Apple filed a patent this month for a future iPhone app called iTravel that like the Google/ITA rumors has the potential to become a game changer for the travel industry, or how Steve Jobs would put it “revolutionize travel.”

By Markus Busch

The folks at Patently Apple fan website did a great job going through an Apple patent filed this month, uncovering drawings for an Apple iPhone app called iTravel, which would basically app-ify the entire travel process.

Unlike with most OTAs, travel for Apple is not just searching and booking. In the true fashion of an innovator with a track record of getting things right (mostly), Apple is looking at travel as a whole, planning to create value by turning a once frustrating shopping experience into an easy, intuitive, and enjoyable one.

Based on a combination of iPhone hardware and apps, Apple iTravel wants to manage your entire travel process, from planning, searching, reviewing and booking flights, hotels, car rentals, trains and bus journeys, including identifying yourself at airports for baggage handling and boarding passes – technically in a similar fashion as the iPhone-based payment system adopted by Starbucks.

While electronic ticketing and check-in via mobile devices are already available in many countries, putting the whole travel experience in one slick application is the innovation here and a huge business opportunity, especially coming from a travel outsider like Apple, who already successfully disrupted industries like music and phones.

Who will deliver the travel content?

That’s the big question, that nobody can answer today, as iTravel is currently only at patent stage.

But unlike Google, who regularly states that it does not want to get into the transaction side of the travel business (read: not directly compete with its AdWords travel customers), it is likely that Apple will want to own the transaction, as the travel shop will become a central part of the whole iTravel experience, very much like Apple’s iTunes and iBooks (on iPad) store.

And if iTunes and iBooks serve as a hint in which direction supply partnerships may go, Apple will work with a few selected certified aggregators to provide content for iTravel. Like the GDS, Pegasus, hotel chains and hotel bed banks, and travel fulfillment service providers like TRX . But most likely not individual hotels, the same way as musicians and writers have no direct access to iTunes or iBooks.

Still, for hotel marketers Apple iTravel could simply mean another, highly potential distribution channel, creating more competition and thereby options in a hotel distribution environment currently marked by concentration and steady increases in cost of sale.

And how about OTAs as content provider? Not very likely, as Apple’s iTravel will be in direct competition with companies like Expedia and Co. In fact, OTAs have all reason to be worried, as the patent Apple is proposing is a very timely one, and would certainly be welcomed by many travelers around the globe.

But for now, the only thing we know is that Apple plans to get into travel – the question is just when and how.

Oh, and one more thing … starting this Summer, Apple will be busy revolutionizing online advertising with iAds. What a great fit for travel, one of the biggest online advertisers.

Read also “iTravel: Apple’s Future Travel Centric App for the iPhone” at Patently Apple

Markus Busch is the Editor/Publisher of Hotelmarketing.com and can be reached at markus.busch ‘at’ hotelmarketing.com.

For an easy visual explanation, take a look at this video which I found very informative:

DARPA – the original developer of the internet – is investing huge amounts in artificial intelligence development and although mainly intended for military use, there will be an inevitable spill over effect into the commercial world. The implications for the travel industry are huge and the changes in how travel is researched, planned and booked will undergo significant improvement over how it is done today. The circle of the pre- during and post travel phases will be completed with tools for each totally integrated and easy to use. It will be an exciting time in travel as we enter the next decade of the web. Who will be next the winners?

So, the CMOs in companies of all sizes will now embrace social media, social networks, blogs etc. and know how to effectively deal with all things 2.0? Not so fast, I still have my doubts that this is the reality. There is still too much one way communication going on and attempts to control the message rather than enter the conversation, too many calls for traditional bottom line measurements of ROI and effectiveness when engaging in the social sphere. The recent stories about disappointing results of social media advertising have shown that the old yard sticks don’t apply in this new web 2.0 environment of customer empowerment, combine with low tolerance for marketing speak. One old marketing principle still applies – present the right message, to the right audience at the right moment. When people are engaged in social networks and social media that is usually not the right moment. Those are not secrets, just comment sense marketing.

The innovators have been using web 2.0 effectively for a number of years now and while the mainstream of corporate marketers are catching up, these companies, usually small and nimble, are already moving to the next phase of the web – the smart web, where semantics are added into the mix, data talks to data and the web becomes an ever more useful tool making it easier for the empowered and connected consumer to stay informed about products and services that are relevant to them and to make smart decisions about them. While web 2.0 is now established, welcome to web 3.0

Company blogs came in last with only 16% who read them saying they trust them as an information source. At the other end, in first place with 77% trusting them, are “email from people you know”. This shows, that the personal or social network has become the most trusted source of advice and information for a large number of people on the web. It also shows a high level of resistance to the attempts by companies to use these networks as marketing tools. Any attempt at trying to control or influence the conversation is suspect and likely ineffective.

On a more positive note, the trust level increases to 24% among people who regularly read blogs, and 39% among those who blog themselves.

What this tells me, is that the more familiar people are with blogs and the various types that exist and are able to distinguish among them the higher the credibility gets. It’s also telling that a large number of the general public are probably still not as familiar with the whole blogosphere as those of us who are very close to the subject and personally involved in it. For marketers, the challenge to reach their audience in this new world remains as complex as ever.

Orlowski has written about this topic in previous articles with the provocative titles Chopping the Long Tail down to size and The Long Fail: Web 2.0′s faith meets the facts

Now, that should stimulate a lively debate among the many who are basing their business proposition on this by now famous theory, developed by  Chris Anderson, the Editor of WIRED, a
number of years ago using the music industry as an example. The data quoted in these articles is certainly worth closer examination and study before making a final judgment but at first sight it makes a lot of sense. Just shows that once again grand new theories must be proven by facts before becoming reality and it might just be too early to come to a definite conclusion.

Is a site that offers a trip planning tool based on personal preferences. This is the direction sites have to go as the attention clearly shifts to the process that takes place prior to the actual booking and where the experience still too often disappoints. Tripbase takes a shot at improving this. It’s not perfect as the results often don’t change enough when preferences are adjusted but no site I’ve come across so far offers the perfect solution.

Another one is

Founded by former Expedia Europe executives, TVtrip provide professionally produced hotel videos which are by now an essential part of any trip decision, especially for leisure trips with an extended stay. Who wants to end up in a dump for the most precious days of the year? They are expanding rapidly across with properties across the globe and with the right partnerships to drive traffic could become a player in this segment.

The tag line of

is “Empowering the frequent flyer” and expertflyer certainly delivers on that, based on a demo I received from their CEO, Chris Lopinto. This is a very useful tool for the road – or should we say Air – warriors out there who hold a gazillion frequent flyer miles and want to make the best use of them for upgrades and flights. The site has real time tracking of seat availability for miles upgrades and live seat maps so you can view which seats remain available. Of course, the data can also be accessed and viewed on mobile phones, essential when you’re on the road. Looks like worth the price of admission to me, although I no longer really qualify based on my limited flying nowadays!

Last but by no means least there is

they have morphed from what initially was a restaurant booking service to a technology provider for all kinds of ancillary services that provide incremental revenue to a range of companies as diverse as Amtrak, KLM, Air Canada, Mastercard and Priceline. With major companies focusing on their core business, this seems the type of solution that has a strong position in the marketplace by delivering the platform necessary to maximize customer value.

These companies are just a few more examples of how the travel industry is undergoing constant change by having innovators adding value, or eliminating friction in what still is often an inefficient market full of complexities in the access to and distribution of services to a huge audience of increasingly savvy travelers. Exciting to be part of it and observe who will be the winners in the next phase of the web.

I found this quote by Curt Monash particularly poignant: “The Internet WILL tell stories about you, true or otherwise. Make sure your own version is out there too.” It’s a necessity for companies today and might become one for everybody in future, who knows.

One thing seems obvious to me, this new reality will have a profound impact on how to market products and services effectively.