Going to the airport is a dilemma. It’s important to give an ample amount of time to get from point A to point B. First there is check-in, followed by security, then finding the gate. It doesn’t stop once you’re on the plane though. At your destination a whole new scenario is created when trying to leave the airport. Will there be a cab available? Does my friend know my flight was delayed? Am I going to be late?
The travel planning site Orbitz, has released a plan that will hopefully allow travelers to plan their trip a bit more accurately. The site is called Orbitz Traveler Update. It gives a lot of the same information other travel sites do such as weather, delays, and airport features. However, this site is the first one to have a user generated feature. Travelers at over 40 U.S. airports can use the Orbitz site or a mobile phone to tell others what the current situation is like at their airport. This relays information long before it would typically become available via the airport postings. The Chief Marketing Officer at Orbitz, Randy Wagner, said, in an article posted by Red Herring, "(the idea) sprang from our customer insight that people value information from others in the same situation and our business insight that, at any point in time, Orbitz has thousands of customers moving through major airports and travel destinations.”
The idea is basically like a peer to peer advice line. Topics that are popular include parking garage congestion, taxi cab availability and where to get a good meal. The date and time are labeled on each comment. Therefore, when an airport is selected by a viewer, a tab will present how many recent comments there have been.
The success of this site depends on user enthusiasm. A review by Duncan Riley written four days after the site launch stated that hotspots like O’Hare already had a fair share of postings on them at that point. The video below also previews all the sites features. It was released on YouTube as a promotional tool.
I personally think it is the perfect environment for word of mouth to flourish. You can think of it like the successful dietary supplement Airborne. Users take this because they know being in a close knit situation leads to a lot of exchange between individuals. This fact can be used to the advantage of Orbitz. Imagine one recently satisfied user stuck in a confined space for 3 hours with 150 other people. If that isn’t breeding grounds for a “virus”, I don’t know what is.
http://www.redherring.com/Home/22758
http://www.orbitz.com/
http://updates.orbitz.com/
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/06/orbitz-tlc-traveler-update-offers-use-generated-airport-advice/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment