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Everplaces rebrands to focus on app-making-platform for travel brands and DMOs

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 08:54:00 -0500

For the last year, Everplaces has been powering two products simultaneously, the well-known travel tool app simply called “Everplaces” and a B2B tool for companies to make travel apps in a faster and better way.

From 1 January 2015 this will change, as we make changes in our business to split the products, and move focus to the app making platform.

Everplaces the app, which is used and loved all over the world, will continue running to support the community of travellers to find the very best insider tips for places to eat, sleep and play. It will retain the name and brand “Everplaces” and will be run by our wonderful designer cofounder Angelica Vargas, who will also find the time to work with other startups and brands to develop amazing designs, especially on mobile.

This strategic move enables us to focus our efforts inside the company on one product, rather than two. This is good news for all of our clients, such as German National Tourism Board, Urban Adventures, Epoque Hotels, etc., whose amazing travel apps are built on the platform. It will enable us to create travel related apps with even more advanced features, faster, easier and cheaper than ever before.

Till now, the app-making-platform has lived a life somewhat in the shadow of its larger sibling, Everplaces, a position it has now outgrown. The product will now get its own name, brand and resources. In this process, cofounder Christoffer Kaalund is stepping up as CEO. Christoffer is the technical mind behind the app-making-platform and knows it better than anyone else. Current CEO Tine Thygesen has decided to move on, and will only be involved in a non-operational capacity going forward.

Sometimes when you have two good things you have to make the hard choice to separate them, so each can grow and develop in its respective way. This is what this split allows us to do, and we are thoroughly convinced that it is the best way to serve our investors, clients and community. In fact, we are very excited about the new stage.

Don’t hesitate to be in touch if you have further questions.

Tine Thygesen, Christoffer Kaalund and Angelica Vargas
Cofounders, Everplaces

More info:
Everplaces travel app: everplaces.com, and Apple App Store.
App-making-platform: business.everplaces.com

Hotel bookings: one in five nights now booked from mobile

Mon, 15 Sep 2014 04:22:00 -0400

Photo: Heather Satz

Australian online travel agency Wotif recently disclosed that 49% of their hotel-related traffic now comes from mobile (web and apps), a staggering increase of 37% from 2013. The online travel agency, recently acquired by Expedia, manages around 30,000 hotels in Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

That’s a lot of eyes on those little screens… and they are not just browsing. They are happy to pay, too: Wotif adds that the number of nights booked from mobile is now 23% of the total.

Growth in revenue from mobile for Wotif / Source: Tnooz.

The Australian OTA is not alone. Expedia says that one in five nights is now booked from a phone; for Chinese travel agent eLong, it’s almost one in three.

Last minute and more

Clearly, mobile is most useful in specific situations, such as last minute changes while en-route. Not surprisingly, its biggest supporters are frequent business travellers.

On the other hand, travellers are starting to turn to their phones only as an emergency fix: more and more of these bookings are being made more than one week in advance.

Time to invest in better apps

Wind in sails, then? Yes, and no. When surveyed, travellers agree that mobile is still their least favorite way of booking, mostly because it takes them longer than anything else (19 minutes on average!). Small screens and less established technology contribute to a poor user experience.

So - What should hotel marketers do?

First of all, treat all screens (desktop, phone, tablet) as separate marketing channels and provide the best user experience on each device. By now, having a dedicated booking app should be a no-brainer for anyone in the travel industry.

We expect that better apps and ease of use will make these numbers grow even more.

Roadtripping in Croatia

Fri, 05 Sep 2014 04:48:00 -0400

One year ago, our ambassador Elmar drove all the way from Germany to North Cape with his old VW van so he could catch a last glimpse of midnight sun. We caught up with him to see what he’s been up to lately. As it turns out, his mobile home is still going strong!

Eat, sleep and wake up everyday to the view of your choice. All photos: Elmar Reckmann

A new year always means to discover a new place on our planet. After a five week trip all through Norway last year, this summer brought us to the beautiful Adriatic coast of Croatia.

As always we started our trip only with some minor planning that includes places we really want to see, friends we like to visit and just a roughly schedule. The rest of the time we just drifted through the country without any bookings or schedule to follow. We really love the freedom of having everything we need always with us in our mobile home.

After three days on the road we finally reached Dubrovnik, the farthest point this time, and it was really worth visiting this beautiful old-town that joined the UNESCO lists of World Heritage Sites in 1979.

From Dubrovnik we took the coast road all the way back to the north, passing Trogir, Šibenik, Murter, Senij,…. and stopped for a break at any place that looks awesome to us. We discovered a lot of nice bars, restaurants, cultural buildings and gorgeous bays, took a bath in the Adriatic sea, met some interesting and nice people and just enjoyed our time off.

After ten days on the road, reaching the middle of our vacation (and after a short and unplanned stop in a garage) we visited the Plitvice Lakes National Park. Another UNESCO World Heritage Site and a really amazing piece of nature with sixteen lakes, two very big and a lot of smaller waterfalls. The national park became famous during the 1960s and 70s through several Western film productions based on Karl May novels and is today one of the biggest attraction in Croatia.

Next stop was Istria, the biggest peninsula in the Adriatic sea, shared by three countries (Croatia, Slovenia & Italy). We stopped near the old town of Rovinj for four more days before we started the way back home. In Rovinj you can find lots of different kind of arts, museums and some really cute and tiny coffee bars. A perfect place to enjoy the last free week.

Every vacation comes to an end, but before we got back home, we stopped for two more nights in Austria (Styria) to reflect and think about all the nice places we’ve seen and people we’ve met during our trip. Here we found a very quite place to calm down and get some power for the upcoming months. Can’t wait for next summer when the Caperunners will hit the road again!

What have you been up to this summer? We’d love to hear your stories!

A guide to Copenhagen Cooking - part 2

Thu, 28 Aug 2014 05:35:00 -0400

Photo: Johnno / Flickr

From DIY ice-cream (with liquid nitrogen!) to the finest street food in town, get ready for another weekend of food, drinks and everything in between! We have shortlisted the best events at Copenhagen Cooking. For the full program, you can download the free app.

Asian Street Food Festival

If you think that Copenhagen is lacking in the street-food department, it’s time visit the Street Food Festival at Vesterbro Torv where the best kitchens in town will serve some of their their street-food hits.

Where & When: Vesterbrogade 39. Aug 29-31 Price: free. Event details here.

The Little Chemist

Do you like your cheese to be perfectly spherical? Your chocolate crystallized and ice-cream ready within seconds thanks to your liquid nitrogen dispenser? Then it’s time to put on your best scientist hat and start playing with the physics and chemistry of food.

Where & When: Skolegade 19, Valby Aug 28 from 18:30. Event details here.

A World of Coffee

From farmer to roaster to barista, come and learn about the journey of your coffee from where its grown to your cup! There will be a tour of the roastery, and of course lots of freshly made coffee tasting!

Where & When: The Coffee Collective, Godthåbsvej 34. Aug 28 at 17:00. Event details here.

Wine & Seafood

R Vinbar will offer a selection of the best Danish seafood served with homemade bread and saffron mayonnaise. A large selection of wine will be available by the glass , such as champagne, dry Riesling and Muscadet. Wines are not included in the price of the menu. -

Where & When: R Vinbar, Gammel Mønt 14, Aug 26-28, 16:00. Price 175 DKK. Event details here.

Mussels, mussels, mussels!

The chefs at Kayak Bar have come up with five different ways to prepare Danish mussels. Come and enjoy them with a glass of white wine and your feet on the sand.

Where & When: Kayak Bar, Børskaj 12, Copenhagen, Aug 22-31 from 12:00. Price: 95DKK. Event details here.

A guide to Copenhagen Cooking - Part 1

Wed, 20 Aug 2014 08:55:00 -0400

All photos courtesy of Copenhagen Cooking

The biggest food festival in Northern Europe, Copenhagen Cooking is ready to go, with ten days of food, wine and everything in between. We have done some legwork for you and went through the program (clicking in at more than 100 events!) and shortlisted ten of the most mouth-watering experiences.

And now, let the food feast begin!

Crazy for Rosé

Everyone loves rosé.. but did you know this pinkish wine can be masculine or feminine? Be prepared to learn everything about wine grape varieties, biodynamic- and organic growing techniques, vineyards and more. And of course there will be tasting of Italian and Greek cult wines!

Where & when: Vinoculture, Fredensvej 1A, Charlottenlund. Aug 30, 16:00 to 18:00 Price: 155 DKK.

From Roof to Table

An organic rooftop farm on the fifth floor of a residential building? Sounds like something out of Brooklyn, but it is totally Copenhagen. Come for a dinner of grilled mackerels, beans, butter, herbs harvested from urban spaces around Copenhagen - and of course lots of biowine!

Where & When: Tagfarmen GRO, Æbeløgade 4, Aug 22. Price: 800 DKK

Italian market at Thorvaldsens Museum

Surrender to olives, cheeses and salami.The Italian market in front of Thorvaldsens Museum is overflowing with Mediterranean delicacies that are sure to win your taste buds over. On market days, there is free admission to the museum .

When & Where: Thorvaldsens Museum, Thorvaldsens Plads 2, Copenhagen. Aug 23 and 30, 10:00 to 16:00 Price: Free.

Taste the street

Take a tour of Copenhagen new foodies mecca Papirøen!

Where & When: Papirøen, Trangravsvej 14, Aug 23, 29 and 30. Price 350 DKK.

Sushi for Beginners

Calling all sushi lovers! In this class you’ll be introduced to all do’s and dont’s of buying and preparing your own maki rolls. From cooking rice to slicing fish, learn about futumaki, hosomaki, huramaki and more, and finish off by creating your own signature roll.

