The top 50 entrepreneurs of 2005: "David Soskin
A serial entrepreneur, Soskin has made a habit of buying into companies and turning them around. Currently Chief Executive of Cheapflights.com, Soskins reign has seen a 67% rise in visitors to the discount fare providers website in 2005, coupled with healthy profits. A regular guest on TV and radio shows, Soskin has become an authoritative voice on the travel industry. "
Friday, December 23, 2005
Totaltravel.com achieves record results
e-Travel Blackboard: Australia's Number One Industry Newsletter: "Totaltravel.com has announced it achieved record results last month with the highest ever figures for email enquiries and phone number requests, and 223,000 click-throughs directly to supplier websites last month."...
In November totaltravel.com referred a record number of customers on directly to travel suppliers and advertisers, with email enquiries received by totaltravel.com up 17 percent from October, phone number requests up almost 50 percent and click-throughs up 13 percent, Mr Fisher said...
"And compared to November last year, our visit numbers are up 296 percent to 614,000 this November.
This makes totaltravel.com bigger than Lonely Planet, AAA Tourism and all the State Tourism Authority sites such as Tourism QLD for Australians seeking information about destinations.""
In November totaltravel.com referred a record number of customers on directly to travel suppliers and advertisers, with email enquiries received by totaltravel.com up 17 percent from October, phone number requests up almost 50 percent and click-throughs up 13 percent, Mr Fisher said...
"And compared to November last year, our visit numbers are up 296 percent to 614,000 this November.
This makes totaltravel.com bigger than Lonely Planet, AAA Tourism and all the State Tourism Authority sites such as Tourism QLD for Australians seeking information about destinations.""
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Online travel sites weave a tangled Web....Search firms compete for users and revenue
:: Travel Weekly - The National Newspaper of the Travel Industry :::
Much of the future of travel search, observers agree, depends on how search engines like Google and portals like Yahoo and AOL play their hands.
Google is downplaying its test of a flight links feature, which offers one-at-a-time searches of online agency booking engines, saying it is merely trying to improve consumers? search experiences. Google says it is not receiving money from the agencies displayed in the test and doesn?t plan to delve into meta-search.
Still, the entire travel industry keenly observes Google?s every move, and some observers wonder if flight links might become a revenue generator in the future, especially as some online agencies talk of exploring more off-line advertising in 2006.
"American and FareChase resolved their legal scrape over screen-scraping, also known as ?spidering,? in 2004, and several weeks ago FareChase began pulling fare data from American via a now-sanctioned XML feed directly from the back-end database of AA.com.
XML, an abbreviation for Extensible Markup Language, is a far more sophisticated and flexible technology than the Web?s traditional HyperText Markup Language (HTML). XML facilitates more efficient data exchanges, not only among Web sites but among the databases that feed those sites -- in this case, the data sets that make up airlines? complicated schedule and fare information.
The XML tunnel, Sanez says, eliminates the burden for American, which now has similar Web-based connections in place with the other major meta-search engines, including SideStep, Kayak and Mobissimo"...
As the two kinds of online travel search companies notch distribution and advertising deals and roll out new features, they are slugging it out for consumer eyeballs and for ways to generate revenue.
Who?s making money?
At this point, the big question is whether anyone other than search giants Google, Yahoo and MSN is actually making money on travel search roughly five or six years after those the first crude ?screen-scrapers? appeared. ...
But Travelzoo and most of the other search companies are playing a dicey and complex game -- what Lawson of Travel Ad Network terms ?click arbitrage? -- as they battle for consumer audiences and seek to prove their value proposition to suppliers and agencies.
Click arbitrage means that Travelzoo buys consumers? clicks on Yahoo, MSN and Google and absorbs the risk, hoping that consumers linking to Travelzoo.com will generate higher revenue when they click on one, or hopefully several, of Travelzoo?s advertisers, which include anyone -- and almost everyone -- from ATA to United.
?Most of these sites,? says Lawson, referring to both the meta-searchers and the deal publishers, ?don?t have their own audience that goes to them directly. They buy that traffic by the click from somewhere else. Then the click comes into the Web site, and they are hoping they can pay for one click coming in and receive money from three clicks going out.?
And what a tangled Web they weave. For example, this click arbitrage practice has Kayak advertising on the sites of competitors BookingBuddy and Cheapflights. Travelzoo?s Yahoo ads appear on FareChase. BookingBuddy?s advertising appears on Mobissimo.
Moreover, the costs of acquiring that Web traffic is problematic. For example, Travelzoo?s average cost to add a new subscriber in the third quarter -- during which it added almost 741,000 subscribers and lost nearly 423,000 -- was $3.19. That was 57 cents more than it cost in the second quarter.
Much of the debate and competition hinges on when to show pricing to consumers. The search results from the meta-search companies generally feature side-by-side comparisons of fares and rates. In contrast, the facilitated search engines emphasize advertisers? brands, and consumers don?t see price until after they select individual advertisers? search engines and land on their Web sites.
?I would assume that the meta-search engine delivers a much more highly targeted click,? Lawson says. ?I think they provide infinitely more value. I struggle to see how any comparison-shopping value is delivered [by the facilitated search engines] to the user.?
Travelzoo founder and CEO Ralph Bartel, who owns 78% of the company, said one reason Travelzoo is successful is because its model accommodates the desire of suppliers and agencies to avoid price comparisons. He scoffs at the notion that real price differentiation even exists.
?I think the meta-search engines will always be challenged by the same things that have challenged the online travel agencies,? Lawson says. ?And that is that you are dealing with the least loyal audience -- the price-comparison people.?
Much of the future of travel search, observers agree, depends on how search engines like Google and portals like Yahoo and AOL play their hands.
Google is downplaying its test of a flight links feature, which offers one-at-a-time searches of online agency booking engines, saying it is merely trying to improve consumers? search experiences. Google says it is not receiving money from the agencies displayed in the test and doesn?t plan to delve into meta-search.
Still, the entire travel industry keenly observes Google?s every move, and some observers wonder if flight links might become a revenue generator in the future, especially as some online agencies talk of exploring more off-line advertising in 2006.
"American and FareChase resolved their legal scrape over screen-scraping, also known as ?spidering,? in 2004, and several weeks ago FareChase began pulling fare data from American via a now-sanctioned XML feed directly from the back-end database of AA.com.
XML, an abbreviation for Extensible Markup Language, is a far more sophisticated and flexible technology than the Web?s traditional HyperText Markup Language (HTML). XML facilitates more efficient data exchanges, not only among Web sites but among the databases that feed those sites -- in this case, the data sets that make up airlines? complicated schedule and fare information.
The XML tunnel, Sanez says, eliminates the burden for American, which now has similar Web-based connections in place with the other major meta-search engines, including SideStep, Kayak and Mobissimo"...
As the two kinds of online travel search companies notch distribution and advertising deals and roll out new features, they are slugging it out for consumer eyeballs and for ways to generate revenue.
Who?s making money?
At this point, the big question is whether anyone other than search giants Google, Yahoo and MSN is actually making money on travel search roughly five or six years after those the first crude ?screen-scrapers? appeared. ...
But Travelzoo and most of the other search companies are playing a dicey and complex game -- what Lawson of Travel Ad Network terms ?click arbitrage? -- as they battle for consumer audiences and seek to prove their value proposition to suppliers and agencies.
Click arbitrage means that Travelzoo buys consumers? clicks on Yahoo, MSN and Google and absorbs the risk, hoping that consumers linking to Travelzoo.com will generate higher revenue when they click on one, or hopefully several, of Travelzoo?s advertisers, which include anyone -- and almost everyone -- from ATA to United.
?Most of these sites,? says Lawson, referring to both the meta-searchers and the deal publishers, ?don?t have their own audience that goes to them directly. They buy that traffic by the click from somewhere else. Then the click comes into the Web site, and they are hoping they can pay for one click coming in and receive money from three clicks going out.?
And what a tangled Web they weave. For example, this click arbitrage practice has Kayak advertising on the sites of competitors BookingBuddy and Cheapflights. Travelzoo?s Yahoo ads appear on FareChase. BookingBuddy?s advertising appears on Mobissimo.
Moreover, the costs of acquiring that Web traffic is problematic. For example, Travelzoo?s average cost to add a new subscriber in the third quarter -- during which it added almost 741,000 subscribers and lost nearly 423,000 -- was $3.19. That was 57 cents more than it cost in the second quarter.
Much of the debate and competition hinges on when to show pricing to consumers. The search results from the meta-search companies generally feature side-by-side comparisons of fares and rates. In contrast, the facilitated search engines emphasize advertisers? brands, and consumers don?t see price until after they select individual advertisers? search engines and land on their Web sites.
?I would assume that the meta-search engine delivers a much more highly targeted click,? Lawson says. ?I think they provide infinitely more value. I struggle to see how any comparison-shopping value is delivered [by the facilitated search engines] to the user.?
Travelzoo founder and CEO Ralph Bartel, who owns 78% of the company, said one reason Travelzoo is successful is because its model accommodates the desire of suppliers and agencies to avoid price comparisons. He scoffs at the notion that real price differentiation even exists.
?I think the meta-search engines will always be challenged by the same things that have challenged the online travel agencies,? Lawson says. ?And that is that you are dealing with the least loyal audience -- the price-comparison people.?
Monday, November 28, 2005
Online Travel Research - Over 50s flock to travel websites
Latest Nielsen NetRatings research statistics for online travel reviewed by Netimperative show over 50s flock to travel websites: "More than half (54%) of Brit Web users have visited a travel site representing over 14 million people every month, with the over 50s market booming, according to new research.
The figures, from Internet research firm Nielsen//NetRatings, show a growth of 20% visiting travel sites in the last year alone Significantly, more than four in five (86%) of all British surfers aged over 50 have visited a travel site in the last year, with 1.5 million of them visiting the secure pages of travel websites to book in September 2005 The Nielsen//NetRatings research found that surfers spend on average 40 minutes a month viewing more than 70 pages of content on a variety of travel sites, from airlines to cruise ..
The most popular travel site with the over 50?s is Expedia, ahead of second-placed Lastminute.com by almost 900,000 visitors during summer 2005.
Overall, pure online travel sites are more popular with the over 50?s than the traditional high street brands - Expedia, Lastminute.com, Ebookers, Opodo, and Travelocity collectively more popular than TUI (who own Thomson), Thomas Cook, MyTravel and First Choice.
The research revealed that over 50?s are ?looking and booking? online more than younger counterparts - accessing the secured section of travel websites to make bookings much more regularly."
The figures, from Internet research firm Nielsen//NetRatings, show a growth of 20% visiting travel sites in the last year alone Significantly, more than four in five (86%) of all British surfers aged over 50 have visited a travel site in the last year, with 1.5 million of them visiting the secure pages of travel websites to book in September 2005 The Nielsen//NetRatings research found that surfers spend on average 40 minutes a month viewing more than 70 pages of content on a variety of travel sites, from airlines to cruise ..
The most popular travel site with the over 50?s is Expedia, ahead of second-placed Lastminute.com by almost 900,000 visitors during summer 2005.
Overall, pure online travel sites are more popular with the over 50?s than the traditional high street brands - Expedia, Lastminute.com, Ebookers, Opodo, and Travelocity collectively more popular than TUI (who own Thomson), Thomas Cook, MyTravel and First Choice.
The research revealed that over 50?s are ?looking and booking? online more than younger counterparts - accessing the secured section of travel websites to make bookings much more regularly."
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
AboveNet Prepares for the Launch of www.totaltravel.co.uk
AboveNet Prepares for the Launch of www.totaltravel.co.uk:
LONDON, November 16 /PRNewswire/ -- AboveNet Communications UK Ltd., a leading provider of fibre connectivity solutions for business and a subsidiary of AboveNet Inc., today announced that it has been chosen to provide totaltravel.com International, Australia's number one internet travel site, with its European internet infrastructure for the launch of its Great Britain site. As part of this agreement, AboveNet has also entered into a sponsorship deal to provide totaltravel.com with services in exchange for having a presence on the new Totaltravel portal.
Launched in Australia in 2002, www.totaltravel.com.au is now one of Australia's largest on-line travel guides. The site is designed for people booking short and long stay trips in and around Australia. It owes its popularity to its great deals on holidays as well as the amount and quality of information and beautiful photo galleries on its site.
The new Great Britain site offers users the opportunity to make travel arrangements by plane, train or taxi, view and print customised road maps, book accommodations, choose restaurants and tourist attractions and find more information about their chosen destination and its surrounding areas. The site already features over 3,000 hotels across England, Scotland and Wales.
"The success of the Australian portal highlights the demand for a travel site offering this level of detail. We have spent 12 months building the content on the UK site and have built a truly unique tool to help our users plan their perfect trip," said Michael Dennis, Director and Co-Founder of totaltravel.com. "We are very pleased to work with a world class provider like AboveNet UK, which will ensure our users receive excellent quality of service when spending time on our site."
Work has already begun on the content of the European sites, which are planned for launch in the next year. AboveNet's technology and comprehensive European network will enable totaltravel.com's rapid expansion into those markets.
LONDON, November 16 /PRNewswire/ -- AboveNet Communications UK Ltd., a leading provider of fibre connectivity solutions for business and a subsidiary of AboveNet Inc., today announced that it has been chosen to provide totaltravel.com International, Australia's number one internet travel site, with its European internet infrastructure for the launch of its Great Britain site. As part of this agreement, AboveNet has also entered into a sponsorship deal to provide totaltravel.com with services in exchange for having a presence on the new Totaltravel portal.
Launched in Australia in 2002, www.totaltravel.com.au is now one of Australia's largest on-line travel guides. The site is designed for people booking short and long stay trips in and around Australia. It owes its popularity to its great deals on holidays as well as the amount and quality of information and beautiful photo galleries on its site.
The new Great Britain site offers users the opportunity to make travel arrangements by plane, train or taxi, view and print customised road maps, book accommodations, choose restaurants and tourist attractions and find more information about their chosen destination and its surrounding areas. The site already features over 3,000 hotels across England, Scotland and Wales.
"The success of the Australian portal highlights the demand for a travel site offering this level of detail. We have spent 12 months building the content on the UK site and have built a truly unique tool to help our users plan their perfect trip," said Michael Dennis, Director and Co-Founder of totaltravel.com. "We are very pleased to work with a world class provider like AboveNet UK, which will ensure our users receive excellent quality of service when spending time on our site."
Work has already begun on the content of the European sites, which are planned for launch in the next year. AboveNet's technology and comprehensive European network will enable totaltravel.com's rapid expansion into those markets.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Early days for travel meta-search engines in Europe,
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: Luke McNeice, chief technology officer, Bezurk says "still early days for travel meta-search engines in Europe, with lots of start ups and 'no real dominant players yet...
"Certainly the biggest development in meta-search is the strategic move by the general search engines to either partner or buy into the meta search space, look at Yahoo's acquisition of Kelkoo and FareChase and AOL's investment in Kayak. These developments certinaly validate the value of travel meta search."
McNeice said, "At this stage we are planning on focusing on UK first, as Europe presents a load of challenges which we are currently addressing in our upcoming Asia Pacific launch i.e. multiple languages and cultures. We need to achieve our Asia Pacific roll-out before we tackle Europe."
He continued: "We're just about to launch Bezurk 2.0 which will extend the existing rich user interface to enable customers to compare airfares from multiple websites by price, by schedule, by airline and by provider in real-time thanks to a new AJAX interface recently made famous by Google's revolutionary GMail."
"For hotels we've collated data from over 70 thousand hotels worldwide, which will give our customers unprecedented access to information about hotels in real-time. They will be able to view descriptions and images with the search results, and then be able to further zero in on hotels that they're after by adjusting in real-time"
"Certainly the biggest development in meta-search is the strategic move by the general search engines to either partner or buy into the meta search space, look at Yahoo's acquisition of Kelkoo and FareChase and AOL's investment in Kayak. These developments certinaly validate the value of travel meta search."
