Open Thread - Travel sites offer poor user experience

The keynote speech yesterday to the ABTA Convention was - the boss of a leading UK bedbank told me after - "controversial, but something the industry needed to told".

This is the basic outline of my section of the address:

• Industry at a critical stage.
• Companies must adapt if they are to survive new digital marketplace.
  
• Demand remains high.
• Supply of products to consumers via web channels is poor and inefficient.
• Conversion rates are low.
• Travel websites are not matching the changes in consumer behaviour on the web.
• Massively empowered consumers trust each other more than travel websites.
• Difficult to create affinity with a "brand" on the web - consumers "recognise" websites.
• Only through huge improvements to user experience will consumers warm to brands.
• Travel industry is too focused on its legacy in the way it behaves and its culture.
• Companies must become "agile" in order to match structure of new market players.
• Consumers will become the new agents and brand advocates.

The speech was made to a wide cross-section of the industry, thus the generalisation.

Start the debate via the comments button.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: abta travolution

PhotoSynth - future of travel content imagery

My co-presenter for the ABTA speech yesterday, Mel Carson of Microsoft, played a video clip of a demo from the Photosynth system.

Here it is again [as requested by a few delegates]



Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: photosynth microsoft abta

Pre-speech nerves

...are not apparent in this picture from yesterday's ABTA Convention in Tenerife.

Pictured with your correspondent are Jeremy Vine (BBC broadcaster and moderator of this year's ABTA Convention) and Mel Carson (my co-presenter and Microsoft AdCenter community manager).

The picture was taken during a rather tense 45 minutes when the power failed across the South East part of the island, including the bizarre Magma Arte & Congresos venue. [More official pictures of the venue]


All went well, apparently. A nearly full room. Open Thread discussion about our presentation to follow.

Riding the Wave Podcast by us, filmed immediately after the session.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

An interStella deal?

For a nice change, the talk is not about the previous night's frivolities, but quite serious.

Stella Travel Services chose the ABTA Convention to get journos together to announce its deal to buy Global Travel Group.

This kind of thing gets the travel industry here frothing at the mouth as it involves travel agents and some big personalities.

It's all very interesting - but in reality indicates how fragile the independent travel agency market has become - where consortia (GTG runs 800-odd agencies in the UK) can seemingly attempt to buy one another or merge on a weekly basis.

At the Triton conference earlier this year we wrote how disappointing it was that its main event of the year hardly mentioned what any major consortium of agents should be doing to improve its presence to online channels. Which is vital.

Let's wait and see what Stella decide to do...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Monday Open Thread

Something different today.

This is your opportunity to start a discussion as we head off to the ABTA Travel Convention and put the final touches to the December edition.

Use the comments to kick things off or continue the debate.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Housekeeping Q4 07

One of those periodic posts to keep readers up to date.

We are at the ABTA Convention this week, hosting two masterclasses with Peter of Hilton of Click with Technology and Nishma Robb of Travelzest.

Martin Couzins from Travel Weekly will be helping out with the chairing.

Mel Carson from Microsoft will join me on the mainstage on Thursday morning for a keynote, entitled "Riding The Wave".

10am on Thursday - don't miss it.

The December and final edition of 2007 of Travolution magazine is due out in two weeks. To ensure you receive a copy you can sign up for free - but be quick. Our twice-weekly enews bulletin is available free.

And Facebook members can join the Travolution group.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

When PR irritates beyond belief

We've got a lot of time for Chris Anderson, editor of Wired and author of The Long Tail.

So imagine our joy a few weeks back when Anderson posted an article on his blog in which he named and shamed all the PRs who pester him with unsolicited press releases, product information and plugs.

And he did this by reproducing their email addresses!

The post has caused a merry stir in journalist and marketing circles. Frankly, it made us laugh quite a lot, especially as it came just a few days ahead of World Travel Market in the UK, when the tourist board press machines go berzurk.

Fast forward almost two weeks and PING!, an email arrives in the Travolution inbox from a reasonably big London-based PR firm which represents a string of technology firms.

[No "Dear" or "To"]

Following the controversial blog post by Wired's Chris Anderson criticising individual PR executives for sending irrelevant pitches, we wanted to find out from journalists how serious this issue really is.

We'd be very grateful if you would answer the five questions in this web survey.

We understand the irony in spamming journalists to fill out a questionnaire about pitch and press release spamming, so there is a crate of beer of your choice for the lucky journalist drawn out of a hat.

Thanks,

****** [we have deleted the sender's name]

Does anyone else want to fill it in?

Are all hacks lured into taking part in this drivel by a crate a beer?

Oh, maybe it's just us who despise these things...

NB: I am delberately tagging Neil Maclean here - he writes the Travel PR Blog, and it would be good to get his comments].

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

You don’t have to be a global brand to reach for the Holy Grail

Our latest column in Travel Weekly:

The Travolution team had the pleasure of hearing Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Expedia, speak at a conference in Florida last week.

Khosrowshahi faces similar problems to bosses of other travel companies: changing consumer behaviour, economic pressures, and competition at every turn – but just on a global scale.

Although Expedia’s 11 years in operation have given it the opportunity for first mover advantage in so many areas, it still grapples with what is still the Holy Grail of online travel: replicating the role of the traditional travel agency.

