As 2015 year draws to a close the online travel environment remains as competitive as ever

With Expedia acquiring HomeAway, and Marriott tying up with Starwood, November has been a month of continued consolidation and growing competition. Here are some of the stories you may have missed.

1.  Backing from the bulls in the alternative accommodation space

Airbnb is keeping investors hanging on the timing of its IPO but interest in the $100bn alternative accommodations space is growing. While hotel margins remain hefty, in scouting around Sally White finds that many see the best exponential growth prospects as being with the disruptors. Expedia’s acquisition of HomeAway for $3.9billion shows just how important the market for short-term rentals has become. Airbnb is certainly going great guns to pursue it and its aggressive foray into China and India, which White outlines in this piece, adds further grist to the mill.

2.  The trouble with tours, activities and ticketing

In the $50bn market for tours and activities, there is no better person to share insights than Viator CEO Barrie Seidenberg. What Viator, a TripAdvisor company, is working hard to address is the issue of supplier connectivity. It’s easy to see why. Today 90% of T&A are booked in destination and so the pressing issue is getting the technology – and most importantly mobile - right. With so much diversity in the supplier base, there are challenges ahead but they are outweighed by the opportunities, which we explore in this piece.

3.  6 insights to help hotel revenue managers balance a mobile act

Revenue management has changed significantly in recent years and there is a growing focus on total RM but it’s easier said than done. In this piece we hear how Josh Henegar, Corporate Revenue Director, 1859 Historic Hotels, who will be speaking in Atlanta, is addressing some of the issues. He believes that it’s important to think holistically about what is being said about the brand, about individual properties, about the type of offerings on any given day an in every channel. Among the insights we hear are that: not everything is tangible, mobile should be central to the service offering and technology is just one piece of the puzzle.

4.  3 rules for making business emails more effective

Many travel businesses today still rely on email for marketing, but they could be doing it more effectively. Andrew Hennigan explores the subject in more depth and comes up with three ways to do it more effectively. First in an age where ISPs are blocking emails you need to ensure the message is actually delivered. Second you need to keep it brief and finally it’s important to make it user friendly.

5.  How new camera technology could put the thrill into theme park marketing in 2016

In a fun take on the value of the theme park photo, Andrew Hennigan takes a look at how technology and the sharing society are changing the game. He takes a look at how some early adopters are using video cameras mounted on coaster cars to energise their marketing efforts.  Particularly impressive are the new generation of on-ride camera systems, which capture video during the ride and automatically edits it into a short film. This can later be shared to platforms like YouTube or Facebook giving parks a welcome publicity boost.

To find out how to survive and thrive in this competitive environment why not join us in 2016 to hear insights from a wide of range of insightful and inspiring travel industry executives