud the terms and conditions you can find on their website.

“The effect of negative reviews is huge. There are 68 reviews of our hotel on TripAdvisor, and 62 are positive, but if a bad review is sitting at the top, there is a massive impact on bookings.”

She said the rejection of anonymous reviews would create greater accountability.

Meanwhile, one rival website has used the criticism of TripAdvisor to promote its own product. This week Feefo – which specializes in retail reviews and requires proof of purchase before accepting reports – promised to deliver “the kind of authenticity that TripAdvisor is widely criticized for not guaranteeing”. 

More Travelers Going Online

MSNBC:U.S. travelers who plan and book trips online are more likely to be early adopters of new technology, more likely to own a smartphone and take about three leisure trips a year, according to new research.

“The appetite for new technology is often coupled with a strong appetite for travel,” said Carroll Rheem, director of research for PhoCusWright, which tracks travel trends.

The findings were based on the soon-to-be-released results of PhoCusWright’s Traveler Technology Survey 2011, which surveyed 1,948 online travelers -- U.S. adults who have taken one leisure trip in the past 12 months that involved at least one flight/hotel stay and who planned their trip online.

According to the survey results, 47 percent of U.S. online travelers are on the cutting edge or are early adopters of new technologies.

Of those early adopters, 71 percent own a smartphone and take an average of 3.3 leisure trips a year, spending an average of $3,712 annually.

Of the 1,125 online travelers who access the Internet via a smartphone, 79 percent view maps or get directions, 62 percent research local activities such as restaurants or shows, 43 percent research travel products such as hotel rooms or flights and 42 percent reference existing travel information, such as itineraries.

The survey was designed to help companies better understand how consumers are bringing technology into their everyday lives and how that technology impacts their travel plans, Rheem said.

While the travelers surveyed were comfortable researching information on a smartphone, however, many were more inclined to switch over to a computer to enter credit card information. “They just naturally graduate to the right tool for the job,” said Rheem, noting that it is easy to mistype characters on a smartphone.

When it comes to online social networks, 79 percent of travelers said they participated in at least one, up from 70 percent in 2010.

“A vast majority of travelers are on social networks already,” Rheem said.

Online Travel Business Mines Facebook Data

CNET: Posting on your own Facebook wall that you're headed to Ancorage, Alaska and need travel tips might not result in answers. Posting direct questions on friends' walls who have been to Anchorage does. Uptake, an online travel planner, today announced a social travel service that sifts through Facebook to find the friends that can help answer travel questions.

"Friends don't leave friends hanging," says CEO Yen Lee, who says he believes customers of trip advice companies like TripAdvisor don't get their travel questions personally answered.

"Just because you have the same destination and travel same budget as someone who shared on TripAdvisor doesn't mean you're taking a trip for the same reasons," says Lee. "They could have been on a bachelorette trip while you're going on a family vacation."

Travel Q&A is the newest way Menlo Park-based Uptake is helping travelers create vacations based on their Facebook friends' recommendations. Lee says this new approach mimics "natural travel planning behavior."

Uptake has patent-pending "destination mining" technology that picks up friends' explicit location data, such as hometowns and check-ins, as well as friends' less-obvious, implicit location data in the form of photos, status updates, and comments. That final category, according to Lee, contains nearly 70% of friends' destinations.

Lee explains that since your friends have already shared their explicit and implicit location data with you there shouldn't be any concerns about privacy. Uptake is just automating the Facebook homework you are capable of doing on your own.

Once Uptake identifies friends in your Facebook network who have been to a particular destination you can select the specific friends you want to ask about your destination. There's also a way to organize the feedback you receive.

Prior to Travel Q&A, Uptake analyzed and organized people's travel histories along with travel information from 30,000 web sites to help them plan future trips. Those earlier techniques will be bolstered by Travel Q&A, according to Lee.

Founded in 2008, Uptake become the third most popular search and discovery travel site in the world, behind TripAdvisor and Yahoo Travel, according to Lee. Uptake currently has four million unique visitors every month. It also claims the largest library of vacation experiences in the United States, with 1.8 million destination ideas, hotels, restaurants, activities and attractions.

Lee didn't share his revenue or profit stats, but he did say the company will start fundraising in January.

Attack of the Trip Advisors

Tripadvisor – some people love it and others hate it. But there’s no doubt the world’s biggest travel review website is making a huge impact on the travel and hospitality industry – so much so that Channel 4 in Britain has dedicated an entire show to it.