McNeice said, "At this stage we are planning on focusing on UK first, as Europe presents a load of challenges which we are currently addressing in our upcoming Asia Pacific launch i.e. multiple languages and cultures. We need to achieve our Asia Pacific roll-out before we tackle Europe."
He continued: "We're just about to launch Bezurk 2.0 which will extend the existing rich user interface to enable customers to compare airfares from multiple websites by price, by schedule, by airline and by provider in real-time thanks to a new AJAX interface recently made famous by Google's revolutionary GMail."
"For hotels we've collated data from over 70 thousand hotels worldwide, which will give our customers unprecedented access to information about hotels in real-time. They will be able to view descriptions and images with the search results, and then be able to further zero in on hotels that they're after by adjusting in real-time"
Totaltravel.com appoints ex-Flight Centre eCommerce chief
e-Travel Blackboard: Australia's Number One Industry Newsletter: "Totaltravel.com, the number one site for Australians seeking information about destinations, has appointed Flight Centres former eCommerce Australia chief as its new global marketing manager.
Paul Fisher was responsible for developing five of Australia's top travel websites including flightcentre.com.au, Australia's no.1 travel agency website, quickbeds.com, escapetravel.com.au, travelthere.com and studentflights.com.au during his time as founder of Flight Centres eCommerce division.
Mr Fishers appointment comes as totaltravel.com achieves more than 250,000 page views per day.
This is an exciting time to join totaltravel.com with more than 30,000 users logging on to it each day, Mr Fisher said.That makes it bigger than Lonely Planet, AAA Tourism and all the State Tourism Authority sites such as Tourism QLD for Australians seeking information about destinations.
And under Hitwises Destinations and Accommodation category, it is now hard on the heels of hotel booking engines such as wotif.com. "
Paul Fisher was responsible for developing five of Australia's top travel websites including flightcentre.com.au, Australia's no.1 travel agency website, quickbeds.com, escapetravel.com.au, travelthere.com and studentflights.com.au during his time as founder of Flight Centres eCommerce division.
Mr Fishers appointment comes as totaltravel.com achieves more than 250,000 page views per day.
This is an exciting time to join totaltravel.com with more than 30,000 users logging on to it each day, Mr Fisher said.That makes it bigger than Lonely Planet, AAA Tourism and all the State Tourism Authority sites such as Tourism QLD for Australians seeking information about destinations.
And under Hitwises Destinations and Accommodation category, it is now hard on the heels of hotel booking engines such as wotif.com. "
Thursday, October 27, 2005
TravelCLICK acquires Vantis International Corporation OnlineTravel News
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "TravelCLICK Inc. has acquired Vantis International Corporation. The acquisition of travel reservations and marketing services firm will provide the Vantis customer base of over 5,000 hotels worldwide with access to an exclusive combination of decision-support services and technology that is proven to increase both hotel revenue and profitability. "
Monday, October 24, 2005
travel writers and photographers database online
WriteClick – A New Database Of Travel Writers & Photographers travmedia.com "A DYNAMIC new database of travel writers and photographers in Australia and around the world is poised to enhance the way in which the tourism and travel media industries conduct business.
The website, which includes more than 150 freelancers, aims to provide tourism organisations and public relations professionals working in tourism and travel, with specific details of the needs and interests of travel writers and photographers, in order to plan famils and functions and pitch story and photographic ideas.
At the same time, it is designed to promote travel writers and photographers who can list their specific needs and interests and therefore better attract the kinds of famils and functions in which they wish to participate and story and photographic ideas they wish to pursue."
Definitions of famil on the Web:
y office A company set up to manage a small number of wealthy family’s money. At a minimum, a family office has an administrative staff to manage the various brokerage accounts, private investments, memberships in organizations and boards, and charitable contributions that comprise a portfolio.
www.cmra.com/html/body_glossary.html
The website, which includes more than 150 freelancers, aims to provide tourism organisations and public relations professionals working in tourism and travel, with specific details of the needs and interests of travel writers and photographers, in order to plan famils and functions and pitch story and photographic ideas.
At the same time, it is designed to promote travel writers and photographers who can list their specific needs and interests and therefore better attract the kinds of famils and functions in which they wish to participate and story and photographic ideas they wish to pursue."
Definitions of famil on the Web:
y office A company set up to manage a small number of wealthy family’s money. At a minimum, a family office has an administrative staff to manage the various brokerage accounts, private investments, memberships in organizations and boards, and charitable contributions that comprise a portfolio.
www.cmra.com/html/body_glossary.html
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
totaltravel.com.au, Australia’s largest online travel guide Press Releases - Multi Map
Totaltravel Australia shows up on Google news search.....
Google Search: totaltravel: "Travel and Entertainment Seekers on totaltravel.com.au ..."
Press Releases - Directions Magazine: "
totaltravel.com.au, Australia’s largest online travel guide, today announced the deployment of Multimap’s online maps on its site to enable users to view detailed, interactive maps of tens of thousands of accommodation, entertainment, and service options. The added functionality is designed to facilitate travel and entertainment decision-making by equipping consumers with the location information they need to make an informed decision in a few easy steps from any page on the site. Multimap is one of the world’s leading providers of internet mapping services.
Malcolm Baker, CEO, totaltravel.com.au, said, “Multimap was the obvious choice when it came to selecting an online mapping partner. Thanks to its relationship with PSMA, street-level coverage of Australia is comprehensive and up-to-date. This, coupled with Multimap’s proven track record of reliable and flexible services, informed our choice. We remain delighted with our decision.”
Visitors to www.totaltravel.com.au can access Multimap’s interactive maps, with full zoom in/out, and pan N,S,E,W functionality, in just a few easy steps, wherever they are on the site. From the homepage, they can drill down to the area of interest from the overview map of Australia, select a directory of interest (accommodation, beauty and health, entertainment and eats, attractions and tours, transport and travel, or activities and sports), and click on an item of interest followed by the ‘Map’ button. Alternatively, they can click on a directory of interest on the homepage and proceed as outlined previously, or go straight to a map of the features flagged up on the homepage via a link for each entry.
Baker continued, “We wanted to make the maps as accessible as possible for our users, and, thanks to Multimap’s flexible services and the pervasiveness of links to the maps throughout the site, we’re delighted to say that we’ve achieved this!”
Chris Warrick, Managing Director of Multimap Australasia, said, “totaltravel.com.au provides an immensely helpful resource for people planning accommodation, entertainment and travel options in Australia, and the addition of our online mapping services to the site offers the perfect complement to its existing functionality. Our services are extremely useful to end users, giving them the confidence to proceed to make a booking.”"
Google Search: totaltravel: "Travel and Entertainment Seekers on totaltravel.com.au ..."
Press Releases - Directions Magazine: "
totaltravel.com.au, Australia’s largest online travel guide, today announced the deployment of Multimap’s online maps on its site to enable users to view detailed, interactive maps of tens of thousands of accommodation, entertainment, and service options. The added functionality is designed to facilitate travel and entertainment decision-making by equipping consumers with the location information they need to make an informed decision in a few easy steps from any page on the site. Multimap is one of the world’s leading providers of internet mapping services.
Malcolm Baker, CEO, totaltravel.com.au, said, “Multimap was the obvious choice when it came to selecting an online mapping partner. Thanks to its relationship with PSMA, street-level coverage of Australia is comprehensive and up-to-date. This, coupled with Multimap’s proven track record of reliable and flexible services, informed our choice. We remain delighted with our decision.”
Visitors to www.totaltravel.com.au can access Multimap’s interactive maps, with full zoom in/out, and pan N,S,E,W functionality, in just a few easy steps, wherever they are on the site. From the homepage, they can drill down to the area of interest from the overview map of Australia, select a directory of interest (accommodation, beauty and health, entertainment and eats, attractions and tours, transport and travel, or activities and sports), and click on an item of interest followed by the ‘Map’ button. Alternatively, they can click on a directory of interest on the homepage and proceed as outlined previously, or go straight to a map of the features flagged up on the homepage via a link for each entry.
Baker continued, “We wanted to make the maps as accessible as possible for our users, and, thanks to Multimap’s flexible services and the pervasiveness of links to the maps throughout the site, we’re delighted to say that we’ve achieved this!”
Chris Warrick, Managing Director of Multimap Australasia, said, “totaltravel.com.au provides an immensely helpful resource for people planning accommodation, entertainment and travel options in Australia, and the addition of our online mapping services to the site offers the perfect complement to its existing functionality. Our services are extremely useful to end users, giving them the confidence to proceed to make a booking.”"
Monday, October 17, 2005
TravelMole - Best web based agency www.totaltravel.co.uk Shortlisted:
TravelMole - The News and Resource Centre for the Travel Industry: "Best web based agency
www.lastminute.com
Shortlisted:
www.iglu.com
www.ebookers.com
www.totaltravel.co.uk"
The criteria for these awards are to recognise those who do the simple things right, often the most difficult task any of use face. In online terms this means clear purpose, easy navigation, effective and aesthetically-pleasing design, and minimal obstruction in the course of a user getting what they have visited the site for. All of the winners have over-achieved in this objective
www.lastminute.com
Shortlisted:
www.iglu.com
www.ebookers.com
www.totaltravel.co.uk"
The criteria for these awards are to recognise those who do the simple things right, often the most difficult task any of use face. In online terms this means clear purpose, easy navigation, effective and aesthetically-pleasing design, and minimal obstruction in the course of a user getting what they have visited the site for. All of the winners have over-achieved in this objective
Online Travel Marketing: Web Certain launches online travel marketing blog
Online Travel Marketing: Web Certain launches online travel marketing blog: "Web Certain, which has a wide range of travel clients, has launched an online travel marketing blog to keep travel web marketers up to date with the most important and relevant, travel news"
OAG & lastminute.com to distribute real-time flight status information directly to mobile devices
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "OAG, a provider of flight schedules and online travel information, has entered into a partnership with lastminute.com to distribute real-time flight status information directly to mobile devices"
Site59 launch “Meet Me In…” travel coordinator, a new, patent-pending online tool
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis Site59, the Travelocity owned lastminute travel provider, has today launched the "Meet Me In." travel coordinator, a new, patent-pending online tool that enables family and friends to connect by travelling from two departure cities to a common destination with one convenient, discounted travel package.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
European Online Travel Buyers survey
Internet Travel News - All European Online Travel Buyers Not Created Equal: "They access many of the same travel sites and visit many of the same places, but European online travel buyers differ in the ways they purchase their holiday travel.
According to findings from PhoCusWright's Online Travel Shopping and Buying Behavior: Key European Markets survey, 8 out of 10 U.K. online travelers use the Internet as the main way they purchase travel. But e-commerce barriers and embedded habits make German and French travelers more likely to use offline methods as well...
Online travel buyers in Germany and France are more likely to use a combination of online and offline channels than are U.K. buyers. In Germany, for example, 68% of online travel buyers are not committed to the Internet and use multiple methods for purchasing travel. That compares to only 40% in the U.K. who use multiple methods. Reasons for the disparity include the high volume of airline tickets purchased online via U.K. low-cost carriers, which lifts Internet usage overall...
Other results from PhoCusWright's Online Travel Shopping and Buying Behavior survey:
* On average, European online travel buyers search 4.76 Web sites before purchasing leisure travel. This propensity is significantly higher among German buyers (mean rating: 5.09).
* Nearly half of all online travel buyers in the U.K., Germany and France purchased packaged tours in the past year, and 70% of those travelers purchased them online.
* Online travel buyers purchase holiday travel from airlines more often than from any other travel source. However, this dominant position is slipping as more travelers choose online agencies and tour operator Web sites for longer-stay travel."
According to findings from PhoCusWright's Online Travel Shopping and Buying Behavior: Key European Markets survey, 8 out of 10 U.K. online travelers use the Internet as the main way they purchase travel. But e-commerce barriers and embedded habits make German and French travelers more likely to use offline methods as well...
Online travel buyers in Germany and France are more likely to use a combination of online and offline channels than are U.K. buyers. In Germany, for example, 68% of online travel buyers are not committed to the Internet and use multiple methods for purchasing travel. That compares to only 40% in the U.K. who use multiple methods. Reasons for the disparity include the high volume of airline tickets purchased online via U.K. low-cost carriers, which lifts Internet usage overall...
Other results from PhoCusWright's Online Travel Shopping and Buying Behavior survey:
* On average, European online travel buyers search 4.76 Web sites before purchasing leisure travel. This propensity is significantly higher among German buyers (mean rating: 5.09).
* Nearly half of all online travel buyers in the U.K., Germany and France purchased packaged tours in the past year, and 70% of those travelers purchased them online.
* Online travel buyers purchase holiday travel from airlines more often than from any other travel source. However, this dominant position is slipping as more travelers choose online agencies and tour operator Web sites for longer-stay travel."
Opodo CEO
Internet Travel News - Opodo CEO Says Being Number One Isnt the Be All and End All: "During the PhoCusWright Executive Conference, Simon Vincent, CEO, Opodo, outlined Opodo’s key strategy in moving forwards to transform the business...
Opodo have developed a supplier friendly hotel and accommodation model. Opodo will be going for growth in the core package holiday market and is aiming to develop customer intimacy across Europe...
“We’ve transformed the business, we have scale and we have put ourselves solidly among the top 3 online intermediaries”. He added: “Being number one isn’t the be all and end all"
Opodo have developed a supplier friendly hotel and accommodation model. Opodo will be going for growth in the core package holiday market and is aiming to develop customer intimacy across Europe...
“We’ve transformed the business, we have scale and we have put ourselves solidly among the top 3 online intermediaries”. He added: “Being number one isn’t the be all and end all"
Active Hotels Boss Says Get to Know your Customer Better
Internet Travel News - Active Hotels Boss Says Get to Know your Customer Better Travel industry entrepreneur Andy Phillipps reckons it is absolutely critical for online travel players to get to know the customer.
Andy warned that travel sites that do not act on 'customer feedback' face losing customers saying:
“Customers booking on the internet are transacting at an arms length, so it more difficult to find out what they think you are doing right or wrong...
Current hotel booking sites have a long way to go – they are just online brochures. The next step is to get customer feedback on what you are doing wrong...
It’s very important to take risks. If you don’t get things wrong you’re doing something wrong”.
Active Hotels have appointed Brainbox to develop new CRM Programme (customer relationship management) in a move towards a more customer-centric business model based on insight into customer behaviour and needs.
Phillipps highlighted the benefits of customer reviews, in addition to other interactive features on the site. He commented: “We are now giving guests questionnaires. We use previous guest feedback to help potential guests make future bookings”.
Active Hotels - Your Reservations Partner - Active Hotels appoint Brainbox to develop new CRM Programme: " Active Hotels, one of Europes leading online hotel reservation providers owned by priceline.com has appointed Brainbox, the analytical CRM division of Data Locator Group, to provide it with a detailed understanding of its customers through the creation of Personas - a new series of customer groups...
Jason Froggett, Managing Director, Brainbox comments: “Active Hotels has a great business model and is becoming truly customer-centric. With this in mind we are very much looking forward to working with them. The development of Personas will help their business fine tune their marketing strategy and make highly informed decisions regarding search and booking functionality.”
About Data Locator Group Plc
Data Locator Group Plc sources prospect data for multi-channel direct marketing via
telephone, mail and internet. Coupled with its dynamic UK based tele-marketing operation, broking expertise and data analytics team, Data Locator is uniquely positioned to generate, source, analyse and convert data into new customers, adding tangible bottom line benefits for its many blue-chip clients. Data Locator Group PLC is the foremost supplier of all round data services to the UK direct marketing industry.
