Global websites and Ecuador, a brief tour
I was in Ecuador recently and carved a bit of time to visit a few global websites — as in the .com address of global brands — to see just how successfully (or not) these brands localize for Ecuadorians. No…
Tag Hotels.com
What’s the world’s most multilingual website? (2019 update)
Last year, I wrote an essay for Multilingual in which I noted that the world’s most multilingual website isn’t Google or Facebook or even Wikipedia. It is the website of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. As I noted in the essay: The JW.org website supports more than 675 written…
The best global websites from the 2019 Web Globalization Report Card
A little more than 15 years ago, I began benchmarking websites for a new report I had in mind, tentatively titled the Web Globalization Report Card. The number one website in the first Report Card was a startup company by the…
China: 120 million international travelers and just getting started
In 2016, more than 120 million Chinese traveled internationally. which is roughly the entire population of Japan (or Canada, Italy and Australia combined). And only 10% of the country has a passport. Imagine the travel industry when 25% of Chinese…
Booking.com: The best global travel website of 2017
For the 2017 Web Globalization Report Card, we studied the following 24 travel websites: Air France Airbnb American Airlines Avis Booking.com British Airways Delta Emirates Enterprise Expedia Four Seasons Hertz Hilton Hotels.com Hyatt InterContinental Hotels Kayak KLM Marriott Royal Caribbean Sixt…
Hotels.com, Hotels.ng and the value of country codes
I read today about the Nigerian startup Hotels.ng and my first thought was why Hotels.com didn’t already own the Nigerian country code. After all, Hotels.com owns country codes for France and Italy and Japan, among others. But was apparently late to registering…
The top 25 global websites from the 2013 Web Globalization Report Card
UPDATE: The 2017 Web Globalization Report Card is now available. I’m pleased to announce the top-scoring websites from the 2013 Web Globalization Report Card. This is the ninth annual edition of the report and it’s always exciting to highlight those…
The best global travel websites
I’m pleased to announce a new (and free) report focused on the globalization of travel websites. From American Airlines to Kayak to Wyndham, this report highlights those websites that have the widest global reach and are the most user friendly…
Taking Mobile Global: Tips for Aligning Mobile and Global Web Strategies
Here’s a new article I’ve written for UX Magazine on the importance of aligning global and mobile strategies. Too often, companies develop mobile apps and mobile websites without considering localization requirements. Here are two previous articles I’ve written for UX Magazine: Select…
Hotels.com: The best global travel website
Hotels.com scored highly in the 2012 Web Globalization Report Card. At 37 languages (in addition to English), Hotels.com is not the language leader in travel, but it’s near the front of the pack. And the company has been a leader…
Web globalization in a post-PC world
The 2012 Web Globalization Report Card is my first attempt at analyzing web globalization in a post-PC world. By post-PC world, I’m referring to a world in which the website adapts not only to the device (PC, tablet, smartphone) but also to…
The best global websites of 2012
UPDATE: The 2017 Web Globalization Report Card is now available. I’m happy to announce the publication of the 2012 Web Globalization Report Card. This year, we reviewed 105 websites across 17 industries; the websites comprise 70% of the Interbrand Best…
Hotels.com and its global growth spurt
In the 2008 Web Globalization Report Card, Hotels.com ranked close to last place in the web services category. In this year’s Report Card, Hotels.com ranked only behind Google and Wikipedia — an impressive turnaround. In just two years, Hotels.com added…