Sorry, had to post this snippet from a SideStep press release this afternoon:

"SideStep, Inc. (www.sidestep.com), the Web's leading travel search engine..."

Well, hey, adding activities - which they just did - might be super-dee-duper and all as Brian says, but, um, Rob, you better gimme a puff of that when you are done, and then go check your reach numbers. It's clearly making you kids light-headed.

Tags: sidestep, travel

I spent the afternoon with a few hundred other Canadian digi-types at the first-ever  Sympatico-msn Digital Ad Summit. First off, props to those mesh-sponsoring msn kids for pulling off a very strong event (nice work, Patrick - and thanks for the invite) and for attracting a very tech-savvy crowd. As a co-founder of mesh, and other big events in past lives, I have a deep appreciation of the, um, challenges of event production and this one came off very well.

Also kudos for presenting a very strong line-up, though I must say that Bob Garfield was a disappointment. I was actually really looking forward to hearing the whole Chaos Theory he espouses (and I subscribe to) regarding the implications of the turmoil in mass media, broadcasting and advertising. Unfortunately, he likely should have been stopped at the border. His talk, while rich in good stuff, was overshadowed by a condescending tone, out-of-touch Canada vs. US quips and punch lines which fell tortilla-flat. He seemed tremendously out of touch with the fact that his audience were among the most tech with-it folks in Canada. As opposed to those in, oh I don't know, North Korea, who might have been more likely to marvel at his digi-smart pronouncements. Shame.

That said, Steve Rubel kicked it (he's back in 2 weeks at mesh) as did Jeff Cole (whom my wife and I will have the pleasure of dining with tomorrow night. Oh boy, talking 'net future with the man presiding over all that data, while enjoying a nice bottle of Rioja? I'm like a kid with candy :-)). The gentleman from France who discussed mobile and media was fascinating, and while they are clearly miles ahead over there, I still can't get past thinking that we are at least three years away from it really taking off here.

Mark was there with me and shares his thoughts on Cole's talk. In all,  it was a great and thought-provoking event.

Tags: msn, sympatico, steverubel, jeffcole, bobgarfield, mesh06tags

One of the things we will be exploring at mesh is the impact that social media and the interaction that web 2.0 is enabling is having on politics and society.

In the US, for instance, political blogs have almost become mainstream, with some sporting weekly reach and unique visitors numbers which exceed all but a handful of major newspapers. The Huffington Post, Captain's Quarters...the list goes on and on, and the influence grows.

Not to mention the role that the web has played in political party politics Stateside. Dean for America, (now Democracy for America) Howard Dean's site during his last, ill-fated run for the Democratic nomination, has become viewed as the model for how to use the web efficiently for engagement and fund-raising. At it's peak, people were *paying*  to watch Dean eat a hotdog. Yup, really.

Canada is far away from that. In fact, you could say that there is huge evidence that Canadian political parties, steeped in senior back-room leadership who still might well have people print their emails for heaven's sake, are far out of that loop, despite superficial attempts to look like they aren't. Personally, I think unless that changes, they will have their communal butts handed to them online within two years.

In any event, politics and society is up for discussion at mesh. I have a post up on the mesh blog, and Rob Hyndman who is running that stream has some thoughts here. Mark and Mathew  also chime in. Mike just added a nice post about how his Dad is prime for taking his political thoughts online.

Hope to continue the conversation with you at mesh.

Tags: mesh06tags, politics, web2.0, blogging

News last night over Google-tinis at their party (thanks Wendy !) that my good friend and former co-conspirator at Expedia, Simon Breakwell, has joined the multiple chute-pullers and is leaving.