Producers of ‘Attack of the Trip Advisors’ have found some of the most petty, vindictive and bitter individuals to feature on the show. Take Ricky. He was disgusted that his bed linen at a B&B wasn't changed after just one night's sleep. He knew this because he marked one of the sheets. Apparently Ricky has a scaly skin condition that requires him to sleep on fresh bed linen every night.

In quick succession come other critics complaining about a stained carpet and about the food. In another episode, guests Sean and John visited a B&B and didn’t even take time to unpack before running through a checklist of potential complaints, including water left in the kettle and a mucky toilet brush.

Property owners in turn bemoan the power nit-picking and vindictive guests have by posting negative and, in many cases, false reviews . And they are beginning to fight back.  

Does all of this make good TV? Apparently so. The show it very popular in the UK. The only question is how soon 'Attack of the Trip Advisors' will make its debut in the U.S.

Click here to watch a clip from the show.

Popular Restaurants Going Social

IP Watchdog: It seems that no matter where you go these days, the likelihood is high that you will see a “Free Wi-Fi” sticker on the front door of the establishment. Whether you are going for coffee, meeting a colleague for lunch, stopping at a rest stop or waiting for an airplane, you can pretty much bet that you will be able to check your email and surf the web while you are there. But providing customers with free Internet access is just the beginning. Some of the world’s most well known brands are aggressively using social media as a marketing tool.

Many of the largest and most recognizable restaurant brands are starting to realize the power and potential of social media, not only for the use of their clientele but also in getting their message out in new and innovative ways. They have begun to realize that building larger online communities equates to higher numbers of restaurant sales. For this reason, media outlet Nation’s Restaurant News teamed up with an analytics and digital branding firm, DigitalCoCo to create the Restaurant Social Media Index (RSMI) highlighting the industry’s Top 100 each quarter.

The RSMI is a comprehensive tracking system that uses both an advanced algorithm of several third-party results indexes along with the DigitalCoCo Social Insights algoritm. It quantifies the social media efforts of 600+ restaurant brands using more than 23 million consumers and thousands of keywords, menu items and basic restaurant terms that have been indexed over past years. The RSMI is meant to help those in the restaurant business get a better understanding of how they can leverage social media to compete within today’s social world. And given that they do not simply tally numbers of followers and fans, the playing field is level, even for restaurants that are just beginning to emerge.

NRN analyzes a restaurant’s social footprint utilizing not only Facebook and Twitter but also other social media platforms such as Foursquare, Google+ and YouTube. Each brand is ranked on a 300-point scale that not only takes the number of fans and followers into consideration but also takes the following metrics into account:

Twitter Analytics are used to monitor each brand’s account activity and growth, consumer influence and sentiment as well as the level of engagement each brand shows towards its consumers.

Facebook Analytics are used to quantify each brand’s activities, fan growth and interaction on Facebook as well as each brand’s level of engagement.

Klout Analytics are used by applying numerical algorithms to the influence of a brand as an outside third party and takes into account engagement, reach, influencer connections and overall influence.

Using these analytics tools, NRN recently introduced the third-quarter of 2011 Restaurant Social Media Index: Top 100. I thought it would be fun to compare, analyze and discuss the top 5 of the list which includes Starbucks Coffee, Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s and Outback Steakhouse.

1. Starbucks Coffee

Starbucks was rated as the number one restaurant brand with an overall RSMI score of 243.2 out of 300 as well as a Kout score of 84. What spreads Starbuck’s apart is the large margin between it and other large chains. Starbucks Coffee is top dog in Facebook likes and Twitter Followers. As of October 30, 2011, Starbucks showed an impressive 25.2 million likes on it’s Facebook page as compared to McDonald’s which only had 10.4 million likes. Starbucks dominance in Twitter followers is quite high as well with 1.7 million twitter followers to Subway’s 169,000 followers. The RSMI also shows a social consumer sentiment score of 72.

Starbuck Coffee, you may recall, used to be a Wi-Fi Hot Spot, where in order to access the Internet you had to pay a fee. But with the widespread “Free Wi-FI” availability at majority of their competitors, Starbucks must have realized that charging for Wi-Fi was pushing consumers away. Now not only do they offer free Wi-Fi, but they also actively engage consumers on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and YouTube. Starbucks also has their own blog in a social network format of sorts that they call My Starbucks Idea. The blog shares information but is also fully interactive in that, like most social networks, consumers are encouraged to share their ideas on anything relating to the company and its brand as well as the ability to see and respond to the ideas, thoughts and suggestions of others.

See: Starbucks on Twitter; Starbucks on Facebook.

