Pegasus has a blog

US travel technology company Pegasus has joined the likes of TripAdvisor, Marriott and Travelocity and launched its own corporate blog.

And it's called, er, Pegged.

The people behind the blog say they they hope over time it will "stimulate plenty of discussion about our company and the myriad of ways that Pegasus touches hotels, distributors, developers, customers, partners and employees in this exciting time for the travel industry".

Let's hope not. The best travel company blogs have tended to be those that try not to flatter the company or its customers.

TripAdvisor's Snarky Owl is funny, for a start, and doesn't try too hard. Even Bill Marriott's blog has its lighter and controvsersial moments.

Let's hope the Dallas-based Pegasites [we just made that nickname up, but it kinda works] can also bring us all some insight - and entertainment.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travel Survey Day #1

Another day, another press release with details of a study into online bookings trends.

Today's first offering comes from Utell.com, a division of the Pegasus Solutions travel technology brand.

The, er, headline grabbing finding is the revelation that 31% of women are concerned about inaccurate product information for hotels, rather than the 19% for men.

The survey said men and women cited inaccurate information as a reason for not booking accommodation online.

How did the respondents know the information was inaccurate unless they made a booking? Or have they been scarred by previous experiences?

A spokeswoman tells us the figures are more likely to be a combination of the "perception of hotel websites and actual experiences", but the detailed questions about why were not asked.

Officially the Utell Us 2007 surveys says:

"This scepticism might stem from the fact that women are much more likely than men to book accommodation based on hotel facilities; 61 per cent of women rate it as a key factor, whereas only 43 per cent of men are swayed by hotel facilities."

Far more transparent results can be found in news that 57% of the 1,600 business and leisure travellers who tookpart in the survey "prefer" to book their hotels over the web.

Taking into account different age groups: 55% of over 55s and 61% of 16-24 year olds preferred the web.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: hotel user review