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."