Where & When: Peder Lykke Skolen, Aug 24. Price: 595 DKK.

You can download the free festival app with the entire program from the app store. And stay tuned for part 2!

This modernist resort in Palm Springs takes inspiration from...

Tue, 19 Aug 2014 09:00:00 -0400

This modernist resort in Palm Springs takes inspiration from native Mojave wildflowers: lilies, californian poppies, sunflowers, desert globemallow were turned into saffron umbrellas, magenta sofas, green, blue and lime-colored walls. Each room follows a different color schemes (some might be more relaxing than others!) and most of them offer great views over the San Jacinto Mountains. One thing is for sure: we wouldn’t mind waking up here! Photo: Apartment Therapy

Saguaro Hotel, 1800 E Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA 92264

No one can quite agree on the exact number of Greek Islands, but...

Mon, 11 Aug 2014 09:11:00 -0400

San Giorgio, an boutique hotel in Mykonos

Shipwreck Bay, Zakyntos

Reef diving in Santorini

A beach in Mykonos

Cliff jumping at Kamari Beach

I. Boutaris & Son Winery, Thira

No one can quite agree on the exact number of Greek Islands, but something is sure: they all look pretty darn good. Need some inspiration? Here’s our checklist of what you should not miss on a island-hopping tour of the bluest .

Sleep at San Giorgio Hotel, Mykonos This boutique hotel is a little boho paradise by the beach. The interior is artfully decorated with handwoven rugs, exotic trinkets and lots, lots of light.

Explore a shipwreck in Zakyntos A famous destination is the only accessible from the sea is Shipwreck where the wreck of the coaster Panagiotis lies on a small beach, surrounded by 200 meters high, towering cliffs. Photo: C. Wegerhoff

Santorini Dive Center Where’s Nemo? Go find him with an organized dive to the volcano or to sea reefs full of colorful acquatic life. Snorkeling is also great here. / Photo: divecenter.gr

Epistrofi, Mykonos A cute tavern located directly at Agios Stefanos Beach. Go there to enjoy a coffee in the sun or a dinner with sea view. /Photo: Mela Mörtenbäck

Cliff Diving Feeling adventurous? Test your nerves with a 10 meter jump into the blue at Kamari Beach.

Wine tasting at Boutaris & Son Winery: This lovely winery in Thira has with a large selection of local wines. Taste as many different wines as you can and grab a chance to try Santorini’s Vinsanto! The Boutaris family has been in the wine business for more than 130 year. / Photo: Yannotis Associates

Astra Suites Hotel, Thira: Perched right atop the volcanic cliffs of Santorini, this boutique hotel has heart-stopping views over the sparkling Aegian sea. / Photo: Astra Suites

For more tips, check out our collection on Everplaces!

Stand out from the crowd: How to optimize your Google Play app details page

Thu, 07 Aug 2014 05:26:00 -0400

With more than one million apps available on Android’s marketplace, it’s easy to get lost among hundreds of competitors. Here is our advice on how to make your app really stand out.

Photo: Sara Sampsel

Last year, 60% of all downloads came from people browsing in the app stores: this means that if you’re not optimizing your app page, you’re missing out on the largest opportunity to get your product in front of your customers.

Most of the advice applies to both Apple and Google stores, but on the Play Store you will see more of the Google legacy, with searchable descriptions, integrated YouTube videos and more focus on inbound links.

Search optimization cheat sheet

Title: Get the title right and your position will improve dramatically! Have your primary keyword here, ideally within the app name. You can then include one or two extra keywords to get better optimize for the most relevant searches: for example, a travel app might perform better after adding city or guide to the name.

Description: Unique to Google Play is that the app description is searchable too. As a rule of thumb, your keywords should appear about 5 times. Remember that most people will read this on a tiny screen, so keep the description short and informative.

Number of downloads, rating, reviews all improve your rank. Incoming links count, too. While you don’t have total control over this, some traditional PR will help to get people to download and rate your app.

Read more about Google Play rankings here.

Getting more downloads

Showing your page the maximum number of people is only half of the job: now you it’s time to get them to download. Chances are most people will skim the description and look at the pictures instead, so give them plenty to look at.

- Icons: most people won’t go past an ugly icon, so spend some time in getting a beautiful, creative one.

- Have the best possible screenshots. Here’s how.

- While not mandatory, Google Play now lets you to upload a YouTube video that illustrates the app. Think of it as an opportunity to make a good sales pitch.

One last tip? Make an absolute killer app!

Want to build an app to make more business from your existing clientele? We can help: email [email protected]

Have you been to Montenegro yet? No? Your guide to the last wilderness in Europe

Tue, 05 Aug 2014 09:39:00 -0400

Dense forest of beech, maple and fir, towering mountains, deep deep gorges and wild mountain rivers. Where is that? We’re on our way to Montenegro, the last corner of true wilderness on the Mediterranean. Our Project Manager and insatiable explorer Ani is a local expert, so we got a few tips out of her!

