WIMAX - take part in some research

A good contact of ours, Dr Dimitrios Buhalis, from the University of Surrey, has asked Travolution readers and others to take part in a study he is carrying out for the School of Management.

The research is asking industry professionals about WIMAX and its impact on the tourist industry and its infrastructure.

[Detailed WIMAX definition - but in simple terms it is a system to enable wireless data to be broadcast over long distances]

You can complete the survey online.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: wimax wireless laptop surrey university MBA research

Travel Survey Day #2

Another one: Travel websites represent 14 of the Top 50 retail websites in the UK, according to the IMRG/Hitwise Hot Shops survey for May 2007.

Leading the field are Amazon.co.uk, Tesco.com, Argos, Play.com and Amazon.com in the top 5 positions.

But positions six to ten are dominated by travel brands:

Expedia.co.uk (6)
EasyJet (8)
Ryanair (9)
BA.com (10)

Elsewhere in the Top 50:

Thomson Holidays (11)
Lastminute.com (15)
First Choice (20)
Thomas Cook (25)
MyTravel (27)
ThomsonFly.com (28)
Travelodge (30)
BMIBaby (33)
FlyBe.com (37)
Jet2.com (39)

Remarkably only two travel brands have lost their position in the Top 50 since the survey started in May 2006:

XL.com and Opodo.

No sign of Ebookers since the survey started.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: web traffic hitwise shopping retail

Travel Survey Day #1

Another day, another press release with details of a study into online bookings trends.

Today's first offering comes from Utell.com, a division of the Pegasus Solutions travel technology brand.

The, er, headline grabbing finding is the revelation that 31% of women are concerned about inaccurate product information for hotels, rather than the 19% for men.

The survey said men and women cited inaccurate information as a reason for not booking accommodation online.

How did the respondents know the information was inaccurate unless they made a booking? Or have they been scarred by previous experiences?

A spokeswoman tells us the figures are more likely to be a combination of the "perception of hotel websites and actual experiences", but the detailed questions about why were not asked.

Officially the Utell Us 2007 surveys says:

"This scepticism might stem from the fact that women are much more likely than men to book accommodation based on hotel facilities; 61 per cent of women rate it as a key factor, whereas only 43 per cent of men are swayed by hotel facilities."

Far more transparent results can be found in news that 57% of the 1,600 business and leisure travellers who tookpart in the survey "prefer" to book their hotels over the web.

Taking into account different age groups: 55% of over 55s and 61% of 16-24 year olds preferred the web.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: hotel user review

Question of the Day - Get those calculators out

So Travolution had actually planned to have a day off from blogging - deadlines for the June edition of our magazine are approaching and other things going on.

But then someone emailed to ask/poke fun as to why we hadn't covered the recent announcement from Cheapflights regarding its appointment of Long Acre Partners as "strategic advisors".

In short: CF has asked LAP to recommend either an IPO, an influx of PE, or a SP. [see below for the key]

Our apologies. It is easy to be flippant. But, seriously, this is actually a very interesting development.

Enquiries as to a likely price for the business are generally met with a "no comment" (perhaps understandably) from the Cheapflights camp.

So, reader question of the day: Likely market capital value for Cheapflights? [Serious answers please via the comments buttons]

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

IPO = Initial Public Offering. PE = private equity. SP = strategic partnership.

Technorati tags: cheapflights cheap flights company valuation

Brent and Martha: FriendsReunited in DIY

Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane Fox, founders of Lastminute.com, have launched a new venture - a pseudo social networking site for DIY enthusiasts called MyDeco.com.

The Sunday Times story on the launch of MyDeco.com says Hoberman has raised £5 million in capital for the project and will take the executive chairman position, with Lane Fox a non-executive director.