The online world, Khosrowshahi says, still needs to find a way of mirroring the interaction and knowledge a user might experience when they talk to an agent.

This probably doesn’t keep Khosrowshahi awake at night, but it remains a problem for online travel agencies as they attempt to woo the offline refuseniks to the Internet.

Expedia in the UK won a Travolution award earlier this year for a number of reasons, but its Inspirator tool played a major part. A section on its website narrows down ideas for holidays by combining simple preferences such as type (beach, culture, nightlife) with location and length of stay.

Khosrowshahi probably knows this isn’t enough. He offers three tips for online: use e-mail and customer relationship management better; segment users so offers and products can be targeted better; and improve online search.

Most people will realise all of these ideas use data and user preferences to a huge degree.

But while few online travel firms will have the budget to implement this strategy, fewer will have to worry about the requirements of a global brand.

Good CRM and customer segmentation should not be beyond the capabilities of most travel firms – and, with emerging technology around the corner, intelligent search will follow soon.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: expedia travel agent

Times Online loves lists - again

It seems only a few months ago (oh yes, it was) since the Times Online produced its Top 100 Travel Websites, which proceeded the Sunday Times Top 10 Travel Sites (featuring, amazingly, the Times Online Travel section!).

Anyway, they are at it again this week with the 50 Best Travel Sites of 2007.

The usual suspects all appear, with the odd gem (Foundem.com and Vroomvroomvroom.co.uk), and there are also "five to watch" for 2008:

WorldReviewer.com
CruiseCritic.co.uk
Travelmag.co.uk
Travelintelligence.net
Gowander.com

But where there is repetition there is also joy:

In 40th place is..... The Travolution Blog! [mainly for the T-List]

Thanks Ginny McGrath and Steve Keenan.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: times

It's only an email but the ad watchdog is still watching

FlyBe has learnt the hard way - via an admonishment from the Advertising Standards Authority today - that email promotions suffer the same amount of scrutiny as flashy billboard, press and TV ads.

The airline tried to persuade recipients of its email that it is the "best and cheapest way to get around" because:

"Train fares set to soar by 30%"
"Between 1995 and 2007 [rail] fares rose by 17.9%"

The ASA didn't agree at all.

Read the complaint and adjudication.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Recycling costs more than you might think

Buried amongst the euphoria of the launch of a revamped Carrentals.co.uk website last week was this nugget:

The site's parent company ASAP Ventures has splashed out a massive £150,000 on buying the Recycle.co.uk domain name and a further £87,500 on Fly.co.uk.

The purchase of Recycle.co.uk is apparently the highest ever paid for a co.uk domain, and £40,000 more than J Sainsbury paid for Taste.co.uk in 1997.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: recycle car sainsbury

Oh my word...

Sometimes it is better to just send people elsewhere and let them make up their own mind:

Ryanair's new, er, calendar
Mass mile-high club

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Publicity shot of the year #1

Okay, so promotional photography is - come on, admit it - rather dull, more often than not featuring politicians standing by a new building (the local mayor planting a rose, sticks in my mind from local press days) or staff grouped together in a boring office.

Perhaps it is the excitement of a fresh injection of funds at Skyscanner, but founders Gareth Williams, Bonamy Grimes and Barry Smith have taken a different approach to producing the company snap.


Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: skyscanner flight search

Pictures from Travolution Autumn Conference 2007

Pictures from our recent conference. Apologies for the delay...


More on our Flickr showreel.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Not in my back yard

[UPDATES at bottom of post]

UK travellers have given a clear signal to the environmental lobby and our recently green-enthused political parties: we don't really care an awful lot about eco issues and will not alter our travel plans.

Or so say the findings of a poll carried out by TravelSupermarket.com.

The survey of 6,000 UK consumers found that half believed international travel is damaging the environment (good news so far in terms of recognising the apparent problem) but 93% have NOT changed where they go on holiday because of environmental concerns.

Oh.

Other stats:

• Almost half of those questioned do not feel guilty about flying
• Londoners feel the most guilty (25%)
• Two in five said they would never consider a holiday in the UK
• Almost 40% would not be prepared to pay green tax

TravelSupermarket's Bob Atkinson says it is "alarming how little people are willing to adapt".

It shouldn't really be alarming at all for travel companies. What do they expect?

Anyway, what should people do?

• Take fewer "exotic" holidays (that'll coincide with consumers not wanting UK holidays, then)
• Try "mental offsetting" - use energy saving lightbulbs and recycling

It seems the mental offsetting currently means forgetting about it all as quickly as possible.

UPDATE: Click with Technology has carried out a serioues of Facebook polls in recent weeks. Here is a relevant one to this post.

What would stop you from going on holiday?

• Terrorist activity - 49%
• Exchange rates/£ worthless when travelling - 18%
• Environmental impact of flying - 11%
• Government taxation (eg ADP) - 11%
• Increased mortgage costs - 11%

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: environment travelsupermarket

Romance back on at Eurostar

Tradition has it that females can only propose to their loved ones on the 29th February - which means men are safe have to wait for four years.

Alex Bainbridge, following The Register, noted earlier this week how booking a journey from the shiny new St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord on the 29th February with Eurostar is impossible.

[The reason why Expedia has the same problem for Eurostar tickets, as noted on The Register, is because it uses a direct Eurostar booking engine]

It took Eurostar a few days to get back to us but it turns out that an "internal ecommerce error" was to blame - well, indeed - and the problem has since been fixed. Apologies to customers, etc...

Romance returns to Paris.

The reason why it only came to light this week is because Eurostar publishes fares with a four-month lead-in time, and no longer.

Bit of a dark cloud on what has been a overwhelmingly upbeat week for Eurostar.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - (Nearly) The End

The Travolution team finally managed to start winding down from the PhoCusWright conference on the way to Orlando International Airport yesterday.

But our adventure to Florida still had another twist in store.

As we happily sped along in the fast lane of Interstate Four, we suddenly heard a loud bang, quickly followed by rather violent shaking from the rear of the car.

Yep, the classic tyre blowout.

With a fair amount of effort, our taxi driver managed to steer the car into the central reservation of the freeway - where we greeted with the strong smell of burning rubber and the shredded remains of a tyre.

The driver refused any help, so there was little else to do except take pictures a few pictures, of course. [And hope the cops didn't show up]

Just thought we'd explain just in case any delegates travelling to the airport wondered why three pale Europeans were standing in the middle of I-4 on Thursday afternoon.


A surreal way to end a fantastic week.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Adios

...as they say in Florida.

For those who do not know, Travolution will be producing its Spring 2008 conference in London in association with PhoCusWright.

See you then.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Expedia's new model

Predictably, Expedia's announcement today about its move to a media-based system, initially with Intercontinental Hotels Group, has sparked an enormous amount of debate today.

Dara Khosrowshahi admits he doesn't know if or how the model will expand, either into other hotel groups or airlines.

He declines to say when or how it will impact on the bottom line.

Although it has not been stated, there is a feeling that a wait-and-see approach has been adopted by Expedia - and IHG - to see whether it works or not.

It really is a fundamental shift in Expedia's supplier model.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Dara is looking for the Holy Grail

So this is it. The final slot of the conference, featuring Expedia chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, is trying to tackle what is still the trickiest issue for online travel agencies:

How do OTAs replicate the role of the traditional agent?

It involves three things:

• Email marketing (especially suggestion-based or reminders)
• Segmentation of the customer (eg offering exclusive call centre numbers)
• Taking search to the next level (understanding the behaviour and preferences of users)

"We want to see the world as flat", Khosrowshahi says, so Expedia can have a relationship with every single consumer.

It all sounds simple doesn't it.

It isn't...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - But the biggest buzz of all...

...probably goes to VibeAgent, which finally made it out of private beta this week and was unveiled to delegates.

It really is worth a look.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Whizzy Farecast

General nods of approval in the press area - where hacks take a feed from the mainstage onto screens or headsets - as Hugh Crean of Farecast runs through a multitude of functions.

"Selection and price is not enough," seems to be the Facecast mantra.

And they are clearly trying to live up to it in reality.

The site allow users to search for flights using every possible permutation: price, weather, date, class, distance, type.

But how can something such as Farecast grow and attract consumers who don't actually care about such a multitude of options?

This would be a worry, someone mutters in the press area, because "info overload" is just not attractive, especially to those who actually like 'From' and 'To' type search capability.

Travolution's recent Generations project backs this up. Our focus groups across all ages preferred the simplicity of a Google-style website than reams of content.

Hmmm.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Metcalfe's law

The value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of users of the system.

Jeffery Boyd of Priceline opens his keynote with a reference to Metcalfe's Law.

He makes some interesting points about social networks:

"Social networks give everybody a shot a celebrity," he says. Not heard it in that way before - but it makes a lot of sense.

In America, he adds, more people are interested in Paris Hilton or a dog belonging to Ellen De Generes than the "Race for the White House" (TM).

And so to reach those people is a vital part of the future marketing strategy for online travel agencies and other travel companies.

However, Boyd highlights the concern of a number of travel companies with regards to brand value by asking whether a company should target sub-groups on social networks that have slightly, er, unusual interests. [The example he gives is displaying hotel ads alongside discussion groups about cannabis cafes in Amsterdam]

Priceline would not, he says.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Real Life of Second Life

Similar to the Travolution conference earlier this year, an entire session devoted to Second Life.

On the panel are Scott Hyden (STA Travel), Daniele Mancini (Costa Cruises) and Burt Rosen (Starwood Hotels), all of which have dabbled/are dabbling in the virtual world.

Rosen makes a good point in that in the early days of Second Life, when the business press (us included) gushed about its potential, many articles contained a reference to its experiment with the Aloft hotel - good PR, in other words.

But over the summer this year there were a series of scathing pieces in the media about Second Life, criticising brands that have wasted spent a fair deal of money in the virtual world, but often find themselves with embarrasingly empty buildings or land.

[Wired's article]

There is a critical point to consider over these sporadic forays into Second Life by travel brands. With a potentially tougher market looming (especially here in the US), companies are probably NOT going to R&D or marketing budgets in virtual words.

The wind in the sails of Second Life earlier this year suddenly feels like little more than a gentle breeze.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Long Tail factoids etc

• Johnson & Johnson's corporate travel budget totals $915 million a year - but only $272 million is spent on flights and hotels. The rest is on "Long Tail" products such as car hire, ancilliaries, taxis.


