After Web In Travel

The Web In Travel conference brought together an international crowd of participants in the travel industry, but it was really almost a gathering of friends. The travel industry is one of people and relationships, and an emotional one. From all parts of the travel supply chain, WIT, as it is affectionately known, saw hoteliers, global distribution systems and intermediaries like online travel agents and aggregators come together in Singapore again for the 4th WIT conference.

The conference also featured several interactive elements like the Abacus BlogCentral where participants could go to a few computer terminals to input their thoughts live onto the site and have it appear on the screen hanging overhead straight away and live audience voting and questions (for speakers) by SMS, sponsored by Amadeus Asia. In addition to that, taped videos of earlier speaker presentations played on a few screens while another was being held inside the main auditorium. Also running concurrently were interviews with WIT’s participants just outside the entrance to the auditorium, all being recorded on film of course.

In this summary, we have chosen a few of the many interesting panel discussions and speaker sessions to highlight; for space, as we know, is limited.

Day 1: The Travel Matrix, Revisited
Entrepreneurs who are thinking of entering the travel space will be heartened to know that Jim Donnelly (Pursuit Group Charlotte, US) thinks that there are emerging opportunities in the marketplace today. He spoke about how small players will launch and develop ideas, and larger companies will buy and integrate these ideas. So his conclusion is that now is a great time to start something. So entrepreneurs, what are you waiting for?

Gwen listening intently, of course.

Day 1: The Asian Consumer: Constant Transformation
The first speaker of this was Meranda Chan (Country Manager, Singapore and Brunei, Visa), and she presented to the audience the latest findings from Visa’s Asia Travel Intentions Survey. Some highlights from her presentation follow.

What attracts travellers:
(1) Natural scenery
(2) Sunshines and beaches
(3) Discovering new places
(4) Food
(5) History, heritage, architecture

Japanese attracted to places with political stability, and Americans have highest inclination to find travel deals.

What deters travellers:
(1) Terrorism/threats
(2) Infectious diseases
(3) Racial discrimination
(4) Natural disasters
(5) Airport hassles

For those in Asia, most common deterrent is infectious diseases. Whereas, for those outside Asia, it’s terrorism.

From left: Meranda Chan and Benett Porter

Some key points brought up by Benett Porter (Yahoo! SEA, she replaced Ken Mandel, the original speaker slated to present), the second speaker for this session:

The Five Dominant Tribes of people online:
– The Socials live their life online, are heavy users of social networks, instant messaging and email. They use the web less to transact.
– Embracers tend to be a bit older for whom online transactions is key differentiator for these all rounders. They pride efficiency in the web and are driven by convenience and productivity. They are heavy users of search, email, portals and mobile internet.
– Fun explorers are into online gaming, fun and entertainment.
– Utilitarians are functional internet users who use the internet mainly for communication and connection.
– Casual browsers are light internet users who are research driven.

One big difference between hotel reservations and airline ticket bookings online is that there was more search than actual purchases for hotel reservations, and more bookings made than search activity for airline tickets. And while hotel searches are cyclical, ticket searches remain steady throughout the year.

Porter talking about how the search for tickets usually results in purchases, while not so much so for hotel bookings.

The five to-dos that she left for us:
(1) Identify the tribe of consumer you’re targeting
(2) Compare media mix and target consumer
(3) Refine consumer message
(4) Look at website (is it actionable by consumers?)
(5) Search your brand (online)

Day 1: The Web Landscape, Transformed
Speaker Tim Hughes (VP – Commercial, HotelClub.com and BOOT, the latter I love!) wrote about the panel after.

Day 2: Ideas From The Streets

Down-to-earth architect and artist, Ketna Patel (Ketna Patel Studios) did a little show-and-tell of sorts of her various travels around the streets of Asia and through it show how we can understand them a little bit better. Contrasting pictures of the more commercial parts of towns with that of homes, we see colours get slowly drained out once individuals are replaced by corporations – what were bright became muted ones. To me, this was the most consumer-oriented session of the entire conference for it speaks to anyone who loves travel and for whom the little everyday streets are our museums, be they within or without the travel industry.

Day 2: Market Ideas II: China

Alfred Chang (Director, Int’l Business Development, Ctrip.com) speaking.

I’ll save myself some trouble and redirect you again to Tim’s summary on this panel on China.

Day 2: The Start-Up Pitch

Entrip making the pitch

TripFilms, Entrip and Conference Bay were chosen to pitch at a WIT mini competition to win a Professional Development Program (PDP) from the Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management (CNI) scholarship worth US$2,500 (valid for 2009) as well as the opportunity to take their winning idea to the next level with the investor judges. The judges included Michael Yap (Deputy CEO of the Media Development Authority of Singapore), Reza Behnam (IDG Ventures SEA), Bill Liu (Chairman of StreamGlobal) and Lee Keen Whye (Managing Director, Strategic Alliance Capital).

Panel of judges. From left: Bill Liu, Lee Keen Whye, Reza Behnam, Michael Yap and moderator, Siew Hoon

Before each startup had their turn at the pitch, founder of WIT Siew Hoon moderated the a short panel discussion on investing in this global financial crisis. The consensus amongst the judges was there money will still be invested in good ideas and great people. After each had their turn (view Entrip‘s and Conference Bay‘s presentation), Siew Hoon turned it over the audience to live vote for which they thought deserved to win. At the end, the audience vote came to Entrip but the panel of judges differed and chose TripFilms as the winner instead. Bill Liu offered an explanation in that while Entrip sounds the most exciting and appealing to consumers, TripFilms won with their experienced team and proven business model. In contrast, the business model for Entrip was not clear and what they promise to do is gonna be a hard one to pull off. No matter the judges’ or people’s choice, all three startups have to be commended for making the pitch.

Day 2: WIT Debate II: Ideas vs Execution vs Action
This second debate of the entire conference was in short, a fiery, engaging and thoroughly crowd-thrilling one. The three debaters had to each defend either Ideas, Execution or Action as the most important one of the three concepts. First up on stage was John Northen (Area VP, SEA Marriot International) and he spoke about Ideas. He argued how an idea is the first spark of inspiration and is the most important of all – for what are actions without a clear idea to begin with? He provided further entertainment for the audience when he did a mini striptease by undoing his belt, visibly showing off his bright orange pair of boxers, in relation to a joke/apology he made earlier to fellow debater, Martin Symes regarding the latter’s orange boxers at last year’s WIT.

Next was Catherine McNabb (Director, Strategic Clusters I, Business Travel & MICE Group, Singapore Tourism Board) arguing for Execution. She argued that ideas are in abundance and what makes something great is when real innovation occurs – when there is a link between the thought and the nuts and bolts.

Persuasive yet simple, Catherine’s argument was, it was swiftly taken down by what was according to Martin Symes (CEO, Wego.com) a simple definition clarification for “Actions” include “Execution”. He proceeded to entertain everyone in the audience with his wittily crafted and eloquently delivered defence of Actions, using everything from logic, law and wordplay to persuade us to his cause. I can’t even begin to recreate his excellent script here for it will do him no justice. Needless to say, Martin won everyone over (99% of the audience voted for him) and gave a fitting end to the WIT conference.

The 4th WIT Conference

Additional Tidbits:

– A quick summary of the key themes discussed during WIT and some figures and statistics.
– You can view a full list of downloadable speakers’ presentations here and videos will be up soon, WIT says.
– Shot by LiveStudios, view pictures from Day 1 and Day 2.