So the dynamic duo are back on the scene. [The pair were named amongst our Influential Ten list last September, a poll to recognise the movers and shakers of the past ten years in the online travel industry]

In true Hoberman style, an email said:

"Lots of good learnings from travel can be applied :-)"

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: martha lane fox brent hoberman mydeco lastminute

Old Advertising versus The New Consumer

Who ever said Microsoft doesn't have a sense of humour? Here is an ad for its Digital Advertising Solutions division, featuring the BringTheLoveBack.com microsite.

If you wondered how the advertising world is changing dramatically because of the web-savvy consumer base, then this hits the nail on the head.



Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Hat tip: Antony Mayfield (again)

Technorati tags: advertising marketing video new media old media

Sidestep and Facebook doing a thing

Social networking phenomenon Facebook just got very interesting for those wondering how travel companies might be able to interact with it.

US travel search engine Sidestep yesterday unveiled a plug-in for members to add their trips, previous and forthcoming, to their homepage.

Users who create a new entry can then invite other Facebook members they know are/were included in the trip to be added, as well as being able to upload photographs and notes.

Sidestep gets a mention and a link on every page associated with the tool.

[Mashable has a list of its Top Facebook plug-ins]

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: facebook facebook API facebook platform

Travolution@E4T - FirstChoice to relaunch, but why?

UK multiple FirstChoice is planning to relaunch its website in November this year, despite the company being just weeks away from a merger with TUI.

Dermot Blastland, FirstChoice managing director, told delegates as much during a session on "Scale vs Specialisation".

As well as the usual relaunch spiel, Blastland said the new site will be designed to cater for those still lacking the confidence with online booking of travel products.

If rumours are to be believed, practically every travel website in the land will have seen some kind of makeover by the end of the year - so what is so special about FirstChoice?

The fact that the company is forging ahead with plans to relaunch the site despite being on the verge of joining forces with Thomson - which, as readers will know, has a very strong online presence - indicates a number of things:

• FirstChoice is worried it will not get a green light for its merger. Possible, but unlikely.
• FirstChoice offline brand is strong and they don't want to lose it completely.
• FirstChoice online brand is strong for SEO and it would be suicidal to cut of traffic.

This is all very intriguing...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: merger

When Google ads go wrong

Here is a classic - and rather sad - case of when the automatic serving of sponsored links from Google against content can prove, er, problematic.

A UK-based obituary website, GoneTooSoon.co.uk, where visitors can post tributes to loved ones, has been critcised by users who discovered some rather inappropriate ads placed alongside content.

Links to low-cost carrier Ryanair, for example, were found next to tributes to dead boys and men named Ryan.

A page dedicated to a man who died in a motorcyle accident featured an ad for, you guessed it, motorcyles.

The owner of the site, Terry George, introduced Google ads to the site recently but, according to reports, didn't realise that links are created based on content on the same page.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Hat-tip: BBC

Technorati tags: adsense adwords advertising

Travolution@E4T - Just checking my Facebook...

The kind folk at Datalex hosted a free internet station for visitors to EyeForTravel.

So what were many people doing once they'd plugged in their laptops?

Following news today that social networking site Facebook has attracted three million new members in the UK since October 2006, readers will not be shocked to learn that in just a few visits we counted ten people checking their accounts. [Me included, admittedly]

The site is certainly taking the country by storm. We have created a Travolution group and have attracted nearly 30 members in less than a week.

"It's so addictive," the second in command of one of the UK's biggest online travel companies admitted. "I often walk around the office and see people suddenly switch their screens away from Facebook."

Some firms are even blocking staff from accessing the site, such is its ability to distract people from the day-job.

At least staff at one particular online travel operation will be safe for a while...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: facebook bebo

Travolution@E4T - Buzz over Boo appears justified to some

Maybe it's decent PR and the fact that many industry watchers are curious as to why on earth a company would resurrect the name of one of new media's most famous failures.

But Boo.com has made quite an impact in the three or so weeks since it banished its previous fashion retailer image to Dot-com Bust Hell, to emerge as a very Web 2.0-led travel portal.

So not a surprise to see the Boo stand attracting a fair bit of attention today.

