Bing Travel
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Contents |
Overview
Bing Travel is a feature on Microsoft’s Bing search engine that is set up to help consumers make informed travel decisions through a variety of innovative tools and features. These tools include the price predictor, rate indicator, travel deals, comparison flight and hotel search, fare alerts, and original travel editorial content.
Price Predictor
Bing’s flight predictor uses farecast technology to make a prediction whether to buy the ticket or wait using 175 billion airfare observations. The prediction that’s made is an expected price increase or decrease over the next week and a confidence level.
Rate Indicator
The rate indicator analyzes whether or not a hotel rate is a good deal or not. This prediction is determined by using thousands of current hotel rates. Bing Travel also creates a map of nearby hotels color coded by whether their rates are good deals or not.
Travel Deals
With this feature Bing Travel has up to the minute updates for nearly 40 cities around the world. When the user chooses their destination, Bing Travel shows the best airfare and hotel deals it has and will even show them why particular flights are considered deals using technology and science, not marketing.
Comparison Flight and Hotel Search
Bing Travel allows users to compare different airline prices and hotel rates. It also allows the user to refine searches by searching for nonstop flights only, specific airlines, hotels within a mile of an address, and others.
Fare Alerts
With this feature, Bing Travel notifies users through email when a specific flight they are interested in has reached a low price.
Original Travel Editorial Content
Bing Travel uses editorials and flight price predictor to create a group of experts who write daily articles and blogs to inform travelers on destinations, news, and tips. Bing also provides users with the leading travel information from top travel sources.
Bing Travel and Web 2.0
The main way Bing Travel has harnessed Web 2.0 is through the Data is the next Intel inside principle. Bing recognized that users usually check 2 or 3 places before finally purchasing a flight or booking a hotel room and made a large amount of information available to users without going to multiple sites. So far, Bing Travel is the only site to use the price predictor.
References
[1] Bing Travel
[2] Wikipedia-Bing Travel
[3] Microsoft - Bing Travel