The DoubleTree brand of Hilton has launched a new platform on YouTube called, "DTour." The new page is new social way to plan your next vacation. The page has a map that features DoubleTree properties all around the world and it has videos associated with certain properties.
It also features tips and videos that are submitted by users around those properties. The goal of the "DTour" program is to help you plan your next vacation by knowing what there is to do in any location around the world. The feedback of what you should do, where you should eat, or where you should stay will come from users who will submit their own tips or videos on the subject.
I personally think this is a great way to move into the "social" aspect of travel and move just beyond the typical TripAdvisor report of an area. We know that people are more likely to go to visit a certain place, restaurant or stay in a certain hotel if they can get a recommendation from someone who has gone there before and has a good review of the place. Bringing this "social recommendation"element of travel planning and conveniently featuring DoubleTree locations nearby is a great look at the future of the use of social media and social platforms by hotel brands. They don't just view their customers as looking for a place to stay, instead they want them to be social and to view the hotel as a means to their vacation, not the end goal.
As a part of the launch of the "DTour" program DoubleTree is giving away six (6) around the world trips to those that submit a video of a vacation they loved on their "DTour" page on YouTube.
Would you ever consider looking at something like this to plan your trip? Or would you rather go the traditional planning route?
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Showing posts with label travel technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel technology. Show all posts
Monday, May 6, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Senators Grill FAA Administrator on Electronics Restrictions on Aircraft
The speculation surrounding the FAA possible loosen restrictions on the use of electronics on aircraft hit a new high on Wednesday when the administrator of the FAA was grilled by a Senate Committee.
Senators have their own personal stake in the issue as they are as much of a group of road warriors as some business folks. They constantly are traveling from their home states to Washington and that often means flights on every Tuesday and Thursday night like clockwork. Their staff knows the schedule of every flight combination going out of DCA on Thursday evenings. So it's fair to say they spend lots of time up in the air and are just as frustrated as the rest of us that you can't use electronics on certain portions of the flight.
One of the Senators that has been a leading force in grilling the FAA on this is Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) who asked FAA Administrator Michael Huerta why the ban was still in place when passengers use gadgets on planes all the time with no harm done. It's widely known in DC the ultimate first class flight, on Air Force One, features staffers tapping away at their blackberries for all of the flight.
This led to my favorite quote from the USA Today article on the hearing, "If it's safe enough for the president of the United States, it's safe enough for the flying public," McCaskill said.
Administrator Huerta indicated that an FAA Advisory Committee that was convened to study the issue is expected to issue their recommendations to him in July. Until then...it's all electronics off and put away below 10,000 feet.
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Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us? E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com
Senators have their own personal stake in the issue as they are as much of a group of road warriors as some business folks. They constantly are traveling from their home states to Washington and that often means flights on every Tuesday and Thursday night like clockwork. Their staff knows the schedule of every flight combination going out of DCA on Thursday evenings. So it's fair to say they spend lots of time up in the air and are just as frustrated as the rest of us that you can't use electronics on certain portions of the flight.
One of the Senators that has been a leading force in grilling the FAA on this is Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) who asked FAA Administrator Michael Huerta why the ban was still in place when passengers use gadgets on planes all the time with no harm done. It's widely known in DC the ultimate first class flight, on Air Force One, features staffers tapping away at their blackberries for all of the flight.
This led to my favorite quote from the USA Today article on the hearing, "If it's safe enough for the president of the United States, it's safe enough for the flying public," McCaskill said.
Administrator Huerta indicated that an FAA Advisory Committee that was convened to study the issue is expected to issue their recommendations to him in July. Until then...it's all electronics off and put away below 10,000 feet.
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Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us? E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Different Travel Deals Based On Your Browsing History?
I've heard in the past that when searching for airfare or hotels that sometimes if you clear the "cookies" out of your web browser that you can often get a different price because the website will not know that you are not a new "visitor" searching for that specific flight or property.
Well an article in yesterday's USA Today shows that many airlines and hotels use this practice on a regular basis. They take the data from your web history and use it to see if you are a frequent traveler and then price accordingly. The difference is not startling in most cases, but it's still noticeable and adds up over time, I would imagine. The bigger problem is that it could be considered by some as a form of discrimination because it offers a similar product for a different price based on a set of circumstances that are unknown to the buyer.
But the most shocking part is that there is a move to allow airlines to collect more information to give passengers, "easy access to all of the options to add value to their travel plans." Through collection of demographic information and flight information they say they could fit a travel experience and extra options to a traveler's preferences. But privacy advocates warn that this could amount to a different pricing scheme based on previous purchases, travel profile and other data such as age, nationality, marital status, etc.
I'm not usually someone who minds when a website takes my data and gives me more specific info...I know that makes me strange, but I find it fascinating when I am looking at a pair of glasses or a hotel in a certain city and then suddenly I start seeing ads for that...it just shows how good marketers are becoming. But when it worries me is when you could potentially pay a different price just because of that search history. Will be interesting to watch this issue develop.
