Note: Airport pick-up and drop-off at the Hotel
(This is applicable only to guests arriving by air, who have provided their flight schedules. If you arrive on an earlier date, you will also be provided with that service)

• The evolution of online travel – where were we and where are we going?
• How Social Media impacts consumer behavior – Is Social Media a FAD and is it really here to stay
• Trends in Mobile online shopping
• How Video is being used in the travel industry;

• Understand the distribution models and players and the perspectives for growth;
• Changes in the online market trends over the past 12 to 24 month
• Forecast for the next 12 to 24 months and how your company strategy should evolve;
• Key factors to drive the online market;
• How is the travel lanscape shifting from offline to online channels;
• What is the evolution of tour operators and packaging;
• Future threats and opportunities;
• Case study – Local opportunities;

•  Mobile Marketing – Are you in the pocket of your customers? (Apps, eCommerce, Adverts, …)
• Social Media Marketing - LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace; Social Bookmarking - Digg, Stumble Upon, Delicious – How do we leverage all these networks and communities?
• Search Engine Marketing, Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex – Do we have to flirt with all of them?
• Using Facebook as a business platform
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) explained – It's all about location - Are you on the High Street or in the back alley?
• Video Marketing - Video sharing, Viral marketing, Video Promotion methods that work – YouTube, My Space, vbox7, …

• Email Marketing, getting through spam filters, tracking and analysis – how do we achieve better conversion rates
• Importance of managing contacts, web based CRM and sales contact management tools
• Connecting with Bloggers, next generation journalists – Learn how to spread your ideas far and wide
• Innovative Web Design:
  -Creative Design, the art of creating unique look and feel  
  - Easy Navigation – the best way to keep your visitors on your site
  -Content and copywriting strategies - Grab your readers by the eyeballs
• How much time people spend on your site and what are they looking at – Learn more about the behavior of your customers
• Sitе tracking and analytics tools

1. Ancilliary Revenue for Hotels – The Next Big Thing

• Turning hotel websites into online travel portals – Increase your profits and revenue.
• Extending the concierge portfolio

1. Hotel Automation

• Hotel management automation – How technology helps hoteliers be better managers and how it helps them be successful
• Channel management tools
• Outsourcing contact center service – Hot spots for outsourcing, when should we do that and how do we start the process
• Price comparison tools - know what your competitors are saying, tactics and methods that will help you compete with them

• Next Generation Internet Booking Engine Technology – features, core technology principles, what does the market want
• The challenge of dynamically aggregating multiple sources
• Content integration and mapping
• Internet Booking Engines vs XML API's
• GDS API's vs third party API's
• Multi GDS online booking engine
• Payment gateway solution, security and fraud prevention
• Internet placement of insurance products
• Low cost carrier integration, dynamic packaging, auto-ticketing
• The wholesale model targeting the professional user, mid size agencies and corporations

• Promoting not only the destination as a whole, but also hotels, agencies, tourist attractions, restaurants, activities in the destination itself
• Going where the consumer is
• Engaging customers with the assistance of the latest interactive marketing tools

• Current trends – the Internet challenge to the brick and mortar agencies
• Which agencies are positioned to survive, which agencies will die
• Winners and loosers; The survival guide, home based agents, cruises and the niche markets

• The new Concierge & Hotel Automation vs Front Desk
• Innovation debate - Hilton, Sheraton and Kempinski (Best Western, Holiday Inn, Radisson, Serdika, Easy Hotel, Grand Hotel Sofia) – My success story!
• Hotel Direct sales vs Content providers
• Direct sales vs Tour Operator sales
• Online travel packaging
• Aparthotels - sales and property management
• Recovery of a travel industry after a disaster

• Airlines vs Travel Agents
• Low cost vs Traditional Airlines
• Are commissions coming back?
• Online travel packaging (AirArabia, Malev, Bulgaria Air, Air France, Aeroflot, Lufthansa, Wizz, BA, AlItalia,)

• GDS competitors;
• GDS's new business models;
• Are they technology or distribution companies;
• Will they divest or invest;

• Funding sources and programs
• Developing a project proposal

• Green hotels – dynamically growing positioning opportunities
• Eco tourism – US$ 10 trillion for a joint venture between Tourism and Mother Nature (under the trees)
• Going Green – the eco movement or the eco revolution? Trendy, in vogue is it a FAD and will disappear or here to stay?
• What are companies doing to position themselves as an Eco friendly company?
• Does being an Eco friendly company produce higher conversion and customer loyalty?
• Save the planet

• What is innovation
• How to innovate
• How to find Investors for your business
• Tax havens in SEE for the Travel Industry
• Innovations, branding and patenting – opportunities and limitations
• How to prepare for purchase by a major player
• How to approach an investor or a buyer

• Internet millionaire – what does it take?
• Recognizing innovation

• What investors are looking for
• Start-up, seed and early stage / late stage in comparison
• Prospect investors; Friends and family, angels, strategic investors, venture capital
• Opportunities on the regional stock markets; Central Eastern Europe and the region
• Exit strategies, prospect buyers, and possibilities for Initial Public Offering (IPO);