2. Wendy’s

Wendy’s came in second this quarter with an overall RSMI score of 221.9 out of 300 as well as a Klout score matching Starbucks at 84. The RMSI shows a social consumer sentiment score of 59, but shows an incredible 86.5% Twitter growth since 2nd Quarter 2011.

Wendy’s uses social media platforms such as Twitter and Foursquare to offer multiple promotions to it’s consumers by driving traffic to their Facebook pages such as the Frosty’s Facebook Page where they post and actively engage consumers nearly every single day.

See: Wendy’s on Twitter; Wendy’s on Facebook.

3. Chick-fil-A

“Eat Mor Chikin”

Chick-fil-A came in third with an overall RSMI score of 213.0 out of 300 as well as a Klout score of 72. The RMSI shows a social consumer sentiment score that matches Wendy’s at 59 and they are also number 5 in on the list in terms of total Facebook Likes.

Incidentally, the Chick-fil-A Facebook fan page was NOT started by the company. When they decided to start their own Facebook page they realized that there was already a page in existence that was started by a rather enthusiastic fan of the company and already had more that 25,000 fans in place. They are currently co-admins with the orignal creator of the FB page where they leverage this media by offering promotions to consumers as well as engaging and listening to consumer thoughts, comments and concerns. They also utilize their website to give their consumers a voice through their Share Your Chick-Fil-A Story page.

See: Chick-fil-A on Twitter; Chick-fil-A on Facebook.

4. McDonald’s

McDonald’s took fourth this quarter with an overall RSMI score of 195.8 out of 300 as well as a Klout score matching Chick-fil-A at 72. The RMSI shows a social consumer sentiment score of 51, but also shows that they are number 2 in total Facebook likes and number 3 overall in Twitter followers.

McDonald’s recently reintroduced the McRib sandwiches to its menu. I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials of the newlyweds about to embark on their honeymoon. To create a buzz around the product, they have introduced a Facebook game “The Quest for the Golden McRib. Out of curiosity, I tried the game out. It is quite boring to say the least. But hey, nice try. Nonetheless, the director of social media for McDonald’s Corp., Rick Wion seems to get it. He says,

“It’s really not about how many people are following you, it’s about the level of engagement, really the strong connections you are making with customers.”

See: McDonald’s on Twitter; McDonald’s on Facebook.

5. Outback Steakhouse

Finally, the Outback Steakhouse is in fifth place out of 100 with an RSMI score of 192.6 out of 300 and a Klout score of 68. Although the RSMI shows only a social consumer sentiment score of 45, it also shows that they have seen a 54% growth in Twitter followers since last quarter.

Outback posts photos and information every few days on their Facebook Page to entice consumers and to create a buzz around it’s brand. They also actively monitor consumer tweets and Foursquare Check Ins and engage their consumers regularly as the comments are posted by consumers.

See: Outback Steakhouse on Twitter; Outback Steakhouse on Facebook

Conclusion

Gone are the days of relying solely on a real world marketing campaign. Leveraging the power of social media to continually build your brand keeps companies in the minds of their consumers, when done right even building a relationship with consumers. This leads to brand loyalty, good will and increased sales.

If powerhouse companies like McDonald’s and Starbucks are all in with social media shouldn’t you and your company be doing the same? It’s time to take your branding to the next level. With a sharp trademark, a quality product or service and a good social media campaign even modest resources can deliver rewards.

Dining Out Alone? There's an App for That!

Washington Post: Heather E. Henderson sat down for lunch one recent afternoon at Bourbon Steak, the Georgetown Four Seasons restaurant where she’s a regular. She ordered raw oysters, Singapore noodles and one of the head bartender’s house-made apple sodas.

Then, she engaged her lunch companion: the iPhone that has commanded — or at least divided — Henderson’s attention on countless eating excursions.

Swipe, tap tap.

Swipe swipe, tap tap tap.

“I’m a multi-tasker,” said Henderson, the 39-year-old co-owner of an event-management company, who was Facebooking and tweeting throughout the meal. “I’m a bit of a foodie, but most of my friends are not. If limited myself to only going out with physical dining companions, I wouldn’t go out nearly as often as I do.”

Dining out alone? There’s an app for that.

In just about any restaurant these days — even fancier places where the multi-course proffer is something like performance art — you’re likely to find parties of one fiddling with their digital devices. (That’s to say nothing of people texting at the table, or otherwise checking their phones, when they’re sharing a meal with others, a related, more widely reviled phenomenon.)