Earlier, Boo's chief marketing officer, Niamh Ni Mhir, told delegates during a session that its method of reviewing was how consumers will want to learn more about a product.

Boo believes that only by seperating out reviews into those posted by friends, trusted bookmarked users and then the wider community, will consumers really value user generated content.

A lesson many believe for TripAdvisor to learn from as it looks to counteract increasing concern over the sheer volume of reviews some hotels currently have against them.

Ni Mihr admitted later on that the initial PR buzz generated at launch had subsided, but traffic is "at the levels we anticipated" for launch.

With a flight meta search tool coming within weeks, powered by TravelFusion, Boo's growth over the next six months will be watched very closely by rival travel portals and the likes of TripAdvisor.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: boo dot-com crash dot-com bubble travel reviews user generated content

Travolution@E4T - Expedia could charge suppliers for leads

Mild rumblings of discontent this morning at the EyeForTravel conference in London when Expedia said online travel agencies may have to take action as more of those pesky consumers are using the site as a search engine and then make a booking direct with suppliers.

Murad Hajeebhoy, vice president for lodging and destination services, said their could be a situation in the future when OTAs would consider charging suppliers for referrals.

"This is one of the possibilities" and, of course, is purely hypothetical, Hajeebhoy assured us after his Q&A session.

Needless to say, Expedia and other online travel agencies would certainly have some tricky conversations with suppliers if it decided to implement such a scheme.

Chris Silcock from Hilton, during the session, didn't appear too keen, to say the least...

Hajeebhoy said he was unclear as to how such a system would work - complicated tracking for cost-per-acquisition or a cost-per-click system?

It is very interesting that Expedia is at least thinking about this model. But what does it say about their motivation?

Are the OTAs finally acting because a huge amount of traffic is coming but so little is converting?

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: expedia

Entrepreneurs 2.0

Interesting snippet from the UK's Channel 4 News about the new breed of web start-up entrepreneurs in London.

A light-hearted moment:

Look out at 1m 14s for Martha Lane Fox, appointed today as non-executive director of High Street retailer Marks & Spencer, underlining - according to the Guardian - the company's online credentials, as she struggles with a Lastminute.com computer back in 1999.

But more interesting:

Her co-founder Brent Hoberman, in an interview recorded recently, offers hope for budding Sergey and Larrys.

"In the late-90s it was actually very hard to make money online. Now you have got lower technology costs, an easier way of making money, and huge amounts of people online and it is just easier to make a better product online."

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: web 2.0 entrepreneur

Wowed or turned off by Expedia?

A few things happening at Expedia this week. One that consumers will see immediately is a pretty pricey advertising campaign, costing the online travel agency £3.5 million (including £2.5 million just in media spend - TV, print, online et al).

One of the more unusual elements of the campaign, timed to coincide with Expedia's second busiest month for bookings (July), will be the branding-o-rama of Waterloo station in London.

A pedestrian tunnel underneath the station, from the Network Rail platforms to the London Underground station, has been transformed into an oasis of "Let Yourself Go".

The question is whether such an enormous and in-your-face piece of branding [which probably cost a pretty penny as well] will work or not?

It is certainly very striking... What do you think?

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: expedia advertising waterloo

Powerpoint will kill you in the end

We all do them from time-to-time. Yes, indeed: the dreaded Powerpoint presentation.

In fact we've seen the same presentation three times by one senior travel exec at different conferences in the last 12 months.

So here is an amusing video clip - titled Life After Death by Powerpoint - from Don McMillan, a US stand-up comedian, with some tips for Powerpointers around the world.




Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Hat tip: Antony Mayfield

Technorati tags: death by powerpoint conference

Time to pull instead of push

Another guest blogger: Caroline Worboys, chief executive of Broadsystem, on why travel is failing to get email marketing right.

In 2006 over 4 billion marketing emails were sent to consumers, requesting their attention and inviting their custom. That works out at about 70 marketing emails for every man, woman, and child in the UK!