Photo: Lab604 / Flickr

Nature lover’s paradise

This small Balkan country is relatively unknown, making it the perfect destination for outdoor lovers in search of fresh adventure. You will be spoiled of choice between hiking or climbing (90 per cent of its surface is covered in forests!), or white water rafting in Europe’s deepest canyon scubaing in the crystal water of the Med.

Montenegro’s tourism suffered from the war in the 1990s, but it has been recovering over the last few years. New hotels and infrastructures are popping up and street conditions have greatly improved.

Photo: Ani Movsisyan

Kotor: get there before everyone else does

The fortified town of Kotor sits in a deep bay, surrounded by nearly-overhanging limestones cliffs. If you feel fit enough to conquer some thirty crazy hairpins up the slope, you’ll be rewarded by a fantastic view over the bay.

Ani’s tip: “You’ll feel top of the world and admire this magic sight. Kotor Bay with all its pretty charm, the small villages dotting the bay coastline, the yachts flowing in and out and the hazy blue mountains on the background.”

Despite its growing popularity, Kotor is still a tier below neighboring Dubrovnik, of Games of Thrones fame, where 15,000 tourists gather in town every day. So go and experience this hidden gem before everyone else does!

Photo: Ani Movsisyan

Perast

Only twenty minutes away from Kotor you’ll find Perast, the little Venice of Montenegro. You can also embark on an adventurous drive around the peninsula: old houses, olive trees and little secluded beaches with await you here. Rose, the little town on the northern tip of the island, makes for a perfect stop.

Photo: Lab604 / Flickr

Durmitor

Whatever you do, don’t just stay on the coast! Most of the beauty of Montenegro is in its wild interior. This Durmitor mountain range is popular with skiers and snowboarders in the winter, or hikers and bikers throughout the the year. For accommodation, try Zabljak, just at the doors of the park.

Tara River Canyon

The Tara River Canyon is 1,300 meters at its deepest, which makes it the deepest canyon in Europe. The most vertigo-inducing spot is from the huge bridge spanning across it. If you are feeling adventurous, the river is also a popular rafting route.

Ani’s tip: “The asphalt cover is replaced by stone, gravel and holes, so hold your horses unless you feel a bit like Bond.”

Photo: Manuelito / Flickr

Wineries

Not the adventure buff? That’s alright! Enjoy the slower pace of Montenegro’s countryside as you drink your way along the country many wineries. Montenegro was once the center of Yugoslavia’s wine industry, and it still produces the stuff on industrial scale. Try a wine-tasting tour of local producers.

Want to hear more tips? Explore more secret spots in Montenegro on Everplaces.

Summer in the city: the best urban beaches in Europe

Fri, 01 Aug 2014 11:54:00 -0400

Photo: Arkady Genkin

It’s pretty hot in Copenhagen today! The Everplaces team likes to cools it down at Bryggen, a beach a few minutes’ walk from our office. For all fellow summer city dwellers around the world, we’ve rounded up a list of the best urban oases for swimming, sunbathing and getting sand in your toes without leaving town. See you in the water!

Islands Bryggen, Copenhagen

Welcome to the little Miami of Scandinavia! From June to September this otherwise bleak neighborhood becomes a parade of tattoos, tanned bodies, hip-hop music, basketball players, barbecues and occasional show-offs doing Olympic flips in the water. Even if you’re not into canal swimming, this is a prime people-watching spot.

Badeschiff, Berlin

Initially conceived as an art project to enliven a neglected neighborhood, this 90-foot-long ‘bathing ship’ was created in 2004 out of a converted barge and is now found floating in the Spree river, complete with beach chairs and happy beach-goers. Like everything in Berlin it’s open late at night, more often than not with DJs and live music, so try an evening swim!

Playa Urbana de Madrid Rio

The beach at the Arganzuela is part of a major project by the City of Madrid to create 10-km long recreational area on the banks of the Manzanares. The park includes rowing lanes on the river, kiosks, cafés and restaurants, bike paths, walks, terraces and children’s playgrounds.

Paris Plages

Welcome to the original urban beach, the one that started the trend. Since 2002, every summer the banks of the Seine are covered in sand and dotted with beach chairs and palm trees, to offer a little taste of the French Riviera in the city. This year, the Louvre is taking part with an open-air gallery of Roman marbles, bathing beauties and other beach-inspired artwork that is on sight at the Tunnel of the Tuileries until August 17th.

Strand West, Amsterdam

The beach at Strand West is open year round for a bite and a drink, but it really comes to life in the summer months, when it hosts evening campfires and live bands. Here the crowds are more relaxed than at other urban beaches, like Strand Zuid, and the location is quite, too, with very little noise and traffic. Best of all, it’s only a ten minutes bike from Centraal Station!

Brussels Les Bains

You’ll find students, eurocrats, sandcastle builders, Tai-chi masters, ball game players and everyone in between on the cobblestone banks of the Brussels canal. Straw huts and Caribbean food contribute to the tropical feel (but local Trappist beers is pretty much the refreshment of choice). During the day there are several activities for kids, while at night the beach comes alive with live music.

For a complete guide of the best city beaches in Europe, head over to our Everplaces collection. Do you have more tips for summering in the city like a real pro? Let us know in the comments!

Mobile travel: Hilton launch "select your own room"

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 06:53:00 -0400

84% of business travelers indicated they would welcome the ability to select their own room. And given the popularity of selecting your own seat at the movies, airplane and concerts it’s hardly a surprise that added control is in high demand. That’s why HIlton has decided to make this the focus of their new service innovation, trying to stay ahead of the competition.

Mobile App is perfect for service innovation

The mobile app is the perfect tool for such product innovation in the service industry, and this is also what Hilton is using to roll out the new service.

Guests who are a part of the frequent guest programme can use the HHonors app to select their room on the day of their arrival.

Apps are good for loyalty

Where mobile web is a good tool for awareness, mobil apps, with their increased speed, memory and personalization, are perfect for doing more for your existing customers.

Whether you want to
- Up-sell minibar, restaurant and services to guests;
- Service better during the stay (to increase return visits);
- Spread the word about your company (generate trusted awareness through social sharing)

A mobile app can help you do that through useful features for frequent guests and select visitors. This app is another good example of this.

Want to build an app to make more business from your existing clientele? We can help, email [email protected]

More info in Skift here

Reykjavík city guide: where to eat, sleep and play Do you have...

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 05:44:00 -0400

Reykjavík city guide: where to eat, sleep and play

Do you have some time in the Icelandic capital? Here’s a checklist of what you cannot miss!

Ion Adventure Hotel Nestled in a lava field at the edge of Thingvellir National Park, this luxury resort is the perfect base for exploring glaciers and hot springs. The bar has a floor-to-ceiling windows for aurora-watching.

Sandhölt Reykjavik treat yourself to delicious bread, croissants and cream puffs in what might be the best bakery in town.

Hlemmur Square Located on Reykjavik’s main shopping street Laugavegur, this hybrid hotel/hostel, provides private rooms as well as hostel-style bunks and communal areas. The bar serves great specialty beers by the likes of Brewdog, Rogue and Mikeller.

Blue Lagoon A geothermal spa located in the middle of a lava field. Get into the silica-rich, milky water and smear yourself in mud while you sip on a cocktail!

Harpa Concert Hall Designed by Henning Larsens studio in collaboration with Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. From inside, you get a fantastic view over the harbor and the surrounding mountains.

i8 Art Gallery Reykjavik’s prime destination for art lovers, this small gallery represents some of the most interesting nordic artists, like Oafur Eliasson and Ragnar Kjartansson.

For more tips, head over to read our complete guide to Reykjavik.

Share the most memorable place you've stayed at and be in to win a free hotel stay

Tue, 17 Jun 2014 12:43:00 -0400

Have you ever stayed in a cool or unique hotel or do you know of any in your city? A beautiful design hotel, a romantic escape, a place with extraordinary service, a room with great views, you name it. Share the most memorable place you have stayed at and enter our competition to win a EUR160 voucher for a free stay, in any city where Hotel Tonight is present.

All you need to do is add the hotel to Everplaces and share it with us. All entries should include images and notes explaining why they were a special/unique place to stay, and you can submit as many places as you know :)

We’ll be putting together a collection with unique places to stay around the world based on the best entries of the competition.

Deadline is: Friday, June 27th.

To enter the competition, you can post the link to your hotel on our Facebook page or send the link to Ani, our Community Manager, at [email protected]">[email protected] before June 27th.

The winner will be announced by June 30th.

Looking forward to seeing all those beautiful places!

ADD A PLACE

Crisis management: How mobile can help travel companies help customers stuck in an emergency

Fri, 13 Jun 2014 07:27:24 -0400

The recent coup in Thailand has brought a question to many travel companies minds; how to we prepare for crisis management when an emergency effects a country we’ve got customers currently in.

Whether you’re a hotel group, DMO or travel agency, you’ve got a duty to help people who happen to be in countries hit by natural disaster or political instability. But how do you do that? Mobile can help.

Speed of communication is of essence

Mobile is an important tool in crisis management. When you’re trying to help customers left in a unsafe environment where they may feel stressed or even scared the speed of communication is important, that makes mobile communication the superior choice, because they will have their phones on them, whereas they may not access the internet, or check for messages at the front desk.

Direct notifications is most reliable form of communication

The best way in a crisis is to use direct notifications directly to each traveler, this should be delivered via SMS, so you’re not reliant on wifi.

