Advanced Personalization Matchmaker.Travel Disrupt Tourism

Here at PersonaHolidays we are delighted to see the mass of articles, blogs and commentary about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in travel planning. Even Expedia chimed in with calling the combination of AI and personalization the new frontier of travel search, planning and bookings.

For too long we have heard case study after case study saying the the traditional search booking process for tourism is frustrating and inept.

We have got tired of hearing that what travelers want is not more choice but a precise personal recommendation, based on their specific needs and character. We know that travelers want experiences. They will like a hotel for many reasons and top among these are its brand character.

PersonaHolidays has perfected the art of persona-branding for hotels. This assigns traits and character to the property, the decor, ambiance and its staff. Holiday accommodation is a major part of the vacation experience and when you assign traits like bold, artistic, unorthodox to a hotel, you get a sense of who they are and what you might expect. A place and its people may be fun loving and whimsical and that will appeal to travelers who like these characteristics and are fun loving them themselves.

Persona has pioneered in this area using leading brand personality and psychology to match travelers with the right experience. We are delight to see major chains, OTAs and Destinations finally waking up that AI-Personalization and Matchmaker.Travel Engine are the new frontier.

One of the latest articles to talk about personalization as the new frontier is Marketing Hotels and Tourism: Marketing hotels and tourism examines the new wave of Artificial Intelligence in travel and tourism. It features many of the news startup companies that are building and applying AI to travel.

These Include experts like Travelsify, Traitify and The Matchmaker.Travel Engine. All are forms of persona branding and personality matching AI expert systems. They use psychological techniques to help travelers to select the best hotel experience.

The new frontier travel booking systems match hotels with travelers by personality. Hotel Chains, Destination and OTAs are eyeing the current Matchmaker travel implementations with a keen interest.

Source http://marketinghotelsandtourism.com/mood-matchmaker-travel-new-frontier-bookings

PesonaHolidays Posts Update on TripSavvy Review of Fun Barbados Activities For Kids

In its lovely review of Barbados family holidays with kids, TripSavvy noted 10 fun adventures that were especially popular with children. They are indeed great things for families with kids to do, but their is so much more.

Not mentioned in the TripSavvy excellent review are some of our PersonaHolidays favorite stops for children. One is the enchanted and magical Gardens Of Anthony Hunt near Bathsheba, another must see spot on the review. It may seem odd that we could think of a visit to Hunts Garden as a treat for kids, but its a delight for children and you will see their face shine with joy as they explore the nooks and crannies of the gully. There are hidden dens and sitting area amongst whimsical statues, garden Nome’s and ornaments set elegantly beside exotic plants and towering palms.

On the theme of gardens, Trip Savvy had praise for the Animal Flower Cave with its sea plants that flower in the shallow pools. They are alive and will shut up tight as a clam when disturbed. They are a little similar to the water plants at Hunts Gardens that also shut when touched. However, the Animal Flower Caves anemone are more alive and dramatic.

THe cave is a bit slippery and rocky – It may be a challenge for the elderly but the guides will steady you along.

For another underground garden of a different sort, Harissons Cave is also a delight for kids. Children enjoy the train ride through the cave as it visits cavern with waterfalls, emeral clear pools and the huge stalactites and stalagmites.

The film that is shown before the tour is very educational as it traces the geology and formation of Barbados island and the caves. It may be a bit over the head for the very young.

Yes, the Atlantis Submarine is a must. Its in line with our theme of gardens except this takes you under the waves in a real submarine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wmuSzfAL2o

Children love to see the Caribbean’s marine natural charm from the inside of a real holiday sub. From a close encounter with a coral-encrusted shipwreck to the tropical fish, diving beneath the waves to the bottom of the sea is always a treat for kids of all ages.

Video of Barbados Families Vacations

In this video by Distinctly Charming Barbados we see many of the family holiday activities that children enjoy. Naturally Atlantis Submarines, Gardens and cave are included along with several other ideas:

For More information of things to do for families in the island see http://www.barbados.org/childrens_activities.htm

Barbados Cultural Heritage Holidays Featuring Chalky Mount Pottery

Here is this video we can see Barbados artist John Springer Master Potter, Professor and historian.

https://youtu.be/PvFirJ7HCzg

He welcomes you to drop in whenever you want. Generally he will be at work creating a mug or jar. If not at work he will halt whatever he is doing and entertain you with his amazing skills at the potters wheel.

John tells us how potting is magic even to him I keep saying that its one of the more intriguing arts you can come across. I have been making pots all these years. And there are very few things which thrill me more that to see another potter at work. First time I saw it being done, I really thought I was seeing magic.

As he says, “Back in the old days all villagers got the mugs and jars here all made from local clays from right here in the village.”

See the script for the video here

PersonaHolidays Launches FascinatingTravelers App with How to Fascinate Partners

We are pleased to formally announce that we have partnered with  How To Fascinate to build what we call the FascinatingTravelers Technology.  The  annuncement was covered in a Press Release titled:

PersonaHolidays Taps HowToFascinate for FascinatingTravelers Technology

FascinatingTravelers is one of the latest developments in character matching for hotel  and tourism. This form of personality matching is relatively new to travel.  With Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and behavior analysis, its predictive engine establishes the persona of each traveler and delivers a unique personal experience that fits their individual and very personal needs.

One point we have tried to make clear in the Press Release, is that Personalized travel is not just about personal attention and it is not a matter of adding the travelers name and location on a landing page or interactive form.

The Technology behind PersonaHolidays’ Fascinating Travelers is a state of the art AI program. It is different from many attempts to personalize travel; there is no need to question and test users to assess personality. Instead it assesses  visitors by their search and navigation activity and their preferences. Every action on a website is monitored and all choices have deeper significance which are embedded in the systems knowledge-base and are fine tuned with each user experience. PersonaHolidays analyzes ever click and action to infer true insights of the users personality.

The Press Release is Featured in:

Travel Weekly – http://finance.travelweekly.com/northstar.travelweekly/news/read/33866823

The Travel Weekly feature quotes Jose Yantas, Business Development Manager at HowtoFacinate, saying; “This personality test has served as a great tool to enhance careers, relationships and businesses. This system is a fresh, innovative way to find someones distinct personality traits. It is exciting to see PersonaHolidays use it to give people fascinating travel experiences.”

The Travel Weekly article also adds that “It is a new way to navigate the frustrating task of finding the prefect place and experience for a holiday. Current research shows that travelers are overwhelmed and typically look at over 20 sites that do not provide a personal recommendation based on an understanding of who they are.”

Hotel Search Fascinating Travelers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JYHWcPYTwY

See More on Technology http://FascinatingTravelers.com/technology

Get Ready to be Fascinated – Persona Holidays Video Launched

Fascinating Travellers with Personality Matching Hotels from persona holidays

We have now launched a new version of the personaholidays video with the slogan used by the Barbados Tourism Encyclopedia “Get Ready to Be Fascinated”.  It is about Fascinating Travelers with the Personality Hotels Matchmaker that is the heart of PersonaHolidays. The technology is licensed to Barbados for its travel planning and booking website.

PersonaHolidays in partnership with sally Hogshead’s “How To Fascinate” personality brand assessment and marketing has created the unique FascinatingTravelers.com artificial intelligent systems. It matches travelers with hotel and holiday options based on Personality. It is a timely solution for travel as their is growing dissatisfaction with traditional booking and trip planning system have not changed in over a decade.

All booking engine provide hotel search options that are geared to location, amenities and price. They do not understand the personality of the person who is searching for hotels and holidays options. They do not appreciate that hotels, resorts and all places to stay appeal to different personalities in many different and very personal ways. They have a brand personality created by its owners, managers, staff and marketing partners.

Persona Holidays, by contracts analyses the travelers behavior and delivers results that are relevant to personalities. All hotels are assessed by the Persona team and assigned a HowToFacinate Archetype. This then generates the watchwords by which travelers are paired with hotel of like character. It is a fascinating project that has caught the attention of many in the hospitality and tourism marketing business.

Personality matching is fascinating travelers who like to get recommendations from someone who understands them. See it in action at Holidays Barbados

PersonaHolidays Personality Hotel Matching Featured on Travel Weekly

PersonaHolidays is delighted to announce that Travel Weekly Magazine has featured Personality Hotel Matchmaker software, a state-of-the-art travel planning solution for Destination Marketing Organizations.

The Application is now being used by the Barbados Tourism Encyclopedia, a Destination Marketing Organization providing extensive travel related information pertaining to the island. It also offers a comprehensive service for holiday planning and bookings. With PersonaHolidays hotel matchmaker App Barbados is able to match visitors up with hotels based on their personality.

The Holiday Matching application is for Hotel Associations and Destination Marketers

Here are a few of the Advantages of using the App

• The software builds holiday profiles by tracking users search behavior and discerns their persona . It is lightening fast, easy and fun ! to use.
• Travellers enjoy the process and many comments have been received saying how accurate it is. Results are very targeted with personal vacation recommendation.
• The App/application significantly minimizes clutter and overload, which is one of the biggest complaints with booking systems.
• Destination marketers can install the app on top of any booking engine or travel planning system they may have. This means hotel marketers do not have to i acquire costly solutions or replace existing systems.

Investment & Licensing

PersonaHolidays has performed comprehensive evaluations of the App on the Barbados Tourism Encyclopedia Marketing Site. It has demonstrated meaningful improvement in engagement and bookings conversion. Work is still continuing on split tests of the sales channel and perfecting the conversion of traffic to bookings.

The company has interest from many travel marketing organization and is planning to license the technology to other destination soon.

Partners and investors may contact PersonaHolidays  here

 To see PersonaHolidays  App in action go to  http://holidays.barbados.org/stay

Here is the  Travel Weekly Featured Article

Travel Weekly Magazine

http://finance.travelweekly.com/northstar.travelweekly/news/read/33584265Travel Weekly Magazine

PersonaHolidays Launches Barbados Personal Holidays Destination Marketing

Official PersonaHolidays launch video for the Barbados Tourism Encyclopedia Destination Marketing Site.

The text of this delightful video launch is printed below, but the real story is the about PersonaHolidays app itself. It is a breakthrough technology that personalizes holidays by matching hotels with travelers based on personality.

It is as much a story as the great holiday escape to the windswept east in Barbados. and that story is told in the video and the text below. The story of PersonaHolidays is outlined in the Youtube video blog at  Personal Matchmaker for Destination Marketing Gets More Bookings.

For a quick summary here are the essential facts on the PersonaHolidays app:

1. PersonaHolidays App matches travelers with hotels by personality. it creates truly personal holiday recommendations

2.  It is for hotel chains and destination marketing organizations.

3. It significantly improves guest engagement and bookings

4. it works with any booking engine. It enhances search and bookings creating very targeted personal recommendation

 5. it can be implemented with out having to change systems or buy expensive software

To see it in action on the Barbados Escape East promo just go to http://holidays.barbados.org/escape-east

And now here is the text of the video.

Escape to the East in Barbados – An Invigorating and Utterly Unique Getaway

It may seem strange to say that a place is invigorating and an escape, but that is what the east coast of Barbados is. It’s invigorating largely because of the roaring Atlantic ocean crashing into a rugged coast after 4000 miles of rolling seas. Breaking onto Eastern shores the surf is swept along with steady winds that blow your cares away and kiss your face with its salty tears. It is in every sense a getaway. Here life unfolds in its tiny fishing villages and hideaways where men, as rugged as the rock, roll out to sea in tiny wooden fishing boats and surfers ride the waves.

The center of gravity here is Bathsheba, the greater surrounding area of which we say stretches from Cattlewash and the vast sand dunes in the north to Tent Bay fishing village in the south.

In the center is Bathsheba village, home to the famous soup bowl where international surfing competitions are held in a fierce ocean white with foam. It is said to be named after Bathsheba, the wife of King David, who is thought to have bathed in milk to keep her skin fair and soft, nourished with the minerals of milk. For years people have flocked to Bathsheba for its healing qualities and bathed in the unique mineral rich salt water pools carved by sea, wind and tides out of the coral rock.

The East coast landscape is referred to as the Scotland District: Seeming to resemble that land with its rugged terrain and its amazing array of rock formations. It is short listed as a UNESCO world heritage site for its unique geological features, including chalk mountains, sand dunes, and Mount Hillaby, the highest elevation in Barbados. In parts it is covered with a dense, jungle-like vegetation, quite unlike the rest of the island.

Life unwinds here at it own pace, unhurried by time or convention, and with its own flair of culture, and rustic charm. Always rising to the occasion to tempt you with exotic meals and music under the stars; and its hideaways, like the Sea-U Chattel House style wooden cottages. The cottages, ordained with mahogany 4 poster beds and soft cotton nets flowing in a constant breeze, are tucked into the cliff top gardens above the ocean, with hammocks strung between the coconut trees.

Just next door is the famous Atlantis Hotel, the residence of artists like George Lamming author of “In the Castle of My Skin” and many visiting poets, writers and artist who come here for inspiration and escape. Even if you are a die hard west coaster, or south shore repeat visitor – make time for an overnight stay and get up early to see the sun rise in the East and touch these sacred shores.

Source – PersonaHolidays Escape East Barbados Video

Hotel Matchmaker Personality App

The Escape to the East page includes a description of how the software predicts travelers persona and matches them with suitable accommodation.  More details may be found in the Barbados Tourism Encyclopedia Blog.

Wonderful 5- Star Animated Review of PortFerdinand Luxury Resort

In this video review and presentation we discover Port Ferdinand Luxury Resort and marina in Barbados. The Video shows the fantastic decor and service provided by Port Ferdinand Marina-Resort in Barbados.

Port Ferdinand Animated Video Review

The video is an animated film of the apartments, the facilities and the world class resort-marina complex. Based on the a 5 Star review by Miss Trave. Miss Trave added the testimonial on TripAdvisor saying that their vacation was truly wonderful.

Trave shared details of the service, the very friendly and caring hospitality and the wonderful watertaxi trips around St. Peters Barbados. The marina, she says, with all its yachts and the Mediterranean architecture” had the feel of Venice.”

She particularity loved the VIP greeting at the airport that helped the family through immigration and onto the resort with the greatest of ease.

The animated video describes just a small part of what TripAdvisor says. Travel left a very complete account of the excellent service and incredible villas! In her full testimonial travel also says:

“Seeing Saint Peters Bay property was just as luxurious !! Set on a beautiful stretch of beach!! Seeing the 5 bedroom apartment and having a tour there was great in comparison to Port Ferdinand. Its great that guests have full exchange privileges with both properties and nice to see the difference between the two! Such wonderful service from both resorts!.”
The Port Ferdinand Video Review was produced for PersonaHolidays, the first truly personal holiday planning and tourism recommendation engine.

It an intelligent system that gets to know holiday shoppers personality and matches them with hotels of similar character. It allows you to search for accommodation and holiday options by character and recommends the best possible match for your desires and preferences.

See PersonaHolidays.com for a demo of how PersonaHolidays get personal.

Persona Holidays

Travelers are looking for authentic, personal holiday vacations that are designed for their own personal needs and expectations. PersonaHolidays is uniquely personal.

It creates travel experiences holiday and vacation based on personality and matches travelers to hotels and experiences that matches by character. PersonaHolidays analyses visitors  behavior and assignes a unique personality profile matching them up with hotels that are similarly classified.