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Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us? E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com
Well an article in yesterday's USA Today shows that many airlines and hotels use this practice on a regular basis. They take the data from your web history and use it to see if you are a frequent traveler and then price accordingly. The difference is not startling in most cases, but it's still noticeable and adds up over time, I would imagine. The bigger problem is that it could be considered by some as a form of discrimination because it offers a similar product for a different price based on a set of circumstances that are unknown to the buyer.
But the most shocking part is that there is a move to allow airlines to collect more information to give passengers, "easy access to all of the options to add value to their travel plans." Through collection of demographic information and flight information they say they could fit a travel experience and extra options to a traveler's preferences. But privacy advocates warn that this could amount to a different pricing scheme based on previous purchases, travel profile and other data such as age, nationality, marital status, etc.
I'm not usually someone who minds when a website takes my data and gives me more specific info...I know that makes me strange, but I find it fascinating when I am looking at a pair of glasses or a hotel in a certain city and then suddenly I start seeing ads for that...it just shows how good marketers are becoming. But when it worries me is when you could potentially pay a different price just because of that search history. Will be interesting to watch this issue develop.
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Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us? E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Using Google Maps While Traveling Abroad - Even Without Wi Fi!
Just before our holiday trip to Europe (trip report will be resuming soon, just been a little busy at work the past week or so...silly real life :/) the new Google Maps app for the iPhone came out. One of the best things about the Google Maps website on the computer is that there are options for travel by mass transit which in DC really comes in handy. For that reason I was very excited to see that the new Google Maps for the iPhone featured integration with mass transit.
I didn't realize how nice that would be until we were in Europe and I was curious if it would be able to give us public transit options for the cities that we would be visiting. Boy was I surprised!! Not only did it give me the transit options for trips in each city (Milan, Zurich, Geneva and London) it also gave me options for long distance trains!!!
For instance we took trains between Milan and Zurich as well as Zurich and Geneva. If you wanted to figure out the best way to travel from the Hilton Milan to the Park Hyatt Zurich and arrive tomorrow by midnight you would start by entering your starting and ending points and then enter either the time that you want to depart or arrive. Make sure you have the middle transit option (the tram/bus looking icon) to get the mass transit options.
Once you hit enter you will see the many different options that you have to depart/arrive by the time you designated, a brief overview of what trains, busses or trams you will have to take and how long the trip will take.
Once you found your preferred option you can click on it and it will give you step by step directions on how to get from point A to point B. It will also give you the proper times for each departure in the next step and how long that trip will take. My favorit part, and what's best for a city that you have never been to and may not speak the language, is it gives you how many STOPS you have until your stop!
For this trip it shows that we will walk .2 miles from the Hilton Milan to the Milano Centrale Station and board a European Connector train to Zurich HB. After 7 stops we will get off and transfer to the S2 tram, get off and walk .4 miles until we reach the Park Hyatt Zurich.
The best part is that if you type in the directions before you leave you can still use them without a wireless signal! I would use the hotel wi-fi and get the directions that we needed before we left. Then I would keep the directions open in the maps app and refer to it whenever we would need it!
This proved to be very very valuable because it gave us an idea of where we were going, how many stops it would be, how long it would take and what time we would need to leave to make sure we made it on time. The ultimate test was on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in London when the transit schedule is modified for the holiday and Google out did its self again predicting the times perfectly! This is something you have to try out for yourself and something that can save you many headaches while traveling abroad!
I didn't realize how nice that would be until we were in Europe and I was curious if it would be able to give us public transit options for the cities that we would be visiting. Boy was I surprised!! Not only did it give me the transit options for trips in each city (Milan, Zurich, Geneva and London) it also gave me options for long distance trains!!!
For instance we took trains between Milan and Zurich as well as Zurich and Geneva. If you wanted to figure out the best way to travel from the Hilton Milan to the Park Hyatt Zurich and arrive tomorrow by midnight you would start by entering your starting and ending points and then enter either the time that you want to depart or arrive. Make sure you have the middle transit option (the tram/bus looking icon) to get the mass transit options.
Once you hit enter you will see the many different options that you have to depart/arrive by the time you designated, a brief overview of what trains, busses or trams you will have to take and how long the trip will take.
 |
| Overview of Transit Options |
For this trip it shows that we will walk .2 miles from the Hilton Milan to the Milano Centrale Station and board a European Connector train to Zurich HB. After 7 stops we will get off and transfer to the S2 tram, get off and walk .4 miles until we reach the Park Hyatt Zurich.
 |
| Step By Step Directions |
The best part is that if you type in the directions before you leave you can still use them without a wireless signal! I would use the hotel wi-fi and get the directions that we needed before we left. Then I would keep the directions open in the maps app and refer to it whenever we would need it!
This proved to be very very valuable because it gave us an idea of where we were going, how many stops it would be, how long it would take and what time we would need to leave to make sure we made it on time. The ultimate test was on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in London when the transit schedule is modified for the holiday and Google out did its self again predicting the times perfectly! This is something you have to try out for yourself and something that can save you many headaches while traveling abroad!
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