Views from a Corner Suite

Keith Moon in 1967. Seated behind his custom Premier 'Pictures of Lily' drum kit. Photo Credit: Iburiedpaul|Flickr

The World’s Most Infamous Hotel Stay?

By Robert Cole|2019-01-05T19:20:16-05:00August 23rd, 2009|Legend, Views from a Corner Suite|

Keith Moon, the notorious drummer and perhaps equally feared hotel guest, celebrated his 21st birthday on August, 23 1967 following a concert in Flint, Michigan. The site was the Flint Holiday Inn, who even posted a warm welcome message to Keith on its iconic "great sign." The 1960's were largely about pushing boundaries and the loss of innocence. Keith pushed the boundaries; the hospitality industry discovered a new benchmark for room destruction and property damage. Both rock 'n roll and the hotel industry were forever changed, and the legend of the most world's most infamous hotel stay was born.

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How Google Can Help Facilitate Travel Inspiration

By Robert Cole|2019-01-05T19:20:16-05:00August 20th, 2009|Innovation, Views from a Corner Suite|

Google, through its embracing the Open Source development community provides a wide variety of tools to developers, if creatively employed, can produce applications that help inspire travel. The Google Code site that supports developers offers numerous technologies that can help online travel sites create more compelling content to support eComerce for airlines, hotels, car rental, attractions and destinations. Google Wave provides a powerful platform for traditional travel agents to engage and collaborate with clients that will enhance their ability to inspire travel.

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How Google Can Help Revolutionize Online Travel

By Robert Cole|2019-01-05T19:20:16-05:00August 18th, 2009|Innovation, Views from a Corner Suite|

A perfect storm of a lack of online travel innovation, traveler frustration, and an economic downturn that limits investment for potential new entrants provides Google with an opportunity to dramatically democratize online travel. With a large number of tools that already help facilitate online travel search, and social media, Google can further simplify access to better organized information to help a broader range of travel suppliers, destinations and sellers increase commerce and competition.

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Tuol Sleng - Torture Room - Image credit: Mendhak cc|flickr

Origin of the Word “Travel” (This explains so much…)

By Robert Cole|2019-01-05T19:20:17-05:00August 12th, 2009|Humor, Views from a Corner Suite|

It is no wonder that people tend to experience so much difficulty when traveling. The word travel is derived from the French word travail, but travail in turn originated from a Latin word that described a torture device. It seems that the originators of our language were trying to warn us about the challenges associated with travel. Creating a word synonymous with torture might be considered a hint. Perhaps this perspective will allow people to enjoy travel more by understanding that by nature, travel could always be a lot worse.

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Why Google Will Radically Democratize Online Travel

By Robert Cole|2019-01-05T19:20:17-05:00August 7th, 2009|Innovation, Online Travel Company, Views from a Corner Suite|

The online travel industry may be well positioned for a radical step forward and Google may be the organization that can make it happen. A recent Forrester Research report has indicated that travelers are highly frustrated with the online travel experience. Online travel companies have been criticized for an apparent lack of organic innovation. Travel aligns nicely with Google's mobile strategies and appears to be a perfect fit with the Google corporate philosophy.

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US Hotel Industry Recession Enters New Rate Erosion Phase

By Robert Cole|2019-01-05T19:20:18-05:00July 25th, 2009|Hotel, Views from a Corner Suite|

The United States hotel industry is experiencing an unprecedented downturn. All hotel industry performance metrics, Average Daily Rate, Occupancy Percentage, and Revenue per Available Room have all trended downward over the past year. At the end of June, based on reporting from Smith Travel Research, national average room rates began to drop at a more rapid pace than occupancy percentages, marking the start of a new phase in the recession. The deeper discounting that has begun is on top of rate cuts that have already return average room rates to 2006 levels.

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Web 2.0 & 3.0 Impact on Hospitality Technology | HFTP HITEC

By Robert Cole|2019-01-05T19:20:18-05:00June 26th, 2009|Technology, Views from a Corner Suite|

The hospitality industry has been relatively slow to adopt Web 2.0 technology, so when asked to speak at the annual HFTP HITEC conference, RockCheetah's Robert Cole and InterContinental's MiCharl Robinson decided to look forward to Web 3.0 technologies as well. Breaking the presentation into two sections, the first have reviewed the progression from Web 1.0 through Web 2.0 and onto Web 3.0 including the key technologies and key success factors. The second portion highlighted best practices by firms like Morgans Hotel Group, Joie de Vivre and Imagini Youniverse that serve as leading examples of Web 2.0 supporting hotel customer engagement.

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Online Travel Companies in Hotel Tax Squeeze Play

By Robert Cole|2019-01-05T19:20:18-05:00June 2nd, 2009|Online Travel Company, Views from a Corner Suite|

Online travel agencies such as Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline are being subjected to lawsuits from a large number of cities claiming that they are underpaying the hotel room tax on stand-alone hotel bookings. A $184 million consumer class action lawsuit was recently filed in Washington State against Expedia that now opens a new front for these online travel agents to defend.

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Online Travel Companies and Travel Technology Innovation

By Robert Cole|2019-01-05T19:20:19-05:00May 5th, 2009|Online Travel Company, Views from a Corner Suite|

Online travel companies Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline have grown substantially through acquisition of small entrepreneurial organizations that have created innovative online travel technologies. Critics say that the online travel industry reached a functionality plateau and the online travel companies have difficulty with organic innovation. The root cause may be due to the trade-offs involved when managing for quarterly profits and investing in R&D for longer term success.

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Google Acquire Expedia? An Unfounded Rumor

By Robert Cole|2019-01-05T19:20:19-05:00April 19th, 2009|Online Travel Company, Views from a Corner Suite|

Rumors circulating that Google has an interest in purchasing Expedia surface periodically - it now seems on an annual basis... All indications are that a purchase of Expedia would not only signal a dramatic change in Google's strategic direction, but also jeopardize its considerable advertising revenue from travel suppliers and distributors.

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