The lonely experience of passively reading while waiting for the bread basket has given way to e-mailing or playing Angry Birds before attacking a 28-ounce, dry-aged, butter-poached slab of prime porterhouse ($65 at Bourbon Steak).

“It’s almost rare now that a single diner will walk in without some type of device,” said Mark Politzer, Bourbon Steak’s general manager. “It’s really changed the experience for single diners. It’s less awkward for them, but they’re more engaged in work or whatever else they’re doing on their device than in having a conversation with us or focusing on the meal.”

The development churns some restaurateurs’ stomachs. At Rogue 24 — a theatrical, envelope-pushing Washington restaurant, where the chefs work at the center of the 52-seat dining room — proprietor R.J. Cooper has even banned electronic devices. But some diners have gone, well, rogue.

“There’s not a lot we can do,” Cooper said. “They’re paying our bills. Here’s the thing: People are so attached to their damn smartphones and tablets that they’re going to use them regardless. We’re not cops about it. We can’t make them turn them off.

“I do understand it gives solo diners something to do besides eat. But we have a lot going on. Our dining experience is so interactive. ... It bothers me if they’re tweeting and Facebooking and not really getting into the experience.”

Politzer, the Bourbon Steak general manager, is more sanguine. In fact, he went shopping recently for cordless chargers that diners could use at their tables. “Ten years ago, I might have found this appalling, but restaurants have to be open-minded and adjust,” he said. “This is a common practice now and it isn’t going away.”

Eric Ziebold sees it all the time from his kitchen at CityZen, his four-star restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Southwest Washington: Solo diners with smartphones, tablets, even laptops.

Does Tripadvisor Play Dirty With Hotel Reviews?

USAToday: In a $10 million lawsuit filed against the online review site earlier this month, the owner of the Grand Resort Hotel in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. - dubbed "America's dirtiest" in TripAdvisor's latest annual ranking - claims its smudged crown was bestowed unfairly.

TripAdvisor's list of the 10 dirtiest hotels in the U.S., released in January, is based on travelers' cleanliness ratings posted to the site. The Grand (which has nothing to do with Dolly Parton's Dollywood) earned thumbs down from 87% of more than 200 reviewers - including "JordynC," whose scathing critique of her January stay ended with "the best thing thing that could happen is that a meteor fall from the sky and reduce it to rubble." It's currently ranked 90 out of 96 Pigeon Forge hotels, based on 281 reviews.

According to a report in The Mountain Press, the suit contends that TripAdvisor uses "a rating system which is flawed and inconsistent and distorts actual performance and perspective," and says "TripAdvisor has singled out [Grand Resort] and directly advised customers not to trust them."

"Our complaint is that (TripAdvisor) went too far. Instead of just reporting what people said, they made a flat-out statement that it was the dirtiest," the Grand Resort Hotel's attorney, Sidney Gilreath, told USA TODAY.

Asked whether the 397-room Grand Resort was challenging the veracity of the TripAdvisor reviews, Gilreath said "we may be."

"Are (the reviews) from guests, or from former employees? We're going to look behind the curtain to find out," said Gilreath.

The site has been front and center of a growing controversy over the accuracy of user reviews. While TripAdvisor says it weighs multiple, constantly evolving factors in determining a review's accuracy and has "zero tolerance" for fakes, critics say it's too easy for anonymous posters to plant falsely positive or negative critiques.

Gogobot Launches iPhone App

Wall Street Journal: Travel Web site Gogobot’s launch this week of an iPhone app that provides travelers with an interactive trip planner—and a nifty postcard creator—makes so much sense that one is baffled about why they did not launch it sooner.

True, the travel business that allows users to tap into their social networks for travel tips and recommendations only went public in November. Add to that the fact that the San Francisco-based company, despite a full year of great press, remains small with only six engineers. But what could be more mobile-worthy than travel? Why start with a travel Web site at all?

Gogobot Co-Founder Travis Katz told Digits that he and Co-Founder Ori Zaltzman, seriously considered building out the mobile app first, but soon realized that making money in the travel space comes through the percentages made off of online bookings as well as advertisements. People are not doing that as much on mobile Katz told Digits. Although that is changing. According to Forrester, U.S. mobile commerce is expected to reach $31 billion by 2016, a 500% growth from 2011 mobile commerce projections.

For now, however, the Web site does the pre-trip heavy lifting–collecting travel recommendations from a user’s social network, building itineraries, booking hotels, etc.