Media enquiries: Karl Pykerman, Head of Marketing, Data Locator Group Plc, Karl.pykerman@datalocator.com tel: + 44 (0) 1923 281 700 "
define: crm - Google Search: "Definitions of crm on the Web:
CRM (customer relationship management) is an information industry term for methodologies, software, and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized way. For example, an enterprise might build a database about its customers that described relationships in sufficient detail so that management, salespeople, people providing service, and perhaps the customer directly could access information, match customer needs with product plans and offerings, remind customers of service requirements, know what other products a customer had purchased, and so forth. (1)
www.iptv.org/digital/dictionary_internet.cfm"
Andy warned that travel sites that do not act on 'customer feedback' face losing customers saying:
“Customers booking on the internet are transacting at an arms length, so it more difficult to find out what they think you are doing right or wrong...
Current hotel booking sites have a long way to go – they are just online brochures. The next step is to get customer feedback on what you are doing wrong...
It’s very important to take risks. If you don’t get things wrong you’re doing something wrong”.
Active Hotels have appointed Brainbox to develop new CRM Programme (customer relationship management) in a move towards a more customer-centric business model based on insight into customer behaviour and needs.
Phillipps highlighted the benefits of customer reviews, in addition to other interactive features on the site. He commented: “We are now giving guests questionnaires. We use previous guest feedback to help potential guests make future bookings”.
Active Hotels - Your Reservations Partner - Active Hotels appoint Brainbox to develop new CRM Programme: " Active Hotels, one of Europes leading online hotel reservation providers owned by priceline.com has appointed Brainbox, the analytical CRM division of Data Locator Group, to provide it with a detailed understanding of its customers through the creation of Personas - a new series of customer groups...
Jason Froggett, Managing Director, Brainbox comments: “Active Hotels has a great business model and is becoming truly customer-centric. With this in mind we are very much looking forward to working with them. The development of Personas will help their business fine tune their marketing strategy and make highly informed decisions regarding search and booking functionality.”
About Data Locator Group Plc
Data Locator Group Plc sources prospect data for multi-channel direct marketing via
telephone, mail and internet. Coupled with its dynamic UK based tele-marketing operation, broking expertise and data analytics team, Data Locator is uniquely positioned to generate, source, analyse and convert data into new customers, adding tangible bottom line benefits for its many blue-chip clients. Data Locator Group PLC is the foremost supplier of all round data services to the UK direct marketing industry.
Media enquiries: Karl Pykerman, Head of Marketing, Data Locator Group Plc, Karl.pykerman@datalocator.com tel: + 44 (0) 1923 281 700 "
define: crm - Google Search: "Definitions of crm on the Web:
CRM (customer relationship management) is an information industry term for methodologies, software, and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized way. For example, an enterprise might build a database about its customers that described relationships in sufficient detail so that management, salespeople, people providing service, and perhaps the customer directly could access information, match customer needs with product plans and offerings, remind customers of service requirements, know what other products a customer had purchased, and so forth. (1)
www.iptv.org/digital/dictionary_internet.cfm"
Monday, September 26, 2005
New online travel sites : Hotels.com launches local hotel booking sites
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Hotels.com launches local sites in Russia and Poland...the launches see sites go live with IP based country recognition, local-language interfaces and local currency pricing. The company said Hotels.com now operates local language sites in over 20 European countries, which include UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and Benelux. The company is now focusing on country expansion, of which the launch of local-language sites in Russian and Polish are the latest step."
Travel heavyweights Orbitz, Worldspan sue each other for $50M
:: Travel Weekly :: Travel industry court cases: "Push came to shove this month as two major e-commerce partners, Orbitz and Worldspan, traded $50 million civil suits in two courts here.
Orbitz fired first, alleging in a suit filed on Sept. 16 that Worldspan had conned Orbitz into a “one-sided, long-term agreement” to provide a booking engine for the online service.
Worldspan countersued three days later, claiming to be the victim of “deception and abuse” since August 2000, when its partnership with Orbitz began. Worldspan also alleged that Orbitz stole Worldspan’s data and illegally used ITA Software and Galileo.
In its suit, filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill., here, Orbitz seeks a judgment of more than $50 million plus punitive damages, along with an order precluding Worldspan from pursuing its claims against Orbitz.
Orbitz claims that while negotiating a new contract, Worldspan concealed its objection to the way the Orbitz Web site intermingles flight information from direct connect airlines with information on carriers who do not have those Orbitz connections.
Orbitz also alleges that Worldspan hid the fact that it would not be giving Orbitz access to low cost airlines, including Independence Air.
In addition, Orbitz alleges that it didn’t know at the time the two parties extended their agreement to 2011 that Worldspan considered Orbitz’s use of ITA Software to be a violation of the agreement, which gives Worldspan exclusivity in GDS services."
Orbitz fired first, alleging in a suit filed on Sept. 16 that Worldspan had conned Orbitz into a “one-sided, long-term agreement” to provide a booking engine for the online service.
Worldspan countersued three days later, claiming to be the victim of “deception and abuse” since August 2000, when its partnership with Orbitz began. Worldspan also alleged that Orbitz stole Worldspan’s data and illegally used ITA Software and Galileo.
In its suit, filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill., here, Orbitz seeks a judgment of more than $50 million plus punitive damages, along with an order precluding Worldspan from pursuing its claims against Orbitz.
Orbitz claims that while negotiating a new contract, Worldspan concealed its objection to the way the Orbitz Web site intermingles flight information from direct connect airlines with information on carriers who do not have those Orbitz connections.
Orbitz also alleges that Worldspan hid the fact that it would not be giving Orbitz access to low cost airlines, including Independence Air.
In addition, Orbitz alleges that it didn’t know at the time the two parties extended their agreement to 2011 that Worldspan considered Orbitz’s use of ITA Software to be a violation of the agreement, which gives Worldspan exclusivity in GDS services."
Golden Tulip Hospitality Signs Global Agreement With Expedia.Com And Hotels.Com :: Hotel News Resource
Golden Tulip Hospitality Signs Global Agreement With Expedia.Com And Hotels.Com :: Hotel News Resource: "Golden Tulip Hospitality and Expedia have entered a global agreement involving a preferred marketing partnership that provides Expedia.com and Hotels.com customers with enhanced access and connectivity to over 400 properties that comprise the Golden Tulip Hospitality Group and alliance partners."
Friday, September 23, 2005
Search Engine Marketing in Hospitality
Hospitality Net - Industry News - Search Engine Marketing in Hospitality | By Max Starkov and Jason Price: "Search Engine Marketing in Hospitality | By Max Starkov and Jason Price
Search engine marketing is an essential component of the hotel direct online distribution strategy. According to Forrester research about 80% of overall website visits begin in a search engine or a directory service. Many other surveys also show that up to 85% of Internet users rely on search engines to locate relevant information on the Web (e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc). Search marketing is an extremely dynamic field. Search algorithms change, new search techniques and formats introduced, new search services launched, new challenges emerge on a daily basis that keep search marketers busy. The implications of all this in hospitality are enormous and some highlighted in this article.
Background
In 2005, online travel sales will account for an estimated 30 percent of total travel sales- up from 25 percent last year and 21 percent in 2003, according to a recent report by Merrill Lynch. By 2007 online travel sales will represent 39 percent of all travel revenue, with growth from direct suppliers outpacing that of online travel intermediaries....
Search in Travel is Destination Focused
Unlike other e-commerce categories, Internet users search for travel and hospitality services and offerings within the context of the destination. Therefore the search engine strategy for travel and hotel websites is subject to a different methodology than what the generalist SEO (Search Engine Optimization) companies offer. Marketing a bank, eyeglass store, or dental office does not factor the characteristics or intensity of the destination. Nor do generalists differentiate travel search behaviors from general online consumers.
A destination-focused search engine strategy requires in-depth knowledge of the travel and hospitality industry, extensive destination research, destination target keyword analysis, and destination search behavior. Only a destination-focused search engine strategy can help the travel and hotel website leverage the popularity of the destination to its benefit.
Search in Travel (includes hospitality):
73% use search to find travel; 27% went directly to travel site
Travel is top 4 category in use of search requests and some studies report in the top four types of searches
Travel searches originating from a search engine tends to lead to travel being purchased two weeks out
With such vast numbers of searches originating from search engines, clearly search engines are an essential component to the hotel’s direct online distribution strategy. Ranking high on the engines and consistently staying there along with matching the right budget to compete effectively are all major competitive issues with advertisers online.
CASE STUDY A Boutique Hotel in California
Background: In highly competitive northern California market this boutique hotel needed to outsmart its competition and boost ADRs, revenues and occupancy rates. Internet distribution and marketing strategy developed from scratch.
Actions: HeBS launched an aggressive Direct Online Distribution and Marketing Strategy for the hotel, including an award-winning designed website, email marketing, search marketing and link popularity strategies.
Results: Within 12 months the hotel opt-in e-mail list grew from practically zero to over 10,000 recipients. The website ranks in top positions on all major search engines for most popular keyword terms. The hotel website, supported by powerful email, search marketing, link creation and online sponsorship campaigns has indeed become the “first point of contact” with customers and over 50% of hotel bookings come via the hotel website.
CASE STUDY Body Copy and Link Popularity of a Hotel Brand Website
Using HeBS’ proprietary CyberScore Rating System, we evaluated the website of a prestigious hotel brand (body copy and descriptions) and the site Link Popularity and compared it to the industry average derived from similar evaluations of over 20 brand websites.
The body copy on the property pages consistently failed to disclose the location of the hotel and to “associate” the property with its respective destination
Extremely low Keyword Density
No customer segmentation strategy resulting in the absence of rich content related to the key customer segments (e.g. meeting planners, wedding planners, business travelers, etc)
No destination web strategy to make the hotel the “hero” of its destination.
Low link popularity and even lower number of links recognized by Google, which inevitably will hurt the search engine ranking.
Audit Results: The hotel brand utilizes only 27% of the “best practices” opportunities, way behind the industry average of 48%.
Conclusion:
Online distribution has become the main distribution channel in hospitality. This year over 50% of all hotel sales will be directly influenced by the Internet. Search marketing is an essential component of the hotel direct online distribution strategy. It is part of a comprehensive eMarketing Strategy in hospitality, together with other important aspects such as email marketing, link popularity, online sponsorships. Search marketing and its main aspects: natural listings, paid inclusion, PPC and Local Search should become an integral part of the overall hotel marketing strategy, and an important line item in hotelier’s 2006 budget.
Hoteliers should focus all of their efforts and resources on building and expanding their existing Direct Online Distribution and Marketing Strategies. Consider seeking advice from an experienced Internet marketing hospitality consultancy to help navigate the Internet and utilize the Direct Online Channel to its fullest potential. From experts who can teach hoteliers and their staffs best practices and provide crucial professional development, as well as guide hotel company’s direct Internet distribution and marketing strategies, including search marketing and online brand building strategies, e-CRM, website optimization and email marketing strategies"
Search engine marketing is an essential component of the hotel direct online distribution strategy. According to Forrester research about 80% of overall website visits begin in a search engine or a directory service. Many other surveys also show that up to 85% of Internet users rely on search engines to locate relevant information on the Web (e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc). Search marketing is an extremely dynamic field. Search algorithms change, new search techniques and formats introduced, new search services launched, new challenges emerge on a daily basis that keep search marketers busy. The implications of all this in hospitality are enormous and some highlighted in this article.
Background
In 2005, online travel sales will account for an estimated 30 percent of total travel sales- up from 25 percent last year and 21 percent in 2003, according to a recent report by Merrill Lynch. By 2007 online travel sales will represent 39 percent of all travel revenue, with growth from direct suppliers outpacing that of online travel intermediaries....
Search in Travel is Destination Focused
Unlike other e-commerce categories, Internet users search for travel and hospitality services and offerings within the context of the destination. Therefore the search engine strategy for travel and hotel websites is subject to a different methodology than what the generalist SEO (Search Engine Optimization) companies offer. Marketing a bank, eyeglass store, or dental office does not factor the characteristics or intensity of the destination. Nor do generalists differentiate travel search behaviors from general online consumers.
A destination-focused search engine strategy requires in-depth knowledge of the travel and hospitality industry, extensive destination research, destination target keyword analysis, and destination search behavior. Only a destination-focused search engine strategy can help the travel and hotel website leverage the popularity of the destination to its benefit.
Search in Travel (includes hospitality):
73% use search to find travel; 27% went directly to travel site
Travel is top 4 category in use of search requests and some studies report in the top four types of searches
Travel searches originating from a search engine tends to lead to travel being purchased two weeks out
With such vast numbers of searches originating from search engines, clearly search engines are an essential component to the hotel’s direct online distribution strategy. Ranking high on the engines and consistently staying there along with matching the right budget to compete effectively are all major competitive issues with advertisers online.
CASE STUDY A Boutique Hotel in California
Background: In highly competitive northern California market this boutique hotel needed to outsmart its competition and boost ADRs, revenues and occupancy rates. Internet distribution and marketing strategy developed from scratch.
Actions: HeBS launched an aggressive Direct Online Distribution and Marketing Strategy for the hotel, including an award-winning designed website, email marketing, search marketing and link popularity strategies.
Results: Within 12 months the hotel opt-in e-mail list grew from practically zero to over 10,000 recipients. The website ranks in top positions on all major search engines for most popular keyword terms. The hotel website, supported by powerful email, search marketing, link creation and online sponsorship campaigns has indeed become the “first point of contact” with customers and over 50% of hotel bookings come via the hotel website.
CASE STUDY Body Copy and Link Popularity of a Hotel Brand Website
Using HeBS’ proprietary CyberScore Rating System, we evaluated the website of a prestigious hotel brand (body copy and descriptions) and the site Link Popularity and compared it to the industry average derived from similar evaluations of over 20 brand websites.
The body copy on the property pages consistently failed to disclose the location of the hotel and to “associate” the property with its respective destination
Extremely low Keyword Density
No customer segmentation strategy resulting in the absence of rich content related to the key customer segments (e.g. meeting planners, wedding planners, business travelers, etc)
No destination web strategy to make the hotel the “hero” of its destination.
Low link popularity and even lower number of links recognized by Google, which inevitably will hurt the search engine ranking.
Audit Results: The hotel brand utilizes only 27% of the “best practices” opportunities, way behind the industry average of 48%.
Conclusion:
Online distribution has become the main distribution channel in hospitality. This year over 50% of all hotel sales will be directly influenced by the Internet. Search marketing is an essential component of the hotel direct online distribution strategy. It is part of a comprehensive eMarketing Strategy in hospitality, together with other important aspects such as email marketing, link popularity, online sponsorships. Search marketing and its main aspects: natural listings, paid inclusion, PPC and Local Search should become an integral part of the overall hotel marketing strategy, and an important line item in hotelier’s 2006 budget.
Hoteliers should focus all of their efforts and resources on building and expanding their existing Direct Online Distribution and Marketing Strategies. Consider seeking advice from an experienced Internet marketing hospitality consultancy to help navigate the Internet and utilize the Direct Online Channel to its fullest potential. From experts who can teach hoteliers and their staffs best practices and provide crucial professional development, as well as guide hotel company’s direct Internet distribution and marketing strategies, including search marketing and online brand building strategies, e-CRM, website optimization and email marketing strategies"
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Lastminute expands bricks and mortar presence- E-Shops Travel Consultant
TravelWeekly.co.uk - Jobs Search Details - E-Shops Travel Consultant: "Job Description
PURPOSE OF ROLE
Sales agents to advise and assist customers with travel plans and make bookings within lastminute.com retail outlets positioned at Airports and Railways stations nationwide
MAIN DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
� Responsible for booking holidays, flights, accommodation, tours, theatres, coaches and many other ancillary products.
� Advising customers as to availability / product suited to their requirements
� Making bookings -Upselling and cross selling
� Calling suppliers to ascertain availability
� Bank reconciliation
� lastminute.com customer face "
PURPOSE OF ROLE
Sales agents to advise and assist customers with travel plans and make bookings within lastminute.com retail outlets positioned at Airports and Railways stations nationwide
MAIN DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
� Responsible for booking holidays, flights, accommodation, tours, theatres, coaches and many other ancillary products.
� Advising customers as to availability / product suited to their requirements
� Making bookings -Upselling and cross selling
� Calling suppliers to ascertain availability
� Bank reconciliation
� lastminute.com customer face "
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Billionaire buys five million shares at 36 cents from Cendant
Billionaire Caught In Travel Web - TRAVELtech: "Cendant Corporation has sold down part of its shareholding in Webjet to investment entities associated with Melbourne billionaire Richard Pratt.
Thorney Holdings Pty Ltd now holds more than 7% of the online travel outfit after picking up five million shares at 36 cents from Cendant company Southern Cross Distribution Systems.
The transaction yielded a profit of around A$1.5 million for Southern Cross. Cendant still holds a 6.64% Webjet shareholding and has been a long-term investor in the company.
In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Thorney Holdings revealed it has been building a stake in Webjet since early July, when shares were trading at 19 cents. "
Thorney Holdings Pty Ltd now holds more than 7% of the online travel outfit after picking up five million shares at 36 cents from Cendant company Southern Cross Distribution Systems.
The transaction yielded a profit of around A$1.5 million for Southern Cross. Cendant still holds a 6.64% Webjet shareholding and has been a long-term investor in the company.
In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Thorney Holdings revealed it has been building a stake in Webjet since early July, when shares were trading at 19 cents. "
Wotif Prepares For Public Life -
Asian Boss Departs As Wotif Prepares For Public Life - TRAVELtech - Covering Asia Pacific: "Hotel booker Wotif.com is undergoing a strategic review of its global operations ahead of a proposed listing on the Australian Stock Exchange next year....
“The timing is right from many points of view, he said.
One reason is that internet stocks are hot again “but there are not many viable” web-based investment options, a scenario favouring strong investor demand.
Another is that Wotif, which has grown organically since starting in 2000, is considering making acquisitions down the track.
“We have nothing specific in mind but to maintain high rates of growth there is a limit to what can be achieved organically,” said Wood.
In terms of diversification beyond hotels into online travel retailing or wholesaling, Wood said “the current plan is to stick to our knitting.”..
Wotif.com now sells more than 6000 properties, processing 100,000 bookings a month."
“The timing is right from many points of view, he said.
One reason is that internet stocks are hot again “but there are not many viable” web-based investment options, a scenario favouring strong investor demand.
Another is that Wotif, which has grown organically since starting in 2000, is considering making acquisitions down the track.
“We have nothing specific in mind but to maintain high rates of growth there is a limit to what can be achieved organically,” said Wood.
In terms of diversification beyond hotels into online travel retailing or wholesaling, Wood said “the current plan is to stick to our knitting.”..
Wotif.com now sells more than 6000 properties, processing 100,000 bookings a month."
SiliconRepublic.com: Ireland's technology news service providing Irish tech news & analysis
SiliconRepublic.com: Ireland's technology news service providing Irish tech news & analysis: "There has been much noise from IT vendors about scaling down their large enterprise systems to meet the needs of small businesses. But can they really deliver the same efficiencies to organisations of less than 100 people? Ask the question of NeedaHotel.com, a hotel reservation company that adopted SAP’s small business platform, and the answer is a resounding yes....
In the past year the company sold more than a million rooms in over 100 countries. Not bad for a company that started in 1994 when entrepreneur Sarah Newman identified the opportunity for an independent Irish company to offer hotel reservations to travel agents through a call centre. With the growth of the internet came other booking channels and the business flourished...
..
the company employs 80 people at its Glenageary, Co Dublin, premises. Key to its growth has been an IT system that can accommodate the firms three distribution channels: its NeedaHotel website, the websites of Ryanair.com and Aerlingus.com (both airlines had entered into long-term contracts with the company) and bookings taken through travel agents and tour operators in Ireland, UK and Germany.
Business One records every single sale, explains Keogh, and its driving the business. Before we got it we had to manually input the bookings into our accounts system. Now we just do an import into SAP every day. The integration is fantastic...
“Our company has grown in the past five years from a turnover of €1m to almost €100m but the things we did then are the very same as we do now. Unlike other systems I have experienced, SAP has the right approach — it looks at how a system can grow with you.”
"
In the past year the company sold more than a million rooms in over 100 countries. Not bad for a company that started in 1994 when entrepreneur Sarah Newman identified the opportunity for an independent Irish company to offer hotel reservations to travel agents through a call centre. With the growth of the internet came other booking channels and the business flourished...
..
the company employs 80 people at its Glenageary, Co Dublin, premises. Key to its growth has been an IT system that can accommodate the firms three distribution channels: its NeedaHotel website, the websites of Ryanair.com and Aerlingus.com (both airlines had entered into long-term contracts with the company) and bookings taken through travel agents and tour operators in Ireland, UK and Germany.
Business One records every single sale, explains Keogh, and its driving the business. Before we got it we had to manually input the bookings into our accounts system. Now we just do an import into SAP every day. The integration is fantastic...
“Our company has grown in the past five years from a turnover of €1m to almost €100m but the things we did then are the very same as we do now. Unlike other systems I have experienced, SAP has the right approach — it looks at how a system can grow with you.”
"
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Lowcostbeds.com performing ahead of its business plan, signs deal with Close Venture Management
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Lowcostbeds.com says it is ahead of its business plan for its first year's trading to sell over 30,000 holidays, with turnover exceeding 4.5m and a forward run rate of 10m per annum...
The company, launched in November 2004, announced it has completed a substantial investment deal with venture capital trust management company, Close Venture Management, valuing the company at £7m within a year of set up. Close Venture Management was a significant investor in activehotels.com which was sold to priceline.com, for £90m in 2004"
The company, launched in November 2004, announced it has completed a substantial investment deal with venture capital trust management company, Close Venture Management, valuing the company at £7m within a year of set up. Close Venture Management was a significant investor in activehotels.com which was sold to priceline.com, for £90m in 2004"
Interview with Bruce Redor, director of key accounts, Expedia Europe
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "With many complementary brands under one roof, Bruce Redor, director of key accounts, Expedia Europe feels opportunities for sharing back-end technology and accounting systems while targeting unique value propositions at its corporate and leisure travel audiences can be a significant advantage for the company...
The new Expedia, Inc. will be a much more diverse company from the one that eventually doubled the size of its competitor Travelocity. With many complementary brands under one roof, opportunities for sharing back-end technology and accounting systems while targeting unique value propositions at its corporate and leisure travel audiences can be a significant advantage for Expedia.
Expedia Europe, under the leadership of our president Simon Breakwell, will be one of the main forces in driving innovative developments in the future.
What new trends have you witnessed from travellers perspective in the European markets where Expedia operates? How is Expedia responding to new challenges?
We have always faced new challenges since the beginning and we have always taken an innovative approach. A good example of technological innovation in the consumers’ proposition is dynamic packaging...
This year $66 billion dollars of travel will be purchased online in the U.S., growing to more than $78 billion in 2006 (as per the projections). Of the 2006 figure, 13 percent is expected be purchased in the form of a package...
At Expedia, we see through our booking data that:
· Package bookers typically have a longer booking window - 45 to 90 days in advance of check-in – providing hotels with greater ability to manage their inventory and yield to maximise RevPAR.
· Package customers also typically have a longer length of stay, often four nights or more, resulting in more confirmed room-nights, and incremental cost savings on housekeeping and other room turnover costs.
· Longer stays result in higher yields on amenities, such as concierge services and room service.
By 2006, it is being projected that online package sales will have achieved a 368 percent increase in three years. Savvy hoteliers recognize that the benefits of dynamic packaging can be achieved not only through partnership with a strong online travel agency, but also on their own supplier-direct sites. Private label options, such as Expedia Private Label, already power the online packaging sites of numerous large hotel chains, enabling them to quickly and affordably begin offering branded packaging options to their customers and capture an incremental share of the package products sold online. Such a solution ensures the hotelier is maximizing the online channel for package and overall room sales.
What plans are in the pipeline? What are the expansion plans?
Expedia will look to continue is technology leadership in the online travel sector. Expedia was the first online travel company to develop sophisticated technology for packaging airline tickets, hotels and site-seeing options in one transaction. While others have developed similar strategies, the long technology lead and deep treasure trove of offerings – from hotel rooms to dive-shop tours – give Expedia the lead in package sales.
Also a technological leader, its direct connections with hotel reservation systems, free from GDSs, allows for less costly and more seamless transactions as well as increased access to hoteliers’ inventory. The company’s recent appointment of Paul Onnen as Executive Vice-president of Technology should help to reinforce the company’s leadership in this area."
The new Expedia, Inc. will be a much more diverse company from the one that eventually doubled the size of its competitor Travelocity. With many complementary brands under one roof, opportunities for sharing back-end technology and accounting systems while targeting unique value propositions at its corporate and leisure travel audiences can be a significant advantage for Expedia.
Expedia Europe, under the leadership of our president Simon Breakwell, will be one of the main forces in driving innovative developments in the future.
What new trends have you witnessed from travellers perspective in the European markets where Expedia operates? How is Expedia responding to new challenges?
We have always faced new challenges since the beginning and we have always taken an innovative approach. A good example of technological innovation in the consumers’ proposition is dynamic packaging...
This year $66 billion dollars of travel will be purchased online in the U.S., growing to more than $78 billion in 2006 (as per the projections). Of the 2006 figure, 13 percent is expected be purchased in the form of a package...
At Expedia, we see through our booking data that:
· Package bookers typically have a longer booking window - 45 to 90 days in advance of check-in – providing hotels with greater ability to manage their inventory and yield to maximise RevPAR.
· Package customers also typically have a longer length of stay, often four nights or more, resulting in more confirmed room-nights, and incremental cost savings on housekeeping and other room turnover costs.
· Longer stays result in higher yields on amenities, such as concierge services and room service.
By 2006, it is being projected that online package sales will have achieved a 368 percent increase in three years. Savvy hoteliers recognize that the benefits of dynamic packaging can be achieved not only through partnership with a strong online travel agency, but also on their own supplier-direct sites. Private label options, such as Expedia Private Label, already power the online packaging sites of numerous large hotel chains, enabling them to quickly and affordably begin offering branded packaging options to their customers and capture an incremental share of the package products sold online. Such a solution ensures the hotelier is maximizing the online channel for package and overall room sales.
What plans are in the pipeline? What are the expansion plans?
Expedia will look to continue is technology leadership in the online travel sector. Expedia was the first online travel company to develop sophisticated technology for packaging airline tickets, hotels and site-seeing options in one transaction. While others have developed similar strategies, the long technology lead and deep treasure trove of offerings – from hotel rooms to dive-shop tours – give Expedia the lead in package sales.
Also a technological leader, its direct connections with hotel reservation systems, free from GDSs, allows for less costly and more seamless transactions as well as increased access to hoteliers’ inventory. The company’s recent appointment of Paul Onnen as Executive Vice-president of Technology should help to reinforce the company’s leadership in this area."
Interview with Frank Zehle, regional vice president, Brand Marketing Continental Europe, Marriott
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Frank Zehle, regional vice president, Brand Marketing Continental Europe, Marriott, who joined the company earlier this year, says the new marketing team for Europe has reviewed a number of marketing strategies, especially addressing the business travellers and leisure travellers.
How has Marriott Hotels integrated its offline and online media for its marketing initiatives?
All of our offline campaigns relate to one of our sites, we also have used other partner websites, Search Engine Marketing and Content integration to create brand awareness and bookings. Our content of the Marriott Rewards communication is all reflected online, and we increasingly use targeted e-mail marketing to communicate with our clients.
Online marketing and integration: How can Marriott Hotels' results help you evaluate your offline brand and promotional campaigns?
In terms of research, we are now using online research tools to evaluate our brand strength and our advertising campaigns in key markets. Research has become much faster and cheaper. We can track media preferences and what the clients like and dislike with us and the competition. Promotional campaigns are easy to evaluate, all campaigns now have landing pages on our websites, tracking codes, etc.
We have a very sophisticated tracking tool, which also visualizes where our clients enter into the 'virtual' environment (whether from adverts, banners, e-mail marketing, etc.) and how they navigate. Brand awareness and perception do not change overnight, the swings are much slower and a variety of issues influence this. So here it is much more difficult to attribute certain activities to certain results."
How has Marriott Hotels integrated its offline and online media for its marketing initiatives?
All of our offline campaigns relate to one of our sites, we also have used other partner websites, Search Engine Marketing and Content integration to create brand awareness and bookings. Our content of the Marriott Rewards communication is all reflected online, and we increasingly use targeted e-mail marketing to communicate with our clients.
Online marketing and integration: How can Marriott Hotels' results help you evaluate your offline brand and promotional campaigns?
In terms of research, we are now using online research tools to evaluate our brand strength and our advertising campaigns in key markets. Research has become much faster and cheaper. We can track media preferences and what the clients like and dislike with us and the competition. Promotional campaigns are easy to evaluate, all campaigns now have landing pages on our websites, tracking codes, etc.
We have a very sophisticated tracking tool, which also visualizes where our clients enter into the 'virtual' environment (whether from adverts, banners, e-mail marketing, etc.) and how they navigate. Brand awareness and perception do not change overnight, the swings are much slower and a variety of issues influence this. So here it is much more difficult to attribute certain activities to certain results."
Yahoo! has completely re-launched its travel sites
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Yahoo! Travel in Europe, which has recently undergone changes, says from a product standpoint the company has completely re-launched its travel sites in both the UK and France, with Germany launching in September..
According to Tim Frankcom, European head of Travel, Yahoo!/Kelkoo, the new site combines best of breed content providers with a leading selection of travel companies to offer users across the board with a comprehensive travel resource in one easy-to-use service.
"Yahoo! Travel features independent in-depth travel guides, hotel reviews, holiday deals and information on over 20,000 destinations across the world. The new site also features the latest content and images supplied by Lonely Planet and WCities and a 'Destination Of The Week' section that will feature a key sponsor. Customers can also view deals from multiple travel websites, travel agents and suppliers to source a complete holiday, incorporating flights, hotels and car hire in one easy-to-use service," says Franckcom.
Franckcom recently shared information on company's standing in the region and his viewpoint on the trends with Eyefortravel.com in an interview. Excerpts:
How do you think Yahoo! Travel Europe is leveraging its brand strength? How do you think your company is in an advantageous position vis-Ã -vis competitors?
Yahoo! is one of the largest destination sites in the world, Yahoo! travel has the added advantage of being able to draw on Yahoo!'s entire community of users across Europe. For example, as a way of capturing the thoughts of our community of users, we have just added the ability for customers to add reviews about any restaurant, hotel, or destination in our travel guide. Currently we have in the region of 300,000 user reviews.
Yahoo! Travel offers a comprehensive service for both users and advertisers. Yahoo! Travel offers a holistic advertising solution including branded advertising and sponsorship opportunities as well as sponsored search placements and specialist search engine advertising.
Users can thoroughly research a destination before visiting or buying a ticket, and search for the right fare, hotel or car for their trip.
Which according to you are the most cost effective search engine promotion strategies?
The most effective search engine strategies are the ones, which include all elements of the marketing mix. Keyword buying (SEM) through companies like Overture, listing your company's products on specialist search sites like Yahoo! Travel search and of course exploiting branded media and sponsorship opportunities to raise brand awareness. Relevant branded advertising around the travel search will reinforce your message whilst placing your brand front of mind when a customer is searching, compounding the impact that such advertising solutions offer in isolation.
How do customers distinguish between search engines, meta-search engines and online intermediaries?
Search engines provide an excellent starting point for consumers looking for travel online, but general search engines do not provide the necessary product-specific information for a customer to make a purchase decision, which is where meta-search engines and online intermediaries come in. Meta-search engines, like Yahoo! Travel Search offer the added advantage of enabling users to view details of travel offerings from multiple sites including airlines and online travel agents - all in one search - helping users to find the right product for them. Travel search companies therefore enable the advertiser to access the buyer further along their purchase journey.
