US Traveler Technology Trends

According to PhoCusWright’s Traveler Technology report, the top US traveler technology trends are:

- Less than one fourth do all their travel shopping on websites

- More than two thirds are slightly influenced by traveler-generated ratings when making purchase decisions

-43% of mobile phone users are carrying smartphones, and more than a third of mobile users plan to book travel on their phones in the next year

- Close to half of smartphone users are under 35 years old

- Less than a third of touchscreen smartphone users are carrying iPhones

-Seven in 10 are members of an online social network, and membership is stronger among females than males

-Nearly nine in 10 social network users log on weekly or more often

- While over half of social network users are "fans" of companies, less than two in 10 are "fans" of travel companies

- Nearly a third were at least somewhat influenced by comments from people in their online social network when making travel purchase decisions

Telepresence To Reduce 21 Percent Corporate Travel

Telepresence (type of teleconferencing using high definition video and audio and which creates the illusion that meeting participants are in the same room) could lead to an aggregate reduction of 21 percent in corporate travel according to Bernstein Research.It could replace 70 percent of internal travel and 10 percent of external travel over the next 10 to 15 years.

The US telepresence or virtual meeting market will be worth US$ 30 billion in the next decade or within 15 years and almost half of that will be spent by small companies. As part of this shift, major hotel chains such as Marriott and Starwood have started offering telepresence suites in heavy business markets such as Chicago and Hong Kong.

Forrester Research has found that 17 percent of US business travellers have used either videoconferencing or virtual presence in 2009 to reduce business travel. 30 percent of the estimated 6 million to 8 million conference rooms in the US will be telepresence –enabled over the next five years.

Major Forthcoming Events In August 2010

1st - 4th

BTY 2010 - Bourse Touristique de Yaoundé 2010

Yaounde, Cameroon

6th - 15th

International Tour Manager Certification Program

Beijing, China

www.bepaidtotravel.com

12th - 15th

Document.Art - 14th edition of the Festival Document.Art

Tulcea, Romania

www.dokumentarts.ro

20th - 22nd

Travel & Tourism Fair - Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad, India

www.ttfotm.com/ttf/index.html

26th - 28th

ITM - India Travel Mart

New Delhi, India

27th - 29th

Travel & Tourism Fair - Surat

Surat, India

www.ttfotm.com/ttf/index.html

28th - 02nd

XI World Leisure Congress and Leisure Games

ChunCheon, Republic of Korea

www.worldleisure2010.org

30th - 02nd

HOTELGA 2010 International Fair on Equipment, Products
and Gastronomy and Hotelery

Buenos Aires, Argentina

www.hotelga.com

Hotel Brand Ranking 2010 Dominated By Choice Hotels

According to tophotelchains.com, the Hotel Brand Ranking 2010 is dominated by brands of Choice Hotels. The multi-brand hotel operator, Choice Hotels takes up five places in the Hotel Brand Ranking. The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) leads the overall Hotel Brand Ranking 2010. Ranked at 3rd place is Hilton, followed by the group’s own brand Hampton Inn. Wyndham Hotel Group, which is the second largest hotel groups worldwide, ranks in 8th place with its Super 8 brand followed by the Hyatt brand, which is the ninth largest hotel group. The first European hotel brand appears on rank 10: Ibis by Accor. UK’s budget hotel brand Premier Inn comes in 21st place and Europe’s Rezidor Hotel group with the Radisson Blu brand ranks 25th

Hotel Brand Ranking 2010 Largest Hotel Brands By Guest Rooms
Rank	Brand	Hotel Group	No: of Rooms	No: of Hotels
1	Holiday Inn	IHG	240,000	1,319
2	Holiday Inn Express	IHG	188,000	2,069
3	Hilton	Hilton Hotels	181,000	520
4	Hampton Inn	Hilton Hotels	168,000	1,700
5	Comfort Inn	Choice Hotels	164,000	1,980
6	Sheraton	Starwood Hotels	139,000	392
7	Quality Inn	Choice Hotels	136,000	1,354
8	Super 8	Wyndham Wordlwide	125,000	2,100
9	Hyatt	Hyatt Hotels	120,000	399
10	Ibis	Accor Hospitality	102,000	861
11	Crowne Plaza	IHG	101,000	366
12	Motel6	Accor Hospitality	99,000	1,001
13	Mercure	Accor Hospitality	82,000	671
14	Novotel	Accor Hospitality	71,000	395
15	Westin	Starwood Hotels	66,000	170
16	Comfort Suites	Choice Hotels	62,000	618
17	InterContinental	IHG	56,000	166
18	EconoLodge	Choice Hotels	55,000	846
19	Embassy Suites	Hilton Hotels	50,000	200
20	Doubletree	Hilton Hotels	50,000	200
21	Premier Inn	Premier Inn	47,000	578
22	LaQuinta Inns & Suites	LQ Management	47,000	400
23	Barcelo	Barcelo Hotels	46,000	186
24	Clarion	Choice Hotels	45,000	296
25	Radisson Blu	Rezidor Hotel Group	43,000	189
Ranking by www.tophotelchains.com