Archive - December, 2009

Online Travel Agencies & Holiday Shopping

Have you had the travel bug lately? I always do.

I purchased my first airline ticket, a round trip ticket to Seattle to attend college, and used my return flight for the holidays.  I remember going to a travel agency where an actual agent used her database to search for the best deals she could find across various airlines.  It was a big hassle—because I had to physically go to the travel agent, and repeat my trip if deals or desired fares were unavailable.

You can say goodbye to the days of relying on travel agents.  In recent days, the power of searching and purchasing a plane ticket has been turned to consumers.  The travel industry has taken popularity online, through OTAs (aka Online Travel Agencies) where consumers can search and coordinate their own flights and vacation packages.  Kayak.com and Expedia.com are both popular OTAs in the Internet world.  While Expedia has been around longer, Kayak.com is a new face that is making ground and paving a new path.  The matrix at the bottom shows the pros and cons of the two websites.

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Taking a Risk, Checking it Twice

Starbucks is taking marketing to a new level

When it comes to social media marketing, you have to be willing to take a risk or two.  You have to anticipate rolling with the punches, because not every grand idea may drive it to critical mass.

As a long time Seattle resident, I consider myself a coffee snob.  So I find it a bit ironic that I’m sitting at a (decent) coffee shop, writing about the latest social media campaign by Starbucks.  I’ll do my best to stay impartial and keep my tastebuds separate from my marketing judgment.

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