Valyn Perini has written a new article on Tnooz, commenting, “Larry Smith of Thematix has previously written several excellent posts in Tnooz about semantic technologies in the travel industry. In particular, their potential to create truly personalized offers by adding distinct value to travel offers based on customer data. At OpenTravel, we’re turning the abstract into the concrete by building a semantic ontology for the car rental industry, including thinking through what it takes to actually plan for a semantically enhanced booking experience, what we call semantic offers.” Read more

Linda Fox recently introduced FACT-Finder’s new system, FACT-Finder Travel. According to Fox, “The tool is a semantic search system targeting online travel agents which allows consumers to enter free text during search queries, including spelling mistakes, slang and abbreviations. The company hopes the improved usability will help switch online travel agencies to its solution. The system interprets what users are looking for and populates search criteria boxes with the correct information.” Read more

A recent article reports, “As publishers, consumers and law enforcement get more sophisticated, so will the bad guys. It is doubtful fake reviews can ever be fully eradicated. The problem is that even amateur FROs realize that encouraging positive review posts about an establishment only goes so far… Those electing to go negative on competitors can be problematic.” Read more

A new article discusses how semantic technologies can and are changing the face of the online travel industry. The article states, “Shopping the experience means using customer benefits, words, and concepts to wrap the travel product in advance – to anticipate customer needs. It means creating an entry point or sidebar to create anticipation, set expectations, convey satisfaction cues and engage before the buying process. We have new tools and techniques with semantics and the semantic web. This is where customer benefits and concepts can be delivered with marketing (selling), and technology (presentation) in a new and cost efficient way.” Read more