How do you think meta-search engines are trying to establish themselves? What are going to be the major considerations going ahead?
Meta-search engines have established themselves by filling an existing consumer demand. In order to build on these foundations, we must continue to satisfy consumer demands by helping the customer to find the right flight, hotel, holiday or city break which will enable us to drive highly qualified traffic to our advertisers.
What additional value, if any, can meta-search companies provide to consumers and suppliers?
The customers are able to search multiple travel companies in one search. In hotels alone we have now in excess of 20 advertisers, including Radisson, Intercontinental and Ramada Jarvis. This offers customers the ability to save time in searching while allowing the advertisers to receive highly qualified traffic their websites.
How would you differentiate various markets in Europe? Do these various channels appeal to different demographics and regions?
Although Yahoo! Travel has been designed to support and facilitate pan-European marketing campaigns, we also appreciate can only make this work effectively by taking account of local variations, which is why Yahoo! Travel operates with local sales, product and marketing teams for each of its European markets.
What are the implications of meta-search on brand integrity and distribution - and could it result in the commoditisation of your brand?
Yahoo! Travel is the largest travel site to offer display media advertising, sponsored search advertising and Travel Search advertising opportunities. From media placements to sponsorship opportunities in our travel guide section Yahoo! Travel offers a complete online marketing service to the travel industry integrating advertiser opportunities into all its pages and driving increased brand awareness through targeted campaigns. In this way Yahoo! Travel will help brands to reinforce their messages at all stages of the buying cycle.
Travel companies will also benefit from further opportunities to differentiate their brand as search users will ultimately visit their site to complete the transaction. Evidence from Yahoo! Shopping suggests that in even in shopping search, brand is more significant than price. We believe that brand is even more important to consumers when making significant purchases such as travel, where consumers want a company they can rely on to deliver their dream holiday."
According to Tim Frankcom, European head of Travel, Yahoo!/Kelkoo, the new site combines best of breed content providers with a leading selection of travel companies to offer users across the board with a comprehensive travel resource in one easy-to-use service.
"Yahoo! Travel features independent in-depth travel guides, hotel reviews, holiday deals and information on over 20,000 destinations across the world. The new site also features the latest content and images supplied by Lonely Planet and WCities and a 'Destination Of The Week' section that will feature a key sponsor. Customers can also view deals from multiple travel websites, travel agents and suppliers to source a complete holiday, incorporating flights, hotels and car hire in one easy-to-use service," says Franckcom.
Franckcom recently shared information on company's standing in the region and his viewpoint on the trends with Eyefortravel.com in an interview. Excerpts:
How do you think Yahoo! Travel Europe is leveraging its brand strength? How do you think your company is in an advantageous position vis-Ã -vis competitors?
Yahoo! is one of the largest destination sites in the world, Yahoo! travel has the added advantage of being able to draw on Yahoo!'s entire community of users across Europe. For example, as a way of capturing the thoughts of our community of users, we have just added the ability for customers to add reviews about any restaurant, hotel, or destination in our travel guide. Currently we have in the region of 300,000 user reviews.
Yahoo! Travel offers a comprehensive service for both users and advertisers. Yahoo! Travel offers a holistic advertising solution including branded advertising and sponsorship opportunities as well as sponsored search placements and specialist search engine advertising.
Users can thoroughly research a destination before visiting or buying a ticket, and search for the right fare, hotel or car for their trip.
Which according to you are the most cost effective search engine promotion strategies?
The most effective search engine strategies are the ones, which include all elements of the marketing mix. Keyword buying (SEM) through companies like Overture, listing your company's products on specialist search sites like Yahoo! Travel search and of course exploiting branded media and sponsorship opportunities to raise brand awareness. Relevant branded advertising around the travel search will reinforce your message whilst placing your brand front of mind when a customer is searching, compounding the impact that such advertising solutions offer in isolation.
How do customers distinguish between search engines, meta-search engines and online intermediaries?
Search engines provide an excellent starting point for consumers looking for travel online, but general search engines do not provide the necessary product-specific information for a customer to make a purchase decision, which is where meta-search engines and online intermediaries come in. Meta-search engines, like Yahoo! Travel Search offer the added advantage of enabling users to view details of travel offerings from multiple sites including airlines and online travel agents - all in one search - helping users to find the right product for them. Travel search companies therefore enable the advertiser to access the buyer further along their purchase journey.
How do you think meta-search engines are trying to establish themselves? What are going to be the major considerations going ahead?
Meta-search engines have established themselves by filling an existing consumer demand. In order to build on these foundations, we must continue to satisfy consumer demands by helping the customer to find the right flight, hotel, holiday or city break which will enable us to drive highly qualified traffic to our advertisers.
What additional value, if any, can meta-search companies provide to consumers and suppliers?
The customers are able to search multiple travel companies in one search. In hotels alone we have now in excess of 20 advertisers, including Radisson, Intercontinental and Ramada Jarvis. This offers customers the ability to save time in searching while allowing the advertisers to receive highly qualified traffic their websites.
How would you differentiate various markets in Europe? Do these various channels appeal to different demographics and regions?
Although Yahoo! Travel has been designed to support and facilitate pan-European marketing campaigns, we also appreciate can only make this work effectively by taking account of local variations, which is why Yahoo! Travel operates with local sales, product and marketing teams for each of its European markets.
What are the implications of meta-search on brand integrity and distribution - and could it result in the commoditisation of your brand?
Yahoo! Travel is the largest travel site to offer display media advertising, sponsored search advertising and Travel Search advertising opportunities. From media placements to sponsorship opportunities in our travel guide section Yahoo! Travel offers a complete online marketing service to the travel industry integrating advertiser opportunities into all its pages and driving increased brand awareness through targeted campaigns. In this way Yahoo! Travel will help brands to reinforce their messages at all stages of the buying cycle.
Travel companies will also benefit from further opportunities to differentiate their brand as search users will ultimately visit their site to complete the transaction. Evidence from Yahoo! Shopping suggests that in even in shopping search, brand is more significant than price. We believe that brand is even more important to consumers when making significant purchases such as travel, where consumers want a company they can rely on to deliver their dream holiday."
talking about totaltravel.com Australia. 'Your travel encyclopaedia'.
isitwickednotto: Good Afternoon all.: "Today, I will be talking about totaltravel.com Australia. 'Your travel encyclopaedia'.
totaltravel.com contains information about accommodation, activities, dining and attractions for all areas of Australia. It's on online travel guide.
I think the user is meant to navigate their way to information on their chosen region via clicking on the appropriate region on a map of Australia. However, I didn't even notice the map until after several minutes. It's small and tunked up in the top right-hand corner.
When, the user looks at the homepage, they see a huge, unattractive tangle of links - about 70 all up, linking to particular sections of information (eg. Accommodation - Blue Mountains). Initially, given their number and prominence - I supposed that these links were the main way of getting around the site. However, these links only account for a fraction of the material on the site.
The content on the site seems comprehensive and useful, it's a shame that navigating your way to the information isn't more obvious."
totaltravel.com contains information about accommodation, activities, dining and attractions for all areas of Australia. It's on online travel guide.
I think the user is meant to navigate their way to information on their chosen region via clicking on the appropriate region on a map of Australia. However, I didn't even notice the map until after several minutes. It's small and tunked up in the top right-hand corner.
When, the user looks at the homepage, they see a huge, unattractive tangle of links - about 70 all up, linking to particular sections of information (eg. Accommodation - Blue Mountains). Initially, given their number and prominence - I supposed that these links were the main way of getting around the site. However, these links only account for a fraction of the material on the site.
The content on the site seems comprehensive and useful, it's a shame that navigating your way to the information isn't more obvious."
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Country health reports and advice for travellers
travmedia.com report that: "Travellers and travel professionals now have instant access to over 180 individual country health reports, travel accessories and health advice all on the one site. www.travel-essentials.co.nz"
Foreign Travel Immunisations Vaccinations New Zealand Travellers Health Advice Travel Vaccination: "TRAVEL ESSENTIALS where you have immediate access to over 180 individual Country Health Reports forwarded instantly to your email address - they cost only $5.
Country Health Reports provide authoritive information on compulsory and recommended vaccinations, basic country facts, insurance, road safety, natural disasters, safety, security, terrorism, crime, finances along with practical travel health advice supplied by Dr Marc Shaw of WORLDWISE ONLINE, one of Australasia's leading travel health Authorities."
Foreign Travel Immunisations Vaccinations New Zealand Travellers Health Advice Travel Vaccination: "TRAVEL ESSENTIALS where you have immediate access to over 180 individual Country Health Reports forwarded instantly to your email address - they cost only $5.
Country Health Reports provide authoritive information on compulsory and recommended vaccinations, basic country facts, insurance, road safety, natural disasters, safety, security, terrorism, crime, finances along with practical travel health advice supplied by Dr Marc Shaw of WORLDWISE ONLINE, one of Australasia's leading travel health Authorities."
Monday, September 12, 2005
Interview with Luke Errington, consumer manager, Active Hotels
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Active Hotels' recent survey findings indicated that 28% of customers chose to book with Active Hotels because they found the best rate for the hotel."
Choice of online booking options boggles mind of consumer and travel agent
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Choice of online booking options boggles the mind of the consumer and travel agent alike...
Should I go the paper-based route, go with one of the big online intermediaries, "google" my criteria and see what comes up, use the services of one of the emerging travel search and comparison engines or go directly to the Web sites of the providers I have used before? The decision will probably depend on a number of factors, not least the complexity of the travel requirements, e.g. flight only, package holiday or the full gamut of dynamically packaged travel components.
As Simon Powell, co-founder and CEO of Comtec (Europe) Ltd, points out in our Guest Contribution, travel agents are also faced with fragmentation through the sheer volume of channels, suppliers and information available via the desktop browser.
There is no doubt that travel industry players are fully cognizant of the search and booking challenges afoot. But while the technology is available to address disintegrated search, providers and intermediaries are slow to adapt their commercial models to embrace the strategic dynamic partnerships required to deliver complete, end-to-end and seamless search and booking."
Traventec - European Leisure Travel Technology, Software & IT Integrated Business Solutions: Reports available on:
Marketplace Analysis
A Sample of Statistics on Consumer Lookers and Bookers
Online Travel Agent/Portal Launches, Expansions & Successes
Direct Booking Trends
Travel Search Engines - The Answer to Disintegration?
A Step Further - Travel Search and Comparison Web sites
Online Search and Booking Solutions Specifically for Travel Agents
Meeting the Needs of the Dynamic Packaging Trend
Sources & References"
Should I go the paper-based route, go with one of the big online intermediaries, "google" my criteria and see what comes up, use the services of one of the emerging travel search and comparison engines or go directly to the Web sites of the providers I have used before? The decision will probably depend on a number of factors, not least the complexity of the travel requirements, e.g. flight only, package holiday or the full gamut of dynamically packaged travel components.
As Simon Powell, co-founder and CEO of Comtec (Europe) Ltd, points out in our Guest Contribution, travel agents are also faced with fragmentation through the sheer volume of channels, suppliers and information available via the desktop browser.
There is no doubt that travel industry players are fully cognizant of the search and booking challenges afoot. But while the technology is available to address disintegrated search, providers and intermediaries are slow to adapt their commercial models to embrace the strategic dynamic partnerships required to deliver complete, end-to-end and seamless search and booking."
Traventec - European Leisure Travel Technology, Software & IT Integrated Business Solutions: Reports available on:
Marketplace Analysis
A Sample of Statistics on Consumer Lookers and Bookers
Online Travel Agent/Portal Launches, Expansions & Successes
Direct Booking Trends
Travel Search Engines - The Answer to Disintegration?
A Step Further - Travel Search and Comparison Web sites
Online Search and Booking Solutions Specifically for Travel Agents
Meeting the Needs of the Dynamic Packaging Trend
Sources & References"
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Virgin Sleeps Around, Seeks New Partners -
[getProductById - No product ID supplied]Virgin Sleeps Around, Seeks New Partners - TRAVELtech - Covering Asia Pacific: "Virgin Blue, which generates between A$6 and A$9 million in online revenue every day, has just taken another major step in its distribution diversification program, launching its Application Protocol Interface (API).
Launch customers are online retailers travel.com.au and lastminute.com.au, powered by Arnold Travel technology, while links will be provided to Zuji and Carlson Wagonlit.
The API provides these companies with a �doorway� into Virgin Blue�s new and more flexible Navataire Skylights7 booking platform � giving them live access to most inventory.
The integration costs are significant, and borne by the agents, but Virgin Blue claimed the upside is enormous, and that long-term benefits can be found on a number of levels � notably access, speed and better customer service."
Launch customers are online retailers travel.com.au and lastminute.com.au, powered by Arnold Travel technology, while links will be provided to Zuji and Carlson Wagonlit.
The API provides these companies with a �doorway� into Virgin Blue�s new and more flexible Navataire Skylights7 booking platform � giving them live access to most inventory.
The integration costs are significant, and borne by the agents, but Virgin Blue claimed the upside is enormous, and that long-term benefits can be found on a number of levels � notably access, speed and better customer service."
Record Traffic Levels For Aussie Travel Web Sites
Record Traffic Levels For Aussie Travel Web Sites - TRAVELtech - Covering Asia Pacific: "CONSUMER traffic to Australian travel websites is at an all-time high, according to Nielsen//NetRatings and Hitwise.
Not surprisingly, given the launch of Jetstar, the sharpest growth has occurred within the airline sites over the past two years.However, hotels and travel agencies are not far behind.
According to Hitwise:
Commercial Airlines >> Increased 69% between December 2003 and January 2005
Travel Agencies >> Increased 40% between December 2003 and January 2005
Destinations & Accommodation >> Increased 46% between December 2003 and January 2005
Meanwhile Nielsen//NetRatings reports a similar pattern.
Senior Analyst Andrew Eckford said the trend has been particularly evident during the first three months of 2005.
"Over the past few weeks we have seen consistently more than 630,000 unique browsers a week to audited travel sites.
"This is significantly higher than seen for any week since we launched the Market Intelligence measurement for the travel industry."
Hitwise - Travel - Destinations and Accommodation ' February 2005 ' Ranks by 'Visits'
Name Domain Market Share
1 Wotif.com www.wotif.com 6.71%
2 HotelClub.net www.hotelclub.net 5.70%
3 RatesToGo.com www.ratestogo.com 2.93%
4 Need It Now www.needitnow.com.au 1.96%
5 TravelMate www.travelmate.com.au 1.91%
6 Trip Advisor www.tripadvisor.com 1.60%
7 Totaltravel.com www.totaltravel.com 1.37%
8 Visit Victoria www.visitvictoria.com.au 1.36%
9 Lonely Planet www.lonelyplanet.com 1.35%
10 AAA Tourism www.aaatourism.com.au 1.30%"
Not surprisingly, given the launch of Jetstar, the sharpest growth has occurred within the airline sites over the past two years.However, hotels and travel agencies are not far behind.
According to Hitwise:
Commercial Airlines >> Increased 69% between December 2003 and January 2005
Travel Agencies >> Increased 40% between December 2003 and January 2005
Destinations & Accommodation >> Increased 46% between December 2003 and January 2005
Meanwhile Nielsen//NetRatings reports a similar pattern.
Senior Analyst Andrew Eckford said the trend has been particularly evident during the first three months of 2005.
"Over the past few weeks we have seen consistently more than 630,000 unique browsers a week to audited travel sites.
"This is significantly higher than seen for any week since we launched the Market Intelligence measurement for the travel industry."
Hitwise - Travel - Destinations and Accommodation ' February 2005 ' Ranks by 'Visits'
Name Domain Market Share
1 Wotif.com www.wotif.com 6.71%
2 HotelClub.net www.hotelclub.net 5.70%
3 RatesToGo.com www.ratestogo.com 2.93%
4 Need It Now www.needitnow.com.au 1.96%
5 TravelMate www.travelmate.com.au 1.91%
6 Trip Advisor www.tripadvisor.com 1.60%
7 Totaltravel.com www.totaltravel.com 1.37%
8 Visit Victoria www.visitvictoria.com.au 1.36%
9 Lonely Planet www.lonelyplanet.com 1.35%
10 AAA Tourism www.aaatourism.com.au 1.30%"
Friday, September 09, 2005
eyefortravel.com - Website Launched for Travel Distribution Summit
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Website Launched for Travel Distribution Summit: Whats new for 2006"
EyeforTravel Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2006
EyeforTravel Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2006
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Priceline gearing up for strengthening of its offerings across Europe
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Following Priceline.com Inc.'s acquisition of Amsterdam-based online hotel reservation company Bookings B.V. in July this year, the online travel services provider is gearing up for strengthening of its offerings across Europe...
Following the acquisition, Priceline.com portfolio comprises Activehotels.com, Activereservations.com, Bookings.net and priceline.co.uk...
The acquisition of Bookings B. V. is part of Priceline.com's acceleration in expansion in Europe. The company had bought Active Hotels Ltd. last year. Priceline.com had stated that Bookings' gross travel bookings for the 12 months ending June 30, 2005 are expected to be US$225 million, up 110% year-over-year. And Bookings' revenues for the same period are expected to be US$25 million, up 100% year over year."
Following the acquisition, Priceline.com portfolio comprises Activehotels.com, Activereservations.com, Bookings.net and priceline.co.uk...
The acquisition of Bookings B. V. is part of Priceline.com's acceleration in expansion in Europe. The company had bought Active Hotels Ltd. last year. Priceline.com had stated that Bookings' gross travel bookings for the 12 months ending June 30, 2005 are expected to be US$225 million, up 110% year-over-year. And Bookings' revenues for the same period are expected to be US$25 million, up 100% year over year."
Travelocity and lastminute.com outline way forward in THE uk
Travelocity - lastminute.com - (Travel Daily News): "Travelocity and lastminute.com today announced their combined European management team and revealed plans for the integration of their British businesses . The combined organisation will be known as lastminute.com and will comprise multiple brands and businesses, including travelocity.co.uk. Both the lastminute.com and travelocity.co.uk websites will continue to be marketed actively.
As a first step in the integration process, travelocity.co.uk has started to integrate lastminute.com`s holiday and packaging products into its website. lastminute.com will incorporate Travelocity`s extensive range of merchant hotel content for non-European properties this month (September). This apart, the lastminute.com and travelocity.co.uk websites will continue to be marketed independently. 'When the acquisition closed we said we intended to maintain a multi-brand approach where it makes sense, and share underlying infrastructure, technology and supplier relationships to drive cost savings,' said Brent Hoberman, chief executive officer of lastminute.com. 'This is a classic example of that approach. We will continue to pursue opportunities to share products and technology to create the best possible offering for consumers and suppliers.'
The companies are also considering a plan to consolidate their British operations into lastminute.com`s existing premises in London and the South-East, which could result in the closing of travelocity.co.uk`s one office in Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex. Eighty-five Travelocity employees are currently based in Stansted Mountfitchet.
'We have begun consultation with our employees, and are discussing an option to close our Stansted Mountfitchet location,' said Hoberman. 'Should we move forward with this plan, it`s our fervent hope tha"
As a first step in the integration process, travelocity.co.uk has started to integrate lastminute.com`s holiday and packaging products into its website. lastminute.com will incorporate Travelocity`s extensive range of merchant hotel content for non-European properties this month (September). This apart, the lastminute.com and travelocity.co.uk websites will continue to be marketed independently. 'When the acquisition closed we said we intended to maintain a multi-brand approach where it makes sense, and share underlying infrastructure, technology and supplier relationships to drive cost savings,' said Brent Hoberman, chief executive officer of lastminute.com. 'This is a classic example of that approach. We will continue to pursue opportunities to share products and technology to create the best possible offering for consumers and suppliers.'
The companies are also considering a plan to consolidate their British operations into lastminute.com`s existing premises in London and the South-East, which could result in the closing of travelocity.co.uk`s one office in Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex. Eighty-five Travelocity employees are currently based in Stansted Mountfitchet.
'We have begun consultation with our employees, and are discussing an option to close our Stansted Mountfitchet location,' said Hoberman. 'Should we move forward with this plan, it`s our fervent hope tha"
SideStep Board of Directors Elects Jim Barnett Chairman
SideStep Board of Directors Elects Jim Barnett Chairman: "Former President and CEO of AltaVisa to Lead Board for The Traveler's Search Engine "
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Site59 Co-Founder Joins Travelocity as COO
Internet Travel News - Site59 Co-Founder Joins Travelocity as COO: "Travelocity today announced that Tracey Weber has been named chief operating officer, North America. Additionally, Weber will lead the Travelocity sales and customer care team, Travelocity.ca and sister company Site59. "
Expedia powers travel sections of Nascar.com and PGA.com
:: Travel Weekly - The National Newspaper of the Travel Industry :: "EXPEDIA INC.'S private label e-commerce unit, WWTE, is broadening its efforts and targeting non-travel Web sites. In that regard, Expedia.com and Turner Sports Interactive reached an agreement in which Expedia.com is powering the travel sections of Turner's Nascar.com and PGA.com sites on an exclusive basis. The Nascar and PGA sites, which now feature dynamic packages tailored toward car racing and golfing events, are co-branded as being powered by Expedia.com. Worldspan previously had handled the air, car and hotel bookings on the Nascar site. "
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
DMNews.com | News | Article
DMNews.com: "Travel Sites Push Hotels Out of Searches By: Christine Blank
Travel Web sites such as Expedia and Orbitz are shoving hotel companies out of both paid and organic search listings, according to a new study exclusive to DM News. Web analytics company SEMphonic found that Expedia, Orbitz and Hotels.com hold the top spots in paid search listings on Google and Yahoo while TripAdvisor.com and Hotelclub.net are at the top in organic rankings. No major hotel chain, such as Marriott and
Radisson, is in SEMphonic's top 10 for overall ratings analyzing paid and organic results combined. And only Choice Hotels, which includes Comfort Inn, Clarion and Sleep Inn, ranks in the top 10 paid listings...
Hotels fare much better in organic listings, where they make up 48 percent of the top 50 sites while travel aggregators are only 6 percent. However, only Marriott.com, Radisson.com and Starwoodhotels.com ranked in the top 10 organic listings.
When users search for "cheap" or "discount" hotels, the traditional hotel companies fare worse than when consumers search for luxury properties. In searches for "cheap" properties, lodging aggregators such as Hotels.com make up 62 percent of the organic listings; travel aggregators, 24 percent; and hotel companies, 6 percent.
Still, hotel companies dominated organic listings when "luxury"-related search terms were used, comprising two-thirds of the total listings. The top hotel chains listed were Four Seasons, Fairmont, Mandarin Oriental and Ritz-Carlton.
"Comparison between the 'cheap' and 'luxury' categories suggests that hotel companies are more likely to focus on their search engine placement within the 'luxury' space, rather than the 'cheap' space," the study said."
Travel Web sites such as Expedia and Orbitz are shoving hotel companies out of both paid and organic search listings, according to a new study exclusive to DM News. Web analytics company SEMphonic found that Expedia, Orbitz and Hotels.com hold the top spots in paid search listings on Google and Yahoo while TripAdvisor.com and Hotelclub.net are at the top in organic rankings. No major hotel chain, such as Marriott and
Radisson, is in SEMphonic's top 10 for overall ratings analyzing paid and organic results combined. And only Choice Hotels, which includes Comfort Inn, Clarion and Sleep Inn, ranks in the top 10 paid listings...
Hotels fare much better in organic listings, where they make up 48 percent of the top 50 sites while travel aggregators are only 6 percent. However, only Marriott.com, Radisson.com and Starwoodhotels.com ranked in the top 10 organic listings.
When users search for "cheap" or "discount" hotels, the traditional hotel companies fare worse than when consumers search for luxury properties. In searches for "cheap" properties, lodging aggregators such as Hotels.com make up 62 percent of the organic listings; travel aggregators, 24 percent; and hotel companies, 6 percent.
Still, hotel companies dominated organic listings when "luxury"-related search terms were used, comprising two-thirds of the total listings. The top hotel chains listed were Four Seasons, Fairmont, Mandarin Oriental and Ritz-Carlton.
"Comparison between the 'cheap' and 'luxury' categories suggests that hotel companies are more likely to focus on their search engine placement within the 'luxury' space, rather than the 'cheap' space," the study said."
Internet Travel News - National Rail Website Gets New Look
Internet Travel News - National Rail Website Gets New Look: "The National Rail website has been modernised and refreshed to make it easier and faster to use. Train times and essential journey planning information will now be clearer and more quickly accessed.
Significant changes to the site have been made. There is a new “Quick Journey Planner”, a feature which is repeated on most pages of the website while the popular Live Departures Board now appears as a direct link from the home page.
There is also a new ‘Related Links’ section to useful information such as railcards, the award winning TrainTracker service; the children’s site, Trakkies; and even a resource section for school teachers.
A new ‘Passenger Services’ section contains essential journey information about things like the carriage of luggage; animals; information for families, groups and disabled travellers; and details of travel on sleeper services.
The website which receives over 13.5 million journey enquiries every month is the third most visited travel and transport site and the most visited “surface transport” site in Britain."
Significant changes to the site have been made. There is a new “Quick Journey Planner”, a feature which is repeated on most pages of the website while the popular Live Departures Board now appears as a direct link from the home page.
There is also a new ‘Related Links’ section to useful information such as railcards, the award winning TrainTracker service; the children’s site, Trakkies; and even a resource section for school teachers.
A new ‘Passenger Services’ section contains essential journey information about things like the carriage of luggage; animals; information for families, groups and disabled travellers; and details of travel on sleeper services.
The website which receives over 13.5 million journey enquiries every month is the third most visited travel and transport site and the most visited “surface transport” site in Britain."
Monday, September 05, 2005
Interview with Frosti Sigurjonsson, general manager, dohop
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "The idea of setting up Dohop.com originated in late 2003 when one of the founders found the entire experience of a making a travel plan online time consuming and complicated...
What are the salient and unique features of your online search offerings?
From travelers' viewpoint dohop is unique in its ability to quickly identify possible flight connections based on low-cost flights in Europe. From the airlines' viewpoint dohop's focus on best itinerary rather than lowest price along with our super low look-up to link-through ratio makes us different.
Kindly share info on proprietary technology and what factors did you take into consideration before developing this technology?
Considering that the team is made up of people with backgrounds in software engineering and information technology it was very natural for us to develop what we needed in-house. It is our goal to be a technology leader in travel search and this would not be possible if we would outsource the difficult and complicated bits.
Which markets according to you are more attractive as far usage of dohop.com and such services in concerned?
The N-American market is currently the largest market for travel search. However, for us starting a new travel search company, the European market was just the right size and at the right stage for us to join.
The APAC market is also very exciting and we look forward to entering there one day.
What new trends have you witnessed as far as online buying pattern for low-cost airlines ticket is concerned?
Not sure if I have witnessed a previously unknown trend in online buying patterns for low-cost airline tickets. But recently the travel search engines have grown a lot faster than I anticipated. In the last three months it appears that total visitor traffic has doubled at the dozen or so travel search engines that we keep an eye on. Based on Statbrain.com (a web site that estimates the traffic of other websites) the leading travel search engines taken together attracted 1.4 million visitors per day in August, up from 0.6 million visitors per day in June. We need more time to see if this is just a seasonal swing.
What are plans for offering search options other than low-cost airline?
We have been working on expanding our search engine to include flights with traditional airlines. A hotel search engine is also under development and we will later be adding specialized search engines for other travel services such as rental cars, packaged tours, cruises, trains etc.
What are the plans for future?
With the initial development phase behind us, it is time to directing more energy towards building our user base and revenue streams. We have recently doubled the development team and added more travel know-how to the business side of the company. For the next 12 months we will be focusing on growing the company, aiming to make dohop.com the best travel search engine for Europe."
What are the salient and unique features of your online search offerings?
From travelers' viewpoint dohop is unique in its ability to quickly identify possible flight connections based on low-cost flights in Europe. From the airlines' viewpoint dohop's focus on best itinerary rather than lowest price along with our super low look-up to link-through ratio makes us different.
Kindly share info on proprietary technology and what factors did you take into consideration before developing this technology?
Considering that the team is made up of people with backgrounds in software engineering and information technology it was very natural for us to develop what we needed in-house. It is our goal to be a technology leader in travel search and this would not be possible if we would outsource the difficult and complicated bits.
Which markets according to you are more attractive as far usage of dohop.com and such services in concerned?
The N-American market is currently the largest market for travel search. However, for us starting a new travel search company, the European market was just the right size and at the right stage for us to join.
The APAC market is also very exciting and we look forward to entering there one day.
What new trends have you witnessed as far as online buying pattern for low-cost airlines ticket is concerned?
Not sure if I have witnessed a previously unknown trend in online buying patterns for low-cost airline tickets. But recently the travel search engines have grown a lot faster than I anticipated. In the last three months it appears that total visitor traffic has doubled at the dozen or so travel search engines that we keep an eye on. Based on Statbrain.com (a web site that estimates the traffic of other websites) the leading travel search engines taken together attracted 1.4 million visitors per day in August, up from 0.6 million visitors per day in June. We need more time to see if this is just a seasonal swing.
What are plans for offering search options other than low-cost airline?
We have been working on expanding our search engine to include flights with traditional airlines. A hotel search engine is also under development and we will later be adding specialized search engines for other travel services such as rental cars, packaged tours, cruises, trains etc.
What are the plans for future?
With the initial development phase behind us, it is time to directing more energy towards building our user base and revenue streams. We have recently doubled the development team and added more travel know-how to the business side of the company. For the next 12 months we will be focusing on growing the company, aiming to make dohop.com the best travel search engine for Europe."
Expedia's valuation reasonable
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Expedia, which last month commenced trading as a separate company, may have felt some pressure on its stock prices but the analysts have admitted that Expedia's valuation is 'reasonable' given the concerns including the tough competition in the US. "
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Pricerunner UK is considering an option of introducing fully operational travel category by the end of the year for hotels, holidays and car hire.
The most significant feature on Pricerunner which stands out amongst shopping sites it that it lists the cheapest products first rather than running on a PPC model. Pricerunner identifies that the user is an important element when it comes down to offering a successful service. The user can not just find the product or flight of their choice, but at the best possible price. At the same time well known brands who are not as competitive on price will still convert well as to who they are and comprehensive package they offer. More and more users are starting to track sales on our advice as they see the benefits.
Travel is fast becoming one of the biggest products to buy online for reason. On Pricerunner alone we'll have more than tripled our traffic levels in the last four months which will double in Q4. As demand is so strong we'll look to have a fully operational travel category by the end of the year for Hotels, Holidays and Car Hire. Growth is very much down to the demand and the deals on offer and I'd expect by Jan 2006 to be delivering over 50,000 leads throughout our travel categories. One has to also consider that the category was only launched in March 2005 so it's been a great start with huge growth potential in 2006.
What is going to be your focus in near future?
Growth and Expanding the content. Looking at what improvements to the service can be made so that the user can have an enjoyable and worthwhile experience on Pricerunner. How we can make it easier and quicker for the user to find a specific deal at the best price and educate them on how Pricerunner has developed and furthered its e-commerce platforms since they found us back in 1999. "
The most significant feature on Pricerunner which stands out amongst shopping sites it that it lists the cheapest products first rather than running on a PPC model. Pricerunner identifies that the user is an important element when it comes down to offering a successful service. The user can not just find the product or flight of their choice, but at the best possible price. At the same time well known brands who are not as competitive on price will still convert well as to who they are and comprehensive package they offer. More and more users are starting to track sales on our advice as they see the benefits.
