"I have asked Google how accurate they consider the system to be. So far they have declined to provide any answer, so they haven't actually claimed 100 percent accuracy. Let's give Google the benefit of the doubt and consider the possibility that AdWords' click count is 99 percent accurate. This would make it the most accurate web analytics technology on earth by a long stretch. It would also mean it had mis-billed over $60 million last year. If it was 95 percent accurate, then it mis-billed $285 million last year."

"Recognizing eMarketing excellence, the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) has joined forces with TravelCLICK to pay tribute to the "eMarketer of the Year" at the 50th Annual Adrian Awards."

"As a part of the pre-arrival planning for groups, Marriott will make the optional service available to meeting planners so attendees can receive details of their stay five days prior to arrival. Resort meeting attendees will receive an e-mail 14 days in advance. The pre-arrival e-mail will include a reservation confirmation, information about property-specific amenities, the weather forecast, maps, directions and transportation from the airport and local area information."

"Hilton introduced a pilot Chinese website, hilton.com.cn, in July this year. The company expects full booking capability in Chinese language to get completed by 2008."

"Pegasus Solutions, Inc. today signed an agreement with ICE Portal, Inc. that will allow hotels to easily host, manage and distribute rich media content through the Pegasus Online Distribution Database (ODD) at savings of more than 40 percent. The ICE Portal agreement represents another improvement that Pegasus is making to the ODD, aimed at reducing maintenance costs for hotels and assisting them in increasing online reservations. Recently Pegasus has announced agreements with Leonardo Media to improve the quality and quantity of the more than 200,000 still images in the ODD and with GIATA mbH to provide a translation service that will allow hotels to promote their properties in additional languages."

...internet messageboards were flooded with stories similar to Gary's. Complaints centred on a number of companies – Unbeatableholidays.com, Sunmedresorts.com, Holidaysforunder200pounds.com, Holidayrez.com and Holidayez.com. Chris Brown, director of Holidaywatchdog.com, said: 'It has been the biggest incident of this type that we have seen. It started with one but there were more and more posts about it every hour. Around 10,000 people have looked at the thread and so far 290 people have posted with their experiences. Most of these have been ripped off.'

"Social Media Optimization (SMO) is a new term that was recently coined by Rohit Bhargava and has since been taking on life of its own. In his introduction to SMO, Rohit draws similar comparisons to SEO. SMO tactics can drive huge amounts of people to a website and can also determine whether a startup, website or idea will make it or not. It involves driving traffic to a website through new channels because search engines aren't the only sites that drive big traffic anymore. While it's not taking over SEO yet, it has the potential to someday soon."

"Tip: ... Their design should be determined with respect to their surroundings (your site) and their viewers -- your site's users.
Blending your ads in with the color scheme of your site decreases ad blindness and in most cases can increase revenue. However, you should always keep in mind how your users will respond, and test what colors your users will respond to. (Sometimes it's okay to stand out a little.)..."

"A spokesperson for Google, the world's leading search engine, has told ACN that it will soon be opening an office in Egypt to concentrate on its Arabic services. The regional office in Cairo will be the first to open in the Middle East and will be headed by Sherif Iskander, the regional head for Google Middle East and North Africa."

"Among the largest hotel chains, there is a significant difference in loyalty between guests who booked offline and those who booked online. Online bookers tend to be more loyal among higher priced chains ($102 average rate) and less loyal among lower priced chains ($66 average rate). For example, Hilton guests that book online are 4% more loyal than Hilton guests who book offline. But Super 8 guests are 4% less loyal when booking online."