• 64% of online business travellers bought an event ticket during their trip.

So what you like about Ronald Reagan, but here's a nice quote:

When we come to the edge of our known world, we're standing on the edge of the infinite.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Final Day Pancakes

A slightly truncated programme today as many delegates are leaving the land of white picket fences for home.

Those staying on for a few more days are weighing up whether to play golf, relax by the pool or say Hi to Mickey - Travolution, however, is heading back to dear old Blighty on the red-eye flight to London tonight.

In the meantime, there is plenty to get through until 2pm, when the conference sessions end.

But spare a thought for your correspondent. Can you imagine the impact on the jetlagged brain when one of the first items on the news this morning was this:

Image of Jesus and Mary seen on pancakes.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Travolution and the Owl

Travolution sales and sponsorship manager Charlotte Davies fulfilled a lifetime ambition last night when she met TripAdvisor's infamous owl at the review giant's drinks reception.

Rumours circulating that TripAdvisor boss Steve Kaufer has a dual role at the company and quickly donned the outfit after his mainstage appearance yesterday are apparently wide of the mark.

Captions via the comments button...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Travo told you so...

Everyone expects Expedia boss Dara Khosrowshahi will have something to say about the Intercontinental Hotels Group deal when he takes to the stage here this afternoon.

Keen readers will remember how we picked up on this nugget of information from Murad Hajeebhoy at a conference in London earlier this year.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - TripAdvisor's new formula

Honest brokers = truth.

PLUS

Social networks = trust.

So this is where TripAdvisor is going. Chief executive Steve Kaufer has explained how the Expedia-owned outfit is slowly shifting its model from that of a mass review website to one which incorporates social networking.

It has to, some might argue.

But, as Philip Wolf rightly pointed out during Kaufer's introduction, TripAdvisor has helped shape the Long Tail of Travel.

And here is one mindblowing stat to support that accolade: 80% of all hotels listed on TripAdvisor are viewed every single day.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Roadtrippers

LeisureLogix has won the Five Minutes of Fame competition, based on a delegate vote of presentations from sponsored workshops over previous days.

They run a white label product in the US for roadtrippers, utilising car hire and hotel bookings.

And they are already up and running on Travelocity.

So, well done, LeisureLogix.

Take a look...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Google takeaway test

Google, for it is here in force, with a dozens of delegates roaming the halls, has set delegates a task to carry out when they leave the land of alligators and Mickey.

Tim Armstrong, Google president for advertising and commerce in North America, said the search giant plotted a list of its "assets" on piece of paper a year or so ago.

The results were a very important exercise in understanding the business and trying to reach every user.

The test for travel companies is to evaluate how many of those assets are joined - or map your products.

Armstrong says: "If you do not know where your assets are connecting with consumers then you will not be able to connect with the Long Tail."

In other words: travel outfits have to offer everything to everybody.

Armstrong admitted Google, for a while, did not.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - It doesn't fit exactly

Steve Barnhart of Orbitz highlights a good point about the Long Tail of Travel.

Chris Anderson, Wired editor and author of the seminal work, The Long Tail, used the sales of books and audio to demonstrate the economics of the long tail.

But there is a disconnect when it comes to interpreting the model for travel, Barnhart says.

"Travel experiences" are infinite but "travel destinations" are finite.


Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Fibbing agents

What is the difference between a travel agent and a real estate agent?

Travolution boss Simon Ferguson posted this, er, response on the enormous SMS feed screens above the stage:

"Real estate agents know when they are lying."

Oh dear.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - How many names do you need?

OMIK.com.

CMIO.com.

Project Purple Demon.

Rocket.com.

This confusing series of names was the tortuous process the founders of Hotwire.com went through before they settled on Hotwire.

Let's be grateful that they procrastinated persisted...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Anti-Long Tails

Okay - so the theme of the conference is 'Braving the Long Tail'.

However...

Michelle Peluso from Travelocity reveals a not-so-Long Tail side when she says: "I don't think we will become specialist content experts."

Steve Barnhart, chief executive of Orbitz Worldwide, at the beginning of his keynote after lunch, raises a few laughs when he highlights the irony of hosting a conference about the Long Tail of Travel in the "fat part" of travel's long tail: Orlando.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Worse than the IRS

Michelle Peluso, chief executive of Travelocity, takes to the stage for a 20-minute plea for unity within the online travel industry.

But this is not an industry love-in.

Peluso reels off a string a worrying stats regarding consumer satisfaction with travel websites.

On the whole the online travel agencies perform very poorly, with satisfaction levels either flat or declining.

"Together we can make this industry more satisfying for consumers between us," Peluso urges delegates, many of which are arch rivals of Travelocity.

It clearly needs to. OTAs come out worst than the dreaded Internal Revenue Service in the US.

Cue nervous laughter...

Ouch.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Don't be afraid of the big bad private equity wolf

So says Karl Peterson of Texas Pacific Group Capital, one of the biggest players in the private equity market.

[It snapped up Sabre last year]

Why should travel trust the PEs?

1) They are long term partners

2) They want to invest ahead

At Sabre, TPG has "actually increased investment", Peterson says, alongside fixing the capital structure.

So why the scepticism?

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Naked without it

Well, the laptop.

Fly a fair few thousand miles to attend the biggest travel industry conference in the US, and the laptop decides to take the long road to PC Heaven.