Yet, with such large volumes of marketing emails being sent, a figure which is almost certain to continue to rise, I’m not exactly convinced that the medium is still being used to its full potential.

Messages promoting airliner deals, hotel offers, and holiday packages play an essential role in driving profits but why isn’t it commonplace to receive a post-holiday email thanking you for your business, perhaps asking for feedback, or inviting you to share your experiences, photos, even video clips with the supplier?

Thomson is one company that are beginning to appreciate the power of user generated content. [Thomson and CreatorMail won a Travolution Award in April for their efforts - Ed]

The news last month that sites such as TripAdvisor are trusted more by consumers than agents, brochures, and recommendations from friends just goes to so how important the consumer is in any business relationship.

When done well, email has such a unique ability to engage its recipients with a tailored and personal message, creating a two way dialogue. But this opportunity is being largely missed; instead ‘push’ messages continue to be the norm.

This is most certainly missing a trick. Whilst marketing email volumes grow, opening rates are starting to falter. To benefit fully from this medium, it is time to get personal.

Caroline Worboys, chief executive, Broadsystem

Technorati tags: CRM email marketing

Learning to dance in Second Life

Okay. Curiosity got the better of Travolution last night, so we decided go into Second Life for the first time in months to take a look at the new ship belonging to Costa Cruises.

The virtual version Costa Serena, which was launched yesterday at the same time as its counterpart in a real dock in Marseille, is moored alongside a passenger terminal on one of the many islands.

[It is easy to find: type "Costa" into the Search tool and the site currently appears in third position]

See below for some screen grabs from our little adventure, which culiminated with a bit of a boogie - courtesy of a very accommodating fellow Second Lifer who patched us some of the best moves - in the ship's discotheque.

We were also on the receiving end of a rather cold shoulder from one of the Costa crew members, who didn't take kindly to being asked some questions about the ship.

Altogether, a rather bizarre experience...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

I name this ship...Virtual Costa Serena

Anyone kicking about in Second Life today can bear witness to the first ever launch of a cruise ship in a virtual world.

Costa Cruises will simultaneously smash the champagne against the hull of its newest ship, the Costa Serena, in the French port of Marseille and in Second Life.

[Costa Cruises microsite]

After the SL ceremony there will be various bits of entertaintment including a treasure hunt, live DJs and fireworks, as well as the opportunity to stroll around the entire ship.

Nice idea. We'll check with Costa next week to find out how many people actually turned up.

Costa is the latest travel-related brand to enter Second Life. Travel technology provider Comtec has showcased its new Travel.co.uk travel comparison engine in Second Life. Starwood Hotels also built a prototype hotel there last summer.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: second life maiden voyage

That new Google search thing

Much has been written in the last few days about the new Google search in the US (coming to a territory near you soon, for anyone not using .com as their default engine).

[Official Google blog entry about Google Universal Search]

The post points to a search for "darth vader" as a good example of how various elements of Google will be incorporated into its search results, such as Google Video and YouTube material.

Other tools such as maps will also be included for some queries. Ideal for travel... [Although we've seen examples already]

For perhaps the best piece of analysis we've found so far, go to SeachEngineLand.

The implications for travel are pretty obvious: a far richer experience for those using natural search to look for travel products, allowing location maps and videos of hotels to be streamed directly in to results. And that is just for starters...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: universal search

Requesting a Dopplr invite - Joosts available in return

Plenty of buzz surrounding Dopplr.com, a new Web 2.0 travel site currently in beta and only by invitation.

Anyone who has a spare invite can email us and we will happily send out some Joost invites - the new on-demand TV service which is also creating significant amounts of chatter on the web.

In fact, we will send out some Joost invties anyway, so impressed we are with it! Leave an email address in the comments section.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: joost dopplr joost invitation

Move aside...Silver Surfers are coming

Interesting press release knocking about today about how Silver Surfers are likely to be the largest single block of internet users in the very near future.