Simon was one of the original guys, and for maaaaaany years he (a former British Airways guy) and I (veteran of various and sundry travel gigs) were the only travel types at a senior level in the company (Update: while there were ultimately many smart travel people at Expedia, for me I often think of - and I think I am remembering this well - Barry Diller asking Erik Blachford if Expedia had any travel types and Erik saying something like "yeah we have a couple of them - Simon and Stuart." Something like that anyway). He also made the silly decision to hire me back in the day :-)

Simon leaves his role as President of Expedia Europe, and though he is staying on the EXPE Board, his departure and those of two others I also just learned of leaves *one* of the original team still in place - Barney - by my reckoning.

Simon, Happy trails, mate. Enjoy that bike and don't be a stranger. I'll save you and Matt some benchspace in MUC :-)

During yesterday's first CIRA Nominating Committee meeting in Ottawa, the other members elected me Chairman. I am honoured, to say the least. The opportunity to influence the future of the .ca domain is one I relish.

Over the coming few months, we are charged with finding prospective Board Members, who reflect the cultural and professional diversity of Canada.

Could that be you? If so, I'd love to hear from you.

Tags: cira

Posting via 'berry from Pearson T3 this AM. I've been selected to be on the Nomination Committee for CIRA, the folks who run the .ca domain (think: ICANN for Canada). Today is my first meeting.

Travel details: Flying WestJet booked directly on their site after a search via Kayak. Thank goodness I did the online check-in, as the line up here was horrific. Doing that last night got me row 2, aisle.

Car rental a pre-paid from Budget via my peeps at Expedia.ca, after checking them, Hotwire and Priceline.

In this case, Priceline would have been 20%+ more and Hotwire about 25%.

Tags: CIRA, westjet, expedia, budget

In case you didn't really "get" this whole global technology / world-is-flat thing, you should check out Tara's BarCamp Bangalore pics on Flickr.

Technorati tags: barcamp, barcampbangalore

It's funny. This morning, as I was getting the family breakfast and dealing with overnight email (about 30 new emails on a Sunday morning - how is that? Anyway...). So there I was struggling to hear the San Marino Grand Prix from the kitchen. F1 is a Sunday morning ritual around here - our 5 year old girl could say "Schumacher" before many other words. Needless to say, I was sooo wishing that I could be watching it on the laptop.

Well, of course I can. I just need to get a Slingbox. And now that Mark has blazed a trail, maybe it's time for me to do the same. Though it sounds like setup was brutal.

Of course, I might also need to upgrade from basic cable...

Technorati tags: slingbox, gadgets

Dude has quite the itinerary, and is sharing his commentary around his experiences getting the travel arranged.

Apparently it can be a confusing and aggravating process, and you can't be sure that you are getting the best deal or a complete view of everything that's available right away.

GASP! Who knew? :-)

Tags: travel

Of course Steve makes a bunch of good points, but the caption caught me. Appears that we Canadians sure are orderly...

Well, maybe not. But certainly worth aiming for, no? At least that's the hope we have for mesh, the little shin-dig me'n the boys are pulling together for mid May here in Toronto. I am frankly pleased to see some pushback from Euan Semple on the whole unconference meme that has been floating around of late. Not to say that an unconference is a bad idea, but rather that saying it is the only way is as bad as saying *anything* is the only way.

Mathew seems to be of the same view, and Mark has a nice laundry list of what he's like to see. We are trying for a lot of that. My comment on the mesh blog here. Also, seems that mesh-er to-be Stowe Boyd is in the Euan camp (or should that be "Camp" as in "XxxxCamp"?).

Us? Well, we are trying for balance and thoughtfulness, being structured enough for newbies to be able to "get it" while being flexible and conversational enough to be engaging.

Will it be a spectacular train wreck? Hope not.

Technorati tags: mesh06links, web2.0, conference

Lots of talk today about the money going into the current wave of next-gen start-ups. Fair enough I guess, but I still come back to first principles:

1. Is it profitable, or can it be without much squinting?

2. Is it sustainable, within a reasonable expectation?

3. Does it matter to customers?

Some of these things do hit those three filters, but many of them? Hardly, and they stand a strong chance of being filed in the feature-not-business pile, or the that-was-cool-once pile.

