Following the Money — Simplifying Payment Systems in Travel
As technology and banking become better bedfellows, new methods of thinking about the banking process have allowed such companies as ConnexPay to create newer, simpler and, often less expensive ways of processing transactions. This is especially true in the areas of travel and e-commerce. We sat down with Bob Kaufman, founder and CEO of ConnexPay, […]
How to Build a $Million Travel Business
Building a million dollar travel business is not unlike building a million dollar empire in any industry. It takes time, it takes a village. It takes grit. But in the travel business there are many paths to building revenue and sales. Avoya Travel released insights last week from its 2019 Wave Season Survey of top […]
Adapt and Convert: Guide to Plugging in on the Road
By Christopher Elliott When John Gasink plugged his continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device into a power outlet at the Heidelberg Marriott Hotel, he was in for a shock. So were many of the hotel’s guests.
Quirky Airport Amenities — Beyond Duty Free
Think your airport is just a place to board planes? Think again. Airports, where the average traveler spends 137 minutes per trip lining up, sitting down, pacing, waiting … and waiting for their plane to start boarding are now becoming destinations in their own right –hubs of shopping, stylish dining, entertainment, exercise, even pampering. This […]
How Americans are Overspending on Vacation
According to its tenth annual Vacation Confidence Index, Allianz Global Assistance finds 10 percent of Americans admit to going overboard on their budget while on vacation. Last year, those who did overspent by some 27 percent ($534) on average. Breaking down by age Generation X turned out to be the biggest offenders and overspent by 32 percent over their […]
What They’ll Buy: U.S. Travelers in Focus
MMGY Global’s Portrait of American Traveler (POAT) survey found, among other interesting fragments, that food is a driving influence when it comes to choosing places to vacation and ways to vacation. Being motivated to vacation in order to experience new cuisines has grown from 51 percent of travelers in 2014 to 70 percent in […]
Packing Light: You Can Take it With You
By Christopher Elliott Scott Jordan didn’t mean to change the way people pack — or more specifically, don’t pack when he started SCOTTeVEST 18 years ago. He thought his multi-pocketed clothes would catch on with gadget users. But then 9/11 happened. Suddenly, checked bags were being scanned, rifled through, and restricted. Jordan’s just-launched clothing line […]
Airline Satisfaction Rises as Seat Demand Surges
A steep demand for air travel has airlines adding some 116,000 seats per day to accommodate the 246.1 million air travelers coming onboard. According to Airlines for America, a trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, an average of 2.68 million per day are expected to travel on U.S. airlines between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2018. […]
Art of Travel? Follow the Masters
By Christopher Elliott Travel is an art, not a science. Read enough columns, and you might think being the world’s smartest traveler is a paint-by-number proposition, an easy formula you can follow. But as you start planning your summer trips, maybe it’s worth asking if there’s more to it than just buying a manual or […]
Pets on a Plane? Furs Things First
Airline Travel with a pet has been a topic of serious conversation for years, even before headlines broadcast an avoidable tragedy involving a pet death aboard a recent United Airlines flight. In that misfortune, a flight attendant ordered the passenger to put her pet carrier in the overhead bin aboard a Houston-to-New York flight. She […]
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