Hitwise has found that the 55+ group now account for 22% of UK visits to all categories of websites, ahead of 35 to 44 year olds, who command a 23.5% share.

It is actually the growth figure that is probably the most interesting. Up 54% on the same period - four weeks to 12 May - in 2005, up 46% on last year.

And, unsuprisingly, one of the key cateogories they are heading towards is travel - cruise especially.

In fact, cruise websites received almost half (48%) of their traffic from the over-55s in four weeks to 12 May.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Howzat! Soskin and Burge have a blog

The Cheapflights chaps seem to be featuring on the Travolution blog quite a lot recently.

[What Happens When David Soskin and Co Want to Invest In Your Start-up]

They must be pleased as our Technorati ranking increased a notch last night when David Soskin and Hugo Burge's blog started linking to us.

The Howzat Media Blog is updated reasonably often and contains the ramblings of both David and Hugo with both their Cheapflights and Howzat hats on. [Howzat is the angel fund they created earlier this year to invest in the likes of WAYN.com and TrustedPlaces.com]

Interestingly, for a highly critical view of what appears to be some odd PR activity at Cheapflights with regards to its involvement with Wikipedia, go to Alex Bainbridge's Musings on Travel E-Commerce blog.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: cheap flights angel funds trustedplaces

Join Travolution on Facebook

Thought it might be interesting to create a Travolution section on Facebook, the fantastic social networking site.

Anyone interested can look for "travolution" as a group and then simply join.

If we get a lot of people it may become our forum - its discussion 'wall' for members does exactly that.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: facebook

TravelMail hits big...so far

It was not without some trepidation that I ventured into the private lair of the Daily Mail on Tuesday night to celebrate the official launch of the paper's travel website, TravelMail.

As many readers will know, the Daily Mail was mildly perturbed when Travolution spoiled the fanfare by publishing screen shots of the site days before the "official" launch party.

A bit naughty??? Perhaps. But come on folks, the Mail is not exactly known for holding fire when handed a golden opportunity to scupper someone's else plans.

(Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.)

Whatever your views on the "voice of Middle England" tabloid, the guys and gals responsible for TravelMail deserve a pat on the back.

The site is well designed and user-friendly, and, as of Tuesday evening, had attracted 7,000 visitors.

(Not too shabby for its first full day of operations.)

I have yet to find any major flaws with the TravelMail site itself, but I do question why the link doesn't hold a more prominent place on the Daily Mail homepage.

All in all, it was worth attending the party and, thankfully, the Daily Mail folk were quite sporting about getting scooped on one of their biggest stories of the year.

But the best part of the night came when I won a case of Dom Perignon. (Yep, an entire case.)

I would've been happy with a couple of glasses of the cheap stuff they were pouring at the party (well, cheap by comparison) , but I'm not complaining.

And just so no one can accuse me of accepting bribes, I've already informed Travolution's editor, Kevin May and TravelMail publisher, Toby Kesterton that I have nothing but charitable intentions (honest).

Tricia Holly Davis, chief writer, Travolution

Technorati tags: daily mail associated newspapers travel portal travelmail

Opodo: The Golden Years

There was a time when Opodo was going to brush aside all before it.

Below is the promotional video for the company's launch, back in 2001.

Look out for Esteban Walther (now of the Google parish) at 3m 01s, during a segment when a string of people from the company tell a mystery interviewer how fantastic Opodo will be.

"We intend to become the market leader in Europe in three years", says one gentleman in the clip.

Who are these people? Where are they now? Apologies, clip was made when our editorial team were reporting on non-travel issues in Washington DC or London's East End.



Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: opodo

World of niches - cheap ads for the time being

More material for the Long Tail of Travel project.

Chris Mottershead, boss of Travelzest, speaking yesterday after unveiling the company's new report into Niche Travel, said generic keywords such as "beach", "holiday" or "ski" have become so expensive they are no longer financially viable for bucket and spade holiday providers.