The trip plan created on the Web site becomes an interactive and portable trip planner on the iPhone. Using the smartphone’s GPS, travelers can get directions to itinerary items or discover places around them—imagine a Yelp for road warriors. There is also a postcard creating application where travelers can apply photo effects—a la Instagram—to their photos before sending to their social network. Users can also use the app to rate and review places.

Asked how reviews crafted on the iPhone will differ from reviews on the iPhone, Katz said that they will undoubtedly be much shorter, of course. But the nature and tone should be the same, he said, noting that because Gogobot is about tapping into the social network for travel ideas and recommendations, negative reviews are not the norm.

If Gogobot’s positive spirit—and reliance on real names—kills the art of the negative review, the mobile app does resurrect a lost travel art, the travel album. Digital photography has allowed people to take way too many photos, Katz said. And when they bulk upload the photos to a service such as Flickr, the context gets lost. “You don’t remember that beach or restaurant,” he said.

Katz is hoping that the app’s postcard function, which encourages users to document a moment on the spot, will change that.

Starwood Hotels to Publish Guest Reviews

USA Today: Starwood later today will launch a first-ever online review function - a first-ever move by a U.S. global hotel company that gives its customers a high-profile voice and potential influence with other guests.

The new function will let Sheraton, Westin, W and other Starwood-brand hotel customers write their assessment of their recent hotel stay directly on Starwood websites, senior Starwood executive Chris Holdren tells Hotel Check-In. Anyone will be able to read the reviews and share them via social media channels, such as Facebook and Twitter. Starwood hopes that by giving customers the chance to write reviews, they'll be more engaged with the company and more likely to book repeat stays.

Risky move?

So far, none of Starwood's biggest rivals such as Marriott and Hilton have attempted to post customer reviews. Doing so, after all, could be risky if reviewers expose weak points, such as a nasty hotel staffer, broken air conditioning unit or inadequate Wi-Fi connection. But Holdren says that's not a big concern.

"We are confident in our hotels," Holdren, the senior vice president who runs the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program, tells me.

Reviews will lead to hotel ratings

Once enough reviews have been written about a hotel, Starwood will use the data to give the hotel a rating that ranges from "1" being the worst to "5" being the best.

To make the process uniform, Starwood created "rating categories" for the following areas: "Overall Rating," "Room Comfort," "Staff Met My Needs," "Room Cleanliness" and "SPG Recognition."

Guests will be able to filter content by "Star Rating," "Purpose of Travel," "Frequency of Travel," "SPG Level," "Above/Met Expectations" and "Below Expectations."

Since some reviews will clearly emphasize negative experiences, Starwood has bolstered its system to follow up complaints with individual hotels, he says. Starwood, like other hotel giants, already had a system in place to perform a similar function as it relates to negative comments on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Will you trust reviews on Starwood.com?

Millions of travelers rely on TripAdvisor reviews because they're independent. But Holdren thinks many travelers will come to trust Starwood customer reviews for two reasons:

Experienced writers: Holdren thinks that Starwood's most loyal customers - those who know their hotels best - will submit reviews most often. "Anyone can make a review, but our research shows that our SPG members will be delivering a lot of reviews on the site," he says. "They are very valuable. In some cases, they stay with us more than 50 nights per year."

Unique information: Some people question some TripAdvisor reviews (did a rival hotelier disparage his competitor to gain a business edge?). Under Starwood's system, Holdren says reviews will only be published after a writer's stay has been validated with a reservation confirmation number. "When you see a review on SPG.com, you'll know that a guest stayed at that hotel," Holdren says.

Will Starwood publish everything?

Like TripAdvisor, Starwood will first check reviews for profanity before publishing. And then Starwood will take the added step of confirming the reviewer's stay. The process could take two or even three days.

But ultimately, once a review has been vetted and confirmed, Starwood will publish it - no matter whether good, bad or ugly, he says.

The function is being launched at about noon EST, and Starwood will begin sending emails to SPG members about it next week.

Expect to see the first reviews appear for some of Starwood's largest and busiest hotels, such the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers, the Westin New York at Times Square and the W New York in Times Square.

Airports Increase Focus on Mobile Services

FutureTravel Experience: The 8th Annual Airport IT Trends Survey shows that IT investment by airports is rising as they aim to meet passenger expectations for self-service and a hassle-free experience. The survey tracks airport technology trends and is based on responses from nearly 100 airport operators, representing the views of 198 airports, including more than two thirds of the top 100 airports by revenue, responsible for 43% of global passenger traffic.

The survey found that ‘improving customer service’ is the top driver for new technology investment in airports with 63% considering this their highest priority. Improving airport safety and security is also a high priority (53%) with increased investment in technologies such as biometric identification, which is already implemented by 28% of respondents at border control.