You should set up a SMS gateway system in advance, so you’ve got a system ready to use in case of emergency. These systems are easy to set up, and typically charge by SMS sent, so it will be a limited expense to set it up, think if it as insurance.

Make them feel safe and supported

Here you can give a quick message to let them know that they are not alone, you’re there to help, and link them directly to a page where they can find detailed information about how to get out of the place, the policies and all important phone numbers and addresses.

Link to a fast-loading, preferable offline info page

The emergency & policy info should ideally be put into your dedicated app, as it can then work offline once they’ve opened it the first time. If the situation develops into a real emergency its important that they always have the information at hand.

Alternatively the SMS can link to a mobile optimized webpage, but this means they wont be able to access it without internet, so if they are on the move it will be hard to access.

Either way it is key that you build a page which loads as easily as technically possible, so no images, videos etc. This is important because the phone network is likely to be overburdened at the destination if everyone is trying to find out what to do.

Make sure you have a CMS where you can make fast changes

Whether you choose to out the information in an app or mobile web page is it important that you have instant access to enter and publish the information. So choose an app/m.web set up which has a CMS system so you can add and update content it in fast and easily.

For apps there are CMS systems (like Everplaces’) that allow updates to go directly to the users, by passing Apple and Google, so you don’t have to wait for an app update. As an app update can take up to 2 weeks to be approved, it goes without saying that this is of key importance.

What ever you do, make sure you direct people to the exact page they need in case of an emergency, as they are likely to be stressed and impatient.

Steps to prepare

1 - Systematically collect phone numbers for customers

2 - Set up an SMS gateway

3 - Keep accurate track of the location of customers (by looking at the hotel for example), and the date on which they travel. This means we at any time can pull a list of effected customers and concentrate our communication only on them.

4 - Make sure you have either an app or m.web with a mobile web CMS where you can add and change info quickly

5 - Sit back and feel good knowing that you’re ready for the worst case scenario.

—

Tine Thygesen

CEO, Everplaces

Don’t hesitate to contact us if we can help with your mobile requirements, whether they are for emergencies or good times.

Big news: Commerce comes to maps

Fri, 13 Jun 2014 07:27:00 -0400

In the recent Google Maps update a hard-to-spot new feature was included, which is in fact a huge step for the location-based vertical - commerce has come to maps!

The new version allows users to “Book Uber” (this is a taxi from the american taxi corp. of same name), from inside the navigations menu. This little button is a huge milestone, because it marks another shift in location-based technology.

Why does it matter?

The last 5 years has seen a silent shift in the way we find information: from traditional information to map-based information.

It all started with “nearby”, the fact that the map opens in your current location, which your guide book (if traveling) or Yellow Pages (if at home) did not. This made it easier for consumers to find nearby services, restaurants and companies if they opened Google or Apple maps, than if they used the guide books, brochures and listing services previously favored. This started getting people to search directly inside the Map apps, rather than in the mobile browsers, because they would get better results as it would take location into consideration too.

Since then, Google Maps in particular has continued to include a million small bits of information to each place, which totals to a gigantic improvement in usefulness. They’ve added opening hours, contact info, reviews, photos and descriptions of the places. Combined with the new trend that people travel less prepared this was a killer advantage compared to static form info.

And today, we’re seeing the next step for maps to step out of their supporting role, and into a lead role, because this is the first clear opportunity to start buying directly from the map interface.

We’ve been talking about this in our talks at conference about travel and mobile, and you can see more of our predictions in our knowledge center.

More about the new features rolled out here

Context beats all, especially on mobile

Context and relevance is the new frontier in marketing, as you’ve probably already heard. And mobile has an amazing advantage when it comes to contextual search, because we automatically know more about the consumer than we do when they search on web, as an example

- your exact location
- time of day
- weather where you are

This enables us to offer more contextual and relevant offers (rather than generic spammy offers). With commerce in maps, you can easily imagine that we start linking our current needs to commerce; such as sunblock for beach goers, lunch offers at mid day, m-tickets if near an attraction. Anything which you can add the words “required right now” in front of, is a perfect option for contextual, map based commerce.

It’s a brave new world. Of maps.

Tell us the best places to eat in your city to win a free stay for your next trip

Wed, 28 May 2014 08:31:00 -0400

We’ve all tried them. Places, where the food is not just food, but a pure pleasure. Take us through a gastronomic journey of your own city and enter our competition to win a EUR160 voucher for a free stay, in any city where Hotel Tonight is present.

All you need to do is create a collection in Everplaces with the theme “Best places to eat in my city” and share it with us. Your collection should include at least 10-12 food related places and all of them need to have images and notes explaining why they made it to your collection.

Deadline is: Thursday, June 12th.

To enter the competition, you can post the link to your awesome Everplaces collection on our Facebook page or send the link to Ani, our Community Manager, at [email protected]">[email protected] before June 12th.

The winner will be announced by June 13th.