The answer is to focus on niche keywords in pay-per-click advertising as they are (for the moment) cheaper and, crucially, are more likely to convert to a booking.

Interestingly this is in contrast to comments by Martin Dinham from Neutralize in our lead feature in April - How Far Can Travel's Long Tail Extend?. In the article we wrote:

"There is no actual ‘history’ for the thousands of phrases that make up the Long Tail for PPC schedules, Dinham argues, leading to search engines such as Google to ask for a “nominal fee” for bids.

"'Google is actually cutting off the Long Tail in order to get people to bid on higher value search terms,' Dinham says. 'This leads the advertiser to invest in higher volume phrases – so search engine optimisation is actually the better way of accessing the longer tail.'"

So while the industry is being urged to go "Long Tail" with its online search engine marketing, the reality is that already the likes of Google, looking behind what Dinham suggests, have realised a shift into Long tail bidding may in fact impact on its high value keywords.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

[Exclusive extracts and analysis of Travelzest's Niche Travel Report will be featured in the June edition of Travolution]

Technorati tags: long tail long tail of travel travel economics

Launching the Twit List

Ok. Trying something out over the next few weeks on the blog.

To the right hand side you'll notice a Twitter.com box, featuring the latest random one-liners from the Travolution team.

For those not in the know, Twitter is a simple product that asks people to say in 140 characters what they are doing at any given moment. People are then invited to respond and start a conversation.

It is a smart little tool, rather fun, but is good demonstration of the way in which new social networking sites can grow so rapidly. It has taken the internet by storm in recent months.

I'm curious as to how many people are doing the Twitter within our community of travel and new media professionals, consumer bloggers and others.

[You do not necessarily need to be using the in-site widget like we do on the right hand side]

The list so far includes:

• Travolution [Twitter.com/travolution]
• Hotel-Blogs [Twitter.com/hotelblogs]
• BlogOnTravel [Twitter.com/blogontravel]
• Albert Barra [Twitter.com/albertbarra]
• Abel Gonzalez [Twitter.com/abelgv]
• MapMyName [Twitter.com/Cortomaltese]
• Explore Blogs [Twitter.com/explore]
• Blog de Viajes [Twitter.com/morrissey]
• Trivop.com [Twitter.com/trivop]
• Select World Travel [Twitter.com/selectworld]
  

Please add your name to the list on a new post on your site and we'll see over the next few weeks how many we can muster.

Once a new name is published you can add them- by clicking on the Twitter URL alongside each name - to your list of Twitter friends.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: twitter Twit List

Carry On SilverJet

Not that we would ever accuse the recipient of a Travolution Award of lowering the tone of its online advertising, but here is new viral ad from SilverJet, winners of our Best Airline Website category:


Has had almost 8,500 views on YouTube in 11 days.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travolution@Triton - Don't just say it, do it

Andrew Dickson, chief executive of The Wow Factor, was speaking earlier during an industry leaders roundtable on the main stage.

Much of the debate had been about improving sales in shops - agents saying how so very hard they are working to clinch a deal. Blaming the web and it's undercutting of agents. The usual thing...

Dickson, who has a thick Lancashire accent, then caused a bit of a stir in the audience when he noted how often readers of Travel Weekly's Mystery Shopper would often see how "pisspoor" the service of the agents had been in a shop.

"And that's a word we use in Bolton!" he said.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: triton

Travolution@Triton - Talk about the real world

The proposed merger between the three organisations that make up Triton – confirmed yesterday – has been flowing through so many of the conversations over the course of the weekend.

“We need to be bigger and better at what we do in order to win the battle against Thomson and Thomas Cook,” someone said last night.

Another: “The Big Two need a new challenger.”

This is hogwash. Of course they need a new challenger - and Triton could be in a very good position to do so - but the problem with all this is that people appear to be scared to talk publicly about the real competition.

In fact, as in so many other sectors of business the “traditional” marketplace no longer exists – so why kid yourselves that it still does?

