Hotel Blogs by Guillaume Thevenot

Interview with Ashwin Kamlani from AboutAnywhere.com

Did you ever think that one day somebody will be able to list your hotel on their website for free? Well, AboutAnywhere.com can do that and started an alternative model to online distribution in order to drive more traffic to hotel own websites. You can add your hotel by filling the form and it’s your choice to communicate as much info as possible to feature on the site.

So how about making money? They took the Google PPC model and implemented on the site meaning if you are an hotelier and you want a better placement, you can purchase a placement to feature on the top.
Sounds like a good idea but it is achievable long term? The future will tell us.

I can’t wait to see how Ashwin team will deal with hotels when you have for instance 20 placements on Paris and everyone wants the top position? How is it going to work? Bidding model?

Find out more about AboutAnywhere.com with an interview conducted with their CEO Ashwin Kamlani.

Other interviews can be found right here.

Interview with Ben Colclough from Tourdust.com

Every EyeforTravel conference I go to, I always meet new entrepreneurs with this innovation flair about how they could disrupt the online travel industry. Ben Colclough is one of those and was short listed to present
his venture at the GetFunded session.

Tourdust is about aggregating niche tour operators excursions/expeditions that hard to find on the web at least in a comprehensive way. Few players (Isango, 10Best) have already launched websites where you can search & book tours, restaurants, guides but Tourdust wants to be even more niche by only consolidating the exceptional adventure excursions with passionate travelers behind the scene.

Find out more about this exciting venture with an interview with Ben.

Other interviews can be found right here.

Interview with Leo Koivulehto from TripSay.com at Le Web08

My last interview at Le Web held in Paris on the 9th and 10th December 08.

TripSay.com is a Finish company that looks at helping travel planning online where you can share tips and exchange with your friends what you've enjoyed in a visited destination. Leo Koivulehto is co founder and chairman of TripSay.com.

Other interviews can be found right here. 

Interview with Giorgio & Antonio from Tripshake.com at Le Web08

TripShake is a London company funded by Giorgio and Antonio in June 08 that has just opened their doors with an alpha version of their website.

Their core product is a Q & A (Questions and Answers) engine where travelers can ask travel agents and destinations specialists any questions they may have for their future trip. This is the first time I hear about a a social portal where travellers can connect with travel professionals.

Other interviews are available here.

Interview with Antonio Bonnano TripShake @ Le Web08, Paris

Interview with Faisal Galaria from Kayak at Le Web08

Among different interviews conducted during Le Web conference in December 08, I have spent some time with Faisal Galaria, Managing Director Europe of Kayak.com, the leader in travel search engines (Beatrice from Mobissimo claims at Le Web in a French interview she's number 2 now).

I have asked Faisal what are the challenges that he encounters when developing the brand Kayak in Europe. Shame I was carried away with the interview, I wish I could ask him some questions about Travelpost and how SideStep acquisition was necessary to drive traffic up in Europe. Next time...

Interview with Faisal Galaria, Kayak @ Le Web08, Paris
Uploaded by HotelBlogs

Interview with Daniele Beccari from Isango at Le Web08

Isango is a fairly new venture in the travel space who recently raised $8M from VCs like Spark Ventures (who backed Lastminute.com in the early days). The company was created by the former Ebookers director Ranjan Singh.

The company aggregates all the different travel experiences that a traveler might be interested to book in advance prior to his trip. Things like trekking, day tour of Paris on a Segway, wine tasting, cooking lessons are among different activities you can find on the website. They already have a different strategy of positioning their offers from one country to another.  They compete directly with DoSomethingDifferent.com.

I believe this will be an interesting company to watch in the next year. Their value proposition complements other websites that solely concentrate on obvious travel components such as Air, Hotel, Car and Tranfers (and Trains sometimes).

I have asked Daniele Beccari, VP Operations for Europe, how Isango is making money, their growth looking forward, what are the things they will concentrate for next year and also how easy it was to raise capital from VCs in Q1 this year.

Zoover in the spotlight at Le Web08 in Paris last week.

Zoover is a Dutch venture with 2 years of experience who aims to be the next European TripAdvisor. But it doesn't aggregate only hotel reviews. The portal allows you to review your whole holiday experience (restaurant, excursions, transfers and of course hotels).

Zoover, one of the few travel related companies at Le Web08 was selected among the 30 start ups to compete last Tuesday. And Zoover delivered a great presentation - without an Internet access - in front of a thousands people.

Raphael Lucien was representing Zoover France and I have asked him a few questions about their expension plan, their business model. They really have some impressive growth figures, just look at their presentation and you will see why. The competition judges were particularly impressed by the fact the company is profitable in Germany and Netherlands and that they have a nice ambitious plan for next year.

Who said that you couldn't deliver an alternative proposition to the American TripAdvisor...

 

Video Interview with Ric Leutwyler, President of Utell Hotels & Resorts

Last week at the World Travel Market, I had the opportunity to spend a little bit of time with Ric Leutwyler, the newly appointed President of Utell Hotels & Resorts (part of Pegasus).

Topics covered:

- Is Utell a hotel chain or a representation company or both?
- What is a difference between Unirez and Utell?
- What's new with the reservation platform?
- How their B2C hotelbook.com can compete with the big OTAs of this world with a much largest budget in terms of advertising (PPC campaigns, offline...)

- Can any hotel join Utell?
- How do they advise hotels to pay attention to hotel reviews
- What are the key selling points for a travel agent to book Utell hotels vs other hotel chains
- How the Utell brand is presented at the hotel property

Enjoy. As always, if you wish to be interviewed by Hotel Blogs, drop me an email. If you wish to view the video in High Quality click on the HQ button on the right hand side of the video player.

Interview Ric Leutwyler, Utell Hotels & Resorts
Uploaded by HotelBlogs

Video Interview #11 with Brian Garvan from Choice Hotels Europe

Enjoy this interview with Brian Garvan , Director of Sales UK for Choice Hotels Europe. Brian shares with us the different brands positioning within the group and their development focus in Europe.

I have conducted this interview in September in London.

Other interviews can be found here.

If you wish to be interviewed by Hotel Blogs, do not hesitate to contact me or leave me your message on the comments box.

Interview Brian Garvan Choice Hotels Hotel Blogs
Uploaded by HotelBlogs

Video Interview #10 with Yohan Benque from Bedbazar.com

Enjoy this interview with Yohan Benque , co-founder of Bedbazar.com, a re-born start up company that help home /  apartments owners around the world to be put in contact with short term tenants travellers wishing to stay in alternative lodgings outside hotels.

I have conducted this interview on the 7th of June in Paris.

Other interviews can be found here.

If you wish to be interviewed by Hotel Blogs, do not hesitate to contact me or leave me your message on the comments box.

Interview #10 - Yohan Benque @ Bedbazar.com
Uploaded by HotelBlogs