53% of airports are planning to increase the number of check-in kiosks, while some 25% plan to introduce kiosks for new services including bag tag printing, flight transfers, and self-scanning of documents such as passports. By 2014, 38% of respondents will have introduced e-gates for self-boarding and 42% will have e-gates for checkpoints (9% have them today). Meanwhile, 51% will have introduced common-use bag drop locations by 2014.

The 2011 Airport IT Trends Executive Summary of results can be downloaded at www.sita.aero/content/airport-it-trends-survey-2011.

New Travel Website: Trippy

A new website allows friends to recommend cool attractions at different destinations.

Video:

Love & Hate for Airlines on Social Media

eTurbo News: Social media users were more negative than positive about US airlines on social media in the last 12 months, with intense hatred for a handful of carriers accounting for most of the negativity, according to a new social media analytics report from Amplicate.

The report found that 57% of all opinions on social media about US airlines were negative over the last 12 months, with American Airlines (AMR), United Airlines (UAUA) and US Airways (LCC) incurring most of the hatred. American Airlines was the most hated airline over the last 12 months ( http://bit.ly/nSxNZi ), with only 12% of opinions expressing love for the world's fourth largest airline.

Social media users were most negative about airlines in June 2011 when Delta Air Line's (DAL) decision to charge returning soldiers for extra baggage caused a firestorm of controversy on social media.

But not all airlines caused social media users such consternation. Social media users expressed overwhelming affection for Virgin America Airlines, which was the most loved US airline on social media over the 12 months, with 97% of opinions enthusiastically embracing the low cost airline. Social media users were especially enthusiastic about Virgin America's onboard WiFi, which allowed them to tweet their feelings for the airline from 20,000 feet.

Amplicate's new report 'Public Opinion on US Airlines on Social Media' ( http://bit.ly/rrSFRg ) reveals that, although there were more negative than positive opinions posted about US airlines on social media in the last 12 months, the positive opinions were far more influential. In every month, positive opinions accounted for more than 80% of the potential audience for opinions on US airlines.

Amplicate's new report is part of its new social analytics reports service.

Hotel Sues Tripadvisor Over "Dirtiest Hotel" Ranking

WBIR: The owner of a Sevier County (Tennessee) hotel that was named the "dirtiest hotel in America" is suing the website that gave them that distinction.

In a suit filed in Sevier County Circuit Court, Kenneth Seaton, owner of the Grand Resort Hotel and Convention Center in Pigeon Forge, is seeking $10 million dollars from Tripadvisor.com.

"The defendant published its allegations combining and confederating together with others by maliciously and wrongfully contriving, designing and intending to cause respected customers to lose confidence in the plaintiff," the suit states.

Attorneys allege in court documents TripAdvisor destroyed the hotel's business by false and misleading means. Through the suit, Seaton also calls the review process flawed and inconsistent and that TripAdvisor singled out the Grand Resort Hotel and Convention Center.

Glenn Reynolds, a faculty member at University of Tennessee's College of Law says lawsuits like this aren't all that uncommon in part, because they're very difficult to win. It likely falls under Section 230 of the Federal Communications Decency Act, according to Reynolds.

"The basic rule is you're not responsible when you operate a website for stuff that other people post on your site. Like commenters on WBIR or the News-Sentinel website," Reynolds said.

He believes Grand Resort Hotel could have a better chance prosecuting against the individual posters but even then, the hotel would have to prove their claims were false.

"If you sue somebody who says they saw roaches in your hotel room, how do you prove that's false," he said. "The only place where I think there might be an argument is that somehow, by taking that raw data and forming a ranking of which hotels have the most people calling them 'dirty'--- is that TripAdvisor is somehow doing something new and that that list is its own content."

TripAdvisor allows people to post reviews, opinions, and rank hotels and other businesses. In January, they released a survey naming the Grand Resort the dirtiest hotel in the country. According to TripAdvisor, 87% of those who reviewed the Grand Resort recommended against staying there.

Tuesday, 10News sent a crew to the hotel unannounced and a woman who identified herself as the facility's director told our reporter to "pick any room" and she'd grab the key to show its condition. Inside that room, 10News found signs of an aging hotel but nothing that indicated a pest problem, plumbing issues, or any obvious odors that would lead some 70 percent of the reviews on TripAdvisor to be negative.

Seaton accuses Tripadvisor of acting recklessly and with disregard to his right to carry out his business. Expedia, the parent company of TripAdvisor declined comment for this story because of the on-going lawsuit.