Travel is fast becoming one of the biggest products to buy online for reason. On Pricerunner alone we'll have more than tripled our traffic levels in the last four months which will double in Q4. As demand is so strong we'll look to have a fully operational travel category by the end of the year for Hotels, Holidays and Car Hire. Growth is very much down to the demand and the deals on offer and I'd expect by Jan 2006 to be delivering over 50,000 leads throughout our travel categories. One has to also consider that the category was only launched in March 2005 so it's been a great start with huge growth potential in 2006.
What is going to be your focus in near future?
Growth and Expanding the content. Looking at what improvements to the service can be made so that the user can have an enjoyable and worthwhile experience on Pricerunner. How we can make it easier and quicker for the user to find a specific deal at the best price and educate them on how Pricerunner has developed and furthered its e-commerce platforms since they found us back in 1999. "
Travelsupermarket.com attempts to make life easier
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Travel price comparison site travelsupermarket.com claims to have launched a first in online travel - dynamic travel comparison - the ability to simultaneously search the best price for a flight, hotel and car rental from over 120 different travel providers, as the trend to 'self package' holidays continues..
Referring to findings from the surveys, the company referred to the Office of National Statistics, according to which (as per latest travel trends survey) 68% of people using the Internet did so to search for information about travel and accommodation with 50% of people likely to book a holiday on the Internet over the next two years. In addition Hitwise data showed that the number of travel websites over the past year (from Feb 04 - to 05) has increased by 30%, making the online travel environment increasingly cluttered."
Referring to findings from the surveys, the company referred to the Office of National Statistics, according to which (as per latest travel trends survey) 68% of people using the Internet did so to search for information about travel and accommodation with 50% of people likely to book a holiday on the Internet over the next two years. In addition Hitwise data showed that the number of travel websites over the past year (from Feb 04 - to 05) has increased by 30%, making the online travel environment increasingly cluttered."
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Webmaster lastminute.coms holiday autos
CWJobs - the IT job specialists - search for contract and permanent IT jobs, UK and Europe: "Webmaster
Salary:18000
Location:Surrey
Job type:Permanent
Date posted:2 Sep 2005 14:10:24
Job description:To support the on-site merchandising and site improvement projects of lastminute.coms and holiday autos cars business in order to increase customer conversions.
MAIN DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
· Work as part of a team of webmasters supporting all front-end activity for the cars business across the group· Supporting the Cars Site Manager in achievement of set sales targets· Actively involved in the decision making process relating to the allocated category business· Co-ordinate and progress any non-category specific projects allocated· Support the Cars Site Manager on User Interface (UI) projects; contribute new ideas and review designs · Increase visitors to our sites using best practice search engine optimisation wherever possible· Analyse and interpret web analytics and customer feedback to maximise customer usability, site productivity and technical performance· Source, monitor and report on competitor activity· Ensuring delivery of all new cars promotional pages and the stability/integrity of the cars information within front end web pages· Ensure high editorial standards in line the brand identity· Prepare reports of monthly/weekly report of activity from the cars site team in a format to present to the Cars Site Manager, Senior Site Manager and Category Director· Increase visitors to our sites using search engine optimisation (SEO) by using SEO best practice within all site content· Regularly monitor the sites to ensure optimal performance Be flexible to support other departments to maintain service levels
Special considerations
Based at Camberley to start with, candidate could be required to work from Victoria Street in due course, either part of the time or full time. Flexibility regards location is important.
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Essential
· A levels or equivalent. · High grade GCSE English Language (A to C).
Desirable
· Degree level education (any discipline) with English as the course language
SPECIALIST/TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, APTITUDE
Essential
· Good problem solver and decision maker· Planning and organising skills· Good HTML and CSS knowledge· Basic JavaScript knowledge· Excellent written English with proven copywriting skills· Fully computer literate (Outlook, Excel, Word)· Macromedia software literate – Dreamweaver and Fireworks basic skills· Graphic design skills
Desirable
· Experience of using Content Management Systems
EXPERIENCE
Desirable
· Knowledge of the car hire industry, terminology, technology and booking methods· 1 years previous website design/development experience
ABILITIES / PERSONALITY
Essential
· A passion for the web and the potential of e-commerce· Thorough and meticulous with meticulous eye for detail· Proactive team player· Self motivated, uses initiative and problem solver· Ability to work to tight deadlines with a can do attitude· Exciting personality with drive, initiative and enthusiasm· Excellent interpersonal skills and communication skills· Creative fla
Ref: CWJOBS/JE/Web/Camb
Advertiser: lastminute.com
Email: jobs@lastminute.com
Contact: Lucy Howorth
Address:
Telephone: 01276 703167
Fax: 01276 515814
"
Salary:18000
Location:Surrey
Job type:Permanent
Date posted:2 Sep 2005 14:10:24
Job description:To support the on-site merchandising and site improvement projects of lastminute.coms and holiday autos cars business in order to increase customer conversions.
MAIN DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
· Work as part of a team of webmasters supporting all front-end activity for the cars business across the group· Supporting the Cars Site Manager in achievement of set sales targets· Actively involved in the decision making process relating to the allocated category business· Co-ordinate and progress any non-category specific projects allocated· Support the Cars Site Manager on User Interface (UI) projects; contribute new ideas and review designs · Increase visitors to our sites using best practice search engine optimisation wherever possible· Analyse and interpret web analytics and customer feedback to maximise customer usability, site productivity and technical performance· Source, monitor and report on competitor activity· Ensuring delivery of all new cars promotional pages and the stability/integrity of the cars information within front end web pages· Ensure high editorial standards in line the brand identity· Prepare reports of monthly/weekly report of activity from the cars site team in a format to present to the Cars Site Manager, Senior Site Manager and Category Director· Increase visitors to our sites using search engine optimisation (SEO) by using SEO best practice within all site content· Regularly monitor the sites to ensure optimal performance Be flexible to support other departments to maintain service levels
Special considerations
Based at Camberley to start with, candidate could be required to work from Victoria Street in due course, either part of the time or full time. Flexibility regards location is important.
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Essential
· A levels or equivalent. · High grade GCSE English Language (A to C).
Desirable
· Degree level education (any discipline) with English as the course language
SPECIALIST/TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, APTITUDE
Essential
· Good problem solver and decision maker· Planning and organising skills· Good HTML and CSS knowledge· Basic JavaScript knowledge· Excellent written English with proven copywriting skills· Fully computer literate (Outlook, Excel, Word)· Macromedia software literate – Dreamweaver and Fireworks basic skills· Graphic design skills
Desirable
· Experience of using Content Management Systems
EXPERIENCE
Desirable
· Knowledge of the car hire industry, terminology, technology and booking methods· 1 years previous website design/development experience
ABILITIES / PERSONALITY
Essential
· A passion for the web and the potential of e-commerce· Thorough and meticulous with meticulous eye for detail· Proactive team player· Self motivated, uses initiative and problem solver· Ability to work to tight deadlines with a can do attitude· Exciting personality with drive, initiative and enthusiasm· Excellent interpersonal skills and communication skills· Creative fla
Ref: CWJOBS/JE/Web/Camb
Advertiser: lastminute.com
Email: jobs@lastminute.com
Contact: Lucy Howorth
Address:
Telephone: 01276 703167
Fax: 01276 515814
"
Friday, September 02, 2005
US Airways, Expedia Resolve Dispute
PCWorld.com - US Airways, Expedia Resolve Dispute: "After a two-week standoff, US Airways customers can again buy their airline tickets through online travel company Expedia.com.
The two companies have apparently resolved the differences that led Arlington, Virginia-based US Airways Group to pull its ticket sales from Bellevue, Washington-based Expedia.com's Web site on December 11.
The dispute began just before Thanksgiving when Expedia unilaterally increased its ticketing fee by $3.99 for US Airways flights"
The two companies have apparently resolved the differences that led Arlington, Virginia-based US Airways Group to pull its ticket sales from Bellevue, Washington-based Expedia.com's Web site on December 11.
The dispute began just before Thanksgiving when Expedia unilaterally increased its ticketing fee by $3.99 for US Airways flights"
There are risks but Expedia looks like a good long-term bet
There are risks but Expedia looks like a good long-term bet - Sep. 1, 2005: "the U.S. online travel business may be maturing, Expedia still has ample opportunity in lucrative markets abroad. Gross bookings (the value of travel orders placed on the company's sites) and revenue from international segments accounted for about 20 percent of total gross bookings and sales in the first half of 2005.
But the online travel business outside of the U.S. is more rapidly growing. In the second quarter, international gross bookings increased 73 percent from a year ago while revenue increased 58 percent.
Expedia already owns a majority stake in Chinese travel firm eLong (Research). And now that the company is a pure play online travel firm and not a part of IAC/InterActive, it should be easier for the company to make more acquisitions.
So even though it may be a turbulent time for Expedia and the travel industry right now, there appears to be enough growth ahead to ensure a smooth long-term ride for investors. "
But the online travel business outside of the U.S. is more rapidly growing. In the second quarter, international gross bookings increased 73 percent from a year ago while revenue increased 58 percent.
Expedia already owns a majority stake in Chinese travel firm eLong (Research). And now that the company is a pure play online travel firm and not a part of IAC/InterActive, it should be easier for the company to make more acquisitions.
So even though it may be a turbulent time for Expedia and the travel industry right now, there appears to be enough growth ahead to ensure a smooth long-term ride for investors. "
Thursday, September 01, 2005
www.ticketswest.com website re-launch
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "WestCoast Hospitality Corporations division TicketsWest has launched a new website www.ticketswest.com to take advantage of new technologies that provide an exceptional user experience and deliver reliability during periods of demand...
The new initiative was based on research, which indicated that ease of use, ability to zero in on a specific event quickly, intelligent browsing, and most importantly, reliability and accuracy were among the key preferences. "
The new initiative was based on research, which indicated that ease of use, ability to zero in on a specific event quickly, intelligent browsing, and most importantly, reliability and accuracy were among the key preferences. "
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Active Hotels partner with The Travel Market Ltd
travmedia.com: "Active Hotels, one of Europes leading online hotel reservation providers owned by priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN), has partnered with specialist tour operator The Travel Market Ltd., to offer ferry customers online hotel reservations across France and Benelux."
American Express Business Travel lower business travel costs than Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "According to a report on www.traveldailynews.com , the findings suggested that American Express Business Travel offers the lowest business travel rates available online when compared to the public fares of three online agencies - Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity. Further the report added that for total trip rates - a combination of airfare, hotel stay and car rental - Orbitz is 5 percent higher, Expedia 6 percent higher, and Travelocity 9 percent higher than American Express Online total trip rates. "
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Tipping point? www.totaltravel.com named the busiest travel guide website in Australia.
Byron Shire News: "Byron Bay travel website named number one in Australia 18.08.2005 By JANN BURMESTER
Not many people in Byron Bay may have heard of totaltravel.com, but all that is about to change with the local business being named the busiest travel guide website in Australia.
With more than one million hits per day, around 30,000 visitors per day and 300,000 page views per day, totaltravel.com has hit the big time.
The website was launched in April 2002 and the business now employs 18 people and is recruiting all the time.
Totaltravel.com has also launched its website in the United Kingdom which is also getting more than 30,000 visitors per day. "
Not many people in Byron Bay may have heard of totaltravel.com, but all that is about to change with the local business being named the busiest travel guide website in Australia.
With more than one million hits per day, around 30,000 visitors per day and 300,000 page views per day, totaltravel.com has hit the big time.
The website was launched in April 2002 and the business now employs 18 people and is recruiting all the time.
Totaltravel.com has also launched its website in the United Kingdom which is also getting more than 30,000 visitors per day. "
blue-badge-guides.com and totaltravel
Marketing USEFUL WEBSITE From Ross Knox-Holmes
Members may be interested in a website that offers individual guides the opportunity of advertising themselves for free, at least for the first year:
www.totaltravel.co.uk is a well-established travel site that has comprehensive tourism guides to Australia and Great Britain. The first site was launched over three years ago and is unique in that it allows users to research and book travel-related products.
Travel-related businesses are allowed to advertise free on Totaltravel by what is known as a ‘feature site’, and this offer extends to all Blue Badge Guides who wish to appear on the site. All Blue Badge Guides are welcome to create their own feature sites. This may be a very effective way to reach their US, Asian and European markets. To acquaint yourself with the system and create your own feature site, apply online to:
http://www.totaltravel.co.uk/Free
Members may be interested in a website that offers individual guides the opportunity of advertising themselves for free, at least for the first year:
www.totaltravel.co.uk is a well-established travel site that has comprehensive tourism guides to Australia and Great Britain. The first site was launched over three years ago and is unique in that it allows users to research and book travel-related products.
Travel-related businesses are allowed to advertise free on Totaltravel by what is known as a ‘feature site’, and this offer extends to all Blue Badge Guides who wish to appear on the site. All Blue Badge Guides are welcome to create their own feature sites. This may be a very effective way to reach their US, Asian and European markets. To acquaint yourself with the system and create your own feature site, apply online to:
http://www.totaltravel.co.uk/Free
Jeff Katz's views on travel, technology, and customer service - Founding CEO and Chairman of Orbitz
Good Morning: "A weekly post of Jeff Katz's observations and views on travel, technology, and customer service. This blog is a carry forward of writings I have done for the past 10 years, most recently as the Founding CEO and Chairman of Orbitz."
April - June, 2005, www.totaltravel.com ranked #4 in the Hitwise Australia 'Travel - Destinations and Accommodation'
Australia Total Travel Guide: Accommodation, Tours, Restaurants & More From April - June, 2005, www.totaltravel.com was ranked #4 in the Hitwise Australia 'Travel - Destinations and Accommodation' industry based on number of visits.
This ranking relates to Australian based users visiting Australian websites.
This ranking relates to Australian based users visiting Australian websites.
Emotive Networks Find A Role In Travel
Forrester Research: Emotive Networks Find A Role In Travel: "Travelers use numerous consumer-generated media (CGM) such as discussion boards, blogs, and user reviews to guide trip planning and purchase decisions. The result: More than 27% of US online leisure travelers and 30% of business travelers belong to Emotive Networks — interconnected groups of consumers engaged in communication and support. Travelers in Emotive Networks tend to be younger and more technologically focused than other travelers — an appealing audience. But Emotive Networks are problematic for travel marketers, as brands no longer control their message. Fortunately, travelers in Emotive Networks are open to advertising, and several ways exist for travel firms to engage these travelers."
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Aqute Market Research: Expedia strategy & financials
Expedia, Inc: "today announced financial results on a combined basis for the second quarter ended June 30, 2005. "
Aqute Market Research: Expedia strategy: "Financially, Expedia has been doing fine. Not stellar search-portal performance but perfectly respectable...But in terms of strategy, Expedia, as a representative of the online travel industry, has not been "mixing it up" to the same extent as the other beacons of the Internet world. I need not mention here the vast array of projects being tried by Google and Yahoo, and even MSN. Some good, some bad, but plenty of ideas that will shape the online world...
Luckily for Expedia, while it spend the past three years producing no innovation, annoying its suppliers and generally stagnating, its competitors have done little to take away Expedia's lead. Now, Expedia's strategy team should start addressing the dangers that Expedia will face in 2006 before it has to step out on the back foot...
Local search: esp the battle between Yell and Google in the UK. Why is Expedia a non-existent player in this space? Expedia cannot remain bound by its mandate from 5 years ago. Local search, local travel information, local hotel and tourist attraction details are all important to Expedia - but its share of users will be chipped away by focused local search providers
Vertical search / dynamic aggregation Last week, job aggregation site Indeed.com received $5 million in funding. Google has been working on various flavours of vertical search including travel for a while now. The until-now slow development of vertical search has lulled Expedia into a false sense of security but the question is when, not if, hugely capable players with web platform experience (Google, MSN, Yahoo ... and niche sites like Indeed), tackle the travel sector
Savvy hotel and airline companies websites than you can find on Expedia. And all the best hotels are now fully online with very appealing websites.