Travolution boss Simon Ferguson has saved the day, lending his prized possession (apart from his new iPhone) to your correspondent for the rest of the day.

Normal service resumes...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Things to do in Orlando when you're jetlagged

At dawn there is actually very little to do, especially at the Radisson Celebration, so:

#1 Read old media - the local organ here is The Orlando Sentinel, left outside every hotel room at 4.30am. Incredibly, even the Wednesday edition is like a mini-Sunday Times from the UK, featuring seven sections (news, local and state, business, sports, cooking and eating, working, and classifieds). Today's splash: "Tax Cut frightens some cities".

#2 Learn some Spanish - the bulk of the low-paid jobs in hospitality in this area are generally staffed by Hispanics.

#3 Watch CNN/Fox News/local cable news - with thanksgiving just around the corner in the US it is no surprise that the news shows have suddenly picked up on the Bird Flu story from the UK.

#4 Learn some witty retorts - when asked last night what might the chef be able to knock up for a vegetarian, the waiter said: "I would question why you came into a steakhouse, sir". Indeed...

Thankfully the main conference sessions start in less than four hours.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - T-List picture

Many thanks to Vicky Brock, who attended the T-List session yesterday, for this picture of the panel:

[Left to right: William Bakker (Tourism British Columbia), Jens Traenheart (Canadian Tourism Commission), Stephen Joyce (Rezgo) and me]

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - T-List panel

Just appeared on a panel discussion about travel blogging - all members of which contributed to the recent Tips from the T-List book.

A very interesting point was raised about the difference between journalists and bloggers (obviously there is a rather strong connection here at Travolution).

It invariably whips many of our colleagues into a crazed panic, but there is none.

The most telling comment of the session came from Jens Traenheart from Tourism Internet Marketing blog.

Jens was highlighting about how some blogs could use map mash-ups, booking facilities, video, etc, to improve the customer experience.

But hang on: that sounds like a portal?

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@PhoCusWright 07 - Welcome and a quote of the day

So here we are in Florida, for PhoCusWright's flagship event of the year.

Blogging throughout, as always.

So an early contender for Quote of the Day.

John Swanciger, SVP of strategic planning at EzRez Software, stopped by at our Network Exchange table (which we have ahead of the main conference sessions tomorrow) and remarked on why he works in travel.

"You can't leave because it's so broken."

Brilliant!

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

GDSs and the little guy

Guest blogger post from Colin Lewis, head of sales and marketing at Aer Arann:

The way low-cost airlines view of the GDS as a distribution method is currently changing.

Over the last year we’ve seen a number of airlines such as Jetblue, Jetstar Asia and Valuair signing distribution deals with GDSs.

The most recent sees Easyjet’s announcement a few weeks back of its new distribution deals with both Amadeus and Galileo. Whilst some airlines have slammed this decision, I think it’s important not to miss the point here.

A large percentage of business travel bookings are driven through a corporate travel agent in order that businesses can effectively track their budgets as part of a larger controlled fiscal process.

As a result, to ignore corporate travel agents as a source of new business would be a mistake for most airlines.

The bottom line is – if you want to sell to business travellers, you need to participate in GDS’s.

Most of the business is incremental – Aer Arann receives 90% of their business via direct internet bookings, and this has not changed with greater GDS participation. Business travellers are also higher yield

I can’t help but consider that the strong response elicited by other low-cost airlines may have been in a bid to achieve column inches.

It is noticeable that once low cost airlines evolve and became more sophisticated, they start distributing on the GDS to reach newer, higher yield market – and what airline does not want higher yield?

There is no doubt that the GDS and the corporate travel agent are an essential part of our distribution system, and long may that continue.

Colin Lewis, head of sales and marketing, Aer Arann

Agents: Don’t be intimidated by the online world

Our latest column in Travel Weekly:

It is easy to see why some travel agents are intimidated when faced with the prospect of competing with something as powerful as the Internet.

While we at Travolution have a tendency to witter on about social networking, user-generated content and the like, retail travel agents are trying to ensure they can convert those walking through the door into buyers of products.

At last week’s Travolution Conference, Global Travel Group’s product development and e-commerce director ­Jason Edwards put it well when he said elements of ­online travel, such as social networking and digital marketing, are difficult to achieve due to resources.

He also commented that understanding the issues was a key factor.

Now, of course, we would urge all Travel Weekly readers to nose through a copy of Travolution now and again to learn more about what the online world is talking about.

But, equally, when it comes to knowing more about how to reach consumers through search engine marketing or social networking, we would urge agents to try things out for themselves.

It takes no time at all to create a travel agent Facebook group and, for example, using it as a springboard for discussion and the chance to share photos from trips.

Better still, why not create a page on a photo-sharing service such as Flickr.com and ask customers if you can upload pictures from their holiday.

Sound easy so far?

Meanwhile, even on the simplest website it is possible to add destination information or even post reviews from customers.

The beauty of search engines such as Google is that they like valuable, unusual, exclusive content (such as reviews and pictures associated with destinations).

This, already, is a crude form of digital marketing – and it probably hasn’t cost a penny.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Blogging lite

On a course [Travolution's quest for world domination, perhaps?] for a few days - so apologies for the lack of posts.

