The Gnome Knows
The market for online travel and reservations is about as competitive as a market can be. How does one differentiate and grow? Well, Travelocity -- which is owned by Sabre Holdings and also happens to be the home of the gnome -- expects to grow 40% this year. One key element of its smart growth strategy: business intelligence. 
Mamie Jones, SVP of strategic sourcing at Travelocity, tells Optimize Magazine that intelligence-driven actions have dramatically enhanced its marketing and merchandising. As she explains, "[W]e know that as we increase the personalization of our marketing and target campaigns to be more relevant to customers, booking rates can exceed as much as eight or 12 times the standard methods [of outreach]. Our data warehouse plays a key role in assuring that our merchandising efforts pay off."
Over the coming year, the company intends to move to "an active data warehouse" that enables much more real-time data gathering and action. "It will help us make better, more accurate, and automated business decisions and offer more timely updates to consumers. We want to use data to improve our products and learn more about which promotions, experiences, and services customers find valuable," she adds. "Our merchandising objective is to increase customer value and offer a richer online experience."
Finally, she contends that Travelocity's investments in its Teradata data warehouse platform competitively differentiate the company to some degree. "We think we're out in front on this," she concludes. "Having current data will help us retain customers by building loyalty and satisfaction. It also leads to better predictive modeling."
That should get the attention of Priceline, Expedia and Orbitz -- not to mention the airlines themselves. If it doesn't, they just might fall right out of the sky.