As Om points out, there should be a difference between the "do it" boom and any potential investment boom. The ability to "do it" - lean, mean and smart - is what has made this go-round that much more exciting.

And as Mark says, it sure does feel like this is becoming a lot like Bubble 1.0.

If this rebirth of online suffers the same fate as the first go-around, well, that would be a shame.

Technorati tags: web2.0

I've thought a lot about Google taking a serious run at the Travel category over the past few years. Mostly because that's part of what I was paid to do, and also because it makes a lot of sense. So I was interested to see Mathew Ingram's piece in today's Globe and Mail (which seems to have spun out of this blog posting) where he talks at length about the prospect. For the most part, I think he got it right.

For one thing, Google certainly has designs on being a portal, if their recent moves with Finance and Real Estate are any indication. Beyond that, their competitors are already there in Travel, sorta, with Yahoo!FareChase leading the way and msn Travel (in typical Microsoft fashion) representing a half-step towards a fully integrated travel "thing". As well, there is a lot of money at play, both from an ad and a distribution cost perspective, and they have reason to want to maximize it. Finally, if they have been nervous about upsetting the ad-revenue apple cart in the travel category (huge numbers) that nervousness has likely been reduced by things like IAC's purchase of Ask.com. IAC maintains a controlling interest in Expedia, and with this purchase is both a big customer of, and a direct competitor to, Google.

However, I think that there is a big difference between Google ramping up their travel "experience" and them actually fully taking on the OTAs. In terms of them having some multi-site search experience and sending traffic from that to an OTA or a supplier (airline, hotel etc.). that seems like a pretty obvious thing. Suppliers would love it, and the competitive gauntlet has already been thrown down.

But actually selling travel? Yikes. Why would they? Call centres, rules and regs, etc. etc. Easier to just further solidify their role as gate-keeper, and take advantage of the lack of loyalty and brand meaning that these guys have to crank out the ad money.

Also, worth noting that most of this applies less here in Canada. For a bunch of reasons, the OTA and Supplier landscape is different and it is less likely that the existing dominant players here (Expedia.ca, AirCanada.com and WestJet.com) would suffer or benefit much from such a move by Google. Why? Well, the competition is lighter here, they often have exclusive inventory, offer pricing of global inventory in Canadian dollars, work better and have brand meaning that brings a lot of business direct.

Technorati tags: google, yahoo, travel, expedia, travelocity, orbitz, aircanada, westjet

I just wrote the following over on the mesh blog. I sort of liked it, so I thought I'd add it here, too:

Lots of talk today about whether money can be made from blogging, with the WSJ publishing a story on it (just the type of story to get the often-inward-looking blogosphere fired into a navel gazing frenzy. But I digress :-)).

I guess it sort of depends on who and how you ask, right? I mean, if you were to ask many of the folks coming to speak at mesh, who happen to blog, whether "blogging makes money" many of them would likely say "Not directly, but indirectly? You better believe it."

I mean, think of the untold millions spent on traditional advertising and PR to create just the type of profile and voice that some people have built for themselves and their businesses via blogging and social media. How can you tally the value of creating your own soapbox? In traditional media, I guess overall marketing efficiency metrics are viewed as the most important gauge of the effectveness of spend, but can one really say, categorically, that traditional PR "makes money"? It's tough. But when put in that context? Wow, blogging "makes money" in spades.

Does it do so directly? Not often. Just like only PR practicitioners, by a tight definition, are the only ones who directly "make money" from PR. But indirectly? Bloggers, their organizations and PR firms Clients, without question.

That's the way to look at it, I think.

Dave Winer comments here, mesh speaker Paul Kedrosky here, and mesh speaker Scott Karp here. Mark thinks aloud here, Mathew has some great points here.

Certainly food for discussion in the marketing and PR streams at mesh.

