Dow Jones Newsires: Priceline 2Q Net Up 35% As Bookings Grow; View Strong:: NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Priceline.com Inc.'s (PCLN) second-quarter profit surged 35%, making it the latest online travel agent to handily top estimates and project strong third-quarter results, as summer demand for leisure travel was better than expected, aided by discounts. Read more
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WiFi service is becoming a key differentiator on high so most carriers are looking to get on board with the service, although they are taking varied approaches when it comes to pricing.
Travel Weekly: Airlines rush to add WiFi: The long wait to use WiFi on domestic flights is quickly coming to an end. In response to demands from increasingly connected leisure and business travelers for Internet access aloft, every major U.S. carrier is in the process of outfitting aircraft with WiFi or at least is testing the service. Read more
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WorldMate Gold and Where for iPhone were among the travel-specific applications which made PC World's list of the Top 10 iPhone apps for summer travel. Meanwhile, an Advertising Age story wonders whether developers across all industries should start broadening their mobile horizons.
PC World: Top 10 Must-Have iPhone Apps for Summer Travel: Summer vacation isn't just about escaping the office or beating the heat. It's about getting maximum enjoyment from your surroundings--and your trusty, hard-working iPhone can help. The iPhone apps we've collected here will enhance any summer getaway--and help you realize the full potential of your mobile device. Read more
Advertising Age: How Wedded Are Marketers to the iPhone?: SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) -- First TechCrunch's Michael Arrington quit the iPhone, now the FCC is targeting Apple's App Store. With all the negative press, should marketers question their own love affair with the device and its app platform? Read more
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The iconoclastic getaroom.com launched a $10 million home-grown advertising blitz to drum its name into the rhythm of consumer consciousness. Meanwhile, getaroom.com appears sort of back-to-the future-ish with its telephone bookings, but the business is all over nouveau channels i.e. YouTube, Twitter and FaceBook.
Dennis School Blog: getaroom, getaroom, getaroom.com: getaroom.com, the hotel-booking site and call center business introduced by hotels.com founders David Litman and Bob Diner, just fired off $10 million worth of TV, radio and print ads in key markets across the country. Read more
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When pesky travel promotions get gamed or backfire, as Expedia apparently found out, travel companies must be flexible and transparent.
Elliott Blog: Never mind! Expedia quietly voids — then unloads — terms on refer-a-friend promo: Promises were meant to be broken. And if you’re Expedia, unbroken.
At issue is a promotion that offered a £20 hotel coupon code for each referral. When the terms were changed and the codes were suddenly disabled at the end of July, it set off an email campaign to Expedia and to members of the travel media who specialize in solving travel disputes. Read more
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Traffic Jam
The following posts of recent -- and not-so-recent -- vintage continue to popular picks, and may be worth a second look:
Twitter Travel Search: the Start of Something Big
Google: We Won't Be a Copycat in Travel
Kayak's Hafner Awaits Google Hotels
Travel's Best and Brightest on 'Legacy OTAs' and State of Online Travel 2009
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Travel InsideOut is a Dennis Schaal Blog daily feature. Get a thorough-going look at the day's travel industry top and tangentially interesting stories. Feel free to comment on them below.
Travel InsideOut is Copyright (c) 2009 by Dennis Schaal. All rights reserved.
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