We can’t wait to see all your delicious places!

START A COLLECTION

Share your tips and win a free one-night hotel stay

Thu, 24 Apr 2014 12:30:00 -0400

Think of one of your favorite cities. Then think of all the cool places you love there… and here comes the exciting part:

Create a mini guide for your favorite city and get a chance to win a EUR160 voucher for a free stay, in any city where Hotel Tonight is present.

All you need to do is create a collection in Everplaces with the theme “A short getaway to… [ your favorite city ]” and share it with us. Your collection should include at least 10-12 places related to food, drink, hotels, culture, or anything that would make someone else fall in love with your favorite city. All the places need to have images and notes explaining why they made it to your collection.

Deadline is: Thursday, May 8th.

The winner will be announced by May 12th.

We can’t wait to see all your wonderful places!

START A COLLECTION

Apps still beating mobile web, by 6 to 1 minute spent!

Fri, 11 Apr 2014 11:12:00 -0400

Six years into the race for your attention on mobile, apps are winning. A recent report by Flurry, who sits on the world’s most detailed mobile analytics, show that Americans are spending 6 minutes in apps, for every 1 they spend on mobile web.

Apps were considered a fad by some, but statistics clearly show the opposite trend

It has been widely speculated that consumers were getting tired of apps, and that mobile web was the future, however the stats show the opposite.

It looks like consumers actually consider the mobile browser to be “just another app”.

Travel apps are popular

The new statistics are in line with the general trends in the travel industry, where recent reports show that almost half of people have travel apps on their phones, and 26% have several.

Branded travel apps and destination apps should probably aim to conquer the “download, use, retire” app segment, where consumer downloads an app to use specifically during their holiday and they retire it to the back of their phone afterwards, similarly to how they would use a travel guidebook. This is a time where travelers are actively looking for help, and where brands and DMOs can play a positive role.

Alternatively (or concurrently), travel brands could ensure their content is well placed in the apps that are battling for the “preferred global travel app” market, such as Foursquare, TripAdvisor and our own Everplaces app.

The time to invest in apps in now

Given consumers are likely to download only a certain number of apps, the investment in getting into the market is only going to increase. Therefore, now is a good time to start investing in your app presence, as pointed out by Lee McCabe, Facebook’s Head of Travel at IBT recently.

Facebook themselves have been amongst the most aggressive investors in mobile, and are seeing that investment paying off. Between the Facebook app, Instagram and WhatsApp they sit on a large percentage of the usage now, especially compared to Google’s meager 5% spent in their mobile web browser.

Time on mobile has grown, again.

4 precious minutes more, that’s what the average American spends more per day on his mobile compared to last year, that’s 2.5% increase.

The total time spent on mobile is now a whopping 2 hours and 19 minutes per day!

Native apps, not web apps

The report is major vindication for native apps (developed in iOS, Android, etc, the software the actual phones run on).

86% of time on mobile (US consumers) is spent in native apps. So, despite web apps (also called HTML5 apps) getting a lot of attention, because they in their one-size-fits-all nature, are cheaper and faster to develop. But the performance is simply not keeping up with native apps, which has also made big companies like Facebook and LinkedIn shift to native apps. For the record, the 70 apps developed by Everplaces are also all native apps.

“It is still too early to predict the trajectory apps will take in 2014,” Flurry said. “But one thing is clear — apps have won and the mobile browser is taking a back seat. Now every company in the world, including Google, is adjusting to that reality.”

Download report as a PDF

….

- Venture Beat: The mobile web is still losing out to native apps, by more than 6 to 1
- Flurry: Apps Solidify Leadership Six Years into the Mobile Revolution

Considering an app? Let us help! It can be faster and cheaper than you think. Email [email protected]

Android vs iPhone, why you should start on one platform

Wed, 02 Apr 2014 08:07:03 -0400

Every marketeer would like to reach as many people as possible. So why is it a good idea to start building your app only on one platform?

The team at Everplaces has built 70 apps, both for Android and iOS. Based on our experience with that, here’s why we suggest starting simple, it could end up saving you a lot of time and money.

1) It’s not the build, it’s the maintenance

Most people calculate a budget for building their apps. They agree on a feature set with the developer who starts building and everyone is happy. But what about the maintenance costs? What surprises most people about development is that the product isn’t just built and then it works, it has to be constantly improved, tweaked and bug fixed.

For one, the platform providers keep coming out with new updates you have to be compatible with. For example, when Apple released the iPhone 5 we suddenly had to make all our apps fit the new taller design of all the pages (iPhone5 is taller).

Then Apple came out with iOS7, the new operating system which has “flat design”. This meant that to keep looking good, we had to redesign the icons, reconsider several pages, and had to decide what to run with in the changeover period, where we have users on both systems.