Technorati tags: blogging, wsj, web2.0, mesh06links

This is something I want to get into more deeply, but for now Steve Rubel has a great wrap-up on a session he attended this morning with a bunch of US broadcasting, advertising and marketing execs. The gist? In the US, some of the biggest TV execs still can't wrap their heads around the idea of micro-markets - not really, anyway - and some big marketers are getting ready to take a leap.

All by way of putting the challenge that all these media changes are creating for those who need to deliver a message and those who, historically, have been paid to do that in quantity into yet more perspective.

Hopefully this is something we will dive into more deeply when Steve joins me on-stage 1:1 at mesh on May 15th and 16th in Toronto.

Technorati tags: marketing, media, web2.0

We are back from our quick trip to Nova Scotia with the girls, and I said I'd let you know how the car rental from Priceline.com worked out. Well, as much as the sentimental me would like to say it was lousy, I can't. It was flawless, including us receiving an upgrade to a Ford Escape SUV.

The only issue was that when we got back to the airport for our very-early departure this morning, neither the gas station on the way in nor the Hertz counter were open, so I had to drop the keys and leave the truck with the tank half-empty. We will have to see what ultimately hits the credit card, but as I sit here today, I am a very satisfied customer.

Technorati tags: priceline, travel

More coolness from my buds at Zillow.com. My friend Lloyd Frink, Zillow President and my former Expedia.com colleague, announced that they are now offering close-to 3-D images, using MS Virtual Earth and Pictometry technology. Picotometry, apparently, is flying Cessnas above the USA taking these very cool pictures.

Always fun to read the Zillow blog, and see all the familiar names. And hey, when the crew who helped change how millions plan and purchase travel decide to turn their hand to real estate...? Giddy-up.

More discussion on TechCrunch and Search Engine Watch.

Keep it up, Lloyd, Rich, Spencer, David, Stan, Theresa, Amy, Mike, Garrett...phew. Man, is there *anybody* left in Bellevue? ;-)

Technorati Tags: zillow, web 2.0

From the look of most blog trackers today, you'd think that Larry and Sergei had finally developed the ability to walk on water and part the seas. Um, no, though they have launched an online Calendar tool which Om says is "quite capable." But, as my friend John Battelle says, the real deal here is that Calendar is further evidence of the portal-ization of Da GOOG. It's all coming together: The Pack, Base, Earth, Local, Google Finance, Google Real Estate. And, dare I say that my take on the aol deal is further evidence, too. Google needs to diversify revenue streams, and be in a position to hoover up more of the ad dollars that are heading their way as mass media continues to falter.

So I doubt that Calendar is The Answer, but it is part of the puzzle being solved before our eyes.

Mark Evans' thoughts ("part of a bigger picture") here, Steve Rubel's ("it's great") here.

Amen and hallelujah, I say.

Update: Paul Kedrosky has a good highlight/lowlight roundup here.

Updated Gratuitous plug: Om and Steve and Paul are all keynoting at mesh, Canada's next-generation web conference, of which I am a co-founder.

Technorati tags: google, calendar, mesh06links

News today on the Yahoo! blog of the new-and-improved Yahoo! FareChase. I just checked it out and have one word: Wow.

The hotel integration is tremendous. They are pulling from snazzy tools like Flickr and various user generated reviews, are shoveling reach to multiple possible sellers, snapping in some very cool satellite imagery, and are even managing to maintain good integration with their legacy "partner," Travelocity. Lots more revenue potential for Yahoo!, more selling opportunities for others including the supplier, and a richer customer experience. A win all around.

So, where oh where is Troogle? Calling Mountainview! Jane? Hello?

More discussion here and here.

Tags: yahoo, yahoo farechase, travelocity, google

Just blogged about this cool thing we are doing at mesh. Each day, we will have three people take to the stage for five minutes each, to talk about the cool thing they are doing, pitch for VC money - whatever. All the details here.

Mathew blogs it here, Mike here, Mark here.

You don't want to miss this. If you haven't done so, register today.