It is, of course, important at an event such as this – with delegates numbers made up mostly of retail travel agents – to talk about the old environment, but it isn’t the reality.

The competition for Triton and the members of its three consortia shouldn’t be talked of only in terms of Thomson and Thomas Cook.

Expedia, for example, is dynamically packaging holidays and is effectively a tour operator as well as a travel agency.

The methods of contact with customers might be different but they are all doing the same thing – trying to sell travel products.

For retail travel agents to compete in an increasingly congested world they need to stop thinking about who they thought were their old rivals and acknowledge the new marketplace.

The likes of Triton and other industry consortiums should explain this new marketplace to those working for them in the High Street and advise them how to use the web as well.

Vertically integrated travel companies – and those that aspire to it – MUST add the web as a key component to their distribution.

Unfortunately the web, amongst so many of the people here, is still seen as a threat. It really shouldn’t be – it should be seen as a golden opportunity.

With just a few reasonably simple projects, results can come pretty quickly.

One of the slides I use during this weekend’s presentations shows how a small online travel site appears in first position in Google for an incredibly basic search result “travel benidorm” – and, crucially, above Lastminute.com and way ahead of Thomas Cook.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: triton

Travolution@Triton - Straw polls

During a presentation on Web and Travel 2.0 this afternoon to around 60 independent travel agents I carried out various "show-of-hands" to gauge the knowledge of the audience:

Here is a rough guide to the results:

• Have a website - 55
• Heard of TripAdvisor - 45
• Know about Blogs - 20
• Understand Web 2.0 - 5 [including Travolution boss, Simon Ferguson - so he shouldn't be counted!]

There is clearly a lot of scope for travel agents to expand into the new areas of the web. The world is their oyster...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: travel agent web 2.0

Travolution@Triton - Mergers ahoy

The Triton conference is being completely overshadowed by what was just industry gossip yesterday and is hard news today that the UK travel consortium is considering a merger.

This is big news.

The trio of companies that make up Triton – Advantage Travel Centres, Global Travel Group and Worldchoice – are in active talks and have, there is no doubt about it, Big Plans.

We have ambitions to be “one of the top three groups,” says George Begg, chairman of Global Travel Group and an advisor to Triton.

Big Four to Big Two to Big Three perhaps…

In simple terms, the mergers elsewhere in the industry (Thomas Cook-MyTravel and Thomson-FirstChoice) have forced Triton’s hand.

The plans, which are being discussed by the Triton board but are clearly well advanced, will see Triton become a multiple, using stock (air and hotels), tour operating (holidays) and distribution (shops, call centres and the web).

Begg reckons the difference between a potential Triton powerhouse (“virtual vertical integration,” he calls it) and the other giants will be distribution controlling supply, rather than the other way round.

The Long Tail in action...

To top it all off, there are plans for a floatation in three years time to raise £20 million in capital to assist in what are clearly ambitious growth plans.

From a corporate perspective, a fellow hack and I have already been speculating as to who will take the top job.

John McEwan (boss of Advantage Travel Centres) and Andrew Botterill (CEO of Global Travel Group and a Travolution board member) would – most suspect – be vying for the top job.

Begg finished outlining the merger plans. A quick Q&A gleaned nothing (understandably the Triton board are trying to remain pretty tight lipped).

Cue a quick rush to the doors for coffee break and discussions that will clearly dominate the weekend.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: triton

EXCLUSIVE - TravelMail screen shots they don't want you to see just yet

[UPDATES at the bottom]

Much fun to be had today...

Within a few hours of the previous post, about the launch of TravelMail.co.uk, a cheeky reader from the tech department of a tour operator emailed us with some links into the site - which are live!

We don't want to ruin the party next week, of course, so readers will have to fathom it out themselves - but here are some screen grabs from around the site.





UPDATE: We've already had a call from Associated Newspapers asking who is our source. You've got to laugh at the irony of it all...

