1pm - 5pm Pre-Conference Day: Tuesday, September 15

OpenTravel Pre-Conference Workshop (at The Westin, Chicago)

5pm - 7pm Pre-Conference Drinks Reception

Day 1

9:00 Chairman's Introduction

9:15 Mobile in Travel - What is the Hype All About?

In November 2008, we surveyed our readers about mobile technology in travel... Quite simply, 2009 is the year when the travel industry finally invests to make mobile a viable platform for CRM, search, and transactions.

Why 2009? With the business world shrinking, why are travel suppliers and intermediaries investing in mobile?

• Stats, facts and predictions that show where, why, and how you need to invest in mobile
• What mobile devices and applications are making the difference to travel revenues?
• Consumers, how many of your customers will be buying through mobile in the future?
• What product and customer demographics are best served by the mobile channel?
• How many times across the buying process will mobile touch on your customer?

• Tim Gunstone, Managing Director, EyeforTravel

The Case Studies

9:30 Mobile Travel Distribution in Hilton

"Hilton would like to make mobile into a fully fledged distribution channel similar to GDS, web or hotel direct with the ability to engage in all property experiences both in service and commerce..." How far have Hilton come and what have been their biggest challenges and successes?

• Chris La Rose, Director Website Strategy & Testing, Hilton Hotels Corporation

9:50 Next Generation Mobile Websites for the Travel Industry with case studies from VisitFlorida, National Car Rental, Going.com

• How can you efficiently create mobile websites for the travel industry?
• Usability, Content, Functions, Design - What is important for the mobile use case?
• How do I create revenues for a mobile travel website?
• Showcases: VisitFlorida, National Car Rental, Going.com and many more

• Ran Farmer, Managing Director US, Netbiscuits.

10:10 Mobile Applications for Trip Planning and How Can the Industry Make Money From This?

• How can mobile let you sell and interact with your customer throughout the trip?
• What type of customer spend can a mobile application produce?
• Is mobile always going to be application based?

• Scott Hintz, co-founder and VP of Business Development , Tripit

10:30 Networking Coffee Break

11:00 Experiments in Mobile by Intercontinental Hotel Group

It's hard to know what to focus on when implementing mobile. It's probably that the killer use is yet to be discovered. With so many opinions, technologies and initiatives going on, hear how Intercontinental is establishing what works (and what doesn't) for them

• Listen to experiments in mobile search
• Experiments in mobile services and non room revenue drivers
• How do you encourage and control innovation in a multinational?
• How can you source funding for projects without proven ROI?

• Gareth Morgan, Director of Product Management, Intercontinental Hotels Group

11:20 Panel debate

Hyatt, Tripit, IHG, and Luxury Hotel Intermediary the Kiwi Collection Inc. Debate How Mobile is Working in Their Organizations, How Initial Trails Are Developing, and How Mobile Will Develop

• Bill Bernahl, VP eCommerce, Hyatt
• Gareth Morgan, Director of Product Management, Intercontinental Hotels Group
• Chris La Rose, Director Website Strategy & Testing, Hilton Hotels Corporation
• Scott Hintz, co-founder and VP of Business Development , Tripit
• Ken Bostock, Managing Director, Airport Strategy & Continuous Improvement, United Airlines, Inc.

12:00 How Can You Use Mobile Across the Travel Buying Process?

Mobile for Search, Marketing and Analysis

• Mobile SEO - How do you ensure your products are found on mobile devices?
• Mobile analytics- what tools do you need to make sure your mobile page is found?
• Where do you advertise?
• How important are portals for travel marketing?

• Tom O'Neil, Account Executive, Google
• Jeff Plaisted, National Sales Manager, Microsoft Mobile Advertising, Microsoft Corporation
• Krista Pappas, Head of Business Development, Bing Travel

1:00 - 2:10 Roundtable Lunch Break

2:10 Navigating the Mobile Landscape: What Makes A Good Mobile Strategy in the Travel Industry.

• How can travel companies use the mobile channel to deliver the right message at the right time to the right audience?
• How can the mobile channel increase customer loyalty and reduce costs in the travel industry?
• What is the most important thing to remember in a mobile strategy?
• How do you reinforce your brand through mobile?
• Which is most effective - text messaging, mobile websites or smartphone applications?
• Do I really need an iPhone app?
• What happens when mobile goes wrong?
• What are some real examples of effective mobile campaigns and strategies

• Jim Shilale, Vice President of Business Development, 2ergo

2:30 Mobile Content that Sells

• What content works on mobile devices?
• What is the role of "heavy" images and video?
• What should you push - the travel research or the transaction content?
• Text and copy - what simple techniques will ensure your copy is read?
• "It is still a phone you know, guys" ... integrating other sales channels into the mobile sales process

• Michael Dalesandro, CEO, Where I've Been LLC
• Chris Lopinto, President & Founder, ExpertFlyer
• Adam Healey, CEO, hotelicopter

3:40 Networking Coffee Break

4:10 Travel Products that Sell Well via Mobile

• Is it just distressed inventory or are other products particularly good for mobile sales?
• Where will the growth in mobile travel sales be? Low cost airlines seem to bloom with internet growth. Will flights be the first to be sold via this growing channel?
• Cooperates product Mobile tech flight alerts - Book change from pda... Security alerts mobile

• Paul Wiley, Director of Product Marketing for GetThere, Travelocity Business
• Josh Steinitz, CEO, NileGuide

Day 2

8:00 - 8:50Cornell University Breakfast - Open to All

Q&A Breakfast with Chris K. Anderson, Ph.D.