Technorati tags: mesh06links, web 2.0, conference, toronto

I took the car today for the first time in a long time, and ended up driving westbound on the Gardiner. Big news! Looks like Travelocity.ca has changed their mega-billboard down there. And now? It's almost legible! You can almost make out the name, barely read the scrolling text, and marvel at that stupid frickin' gnome  there, bigger than life. Stupid, stupid, awful, supremely-poorly-testing, ugly, obnoxious gnome.

At the exact same time I am passed by one of the gorgeous Expedia.ca buses, in all it's completely perfect, screaming yellow, crisp, clear, made-in-Canada, right-in-context, plane-and-globe branding glory.

It was one of those moments when you just sorta "get" why, in Canada, Expedia won and Travelocity lost. And soooo badly, to boot. With due respect to Sam, Michelle, and the rest of the Sabre crew in Dallas, they just pooched it royally  up here. It was theirs to lose, and they did.

And yeah, I'm biased. Proud of it. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Technorati tags: travelocity, expedia, online travel, travel, gnome

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I just blogged about us selecting The Delta Chelsea as Host Hotel for mesh. Renovated rooms, WiFi available, great location near MaRS. All details here. Mathew blogs it here and Mark here. Let's mesh...

Technorati tags: mesh06links

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It really isn't my plan to talk about only online travel here, but this post on The Internet Stock Blog caught my eye.

Seems Stifel Nicolaus analyst Scott Devitt downgraded Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) to “Hold” yesterday, due, among other things, his view that there is a revenue risk associated with their Worldspan CRS deal.

Now, going into detail around the arcane and obtuse workings of CRS agreements, kick-backs, regulations and money flows just isn't going to happen here. But, broadly speaking, is the reduction in CRS revenue, and conversely cost associated with direct-connect a real issue and challenge for any online player, especially one reliant on another party for said revenues?

Damn right it is.

Technorati tags: expedia

Somebody check the weather, because it could be that Hell has frozen over. Why? Well, I just made my first purchase on Priceline.com - and I am feeling pretty good about it. Now, as the guy who wrote the business plan for Expedia.ca and then was Chief Marketing Officer for Expedia.com, that's pretty scary stuff.

Here's the deal. We are heading to Halifax for Easter with the Grandparents, and as such need flights and a car. Well, for flights we had pretty specific requirements, so we went the traditional route (which in this case meant booking directly at AirCanada.com because it was $600 cheaper than on Expedia or anywhere else, but in fairness that's not always the case. Frequently, the online agencies have better deals, depending in when and where you travel - just not this time). We don't need a hotel, but do need a car. I went to Expedia.ca, Travelocity.ca, Hotwire.com (an "opaque" or you-don't-know-what-you've-bought-until-you-buy-it part of the Expedia family) and finally, to Priceline.com.

With due respect to my friends in the business, when you are picking a rental car up at an airport for a leisure trip, a rental is a rental. Though I do value the service bells and whistles when I am on business, when I travel on my own dime I will gladly trade a little convenience for savings. And for an airport pickup, you know who the choices might be, so what's the big fear?

So, in a nutshell? Priceline beat the pants off of everybody else. By a mile. And they have a neat little tool that guides your bid into likely-to-be-accepted territory. And I ended up getting the car from Hertz.

So, what will happen when I get there? Will it all be awful? Will I regret having done this? Will I hate William Shatner more than I do now?

We shall see. I will provide a full report when I get back.

Technorati tags: priceline, expedia, travelocity, online travel, william shatner

News today the WestJet has entered the Canadian pre-paid air pass fray, in the wake of Air Canada launching a major push for their smorgasbord of passes, which have actually been around for a while now. Lot's of coverage of these moves over the last while, especially since it marks AC's first big advertising push in many years, and the first move into this space for WS.

But hold up for juuuuust a second. Despite all the gushy commentary, it's not like this idea is new. Hardly. It's been around for as long as airline bankruptcy (read: a long time). But in this case, that actually doesn't make it a bad idea.

