A Spanish social media conference in London

by Steve Keenan

This week, there was a conference in London organised by Spanish social media enthusiast Juan Otero. It was called turismo.as and was the first of its type outside Spain. I was asked to moderate one of the four sessions but didn’t really know what to expect. This is what I discovered:

1. Two new acronyms
Sofia Panaylotaki of MediaCo started it - PROI. You can work it out. Then it was Nigel Huddleston, Industry Head Travel at Google, with the rise and rise of hotel enquiries on mobile (phone and tablet) - the fablet.

2. Video on the up
No surprise there - but lots of love at the conference. Pedro Jareno of Spanish travel planner site Minube: “There is nothing like video to inspire.”

3. Late bookings are in - but industry not up to speed
Annie Wilson, UK managing director of Kayak said 90% of bookings for one online travel agent she knows are within seven days of arrival - but that many OTAs don’t have an online app.

4. And mobile on the up
Joel Brandon-Bravo, CEO UK of Travelzoo, said recent surveys showed 6% of searches were on mobile. That has risen to 18% - and on the day, he checked and found the figure had risen to 27%. “We are inspired to go there - and then find a reduced version of a website that is the worst experience imaginable.” Kayak and Travelzoo are having to sit down with suppliers to sort out their mobile websites. Google’s Huddlestone added that 30% of enquiries of hotel enquiries are now on phone or tablet (Fablet) - but that people still prefer to book on desktop or tablet (Fablet). And he went on to say that 65% of enquiries on a phone for hotels are within 24 hours of arrival.

5. Call to Click
Travelzoo’s Joel pointed out a neat trick: with all that action on mobile, many sites - including NH Hotels, the hosts - put a Call to Click button on mobile as a better alternative to having to click through to an aggregator site like Hotels.com. (Travelzoo also using Feefo.com for customer feedback on trips).

6. Email marketing
Travelzoo again - now making emails better targeted., such as putting relevant deals from local airports - eg., not giving email subscribers in Manchester departures from Gatwick.

7. Maps
On the rise on mobile. Huddlestone said people are checking to see where the hotel or apartment is when sourcing places to stay on mobile. “We are in the early stages of mapping - we are now looking at maps of airports, for example.”

8. Augmented reality
Lots of chat about this - why has it taken years for Layar to get going? Talk of Google Goggles. But the slow progress, agreed by everybody, has put many off. “Put your money in actual reality - not augmented,” added Brandon-Bravo.