Google Flight Search - Assessed

So I have been watching reading and using the Google Flight Search product. I have discussed it with my friends and colleagues

It is really fast (for obvious reasons). It has a different not necessarily better UX.

I like it in general but I cannot find a compelling reason to really like it a lot more than what I have today.

But the biggest criticism I have of it... is it doesn't work very well.

I have tried several routes and focused the routes on different hubs so that I could force a particular airline who should be present to appear.

Oops AND I THINK GFS is biased

It only delivers quality results for the airlines who use the ITA engine. You can get an answer for the other airlines and I know I will hear howls of protest about my methodology... but I know how it works and well Delta and Southwest (two of the largest brands in the USA Market) - you are going to be disadvantaged.

Thus part of the problem will be that Google's flight search will still suffer from the same level of issues that contribute to the poor experience we already get from the Meta Search engines and the OTAs.

Sure I can do more because I am an experienced power user. But sadly I do come away feeling like I have been drinking lite beer.

Cheers

Verdict on Google Travel v1.0/Troogle is Sadly Disappointing. UPDATED

So for all the hoopla – the first version of Google Air - AKA Plan Your Next Trip - is a big disappointment.

It resembles a first-gen index service circa 1998. The test has been out there for quite a while. This was all designed pre-ITA and takes advantage of Google's current contracts with existing vendors Innovata and UBM Aviation's OAG. (Although not confirmed by Google I hasten to add!)

Read the Google Blog post for more details on the service.

One has to ask yourself WHY are they doing this? So speculation is one of the Professor’s stock in trade. Make no mistake there is no ITA magic in this display. Also note that it has a function to try and close off competition from the existing meta search and real search companies and to stake out its footprint in air as it has with Maps in Hotels.

So Google is either being:
Lazy
Machiavellian
Stupid
Ultra Smart

Or perhaps it has ITA and has generated so much noise – maybe it will – like so many other things move on somewhere else and leave the experts to solving the problem.

Google has a history of abandoning things. Some have speculated that this may happen to Air. Personally I don’t think so.

Anyway – have a look at the images and see if you agree – so far as I can see the link to the basic airlines websites was a pretty poor experience. This shifts with the IP address but then it is driven by how badly that airline does the interpretation of the cookies. Even in 2011, the airlines do badly and clearly Google is not providing much assistance. Mind you there are so many people who do this today and get away with it that poor level of service that perhaps Google thinks they can. So the Google policy of not being the best – just being able to out run the other human in the contest with the Lion – probably wont work for them long term.

Cheers

Occasional Flashes of Brilliance... and Fear

Today was not a good day for the South American Football Teams. The passion and the sheer drive of the Latins were sadly no match for the methodical onslaught of the Europeans. Well at least that's how the German's played - wearing down Maradonna's mob.

And so it would seem to be for some of the traditional power houses of travel. Google's onslaught puts them now in a very commanding position in sector that will be hard to unseat them - or avoid the long shadow they now cast. As I noted in the TNooz panel - the ITA purchase puts them in a commanding position in many facets of the travel ideation through purchase.

As PhocusWright noted "they claim to be building something that the industry has never seen before." And this is because they are now in a commanding position with more fingers in more pies than any other player - end to end.

But perhaps one of the biggest elements as far as I am concerned is that they have the ability to fundamentally change the rules as far as data quality and assured price offers. The veneer of "its good enough" has now changed and this is where the the old model will expire in the face of better technology as well as a solid business model.

So let me leave you with one thought. If you examine who has been making more money out of travel over the past 5 years 0 the fattest cats are the GDSs. Followed closely by Google. Those large EBITDAs quoted for Amadeus are now in the cross hairs of the boy wonders.

If anyone doubts that the GDS revenue stream was not one of the driving forces for Google - then they are clearly naive. So correctly the meta search players - as distinct from those who are active in real search and the legacy GDS players are to me the most vulnerable.

The formation of the OpenAxis group and the announcement of its formation on the day that Google announced its acquisition of ITA can hardly be seen as disconnected.

Be afraid - be very afraid if that is the game you are in.

Cheers

Does Google Get It Right Always?

Google has been the all conquering hero for some time. But as we have seen of late that gleam is wearing a little thin and with a certain amount of tarnish on it. The recent privacy spat over their "accidental" collection of data is an example. I used to work for a very large company who was also accused of such bad behavior. So I have some empathy for the impact.

After the huge hype for Nexus One phones - the unlocked Android based phone directly from Google - the company decided to shut it's only web store. I recently had the opportunity to play with several Android phones. Its funny that the level of quality on the software of the Android phone was not unlike the way Google handles search. Its almost good. But it takes a degree of effort to get a great result. If you work in software a long time - you realize that users expect perfect results. Yet we never get the perfect answer. Many times we don't even get a great answer. But I really did expect the product to be a lot better than it is. I also got to play with other versions of the Android. WAY BETTER!!!!

This had me thinking what will Google be like if (or rather when) it goes directly into the travel transaction business. ITA has built a very good business in solving search for single vendors and neutral players such as Kayak, Bing and of course Orbitz. One thing is for sure - the nice gentlemanly rules of the club will not be played by Google. Why? because they don't play by the rules as we know them. In fact Google's whole business ethic is about breaking the rules. Good thing or bad thing?

So the one thing that worries me more than anything else is that quality will be a casualty. But stick with me here a moment. Perhaps Google took a look at the quality of travel content and decided that actually it matched Google's loose approach to quality. Lately I have become involved in search. I think search is going to have a profound effect on travel and the way it is managed and handled. We are still very early in search in travel. This will be a long road. There is so much more to be learned about search. Mostly that the ability of the content to be searched can - at best - be described as embryonic. Travel content (or more accurately components of travel products) don't lend themselves well to search. So we tend to simplify and abstract the minimum level of data in order to serve up search results which if we are truly honest are pretty crappy. Oh yes and of course few if anyone (on the true supply side) really wants to let the product be searched effectively.

To answer my own question - I believe that Google just may be correct about travel.

But it doesn't mean that it is right. Nor does it mean that Google's way is the right way.

But we are about to find out how much fun it will be to try. And my exhortation to everyone else - particularly the existing players in the business - is we had better get serious about search. If not we will be saying that Google has become the evil empire.

Cheers

Oops almost missed the Goopedia story

So this came out on April 1st so we can all be forgiven for this one.

This is completely insane to think that Expedia would buy Google. Dara and crew know that the stock of the target is way down already....... wait.... is it the other way round?

OK - so this is Troogle 2.0. It was a stupid idea then and its a stupid idea now. Rich Barton - my former colleague at Expedia is on the record for agreeing:

"Google does such a good job skimming all of the really high margin profits from the travel media business already via paid clicks that I am not sure why they would want to get their hands so dirty just to get another bit of the margin. They just don't need to. They are at the very top of the pyramid of skimming the profits out of the business because they probably get paid on average $3 a click for a hotel, air, a cruise or a package keyword on Google right now and they don't have to do anything.... It doesn't make a tremendous amount of sense to me unless Google is changing strategies to target deep verticals to get into, which they have not done yet to date."
He continues to speculate its some Wall Street shenanigans

"That happens a lot these days. I may be paranoid and seeing the bogey man, but there is a lot of money in hedge funds that thrive off of short term price changes and I think that is what is going on here."

Amen Rich...

Cheers

Timothy