But first, a brief walk down memory lane. Passes are a tried and true, though usually last-ditch, airline sales tactic. Some might recall how Royal Airlines went nuts selling passes just before they went out of business. Sad fact is, over the years many carriers in trouble have offered deep discounts to buyers who were willing to pay-now / fly-later, in order to add much-needed cash to their coffers. Sadly, in some cases, this effort amounted to little more than a short-term revenue infusion on the road to business failure.

Not to say that's what is happening here. In fact, in this case, this is a really smart move on the part of both AC and WS. Why? Well, it kills multiple birds with one stone. To wit:

1)     They get the revenue now. This is good.

2)     They get "breakage," or segments bought and not used. This is VERY good as it represents pure margin.

3)     The passes can only be accessed and reserved-against online at the airline's own sites. While they can be                 *purchased* from offline agents, the traveller needs to go to the carriers' site to book them, and they are not             available via online agents. This is GREAT for the carriers, who, like most travel sellers, are anxious to pull             business direct and see ring-fencing inventory as key. Given that most online sites don't get access to the                 lowest airline fares already, this just makes that problem worse.

4)     Their costs are much less. Having customers make the bookings online-direct reduces sales commissions and         CRS (reservations system) fees.

5)     They make it harder for travellers to compare alternatives, especially on US routes. If travellers buy passes in         advance for travel to the States, they are less likely to check other carrier alternatives (which most do via                 online agency sites), which may be less expensive or more convenient.

6)     For WestJet, offering a super discount on Eastern Triangle flights (Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal) enables them to         pre-buy market share, without putting a low-ball price out in the open market.

Another interesting thing about WS' move is that they raised the bar by making their passes transferable. So, it seems that a company could buy a bunch and use them for multiple travellers. Or, a family could buy them and dole them out to kids attending university in another city or to Grandparents to come in for a visit. This has definite appeal. It will be interesting to see if AC follows.

All in, this pass war raises the bar in the battle not just between the carriers themselves, but between the carriers and their online distributors.

Game on.

Technorati Tags: air canada, westjet, online travel, travel

Okay, so admittedly this isn't really another full-on restatement, but jeez-louise are those Nortel kids up in Brampton ever going to stop with the Chinese water torture? The Globe and Mail reports that they have found more that they need to change since announcing their most recent restatement, and my friend Mark talks about some of the likely reasons why they are doing it, but still.

For many, Nortel has gone from little credibility, to no crediblity, to "well it's just too silly to even be surprised at this point."

What a shame for a once-impressive Canadian global leader.

Technorati tags: nortel

Well it bloody well took them long enough. After, what, five-ish years and a rumoured $50 million, Air Canada's little dotcom pipe-dream-in-the-sky is no more. Destina.ca was to be Canada's answer to Orbitz - an airline-owned online travel service for everything in travel, selling not just Air Canada but other carriers as well as hotels, car rentals etc. Theory went, back in the heady days of dotcom mania V1, that they would Rule The World, or at least have real skin in the Canadian online travel game, and then be spun off for untold millions in IPO manna.

Riiiiight.

Well, let's recap, shall we? The site sucked, WestJet wouldn't give them inventory, the marketing was abyssmal, they relied on points-hounds for most of their business, much of their inventory came from competitors, and - oh ya - September 11th took the wind out of AC's sails, just a wee bit (CCAA, anyone? Ringing a bell?).

In some ways it's a shame.Well, for their competitors, anyway. Maintaining some effort on that piece on online silliness meant they diverted some of their under-powered-and-financially-limited-to-begin-with focus from AirCanada.com in order to keep it on life support. Seems like that is finally over.

Technorati tags: air canada, westjet, online travel, travel, orbitz

So they tell me I should blog, so here I am. Blogging, on my own - not-yet-perfect - blog. Let's see what becomes of it.