Back in action at the weekend, ahead of our first visit to the US for the PhoCusWright conference in Florida on Monday.

I will be on a panel for travel industry bloggers on Tuesday morning, 10.45-12pm, in a session arranged by the Tips from the T-List book.

Travolution also has a network exchange table on Tuesday, so please stop by and introduce yourself.

The rest of the time will be spent blogging and attending the main sessions on Wednesday and Thursday.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Why travel companies need to be clever with Facebook

Seth Godin highlights how Hotmail doesn't make any money because users do not want to click on ads when they are checking their emails. Simple.

The same applies for Facebook.

Why would members want to visit the websites of advertisers on Facebook when all they are there to do is network with friends.

So in the midst of the Facebook frenzy, where many commentators have urged travel companies to embrace Facebook as a way of reaching highly engaged consumers, careful thought is needed.

Use groups, profiles, widgets - but avoid advertising on it.

Maybe...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: facebook seth godin

The end of the subscription model

Or so it would seem.

Web users "prefer ads to charges".

There are plenty of travel websites out there who must be thinking their so-called exclusive content, hidden behind a subscription wall, needs to be unleashed on users.

Good for SEO, too.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Some bloke singing opera

Delegates from the Travolution Conference last week will understand why we are including this clip.

[ITV speaker Caroline Knight played this to demonstrate the power of user generated content - 15 million hits]

Anyway, back by popular demand.



Kevin May, editor, Travolution

FireEagle is good news for travel experience sites

Rather interesting piece about Yahoo!'s new geo tool on TechCrunch.

Yahoo is going to unveil FireEagle tonight, apparently. Essentially it is an online product which identifies a user's location if they are transmitting files online.

So what? Well just think of the automatic photo uploading capabilities for trip sharing travel sites, for starters.

TechCruncher Michael Arrington says: "I think I can safely say that there are a ton of developers who are going to be extremely excited about FireEagle."

Yes, and travel companies looking for a way to make it easier for users to publish their travel experience in a neat way. At the moment it is somewhat laborious for the user if they have to geo-tag everything.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: fireeagle fire eagle yahoo

Thomas Cook Group integration problems

There was a bit of chatter yesterday at the Travolution Conference regarding some problems Thomas Cook is having with the integration of some elements of MyTravel's content and functionality - and some details are now beginning to emerge.

The Register reckons the MyTravelLite.com website is down and has been for most of the week.

Since the story was first posted just after midnight this morning, a holding page on MyTravelLite.com is now directing users to the main MyTravel website as all flights are now sold there.

This has apparently been the case since 28 October - until earlier today a message said "essential maintenance to our booking process" had led to the curtailment of service until further notice. A ever so slight change of words there.

Our information said the migration of flight booking data from MyTravel onto the Thomas Cook platform was supposed to take a few weeks, but the two systems would run concurrently.

At some point on Sunday night the system fell over, which led the MyTravelLite site to lose its booking functionality, and therefore why the whole thing was pulled down.

Thomas Cook said this week:

"All websites were taken down from 8pm on the Saturday evening until the following Monday morning, whilst the essential planned maintenance was carried out to shift to one reservation system.

"A holding page was put in place explaining the maintenance and timings to customers. Note that these changes impact all sales channels and not only our websites.

"A series of planned tasks had to be under-taken to complete this process and full end to end testing was completed. Unfortunately some of these tasks took a little longer than originally anticipated and as a result the holding page with appropriate links on MyTravellite.com website was not replaced. All continuing core websites went live again on Monday as planned."

[Alex Bainbridge offers his usual offbeat analysis of the situation - in fact, it's so offbeat there isn't any actual analysis at all, he just slams the travel press for not reporting it sooner. Fair point. I've offered our excuses on his post]

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: thomas cook mytravel

EasyJet and the API

Piers Ford, one of regular writers at Travolution, adds his thoughts to yesterday's news from EasyJet about its new (and let's face it, long awaited) API:

So EasyJet will dip its toe in multi-channel distribution early in 2008 with the launch of an API that will allow it to formalise its business with selected third parties, mainly in the corporate travel sector.

Distribution development manager Jerry Dunn says that while easyJet’s roots are steeped in direct distribution, the time has come for the airline to consider other channels without compromising its low-cost message.

“We prefer to take direct control,” he said. “Between 6 and 10% of our sales are made by third parties without our permission, usually using inefficient and unreliable screen-scraping technology. We want to take more control of that, and an API licensed to selected third parties, tying them into our terms and conditions, will allow us to do that.”

Dunn says the API would also allow easyJet to manage a more robust fare structure with third parties. However, it will not be engaging with the leisure sector.

“We need to engage and understand the opportunities that are there, casting our net wider, for example, on comparison sites where we can offer our Stansted and Luton flights in direct competition with Heathrow,” he reckons.

“But we will only deal with additional channels that we feel are going to be effective.”

Contrast the thoughts of Dunn with Kristie Goshow, group director of e-business and customer development at luxury supplier Jumeirah, with whom he shared the platform.

Giving a perspective on the future from the other end of the multi-channel spectrum, Goshow says the customer is now setting the leadership strategy.

“They own it and we manage it,” she says. “Every channel is an opportunity. E-commerce directors will have to become directors of opportunity. Analytics will have to be cohesive across the channels. Marketing teams will have to reflect their customers and we’ll have to recruit more behavioural analysts and fewer salespeople.”

