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