Same, Same...but Different?

Greetings, Cafe Patrons.

For those of you who have been to Thailand, Cambodia or other parts of SE Asia, you may be familiar with the theme of this week's Cafe. Whether it's a fake Rolex or a hotel room that's not quite as nice as you thought it was on the Internet, you'll hear a common reply from the locals: "yes, it's same same...but different!"

Which is what was running through my mind at last week's Association of Corporate Travel Executives' Asia Pacific Conference in Singapore. And no, it wasn't because someone was trying to sell me a "Louie Veeton" handbag for my wife ("no really honey, it's a real one...same same but different...!")

As I was sat at a roundtable listening to an industry perspective presentation, one of the attendees whispered to his tablemate that "we've heard this all before, has nothing changed in our industry? It's the same thing every year." And that's when it hit me - yes it's "same same" - but quite different than it may seem on the surface.

Take content fragmentation, GDS relevance and online adoption in Asia Pacific, for example. Five years ago when I attended my first ACTE Asia Pacific conference, I was working for a GDS company and was part of a session discussing the demise of traditional distribution due to the "imminent rise of online booking and direct connects in the region." Lots of nodding heads in the audience at that one.

At the conference last week, we heard from several TMC's including HRG and BCD that online booking adoption is growing in Asia Pacific and that supplier content fragmentation continues to be the norm in this region. So there you go - on the surface it sounds like we were saying what was said five years earlier ("same same!")

But listen closer, and you'll start to hear the "but different" part of the old saying. During another industry perspective presentation at ACTE, BCD's Greg O'Neil in particular talked about this subject within a comprehensive white paper called "At The Tipping Point" in which he rightly points out that while online booking has grown significantly in the region (the "same same" part) the BCD white paper also notes that "...a further trend toward the increased use by business travelers of smart phones and other Web—enabled devices should be seen as an interlinked development with online booking." That's the "but different" part.

The great fun of being in this region is that while on the surface sometimes things seem to move quite slowly, the undercurrent is whipping along at a break-neck pace. So while some people may see things as not progressing all that fast, others realise that when you reach the back-end of a period of time in this region you can expect things to suddenly look very, very different.

Many of the GDS pros, TMC leaders and buyers I spoke with last week to various degrees all understand that a big shift is already underway in Asia with respect to travel technology, distribution and traveller behaviour. And that shift is that mobile and hand-held devices are going to drive tremendous growth in self-service in Asia Pacific that will likely put this region well ahead of the rest of the world in this space in the coming months. Note I said months - not years.

Yes, given the plethora of GDS options (TOPAS or TravelSky, anyone?) seemingly endless new online upstarts (excellent IPO, MakeMyTrip) and rapid rise of mobile social media (60% of all tweets globally come from Asia - yowza!) this market may seem to be a madhouse sometimes. But from madness often comes greatness, and it's likely that the corporate travel industry will meet again in Singapore next year and look back on what will likely have been quite a year for travel technology in the region.

And that, my tablemates at ACTE, is very, very different than what you may think it is.

EXTRA SHOT FOR THE DAY

At the risk of taking credit for something I know I had no direct influence on, I still am pleased to know that Virgin Blue is at least thinking the same way I am.

In an earlier Cafe posting I offered up several ideas which DJ could take on board to help them in their attempts to steal corporate market share away from Qantas. This week they've announced that at least one of my points - widebody planes on domestic routes - will become a reality from May 2011 when they introduce A330 aircraft on routes between Perth and the east coast. Flying to Australia's largest state on a large aircraft is just natural, as why wouldn't you want to start stretching out as soon as you possibly can?

And just in case, by some miracle there are Virgin Blue patrons starting to have a peek in the Cafe's windows, I might suggest that they next see about what they're going to do with that useless "Premium Economy" class....

Image courtesy AustralianGamer.com

A Singapore Sling Next Week - Come Join Me!

Greetings, cafe patrons. A shameless plug this week from the Barista, in case any of you are in the neighbourhood. Come join me at the Association of Corporate Travel Executives Asia-Pacific conference, where we will be tackling the big issues of corporate travel today. Mobile? Sorted. Supplier Negotiation Strategies? Easy. Transcontinental flight vs. telepresence? Discuss.

In any case, with several hundred of the Asia Pacific region’s best and brightest corporate travel minds all in the same room (I’ll be outside guarding the door) I’m sure some great discussions will take place and excellent ideas exchanged. And if you are coming by, catch me leading a few discussions as the “talk show host” with some of the leading minds in corporate travel on the panel.

We’ll be covering social media and communication in corporate travel programs, integrating travel alternatives into your travel program (I’m voting for “beam me up Scotty”) and how mobile is changing the travel distribution chain. That last one will be a fun one, given that the whole point of mobile is to break the chains altogether – or is it?

In any case, I do look forward to seeing a few of the cafe patrons at the conference but for those who can’t join the remote Cafe, I’ll be sending updates via LinkedIn and Twitter (@kcknacks) so feel free to join the action!

Mobile Mayhem? Not if You're Switched On

Greetings, Cafe Patrons. It's been a busy few weeks for the Barista, trying to keep on top of all the latest and greatest technology announcements from local and global players leading up to this week's NBTA jamboree in Houston. Many announcements have been related to new partnerships with significant mobile capability aspects (see: Travelport/Rearden; Orbitz/TripIt; TripIt/Google; Concur/Mobiata, etc. etc.) but the reality is that most of these integrations, in my mind, still have a long way to go before being embraced by corporate travel programs.

