DIGITAL DEVELOPMENTS IN HOSPITALITY REPORT

Augmented reality for city travelers

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Augmented reality for city travelers

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Internet video and the travel industry

Check out this article about Internet video and the travel industry: http://bit.ly/9KVgHI

Plan your weekend trip with Google Maps

Accor Launches iPhone Application

Customers are now able to make reservations at 3,000 Accor hotels worldwide directly from an iPhone

As of today, accorhotels.com is providing iPhone users with free access to an application that will enable them to reserve a room in any of 3,000 Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Mercure, Novotel, Suitehotel, Adagio, ibis, all seasons, Etap Hotel, Formule 1 and hotelF1 hotels, directly from their iPhone.

Developed with Haiku, a provider of mobile solutions, the easy-to-use application takes advantage of Apple’s intuitive browsing capabilities and offers additional services, including geolocation features that enable users, for example, to search for the nearest hotels or calculate itineraries in real time.

The application also includes a personalised service that memorises current reservations and favourite hotels and synchronizes with the iPhone contacts. When booking via an iPhone, users also benefit from secure payment processing and enjoy access to promotional offers in Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Adagio, Ibis, all seasons, Etap Hotel, hotelF1 and Formule 1 hotels around the world.

The application is already available in five languages (French, English, German, Spanish and Italian).

‘We’re proud to launch this innovative application, which is accessible to 30 million iPhone users,’ said Jean-Luc Chrétien, Executive Vice President, Accor Hotel Marketing and Distribution. ‘This puts our hotel network at the fingertips of iPhone users around the world.’

zzZ iPhone app to Book a hotel

Opportunities for the travel sector online

http://bit.ly/c4Jb0G Check this article on Opportunities for the travel sector online. For example, the article mentions the higher intent to purchase through mobile and Google that announced that a trial of hotel price are going to be listed in Google Maps. Those new tools will allow customers to have all the information they need for their travel in no time. To me, the travel business is really going to change thanks to those tools. We have to "rethink" as professionals the way we work, and take advantage of those new opportunities. What do you think about it?

Here's an example of the Google Maps results for someone who is searching for hotels in New York City: