News and notes from around the interweb:
- Trivago spend $3.7 million so far in July trolling Tripadvisor.
Whether Trivago’s reviews are more reliable than TripAdvisor’s is debatable. Still, it is ironic to see a unit of Expedia, which previously owned TripAdvisor and is one of TripAdvisor’s largest customers, taking the side of hotel owners and complaining about “unfair” reviews.
- A woman is suing Asiana Airlines for burns she suffered on a Seoul – Paris flight as a result of hot instant noodles spilling on her.
“I had been planning to continue my career in broadcasting, fashion and hair design, using my physical beauty as my strength, but that’s become impossible because of the hideous burns,” Jang said. “I can’t continue work at the bakery either because I have developed an extreme fear of working near 800-degree hot ovens.”
Asiana responds that they aren’t really to blame since “the passenger accidentally knocked over the tray on which the noodles were placed.” (HT: Brian Sumers)
- Kuala Lumpur’s new budget terminal is sinking.
- Delta has talked about wanting a Shanghai hub. Perhaps sensing value with continued stock sell offs in China (and the Chinese government perhaps being more open to foreign investment to bolster their own stabilization efforts), Delta is investing $450 million in China Eastern for a 3.55% stake in the Skyteam carrier. This gets Delta better Shanghai coordination, having already moved flights to terminal 1 to co-locate with the Chinese carrier.
- What’s killing Hong Kong’s economy. By some estimates as much as 25% of the economy is sales of luxury goods (which dwarfs even Japan). But with mainland China’s economy slowing — and especially with the Chinese government’s crackdown on corruption — sales of luxury goods there have plummeted.
- The British ‘Airbnb for the rich’ sees opportunities to partner with traditional hotel companies. (HT: Alan H.) It would be interesting to see Airbnb partner with a coalition loyalty program, at least.
im generally not one for siding with lawsuits, but those are some serious burns. thats awful.
And Singapore contracted by 4.6%. Everybody in that regions is too dependent on 1.3 Billion Chinese.
Gary, I’m not sure if I am reading the article correctly, but it seems as if you are poking fun or belittling the Asiana lawsuit, and the McDonald’s coffee lawsuit. Although the McDonald’s coffee case is often used to poke at frivolous lawsuits, the case itself wasn’t. I attached a link, but the elderly woman received 3rd degree burns on 6% of her body. McDonalds was aware that these incidents were happening too frequently and that their coffees were served to hot. I know that the plaintiff was ridiculed tremendously by media and public during the case, and it was really unfortunate.
Not sure about this Ramen case. I had ramen in KE biz and can’t believe that the broth could cause such serious burns as in this case. I am not too sure what temperature the ramen has to be to cause such serious burns, but I think Asiana should definitely consider temperature control on soups on planes.
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm
Trivago is on drugs.
Mentioning “Hotels.com” and “verifiable reviews” in the same sentence is nothing short of retarded. Hotels.com crappy business practices aside, their reviews are a farce. Hotels.com personally reviews each review submitted and will not accept any that are negative. They are about as objective as a turd in a bowl of Corn Flakes.
So, Trivago, tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.
@Pete actually I’ve written in the past about the interesting merits of the McDonalds case. The parallel of course is spilling on oneself. In the case of Asiana I don’t think there’s a suggestion of intentionally overheating the ramen in order to expand it and save money. I’ll avoid the misunderstanding by removing the reference because I wasn’t implying the burns weren’t serious.
@J.C., as the father of a special needs son, born with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), which occurs with no known cause in 70% of those affected, please refrain from using the offensive word “retarded”.
Thanks,
Ron
@ Ron, try getting a life. While unfortunate, your son’s medical condition is your problem, not mine. You might want to seek mental and emotional support from someone I am not — your rabbi, priest, monk, other assorted spiritual advisors and / or shrink.
Your idea is beyond absurd on every conceivable level. Next there will be some idiot that takes politically correct to new levels by objecting to “Hey, the new burger joint has the biggest, fattest, juiciest hamburgers in town!” because the word “fattest” disparages those people with thyroid conditions causing them to be severely overweight.
If you can’t deal with life, Ron, seek professional help. Hugging trees doesn’t seem to be helping you much.
Thank you @J.C., and your little dog too! May the fleas of a thousand camels infect your armpits my friend 🙂
@ Ron, I would have imagined that you, of all people, wouldn’t be so politically incorrect and insensitive as to insult half the Arab population who raises camels with nary a flea on them.