It is interesting to see how two very different suppliers are tackling the new world of distribution: one by focusing on its customers, the other by reaching out to partners. A clear signal of the far-reaching commoditisation of one, and the service culture needed by the other.

More detail from the EasyJet and Jumeirah speeches.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: easyjet jumeirah

We're rather pleased about this - save the date

Announced officially today:

Travolution and PhoCusWright enter partnership for Travolution Conference in 2008.

Thursday 24 April 2008 - Royal Garden Hotel, London.

See you there...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution Autumn Conf: Last orders

The world's gone purple...

And it's time for a well-earned cocktail.

Travolution Autumn Conf: Can meta search move beyond flights and price?

Travel Republic's Paul Furner muses on the future of meta search...

Meta search works for flights, but hotel rooms and holidays are emotive purchases, and meta search today is one-dimensional; you see the brand, the product and the price. We'd like to bring more of our content into the meta search environment.

There is also too much focus on price, he argues - can meta search broaden itself to cover less quantifiable things such as customer service?

Nathan Midgley

Travolution Autumn Conf: The independent travel agent perspective

Global Travel Group product development and e-commerce director Jason Edwards had the unenviable task of representing independent travel agents to the crowd of assembled online travel types, and came out bullish, stating immediately that

The independent sector has been massively underestimated - travel agents have been multi-channel distributors for a long time.

The formula for success in the ITA space, according to Jason? It's the product and development provided by the consortium, and the mentality and initiative provided by the agent.

Putting my Travel Weekly hat on for a second (just for a second, Kev...) it was nice to hear knowledgable salespeople brought into the equation.

Global's grasp of where agents need to be is obvious, but as Jason says channels such as affiliate or SEO marketing and social networking are difficult when resource and understanding are lacking - and it's here that many (though far from all) ITAs are vulnerable.

Nathan Midgley

Travolution Autumn Conf: Kudos to Simon Robinson...

The Thomas Cook executive director of distribution is the first speaker to break away from the podium and go freestyle...

Travolution Autumn Conf: Can easyJet learn to love third-party distributors?

EasyJet distribution development manager Jerry Dunn talked at length about the uneasy relationship between the airline, which likes to sell direct, and other distribution channels - meta search sites, OTAs and so forth.

Currently these players are using screen-scraping technology to get hold of easyJet's fares, a method which Jerry describes as 'not robust'. But, of course, it drives sales.

So what's an airline to do?

Well, you develop an API to give the brand more control over what fares are presented and how. And easyJet is doing just that. But only for the corporate travel market, which it has historically had trouble capturing.

The API should be available to selected third parties at the beginning of next year.

Tackled by Travelsupermarket's Chris Nixon on whether easyJet can work closer with alternative distributors in the leisure market, Jerry waxes positive: "I do think there is more we can do". It looks like the door is far from closed...

Nathan Midgley

Travolution Autumn Conf: Quotes #2

Jilly Welch of Fortune Cookie begs websites to ease up on the error messages:

Don't tell users they're wrong; they'll think they're rubbish

.
Nathan Midgley

Travolution Autumn Conf: Making car hire interesting

"Hands up who got excited about their last holiday?" asks Stuart Nassos, managing director UK and Ireland, Holiday Autos.

Hands go up.

"Keep your hand up if you got excited about your car hire experience."

Hands go down.

A brave start. Stuart is honest about the challenges of the market - brand loyalty only exists in as far as that consumers won't use you again if you 'screw it up', and the purchase is far from emotive.

Stuart says the key to capturing consumers is simplifying the purchase - which means being in the right place at the right time - and added value, which could be:

• Maps, destination guides
• User-friendly presentation of T&Cs and insurance documentation
• Carbon offsetting
• Editorial (e.g. blogs)

In other words, do your level best - and use all the channels at your disposal - to make a traditionally uninteresting transaction more three-dimensional. See also Jilly Welch's comments about data entry and travel sites earlier...

Nathan Midgley

Travolution Autumn Conf: A quick quiz from Jumeirah

Pop quiz, hotshot. Jumeirah's Kristie Goshow gives us the following details and asks us which channel we think the customer booked through...

• Couple
• Not familiar with the Jumeirah brand
• Found a Jumeirah hotel in a Conde Nast advertorial
• Watched videos of the hotel on Youtube
• Checked it out on Tripadvisor
• Asked friends and family
• Looking for a seven-night stay, at a budget of around £3,000

It's based on a real customer. Any guesses how they booked?

Nathan Midgley

Travolution Autumn Conf: Factoids #2 and #3

BSkyB's Charlie Redmayne came up with these gems while discoursing on the increase in internet usage among over-50s.

• Two-thirds of the people who have ever lived to over 65 are alive now
• We only retire at 65 because that's the age that Otto von Bismarck, creator of the first pension scheme, decided on. The average life expectancy for a German at the time was 47...

Nathan Midgley

Travolution Autumn Conf: Proof that gorillas can't do marketing

Yahoo's Tracey Cheffey - standing in for Richard Firminger, who was sadly incapacitated - has been impressing on us the importance of integrating display and search advertising.

She cautions marketers to remember that offline executions inspire searches, and that consumers who arrive on a brand site after a display-inspired search tend to be more engaged and more willing to spend.

