by mcoletta | Feb 5, 2016 | Uncategorized |
I recently wrote a roundup article on Phocuswright’s Battleground and Travel Innovation Summit from the November 2015 conference. Summary: Since 2008, The Travel Innovation Summit(TIS) at The Phocuswright Conference has provided a platform for a select group of industry visionaries to promote their ideas globally, gaining new partners, customers and suppliers in the process. And they’ve received monetary support. As of April 2015, 158 TISinnovators had presented, with 87 of them attracting more than $1.3 billion as a result of funding and acquisitions (excluding IPOs). The global travel industry continues to grow impressively, and is now pegged as a$1.3 trillion market. In recent years, new entrants such as Airbnb and Uber have risen to top of the pile of travel startup “unicorns.” With their stratospheric valuations, they have fueled the dreams of a new generation of travel entrepreneurs. On November 16-18, 2015, The Phocuswright Conference in Hollywood, Florida presented The Battleground and The Travel Innovation Summit. Together, the two events featured an array of innovators harnessing the latest technological advances in computing power, connectivity, location-awareness, data mining and online community. The inaugural, four-hour Battleground event on November 16 provided a chance for 21 early-stage startups that might not otherwise have had the funds to participate in the full Travel Innovation Summit to pitch and advance to one of four available spots at the TIS. See here for a detailed analysis of the Battlegroundcompanies. The Travel Innovation Summit itself featured presentations from 38 travel innovators (plus the four Battleground winners) delivered over the course of three, three-hour sessions on November 17-18. See here for a roundup of all theTIS participants, and view the list of winners here. This Analysis examines all 59 innovators that participated in The Battlegroundand The Travel Innovation Summit from the standpoint of their Area(s) of Focus, in...
by mcoletta | Feb 5, 2016 | Uncategorized |
I recently wrote the OTA chapter for Phocuswright’s U.S. Online Travel Overview Report Fifteenth Edition. Summary: The OTA arms race continued to heat up in 2015 as Expedia moved ahead with acquisitions of Travelocity (closed January 2015), Orbitz (closed September 2015), and HomeAway (planned to close 1Q16). Despite strong opposition from the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), the DOJ cleared Expedia’s $1.6 billion takeover of Orbitz, concluding that “the acquisition will unlikely harm competition and consumers.” The three acquisitions underscore Expedia’s effort to stay ahead of eternal rival Priceline in the U.S. and pull ahead internationally, cementing what the AHLA and many others consider to be a domestic online travel duopoly. Stronger efforts to sell direct by suppliers dampened overall growth rates for OTAs, but Expedia and Priceline still experienced healthy gains. Expedia’s domestic gross bookings jumped nearly 20% in the first nine months of 2015 compared to the prior year’s period. Contents: Online Travel Agencies: Consolidation, Cross-Shopping and Channel Shift Key Findings Overview A Note on Methodology Size of the Market Hotels Continue To Gain, Air Is Less of a Pain The OTA Duopoly Takes Shape Suppliers Slip on Hotels, Hold on Air Mobile Means More for OTAs Meta Breaks Up the Duopoly OTAs Want to Share Link: (a Phocuswright “Global” subscription is required):...
by mcoletta | Sep 30, 2015 | Uncategorized |
I recently wrote this report on travel metasearch for Phocuswright. Summary: After posting a banner year in 2014, metasearch continues to sizzle. While TripAdvisor, Google, Kayak, Trivago and Skyscanner are generally recognized as the leaders in the space, smaller players as well as non-travel behemoths such as Amazon and Alibaba are getting into the game. This Analysis examines the key factors that are shaping the metasearch segment, including the complex dynamics between suppliers and intermediaries, and the implications for the future of travel search. Contents: Introduction – The Rise of Metasearch Mobile Apps and Small Screens From Popup Windows to the Assisted Booking Model Shifting Dynamics Between OTAs and Suppliers Transparency and Conversion Developments in Hotel Rate Parity OTAs Continue Their Reign Google, TripAdvisor and the Largest Metas Impact of the Sharing Economy The Future of Metasearch Trends in Travel Distribution Other Disruptive Forces Conclusion Link: (a Phocuswright “Innovation” subscription is required)...
by mcoletta | Jul 21, 2014 | Uncategorized |
I’ve been extra busy lately helping to run the DreamIt Ventures Startup Accelerator summer 2014 program in NY, and I’m happy to present two of the companies in the program at this Travel 2.0: Tourlandish and Zairge. Details...