Cornell University Office of Executive Education invites attendees of EyeforTravel's Revenue Management and Pricing conference to a Q&A breakfast with Chris Anderson, Ph.D. Chris is an Assistant professor at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and will also be speaking on Wednesday. Thursday's breakfast will allow for more in-depth discussion surrounding revenue management within the hospitality industry.

9.00 Expert Insight on Crucial Distribution Trends part of the travel distribution summit sessions

• Will the traditional online travel transaction revenue model wither away? With self-imposed transaction fee cuts on the one hand, and suppliers wanting to cut commissions on the other, can the OTA transaction model survive long-term? And does this shift provide opportunities for smaller firms to better compete against the giants?
• How should online travel companies position themselves to take maximum advantage of rocketing social media usage? Traditional travel agencies used to be the information gate-keepers. Then OTAs displaced them. And now, social networks are bypassing OTAs to deliver travel information peer-to-peer. How do you provide value in a way that can actually be monetized?
• Travel information overload is becoming the norm - potentially making it harder for customers to plan and purchase travel. How do you ensure authentic reviews? Who will be the winners in sorting, filtering, and ranking the information to guide customers through data overload forest?
• Radical changes: Is this the right moment? In the travel business, is it better for a company to pull back during recessionary times or to boldly move forward? Is now the time to take risks? If not now, when?

• Glenn Fogel, EVP Corporate Development, Priceline.com

9:40 Mobile Transactions

The Travel Industry Invests When it Sees Clear ROI

Nothing shows this better than payments.

• Will the success and so too, the focus on mobile micro payments slow down the rate at which the industry adopts mobile?
• What makes people buy through mobile -device product or payment partner?
• What are the risk implications for the merchant behind taking mobile payments?

• Fraser Campbell, CEO, Wcities

10:00 Mobile CRM

Until Now, SMS and Mobile Have Been Great Tools to Keep Customers Informed About Delays, Changes and Problems... How Will Mobile CRM Develop?

• How can mobile maintain your customers and keep them happy?
• Can mobile help you make high profit customers happier?
• How do you balance annoying reminders to your mobile to being incredibly useful

• Koen Bavinck, Sales Manager, Sound of Data

10:30 Networking Coffee Break

11:00 Mobile Costs - The Internet Drove Down Distribution Costs and Changed the Role of the Agent Forever

• Will mobile have a similar industry-evolving effect?
• Will investing in mobile now reduce your distribution costs, or is it simply the case that this is the best way to reach your customer?
• What are the best ways of integrating your mobile initiatives into your systems?
• How fast will the mobile channel grow?

• April Bridgeman, Senior Vice President, BCD Travel

11:30 How to Grow and Maintain Your Ancillary and Merchandising Revenue Through the Mobile Channel

• How do you make sure switching to a new channel does not erode your ancillary earnings?
• At last you can keep in touch with your customer for the whole of the travel experience... now how are you going to make money from this?
• How should mobile be used to keep in touch with your customer throughout the travel experience?
• Tours, translations, sim cards... what products can mobile help you sell?
• How big could this revenue stream be?

• John Styers, President, Moblico
• Natasa Christodoulidou, Assistant Professor of Marketing, California State University

12:30-1:45 Roundtable Lunch Break

1:45 - 3:15 Session Eight: Presentations & Panel

The Holistic Approach: How Do You Deliver a Consistent Message Across All Your Channels, Maximize Sales and Cut Costs?

• Get practical advice on measuring your performance across all distribution channels and ensuring all parts of your marketing campaign are delivering a return on investment
• How do you avoid commoditization, differentiate your products and brands, identify your strengths and selling points - and then translate this uniqueness into all your marketing messages?
• How can travel content converge to provide a better service to consumers?
• The demographic of online travellers is becoming increasingly diverse. How can you ensure your web marketing engages all potential customers?
• Get a complete view into self-service functionality and enhanced customer service delivery across all self-service channels: Mobile, Kiosk & Web
• How can individual technologies come together to improve your business?
• Is online advertising failing? Does today's customer respond to advertising or will social media replace traditional marketing?
• Standardization: Which tools will help you overcome obstacles currently inhibiting the aggregation of content, and streamline the transaction process?

• Paula Twidale, EVP, Collette Vacations
• Doug Miller, VP Global Media, Expedia
• Jan Wood, Senior Industry Consultant, Teradata Corporation
• Sharon McAuliffe, Senior Director eCommerce, Aston Hotels & Resorts

(This session is being held as part of the Travel Distribution Summit)

3:15 Networking Coffee Break

3:45 Mobile in Travel & Hospitality: The Future is Already Here An Action Plan for the M-Marketer

• An Action Plan for the M-Marketer
• The Mobile Distribution Channel is a reality: Case - Study
• Why Should Travel Marketers Care about Mobile?
• The Future is Already Here: Location Based Services
• Action Plan for the Travel M-Marketer:
• Mobile Sites
• Mobile Booking Engines
• M-CRM and Customer Service
• Creating opt-in M-Lists
• Mobile Advertising: Text marketing, LBS, Banners & Search, Mobile Apps

• Max Starkov, Chief eBusiness Strategist, Hospitality eBusiness Strategies

End of mobile sessions... other conference session are available.