Seaton requests a jury hear the case.

Video:

Some Cool Travel Websites

Sacramento Bee:

Website: http://www.wanderlustandlipstick.com/
Lowdown: Comprehensive and enjoyable site for women interested in solo, independent and group women's travel. Tours, tips, travel accounts, advice. What's best about it? It's actually run by an authoritative woman traveler, Beth Whitman, not some giant corporation.

Website: world-airport-codes.com
Lowdown: Look up the code for any airport in the world. Memorize a few, and people will think you are a world traveler who's recently flown to FCO (Rome) and CDG (Paris) from DTW (Detroit).

Website: google.com/flights
Lowdown: The giant search engine company has entered the travel business; this site aims to compete with sites like Kayak to help travelers check flight prices and routes. Right now, it's fairly useless for Detroit travelers because only airline sponsors are included, and Detroit's biggest carrier, Delta, isn't on it. Eventually, however, the service may improve and, as usual, steamroll competitors.

Website: http://www.gadling.com/
Lowdown: This well-regarded travel blog is run by a host of name-brand travel writers. It offers news and information about cheap travel, adventure travel and off-the-beaten-path travel tips.

Website: http://www.amtrakvacations.com/
Lowdown: Hooray, Amtrak finally has an excellent new site that lets you book whole vacations, including hotels and trains, in one place. Cool trips (such as Amtrak from Chicago to Seattle, with a stop at Glacier National Park) are easy to book and research. Check it out.

What's Next for Airline Apps?

CNN: Airline passengers are already able to check in to flights, download boarding passes, select a seat on the go and keep an eye on the upgrades list thanks to recent evolutions in smartphone technology, and the options just keep growing.

A global industrywide Airline IT Trends Survey shows that more than 90% of the airlines surveyed are increasing their investment in mobile capabilities to ease the hassles of getting through the airport and improve the in-flight experience. And the airlines are likely to find a way to generate revenue, too.

So what's a flier to expect from airline apps on the horizon? In the not-too-distant future, you'll probably be able to rent a car, pay bag fees and use augmented reality to find the nearest airport bar through your airline's smartphone app.

Delta Air Lines is putting emphasis on improving mobile functionality. While some airline apps allow travelers to make flight reservations (a feature that Delta has not introduced but promises is coming), the world's largest carrier is one of the few airlines that gives customers the ability to adjust travel itineraries from their mobile device.

Delayed Delta passengers who miss a connection now can immediately rebook a different flight and download a new boarding pass, all while in the air.

The airline has some new app plans up its sleeve as well. Delta declines to give a release date for the feature, but it is close to unveiling a new tool where travelers can track checked baggage from their mobile devices, according to Delta spokesman Paul Skrbec. (They can already do so on the airline's website.)

The airline eventually could offer other services on its mobile app that are already listed on its website, such as the ability to search for hotel and car rental reservations, Skrbec said.

GuestLogix, a company that creates onboard merchandising technology, is already trying to integrate these services into an airline app with the launch of its OnTouch Mobile Concierge platform, which it pitched to major airlines this week, a company official said. The mobile app does not just offer access to itinerary details, but it also functions as a one-stop shop for airline passengers to make in-air purchases related to their trip, such as in-flight refreshments and arrangements for ground transportation, dining and entertainment in the destination city.

GuestLogix says it is in talks with most major North American carriers about implementing the OnTouch Mobile Concierge, which would likely be offered by airlines as a separate app from the ticketing-based ones that exist.

"We are providing airlines with the opportunity to offer their passengers a streamlined experience," said Brett Proud, GuestLogix's executive vice president of new markets and products. "Disparity within the mobile channel is a huge issue despite the fact that consumers are increasingly expecting cross-platform integration and a consistent experience. The fully integrated mobile platform that we have built allows travelers to check in to flights and hotels, view travel information and updates, and receive offers from multiple airline carriers, hotels and other services -- all at one time, and in one place."

The hope is the OnTouch Mobile Concierge will also allow airlines to generate new revenue streams by capitalizing for the first time on destination-related purchases.

But integrating outside products and services into airline apps is not the only way that airlines hope to customize the passenger experience while increasing revenue. According to Delta's Skrbec, the demand is likely there for airlines eventually to offer add-ons such as standby upgrades and the ability to pay for extra checked baggage through mobile applications, but industry research suggests that offering those types of mobile transactions won't happen overnight.

