Back from ITB (Berlin Travel Fair)

Was at ITB last week (as a visitor this year, not an exhibitor) and it was great. Met up with some great people from the industry Sabre, TravelCLICK, Availpro, Pegasus and many others.

ITB is fun, but it’s huge. It just goes on and on. Well us being in the tech industry with WIHP (World Independent Hotels Promotions) we were mainly in the halls 8 and 9.

It’s always great to connect up with the industry like this, get a fresh idea of what is happening out there from many many perspectives at the same time. I found it interesting how Iphone and Android applications were the latest and greatest.

Of course it’s a great feature – we’re doing mobile versions of our hotel websites and I know how important it is to be present on all the markets. But I just cant picture myself in the metro pulling out my credit card in order to pay my hotel rooms “on the go” and frankly I haven’t seen anyone do it either.

Maybe we could get a payment system that goes through a mobile version of paypal like iTunes, that could work.

But as far as I can see Mobile sites are a great way to present the hotel, well sized photos, good information, proper maps etc are vital. It’s the showpiece, and they’ll bookmark the hotel and reserve from home.

In any case, I loved ITB and look forward to going to London soon for WTM.

PS: Couldn’t find what ITB means, is it International Travel Berlin? if you know drop a comment below.