While Expedia has not done much worth noting in the past few years, its competitors (and particularly its competitors-elect) have failed to take advantage of this weakness. This inefficiency in the market will come to the fore in 2005-06. Right now, everyone but Expedia seems to be gearing up for the new battle over online travel"
Aqute Market Research: Expedia strategy: "Financially, Expedia has been doing fine. Not stellar search-portal performance but perfectly respectable...But in terms of strategy, Expedia, as a representative of the online travel industry, has not been "mixing it up" to the same extent as the other beacons of the Internet world. I need not mention here the vast array of projects being tried by Google and Yahoo, and even MSN. Some good, some bad, but plenty of ideas that will shape the online world...
Luckily for Expedia, while it spend the past three years producing no innovation, annoying its suppliers and generally stagnating, its competitors have done little to take away Expedia's lead. Now, Expedia's strategy team should start addressing the dangers that Expedia will face in 2006 before it has to step out on the back foot...
Local search: esp the battle between Yell and Google in the UK. Why is Expedia a non-existent player in this space? Expedia cannot remain bound by its mandate from 5 years ago. Local search, local travel information, local hotel and tourist attraction details are all important to Expedia - but its share of users will be chipped away by focused local search providers
Vertical search / dynamic aggregation Last week, job aggregation site Indeed.com received $5 million in funding. Google has been working on various flavours of vertical search including travel for a while now. The until-now slow development of vertical search has lulled Expedia into a false sense of security but the question is when, not if, hugely capable players with web platform experience (Google, MSN, Yahoo ... and niche sites like Indeed), tackle the travel sector
Savvy hotel and airline companies websites than you can find on Expedia. And all the best hotels are now fully online with very appealing websites.
While Expedia has not done much worth noting in the past few years, its competitors (and particularly its competitors-elect) have failed to take advantage of this weakness. This inefficiency in the market will come to the fore in 2005-06. Right now, everyone but Expedia seems to be gearing up for the new battle over online travel"
Friday, August 26, 2005
New European tourism portal
European Travel Commission - (Travel Daily News): "The development of the new European tourism portal heralds the beginning of a new era for ETC...
The European Travel Commission (ETC) is moving ever closer to a future in e-marketing with the development of a new internet portal to promote European tourism worldwide. Work on the project started in 2004. In ETC`s Annual Report for 2004, published today, the ETC President, Dr Arthur Oberascher, Chief Executive of the Austrian National Tourist Office, welcomes this important project: "The portal will be an exciting new tool which will motivate people from all over the world to come and visit Europe." "
The European Travel Commission (ETC) is moving ever closer to a future in e-marketing with the development of a new internet portal to promote European tourism worldwide. Work on the project started in 2004. In ETC`s Annual Report for 2004, published today, the ETC President, Dr Arthur Oberascher, Chief Executive of the Austrian National Tourist Office, welcomes this important project: "The portal will be an exciting new tool which will motivate people from all over the world to come and visit Europe." "
Lodging Interactive - Internet search engine marketing primer
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "To help the hoteliers and hotel marketers better understand and to create an effective Internet marketing strategy, Lodging Interactive has produced an Internet search engine marketing primer.
Referring to Merrill Lynch research figures, the company says sales revenue for travel suppliers selling online will grow by 27%. As per the information available, direct sales will represent 40% of all travel revenue with sales by online suppliers outpacing the third party sales.
"These statistics have a clear message for the hospitality industry," said a release from Lodging Interactive.
"Whether we are in a strong market or a weak one, buyers will be searching and booking online. Every hotel needs a strong Internet presence. Also, according to Merrill Lynch research, search engines are driving the majority of the direct online sales. So search engine marketing (SEM) is critical to all hotel Internet marketing plans. SEM combines art and science! It demands ongoing resources, analytical interpretation and creativity," added the release from the company, which delivers Internet Marketing for 400 hotels in 34 countries.
The company says the copy can be obtained at http://www.lodginginteractive.com/request_form.php "
Referring to Merrill Lynch research figures, the company says sales revenue for travel suppliers selling online will grow by 27%. As per the information available, direct sales will represent 40% of all travel revenue with sales by online suppliers outpacing the third party sales.
"These statistics have a clear message for the hospitality industry," said a release from Lodging Interactive.
"Whether we are in a strong market or a weak one, buyers will be searching and booking online. Every hotel needs a strong Internet presence. Also, according to Merrill Lynch research, search engines are driving the majority of the direct online sales. So search engine marketing (SEM) is critical to all hotel Internet marketing plans. SEM combines art and science! It demands ongoing resources, analytical interpretation and creativity," added the release from the company, which delivers Internet Marketing for 400 hotels in 34 countries.
The company says the copy can be obtained at http://www.lodginginteractive.com/request_form.php "
Travel booking options projected to get more efficient
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "As booking services available to plan a travel itinerary get more efficient, analysts are suggesting that initiatives providing travelers with building travel-booking interfaces that rely on direct connections into reservation systems is going to accelerate, giving travelers more options in a single interface.
A report on Information Week report says, "The trend toward providing travelers with travel-booking desktop interfaces that link directly to reservation systems is expected to accelerate. Next up: booking trips from cell phones and PDAs. Travel agents need all the help they can get fending off the competitive threat of online travel sites like Expedia and Travelocity, and next month a startup called Portaga Inc. will add a key weapon to their arsenal. Portaga Travel Manager will let agencies offer travelers a desktop application that lets them book all the elements of a trip from Microsoft Outlook." "
A report on Information Week report says, "The trend toward providing travelers with travel-booking desktop interfaces that link directly to reservation systems is expected to accelerate. Next up: booking trips from cell phones and PDAs. Travel agents need all the help they can get fending off the competitive threat of online travel sites like Expedia and Travelocity, and next month a startup called Portaga Inc. will add a key weapon to their arsenal. Portaga Travel Manager will let agencies offer travelers a desktop application that lets them book all the elements of a trip from Microsoft Outlook." "
Top 5 Au UK & US Travel Agencies websites - Hitwise
Hitwise In The News - Hitwise
Top 5 Australian Travel Agencies websites week ending 20/8/05 ranked by visits.
Rank Name Domain Market Share
1 Flight Centre www.flightcentre.com 13.30%
2 Webjet www.webjet.com.au 11.75%
3 lastminute.com Australia www.au.lastminute.com 5.62%
4 Expedia.com www.expedia.com 3.98%
5 Travel.com.au www.travel.com.au 3.53%
Top 5 UK Travel Agencies websites week ending 20/8/05 ranked by visits.
Rank Name Domain Market Share
1 Expedia.co.uk www.expedia.co.uk 8.48%
2 lastminute.com www.lastminute.com 7.51%
3 Thomson Holidays www.thomson.co.uk 5.33%
4 Teletext Holidays www.teletextholidays.co.uk 3.97%
5 Thomas Cook www.thomascook.com 3.75%
Top 5 US Travel Agencies websites week ending 20/8/05 ranked by visits.
Rank Name Domain Market Share
1 Expedia.com www.expedia.com 21.95%
2 Travelocity.com www.travelocity.com 15.55%
3 Orbitz www.orbitz.com 8.65%
4 Cheap Tickets www.cheaptickets.com 8.61%
5 Yahoo! Travel travel.yahoo.com 6.77%
Top 5 Australian Travel Agencies websites week ending 20/8/05 ranked by visits.
Rank Name Domain Market Share
1 Flight Centre www.flightcentre.com 13.30%
2 Webjet www.webjet.com.au 11.75%
3 lastminute.com Australia www.au.lastminute.com 5.62%
4 Expedia.com www.expedia.com 3.98%
5 Travel.com.au www.travel.com.au 3.53%
Top 5 UK Travel Agencies websites week ending 20/8/05 ranked by visits.
Rank Name Domain Market Share
1 Expedia.co.uk www.expedia.co.uk 8.48%
2 lastminute.com www.lastminute.com 7.51%
3 Thomson Holidays www.thomson.co.uk 5.33%
4 Teletext Holidays www.teletextholidays.co.uk 3.97%
5 Thomas Cook www.thomascook.com 3.75%
Top 5 US Travel Agencies websites week ending 20/8/05 ranked by visits.
Rank Name Domain Market Share
1 Expedia.com www.expedia.com 21.95%
2 Travelocity.com www.travelocity.com 15.55%
3 Orbitz www.orbitz.com 8.65%
4 Cheap Tickets www.cheaptickets.com 8.61%
5 Yahoo! Travel travel.yahoo.com 6.77%
Travel - online mapping sector booming
Travel maps market share 
Google maps out a plan for commercial success in the travel sector
The online mapping sector is booming with the latest data from Hitwise showing 26% year-on-year growth in the Travel - Maps online industry.
An analysis of the sites visited after online maps underscores the inherent commercial value of these sites: an average of 20% of traffic from sites in the Travel - Maps category goes to travel agency sites. The top downstream Travel website for Google Maps for the week ending 30 July was Multimap.com, and the top downstream site from Multimap.com was Teletext Holidays. Fellow travel sites Active Hotels and Expedia also feature prominently in Multimap.com's top 20 downstream sites.
In addition, an analysis of the latest crop of search terms for Google Maps reveals that 25 out of the top 30 terms are commercial, including 'hotel', 'estate agents', 'cinema' and 'bed and breakfast'.
Multimap.com has experienced an impressive growth of 20% amongst all sites since January, but despite its clear dominance, Google has managed to erode some of Multimap.com's share of traffic within the online maps sector.
Google maps out a plan for commercial success in the travel sector
The online mapping sector is booming with the latest data from Hitwise showing 26% year-on-year growth in the Travel - Maps online industry.
An analysis of the sites visited after online maps underscores the inherent commercial value of these sites: an average of 20% of traffic from sites in the Travel - Maps category goes to travel agency sites. The top downstream Travel website for Google Maps for the week ending 30 July was Multimap.com, and the top downstream site from Multimap.com was Teletext Holidays. Fellow travel sites Active Hotels and Expedia also feature prominently in Multimap.com's top 20 downstream sites.
In addition, an analysis of the latest crop of search terms for Google Maps reveals that 25 out of the top 30 terms are commercial, including 'hotel', 'estate agents', 'cinema' and 'bed and breakfast'.
Multimap.com has experienced an impressive growth of 20% amongst all sites since January, but despite its clear dominance, Google has managed to erode some of Multimap.com's share of traffic within the online maps sector.
Expedia Inc. to promote World Heritage sites
:: Travel Weekly - The National Newspaper of the Travel Industry ::: "Expedia Inc. forms partnership to promote World Heritage sites Expedia will promote education about the World Heritage sites by dedicating portions of its travel Web sites to posting information about them. For instance, a number of World Heritage information pages will be mounted on Expedia.com. In addition, other Expedia Inc. sites -- which include Classic Custom Vacations’ site, Hotels.com, Hotwire and TripAdvisor -- may be included in the initiative"
The Best of Brancatelli File @ JoeSentMe.com: Business-Travel Basics
The Best of Brancatelli File @ JoeSentMe.com: Business-Travel Basics "Everything Your Always NEEDED to Know About Travel." It's all you need to know about how to deal with lost luggage; how to sue airlines and win; how to complain effectively; and how to deal with rental-car fees; tipping; packing; travel pricing and emergencies; and more.
Essential Travel Tips: "Essential Travel Tips A compilation of the best travel advice from ourselves and our readers"
ESSENTIAL TRAVEL TIPS Travel Insider David Rowell offers a generous range of travel tips to help you better plan and pack for your travels. He's also asking for your suggestions, tips, and ideas, too...
Essential Travel Tips: "Essential Travel Tips A compilation of the best travel advice from ourselves and our readers"
ESSENTIAL TRAVEL TIPS Travel Insider David Rowell offers a generous range of travel tips to help you better plan and pack for your travels. He's also asking for your suggestions, tips, and ideas, too...
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Charter flights to be available via RSS-XML
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis: "Just the Flight has become the first UK online travel agent to launch an innovative method of delivering daily flight deals via an RSS-XML feed"
travmedia.com
travmedia.com: "When it comes to travel, 50 is the new 30. More older people than ever before are spending their retirement travelling the world, inspired by the gap-year travels of their kids and grandkids, and funded by increasing equity in their houses, according to internet travel insurer Staysure.co.uk.
Half of the UK’s over 50’s - that’s 10 million people - plan to travel extensively during their retirement...With over 350,000 pensioners trying an adventure activity last year, far from being ready to file away their passports and swap their suitcases for a pipe and slippers, older Britons are proud of their age, and are keen to broaden their horizons even further."
Half of the UK’s over 50’s - that’s 10 million people - plan to travel extensively during their retirement...With over 350,000 pensioners trying an adventure activity last year, far from being ready to file away their passports and swap their suitcases for a pipe and slippers, older Britons are proud of their age, and are keen to broaden their horizons even further."
Just Relax - Enjoy Englands current campaign
VisitEngland : Just Relax
travmedia.com: "Just Relax is Enjoy Englands current campaign promoting ways to relax in England and is supported by a glossy handbag-sized brochure and informative website www.enjoyengland.com/relax"
travmedia.com: "Just Relax is Enjoy Englands current campaign promoting ways to relax in England and is supported by a glossy handbag-sized brochure and informative website www.enjoyengland.com/relax"
Winnie-the-Pooh bus service
travmedia.com: "A new tourist bus service taking visitors to some of the most scenic spots in South East England - including sites made famous in A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh stories - has been launched by the Ashdown Forest Tourism Association (AFTA) using grant aid from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The Ashdown Forest Explorer Bus Service will operate every weekend until September 25 and selected weekends in October thanks to funding worth £90,000 over two years from DEFRA’s England Rural Enterprise scheme. It is the first time that a local tourism initiative in south-east England has won such funding from DEFRA.
The Ashdown Forest Explorer Bus Service will operate every weekend until September 25 and selected weekends in October thanks to funding worth £90,000 over two years from DEFRA’s England Rural Enterprise scheme. It is the first time that a local tourism initiative in south-east England has won such funding from DEFRA.
Gecko's Adventures website redesign
Travel adventures to Asia, China, India, Africa, Egypt, South America, Central America, Latin America - Gecko's Adventures
travmedia.com: "adventure travel operator, Gecko’s has revamped and redesigned its website to combine the best functionality of the web with the free-spirited fun of grass roots adventure. The site is now even more user-friendly, lucid and inspirational.
The new Gecko’s site facilitates the researching, planning and booking of a huge variety of trips, world-wide. Designed to ease the sometimes complicated process of choosing and preparing a getaway, the website includes numerous new features including:
- The ability to shortlist and store an array of trips for straightforward comparison
- Profiles on Gecko’s remarkable team of local leaders
- Detailed trip maps with scroll in/out capabilities
- Inspirational image galleries, full of inspiring shots from around the globe
- Expanded and more robust information at a regional, country and trip level
- Stories ‘from the road’ from everyday travellers
- An interactive forum where anyone can communicate with other travellers and ask expert consultants any question.
Down the line Gecko’s has plans for more additions to the site, including on-line slide shows and instant booking facilities."
travmedia.com: "adventure travel operator, Gecko’s has revamped and redesigned its website to combine the best functionality of the web with the free-spirited fun of grass roots adventure. The site is now even more user-friendly, lucid and inspirational.
The new Gecko’s site facilitates the researching, planning and booking of a huge variety of trips, world-wide. Designed to ease the sometimes complicated process of choosing and preparing a getaway, the website includes numerous new features including:
- The ability to shortlist and store an array of trips for straightforward comparison
- Profiles on Gecko’s remarkable team of local leaders
- Detailed trip maps with scroll in/out capabilities
- Inspirational image galleries, full of inspiring shots from around the globe
- Expanded and more robust information at a regional, country and trip level
- Stories ‘from the road’ from everyday travellers
- An interactive forum where anyone can communicate with other travellers and ask expert consultants any question.
Down the line Gecko’s has plans for more additions to the site, including on-line slide shows and instant booking facilities."
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