A cautionary tale? Okay. Apparently the Cadbury Gorilla, which as readers will know is EVERYWHERE, only appears fourth on a Google search of 'Cadbury gorilla', behind Youtube, funny-videos.co.uk and - horror of horrors - free commuter paper the Metro.

Bit of a waste, Tracey fairly points out.

No doubt some readers will think that this serves the gorilla right, but I'm not going to get involved.

Nathan Midgley

Travolution Autumn Conf: And that's lunch

Refreshments in the lobby of the Imagination Gallery...

Travolution Autumn Conf: Solving the data entry problem

Interesting to hear Jilly Welch's (Fortune Cookie) diagnosis of the problems that plague many travel sites. In short: research and booking are being treated as separate processes, which leads to overlong, unnecessarily complex transactions.

You start out excited by your holiday in Mauritius; six pages in there's a loss of purchase momentum

Why? Two words: data entry. Nobody wants to do that stuff. But as an audience member points out, the complex legislation and technological infrastructure involved in travel purchases means a fair amount of data entry is unavoidable.

One of Jilly's suggestions is to put an editorial spin on data capture where possible. She points out that a day-month-year date search can be humanised by flagging up school holidays, or the best time to visit particular destinations.

Black Tomato gets praise for using its top-level navigation to guide users to 'Active Time', 'Escape Time' and so forth. Which is better than a dull old 'holiday type' drop down.

Expedia, though, is marked down for channeling users from its (highly praised) Inspiroscope, which captures information in an engaging way, to flat, text-heavy pages, which shatter the illusion.

And as for the Virgin Holidays interface...

I haven't picked on Virgin Holidays because it's awful; I've picked on it because it's moderate and unexciting

Nathan Midgley

Travolution Autumn Conf: David Soskin on personalisation and technology

Some notes from David Soskin's speech, which focused on how (whether) technology can deliver personalisation in travel.

- Amazon does personalisation better than anyone in the travel sphere (top of David's recommended books list, apparently, are something about Pushkin and a book about Ryanair)

- Travel is difficult to personalise because consumers want different things based on when they're travelling, who with and whether for business or leisure, not to mention unpredictable variables like the weather

- Search is 'not nearly good enough' in travel

- Predicitons for 2015: search will improve hugely; mobile content will take off, reviews in particular; traditional media will continue to decline; social networks will continue to evolve as users and technology become more sophisticated

- Cheapflights has drafted in a US expert to focus solely on personalising newsletters, and continues to invest in social networking through Howzat Media

Nathan Midgley

Travolution Autumn Conf: Can you guess...

Which 19th Century writer has been quoted by two different speakers this morning (and it was the same quote...)?

Travolution Autumn Conf: Quotes #1

David Soskin, CEO of Cheapflights tells it straight:

If people spend time on media, sure as night follows day the money will follow. Social networking sites will be a huge recipient of travel advertising dollars.

Caroline Knight, online commercial partnerships manager for ITV.com allows her masterplan to slip out:

Total freedom of entertainment. This is what ITV.com - sorry, I mean ITV - is aiming for...

Travolution Autumn Conf: Broadcasters talk multi-channel

Some interesting examples from this morning's speakers on multi-channel media.

Broadly, we hear it conceptualised two ways. First as a way of reaching multiple audiences with varied media preferences (Caroline Knight of ITV.com observes that a show might have 10 million TV viewers with limited interest in consuming content online, but another smaller audience whose preferences run the other way).

Second, as a way of extending core content to create several touch points for each individual. Red Bee Media's Sarah Alexander points to the success of the Life on Mars series two campaign, whose 1970s-themed posters and booklets so enthused the audience in the real world that they were pinched and hawked on eBay.

Similarly, Caroline points to I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, which used several channels (TV, online video feeds, mobile voting and so forth) to create 'five impact points a day' for fans.

Medianiks note that you now have two five-a-day regimes: fruit and veg, and channels.

Both ways of approaching multi-channel are arguably extremes - one has consumers approaching the choice of media monogamously, the other promiscuously.

Travolution Autumn Conf: Sky to relaunch travel channel

We've just heard from Charlie Redmayne, head of commercial parnerships in BSkyB's online business unit - and among other things, he revealed that Sky is to relaunch its online and TV travel channels in December.

Watch this space...

Travolution Autumn Conf: Once more, with delegates

That's more like it...

Travolution Autumn Conf: Factoid #1

Interesting fact about Red Bee Media, whose Sarah Alexander will be speaking during the first session of the day: one of the company's products is Piero, which is the analysis software used by pundits on ITV and BBC sports coverage.

So if you ever wondered what allows Alan Hansen to draw those on-screen diagrams of incisive running by Wayne Rooney, now you know.

Nathan Midgley

Technorati tags: piero rooney bbc itv alanhansen

Travolution Autumn Conf: And they're off (nearly)

Here's how the venue for the Travo Autumn Conference looks (it hasn't started yet...)

Delegates should be arriving shortly - our first session starts about an hour from now, and will feature speakers from ITV.com, Red Bee Media and BSkyB talking about multi-channel media.

And I've absconded from the Travel Weekly Blog to be your live blogger for the day, so look out for more observations and photos later...

Nathan Midgley