Oh don't get me wrong, I fully realise that business travellers the world over have been downloading and using services like these for a while now and will continue to proliferate amongst the world's road warriors. But today's Cafe is brewing up a subtle blend...note that I said corporate travel programs. Nothing to do with the aforementioned road warriors.

You see, the main issue that company travel managers are still struggling with is what these mobile vendors will (or won't) do to support (or torpedo) their carefully crafted travel programs. Years of relationship building and negotiations with preferred airline/hotel/car providers are being threatened by the Northern Regional Head of Sales' infatuation with the iPhone App Store and downloading all sorts of content that may have them booking a room at the Sofitel rather than the Sheraton. Room night commitments to Starwood be damned!

And herein lies the rub: travellers are being bombarded by a whole new world of choices when it comes to travel content, recommendations, booking channels, "special" deals, and loyalty perks. Some or all of which may be completely at odds with what the CFO has asked the travel department to do in order to help manage costs while maximising the return on travel investment.

All the while, those same road warriors are battle weary and travel tried from years of cancelled flights, middle seats and phantom hotel bookings. And they are saying "give me what I want as I now have the power to do more and be more effective right in the palm of my hand!"

2010 is truly shaping up to be the year of mobile (and don't just take my word for it - my former colleague and legendary travel blogger Tim Hughes also came around to this concept this year) so any corporate travel managers with their heads in the App World sand are about to get stepped on by the expectations of their travellers. But they still have to watch out for their boss' expectations that costs will continue to be managed and that contract commitments to suppliers will need to be achieved.

So - where to from here? To put it simply, travel managers must be embracing of these new platforms and services but also need to find a way to put some control into the mix. The key will be who can see through all the clutter and glitzy announcements to get to the core of what applications could be leveraged by a corporate buyer.

As example, if you look closer at the Orbitz/TripIt tie up, you'll see a key aspect which gives the travel manager hope: "private company groups" which can be managed by a company administrator. Similarly, applications designed specifically for corporate use like conTgo or Concur Mobile can also inject a significant degree of company management into the mobile space through directing content, messaging directly to travellers, and enabling two-way communication between traveller and company/TMC.

Breathing a bit easier now? Hopefully, as all is not lost if you just keep focused on balancing the need to have travellers be switched on with your company's objectives for strong travel management. But for sure, the mobile mayhem will knock you sideways if you're not careful, as I hear they're working on an App for that...

EXTRA SHOT FOR THE DAY

Talk about a mashup: the look for the newly merged United/Continental airline livery has been released (see page 4 in the hyperlink.) Maybe calling it a "mashup" is actually too kind...."dog's breakfast" perhaps? Poor Continental - they've led the way for the past decade in terms of a US airline that's somewhat tolerable and then their name gets relegated but the logo stays. At least we'll not have to see those awful snow-white United planes for very much longer....

Prediction: the iPad Will Finally Get People Booking Travel on the Move

Morning, Cafe patrons. I hope all our visitors know that the Cafe is a "mobile-friendly" zone whereby all things can be discussed regarding the future of mobile in travel. No quiet zones here! And to stir things up this morning and perhaps get some conversation going, I'm going to make a bold prediction. And it's not just predicting for prediction's sake.

I believe that the iPad will drive a significant growth trend in booking travel on the move over the next 18 months - 2 years.

And by significant I'm thinking double-digit growth within the next 12 months.

Last week at the Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit, Claire Hatton from Google shared with the assembly that mobile searches are nearly half of ALL searches in some Asian markets, and that Australia is rapidly growing as a mobile search market (to clarify, "mobile search" for those of you like the Barista who wondered exactly what that means, is simply a search initiated by a mobile browser or device rather than a PC-based browser.) That's a lot of browsing on the move.

But as with all things mobile, transacting travel on a hand-held device has always been far behind using the good-old PC and mouse to perform the task of buying something online. Even the iPhone still hasn't cracked the transactional code in terms of getting people to buy on a mobile device.

Whether you might argue that the iPad is more PC than mobile is certainly up to you, but I'd think you'd be in the minority. With Wi-Fi and 3G wireless connectivity, the iPad to me is truly mobile. Although you'd look like an idiot holding it up to your ear to carry on a conversation.

In the Barista's humble opinion, I don't think that the iPhone was truly a game-changing device. Much like the iPod, Apple just took an existing gadget - a phone - and made it better. Like the iPod did to elevate the MP3 player. However, I think that the iPad is truly a transformational device. More PC than phone, but less PC than a laptop, and certainly more functionality than an e-Reader, the iPad's size and portability (plus Apple's great use of touch-screen ergonomics) makes it game-changing.

Why? To me, the key unique value of the iPad is real estate - lots and lots of screen real estate. Big enough to seem like a full Internet browsing experience, complete with nearly full-size keyboard. And, ladies and gentlemen, that is why I think people will finally start to transact on the move using the iPad.

Granted, I don't yet have one for myself and have had only a handful of interactions with one (mainly at the airport - FREE TIP: buy it duty free, save yourself a hundred bucks here in Australia!) But I can tell you I'm a hell of a lot more likely to search, book and buy my travel on the iPad than I am on my Blackberry or on any iPhone. Because I can actually see what I'm doing and act like I'm still on my PC - keyboard and all. And that to me, is the true game-changer. And that is why I believe that by early 2012, mobile travel bookings (leisure, corporate or otherwise) will be through the roof on these nifty devices.

You heard it here first...

(And if you didn't, tell me where you did!)

image courtesy GadgetVenue.com