And this is just the platform provider, we also connect with Facebook, Twitter and a number of other services which constantly update the integration. Recently we spent a month building a deep Facebook integration, which was offered to us because we have a special partnership with Facebook. Four days after we released it with big hurrah, Facebook changed something at their end and a lot had to be rebuilt.

For every platform you’re on, integrations and functionality have to be rebuilt all the time. Do you really have resources to do that, or will you become bogged down in maintenance so you can’t develop new features or grow your business? So set aside 20% of your building budget for updates during the next 12 months. Or choose a provider who includes updates in their prices (hint hint).

2) The audiences behave differently

Users on iPhone are more valuable than on Android. That’s an objective fact. They download more apps, they use more of them and they spend more money via their phone.

To a wide extent, you can predict behavior based on which phones people have bought. In the case of Everplaces the app, we have an app targeted urbanites and food lovers. These people tend to be on iPhones because they appreciate that the user experience is usually better on iOS devices. (This is both because of the superior design on the hardware, but also because of the strict guideline Apple impose on all software distributed through the App Store.)

So when choosing the right platform to start with, you could consider what’s important to you in terms of in-app purchase, upfront app purchasing, business vs personal usage, average income of users, etc.?

Because of the above, we recommend starting with iPhone or iPad apps.

3) Designing for Android is filled with compromises

It is correct that the Android user base is growing the fastest. Currently their market share is 70.4% in Europe and 52% in the US (vs Apple’s 17.8% Europe and 41% US).

While most of this growth comes from a lower-income demographic, who probably isn’t your target audience, it still feels natural to ask whether it wouldn’t be best to start with Android. The below image is why the answer is no.

The image shows all the different formats you have to consider when designing for Android. There are simply so many screen sizes and resolutions that you have no fighting chance to deliver a good user experience for all of them. No matter what you do, you’re compromising. Compromise isn’t great user experience.

4) Delivering a consistent brand experience

We have to admit it, we once fell for the temptation to build on a second platform ourselves, since we had so many user requests for Android. But as soon as we started testing it the truth was obvious. It was simply a worse experience than the iPhone app, it looked less pretty, it was slower and clunkier. Most of this was because of the compromises we’d have to make to fit so many screen sizes.

For a company with strong design DNA, and a product that’s renowned for its UX, we couldn’t live with the poor user experience. So we had two choices; shift the majority of our efforts from iOS to Android, or live with a worse experience. We chose a third, and pulled the app back, despite the many requests. We lost hundreds of hours working on it, which we could have spent optimizing our core experience.

5) Reiterate, Perfect and then Expand. It worked for Instagram

Most companies have limited resources and have to use them wisely. You’re probably up against competitors who have more people and budget than you. Therefore it may be a better strategy to be world-best at something. Kick ass at one smaller field, rather than be average at a whole range of things. If you start with one platform, you can test, fine tune, get the metrics right, observe how people use it, adjust the features and tweak the design.

When it’s perfect, absolutely perfect, then you build it for the second platform.

Staying on one platform during the exploration phase halves your development costs in that period.

Instagram famously stayed on iOS until they had 30mil users. Only then was it perfect enough that they were convinced it should be replicated to Android. They did, and the user base sky rocketed.

6) The hidden platforms

Most brands don’t only connect via mobile, but also on web. As an example, in the case of Everplaces the app, even though we’re focused on mobile, we’ve got to consider 7 platforms.

We’ve got a web interface, so we are actually always building and testing on iPhone, iPad, iPod, Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer, plus some smaller browsers and mobile versions of some of them. All of these come in many different versions, so some of them count as four or five. So that’s like 30 experiences to consider. That’s a lot for as a small team who want to develop fast.

7) What about Windows?

If you are building apps for the general consumer you don’t have to worry about Windows phones, Blackberry or other of the smaller platforms to begin with.

While Windows are gaining a bit of market share, it just doesn’t pay off. There’s two reasons. The first is that there is limited consumers on that platform, but it’s just as hard and expensive to build for. And secondly, because the users of those phones are used to not being able to get the apps they want, since most apps are missing from that app store.

So unless you’re in a very particular segment (like certain American B2B segments, where Blackberry still leads) you can stick to the two major ones. At least until your apps are hugely popular or you have done everything else you want on the main platforms and have budget to spare.

Conclusion

Different platforms will be good for different companies, we are not arguing that Android is inferior to iOS. What we are arguing, however, is that you can make a better mobile app, for less money, if you start with one platform, and then watch and learn. Once you’re convinced your app is perfect, then you have it built for the next platform.

Good luck selecting the best for your company. Let us know if we can help.

The space for mobile travel will be dominated by apps, says...

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 14:01:00 -0500

The space for mobile travel will be dominated by apps, says Facebook.

Facebook Head of Travel Lee McCabe spoke today at the international travel conference ITB, where he predicted that apps will account for the majority of time spent on mobile. He believes the brands who invest in building app followings now are in a good position for the future, where people will trust fewer apps for more of their decision-making and transactions. Well said, we say!