According to a report released this year by Amadeus, a company that develops technology for the travel industry, ancillary services -- from premium seating to in-flight meals -- are unlikely to be sold on airlines' mobile platforms on a widespread level for another year or two.

So more add-ons and products will be available, but is help on the way for slogging through the airport?

American, United and Continental airlines currently offer airport maps in their mobile apps, with Delta soon to join them. But the maps are generally useful only in locating gates; they don't offer detailed information on where to find food and shopping locations.

Augmented reality technology may come to the rescue here. It allows users to point the camera on their smartphone at their surroundings and receive corresponding information about their current location, such as which restaurants and stores are nearby. Amadeus's report estimates it will take three to five years for most airlines to find a way to integrate augmented reality into an airline app.

Airlines might take some cues from a new app released by Denmark's Copenhagen Airport this year, which became the world's first application to use augmented reality indoors successfully -- according to SITA, the app's developer. The app allows travelers at the airport to access not just gate information but also details on surrounding shops and services, saving them time while trying to catch a flight.

Even when it comes to selling fares through mobile clients, a service that 85% of airlines in the Airline IT Trends Survey either offer or plan to offer by 2014, there is room for improvement. Currently, airline apps only offer tickets with their specific carrier, and mobile customers can't take advantage of the flexibility offered by airline alliances.

"Airline alliances, the Star Alliance in particular, haven't really kept pace with mobile developments," said Dennis Schaal, the North America editor of the travel tech site Tnooz.com. "Granted, creating a mobile app that brings in dozens of airlines would be no easy task, but there should be some kind of booking capability at this juncture."

The Star Alliance has two mobile apps available for download: one that offers airport information in addition to the ability to search and track flights, and another that is a fare finder for flights on the alliance's airlines. The Star Alliance includes airlines such as United, Continental, Air Canada and US Airways -- which does not currently offer a mobile app.

But those airlines that fail to take the full leap into the mobile world will quickly find themselves in the minority. Apps might not replace websites as the primary place where people purchase airline reservations, especially with new airline initiatives to integrate ticket-purchasing apps into social-media sites such as Facebook.

However, they're beginning to offer a level of customer service and convenience that has never before been possible in the industry, and perhaps could even transform the experience of traveling enough to create a new barometer on which airline brands will be judged in the future.

Tripadvisor "Makes Nice" With Hotels

Technorati: At least that’s what most observers think.

Or they believe the move is a reaction to Google's increasingly strong forays into the travel space.

The relationship between hoteliers and TripAdvisor has not been a happy one.

Successful hotel managers or innkeepers like Dick Pabich of the popular Salem Inn in Salem, Massachusetts, have been burned by false and exaggeratedly negative reviews on TripAdvisor all too many times. “It really drives us crazy,” he says. “We accept not all our reviews will be positive, but some are outright lies.”

And the review giant has been burned by investigations in the UK relative to “bought” reviews.

Travel Weekly, the travel industry publication of record, recently noted that TripAdvisor may be subject to”legal expenses related to claims ranging from defamation and libel to negligence.”

But TripAdvisor has always tried to do the right thing and ultimately values its relationship to the hotel and travel industry, so its new Widget Center is a bridge-builder. It enables hotels to add critical reviews, ratings and even regional attractions to a hotel’s website.

The addition of the Widget Center could also be a reaction to Google’s rapid expansion of its presence in the travel space. The giant search site recently pulled third-party user reviews from Google Maps and Google Places, which, among other things, significantly reduces content exposure of review sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp.

Google claims it has no intention of entering the booking stage of the travel space, but, according to Nigel Huddleston, head of Google Travel UK and Ireland, it plans to play an increasing role in the sharing and experiencing stages of travel.

We tend to think once in, Google will find it difficult to not fully engage in flight and hotel search technology.

Regardless, Carroll Rheem, Research Director of PhoCusWright, an industry think tank, was quoted in Travel Weekly as saying hoteliers appreciate the Widget because it enables them to build a strong presence of user-generated content on their pages. And most agree, the TripAdvisor widgets can be a boon to business.

Although the site offers a “help page” for businesses interested in installing the widgets, the process is pretty straightforward. The snippet of HTML code brings in “live” third-party content without anyone having to update the page. But neither can a review be modified, of course.

Tnooz also sees the move as a good thing, saying TripAdvisor is opening itself up to the travel and tourism business.

Last August it launched its “Management Center” to help travel businesses and properties drive sales.

Rheem wisely adds that hoteliers should “embrace” user reviews on their site, whether they’re positive or negative. And in the transparency-driven world of social media, there really is no other choice.