20 Blogs about Travel...#16 - TourismInternetMarketing

My 16th interview was conducted with Jens Thraenhart who writes the excellent TourismInternetMarketing blog

1/ For how long have you been blogging?

I finally created my own personal blog this past holidays, and launched the site on December 31, 2006 (just before celebrating New Year's Eve).  I have been planning to have my own blog since I first started looking at this space about three years back when I headed up e-commerce for Fairmaont Hotels & Resorts.  During that time I co-founded WOW.travel, which was an online magazine about the most amazing hotelexperiences in the world (we recently merged that site with Kiwi Collection, a publisher of coffe-table books and an online directory of luxury hotels). Now, being responsible for E-Marketing and CRM for Canada Tourism, I thought it is timely to share my thoughts about how to leverage the power of the Internet as a marketing medium in the travel industry (a goal I also had when founding the HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Organization - www.travelinternetmarketing.org). 

2/ What is your blog about?

The blog are my own personal thoughts around e-strategy, customer relationship management, consumer and marketing trends,  in the hospitatlity and tourism industry.

3/ What is your blogging platform and why did you choose it?

I am using Serendipity (http://www.s9y.org).  Serendipity is similar to other well-known weblog scripts like Moveable Type or Wordpress. I chose the system (not only because it is a German software and I am German) but more importantly since it is supported by my hosting provider.  I like it so far, and haven't had any problems so far.  I played around with Blogger and Typepad, but it didn't give me the control I was looking for.

4/ Your top 3 hotels you have stayed in? 

This is difficult, since I have stayed in so many, and as past Chairman of  Wow.travel, I got exposed to a lot of amazing properties. One of my favorite hotels is definately the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise ( www.fairmont.com/lakelouise) . I also would point out the Heli-Hiking/Skiing Bugaboo Lodge ( http://www.canadianmountainholidays.com/areas/bugaboos_hike/ ), which had the opportunity to experience in the summer.  Other favorite hotels would probably be the Shangri-La in Hong-Kong ( http://www.shangri-la.com/hongkong/island/en/index.aspx ) and the Zannos Melathron Hôtel in Santorini, Greece (http://www.relaischateaux.com/en/search-book/hotel-restaurant/zannos/ ).  And then there is thee hotel, I really realy want to visit when I can find some time.  Cornell Classmate Jason Friedman just opened the Four Seasons Tent Camp, Golden Triangle (http://www.fourseasons.com/goldentriangle/), which can be reached by riverboat amid Thailand's exotic bamboo jungles.

Four Seasons Tented Camp,  Golden Triangle, Chiang Rai, Thailand

5/ Best Hotel related website

I would say that Sheraton.com has taken an innovative approach to integrating Social Networking and Selling Rooms.  Obviously, I am fond of Fairmont.com (smile), but you can also have a look at my posting " Top 3 Hotel Website Designs of 2006" (http://jensthraenhart.com/cblog/index.php?/archives/57-Top-3-Hotel-Website-Designs-of-2006.html

Thanks for your time Jens and all the best with TourismInternetMarketing. More interviews are available here.

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