Blog homeNext week, at the TTI conference on Tuesday (London), I am on the panel asking questions to Yahoo Travel.
I believe its nearly (or is) a full house - so if you haven’t got your ticket yet….. well you had better get on with it.
What sort of questions should I be asking?
- Something about their FireEagle API? (to build location aware applications)
- Any more plans for their trip planner (as itinerary sharing sites seem to be top of the pops at the moment)
- Something about search? (too dull)
- Does selling Kelkoo mean that Yahoo have no plans for travel meta-search? [Kelkoo travel]
- How do Yahoo Travel fit into Microsoft’s plans for the travel sector (they are aggressively investing in travel again)….. of course I know Microsoft / Yahoo is not on the table at the moment….. but, hey, that is my kind of question
- How much do large OTAs currently pay for a tenancy on the Yahoo site? (i.e. to provide a booking engine). 1st answer - lots. 2nd answer - no comment.
So come on everyone - I really need some help here. I can think of questions for Google any day of the week - but Yahoo is a bit more of a struggle!
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How about ask them if they plan to stop cloaking links in their Yahoo Travel section? Or at the very least stop engaging in super dodgy link exchanges with half the travel sites on the planet…
Hi Sam
Yeah - that is my kind of question!
Can you give me an example as I dont have a very large legal budget at the moment!
cheers. Alex
When can you advertise on all Yahoo! Properties with a single Advertiser’s Account, without having to sign up individually with each country’s Yahoo! chapter?
Another question is when will they open up Search BOSS custom to any users (rather than “by invite” only). Search BOSS custom would (or could perhaps) make a great base for a product search on a travel website.
I am intrigued. I didn’t know Yahoo (or Google for that matter) had an ATOL, were members of IATA (ie bonded) or had any other form of protection going? Just before everyone goes wizzing off on all these great new systems, where is the income coming from? I mean at £10 a ticket, say, irrespective of ticket value, there is not exactly that large a margin. What is all this about cloaking links and sites outside the UK? Having just emerged from the XL saga, (not forgetting endless others airlines that have gone belly up/ are likely to soon) has the Great British Public learnt precisely nothing? How does Yahoo (and others) cope with the EEC Package Tour Regulations? What, just because they are Yahoo, we can go and book away and shell out endless amounts without so much a look over the shoulder that money is secure - or that someone is there for when things go pear-shaped? Oh! They are big! Yes, of course they are. Not that they would even dream of operating any travel side of things through seperate companies……
Hi Murray
Yahoo / Google work on the media model - just as newspapers are not bonded in order to carry travel advertising - Yahoo / Google don’t need ATOL etc in order to market travel.
The ATOLs come at the sales stage - not the marketing one.
Chetan,
Great question! Will ensure that is asked
Thank you, fair point. I understand. The only concern, then, is that the advertising (in the media as much as anywhere else) is effecively unregulated. Given that search engines are global, one could easily wind up being lured into booking with heavens knows who or what. There is a danger that Yahoo and Google could lend an air of respectability to a site, especially one that appears high in the rankings - through SEO techniques rather than anything else (though I appreciate that search engines are getting more sophisticated at this aspect). The GBP (Great British Public) are remarkably ingenuous when it comes to booking travel and can dive into anything that looks cheap. I suppose search engines do not need to have a duty of care but perhaps we do?
…. in any event the 1992 Package Travel - blah, blah… does apply to anyone who “offers for sale….” I was not really referring to ATOL’s (I know about those - we have one!) I was more on about the “offering for sale” and “bonding” bit. Also, “offer” does include invitations by advertsiting or otherwise…. If search engines want to go down this route: What’s sauce for the Goose… as they say….
I think you’re on the right track with FireEagle, which uses Yahoo’s Where on Earth ID (WOEID) from Yahoo! GeoPlanet (http://developer.yahoo.com/geo/).
For instance I’m wondering if Yahoo Travel is planning to tag features such as hotels and tourist attractions with WOEIDs.
Also are they planning to offer any travel APIs using geotagged features similar to the Flickr Web Service (http://developer.yahoo.com/flickr/) where you can search for photos in a given location via WOEID.
Even if the answers are negative you should get a few brownie points for knowing about these services as they are new and relatively unknown. For extra points you could also mention the Yahoo! Query Language (YQL), http://www.ygeoblog.com/blog/2008/11/21/yahoo-geoplanet-and-yql/
John
I assume you are not coming (due to where you are based). Good questions but wish you could have asked them!
Cheers. Alex
…. and then there is this entire discussion……….
Article on TechCrunch re Yahoo / Microsoft search deal (published today)
Hi Alex
As you point out I can’t make it to London in time but I sure would like to know if Yahoo! Travel is planning to add their data to Yahoo’s developer APIs.
Cheers
John