Travolution on Google Base

Following yesterday’s post [here] about Google Base we decided to test it out and put Travolution on the system.

[In order to ward off any potential suitors, it is worth adding that Travolution is not for sale!!]

If the Base product is a potential testing ground for a Google travel vertical [commonly known as Troogle] then we wanted to see what it looks and feels like.

Alex Bainbridge from Travel UCD is right in that it allows “users” – in particular, Google members at this stage – to post an item as either a classified product or as a piece of information.

We uploaded a relatively small amount of information about Travolution onto the database, such as the various parts of our brand (magazine, website, Blog and e-news), alongside a synopsis of what we do.

The system allows users to hyperlink directly into further information (the website or the Blog) and the vendor can upload up to ten images to plug the item – in our case the aforementioned products in the Travolution stable.

[See Travolution on Google Base. This link will only work for 31 days in order for Google to ensure all items are current]

Behind the scenes the user can also add a price for the product [please do not answer that one on our behalf], payment and delivery options.

If rumours are correct then travel companies with the capability to upload package holidays [Base uses the RSS and Atom methods] could effectively post hundreds of products into the system, perhaps as a method of offloading so-called distressed inventory.

We’ll report back in 30 days...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution