Travel A TripAdvisor study of over 5,000 European vacationers found that 34% can’t live without their mobile devices. Tnooz UK study finds that 86% of overseas and 91% of domestic travel transactions are influenced by social media and online review sites. Travolution Orbitz: 65% of same day hotel bookings are made through mobile devices. Hotel…

Travel Roomkey In a move sure to displease some of its constituents, Roomkey, the booking referral system started by six hotel chains, has added TripAdvisor reviews. Some hoteliers criticize TripAdvisor, claiming that reviews can be entered by people who haven’t actually stayed at a property or who are biased (e.g., competitors, disgruntled employees). Roomkey also…

Travel UX: I really like this airline ticket price graph. It’s just a simple price over time plot with hover-over flight details, but if price is important and your dates are flexible, you can see at a glance your best times to fly. It’s so simple and obvious that others have probably executed similar interfaces.…

Travel The Need for Speed. User survey data shows 8% abandoned transactions because of slow site response. This one is interesting because it confirms what we already knew from a/b tests, but the data came from direct user feedback. Due to non-response bias, their estimate of the global cost of slow sites is problematic unless…

Travel Orbitz/CheapTickets brings back air-booking fees, offers customer 10% off room bookings in return. Orbitz Worldwide was forced to follow Expedia in dropping the fees in 2009, but is now trying to reintroduce them in a way that customers will accept. It remains to be seen if the tactic will be successful. Competitors like Expedia…

Travel Infographic: How mobile technology is changing travel. I don’t usually link to infographs, but this one is really informative and strategically important for travel professionals. Tnooz Interesting use case: WorldMate’s travel apps allow you to view which of your LinkedIn connections are in the proximity of your destination during your travel dates. Tnooz There…

Travel TripAdvisor promotion incentivizes users to submit hotel reviews in return for frequent flyer miles. A promotion was run in India last year and another is currently running in Germany. In theory this should not bias reviews because, unlike some hotel loyalty program schemes, reviewers receive the rewards regardless of whether the review is positive…

Travel   Gratuitous click bait: BudgetTravel feature on the 35 Cutest Zoo Babies of 2012. BudgetTravel I previously mentioned La Quinta’s mobile website Instant Hold feature that lets travelers make last minute room reservations using only their mobile phone numbers. They’ve now rolled out the same feature to their mobile apps. Tnooz In a recent…

Travel If you haven’t checked out Trippy.com, a social travel experience/aspiration site, have a look. Its Facebook integration makes it easy to get started and features like a bucketlist keep people engaged. It has been nominated for a Webby award for Best Travel Website this year. foxnews Tnooz wonders if Expedia is conceding the hotel…

Tech Microsoft exceeds analysts’ estimates with $17.41 billion Q3 revenue Seattle Times Mac OS X invulnerability to malware is a myth, says security firm ars technica Verizon shared data plans coming mid-summer. As any family with multiple smartphones knows, these are long overdue. engadget Smoking gun email in Oracle v. Google case? CNET Smartphone chip…