UPDATE 2: Associated has started pulling down some of the main pages of the site - such as the homepage - and replacing them with the holding page.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: daily mail associated newspapers travel portal travelmail

To hell with it...let's wait for the party

Last week we discovered - and had the nod from officials - that delays to the long-awaited launch of TravelMail were finally over and users would be able to be see the site on May 9.

The excitement at Travolution Towers on Wednesday morning was almost too much to bear, such has been our level of interest in what is essentially a huge online travel project for one of the biggest newspaper groups in the UK.

But, alas, we were greeted with a holding page - "will launch in Spring 2007" - after we eagerly typed in the URL.

"I suppose it's better than the old re-direct to ThisIsTravel.co.uk," someone muttered as they trudged off to make a cup of tea.

Those wags at the Daily Mail certainly know how to keep an audience waiting - another six days, in fact.

According to someone at the PR company - our collection of usually reliable sources were mysteriously tight lipped yesterday, so we had to go elsewhere - the site will now be unveiled on Tuesday 15 May, to coincide with the glitzy launch party in London.

Er, okay...

"It is not a delay," we were informed quickly. Let's hope not...

UPDATE: Exclusive but unwanted access and screen shots

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: daily mail associated newspapers travel portal travelmail

What happens when David Soskin and co want to invest in your start-up

The Cheapflights chief executive and his chairman, Hugo Burge, recently invested $1 million in TrustedPlaces.com, through their angel fund Howzat Media.

The site is a pretty good social networking effort for London restaurants (already branching out elsewhere in the UK) and has been generating a fair bit of media buzz in recent months.

Howzat's investment was announced in February this year, a few weeks after its decision to invest in the WAYN.com travel social networking site, with Brent Hoberman and the founders Active Hotels.

Interestingly, one of the founders of TrustedPlaces, Sokratis Papafloratos, decided to keep a diary of the whole process.

It starts when Papafloratos and co-founder Walid Al Saqqaf met Burge at a networking event in early-December 2006, cotninues through the negitations, and ends with "biggest bank account balance I've ever seen".

You can view the whole diary on the Foundread.com website.

Here's a snippet:

Feb 1, AM: We launch a new version of our site. It’s a total refresh of the front end, plus a number of new features, like the personalized recommendations. Big exhale, then this: Hugo spots a bug in our search and recommendations feature (it had to be him!). Dima tweaks the algorithm, and tests and redeploys it – within a couple of hours.

It is a rather interesting journey - and a reasonably quick one by all accounts. Useful especially for start-ups that might be curious as to how getting some extra cash might work.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: cheap flights angel funds trustedplaces

TripAdvisor buying stuff - eight months ago

Lots of coverage elsewhere today about TripAdvisor buying a few sites - including BookingBuddy.com, SmarterTravel.com, SeatGuru.com, TravelPod.com and Travel-Library.com.

Travolution readers will already know the deal to buy Travel-Library.com was actually completed in September last year - but apparently TripAdvisor wanted to wait a few months (well, eight) before releasing details to the media.

Sorry guys...

We found out about it in November after the boss of a leading travel site told us they had seen the sale documents and had been interested in a deal for a short time.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: tripadvisor travel portal acquisition

The price of success

Fascinating meeting this morning with the marketing boss of a well known online ancilliary firm, which will have to remain nameless (for obvious reasons, once you read below) but would obviously be a hotelier, car hire firm or airline.

The company, like most, has a set marketing budget for the year. It uses, alongside pay-per-click advertising and its existing partnerships with third party websites, UK meta search giant TravelSupermarket and sees a decent amount of leads coming through, with nice conversion rates of around 9%-10%.

At the beginning of this year, however, as TravelSupermarket suddenly started seeing its traffic surging (coinciding with its high profile TV ad campaign), the number of referrals increased dramatically.

Obviously this has led to the amount of money for cost-per-acquisition fees also requiring a healthy boost.

But the marketing cashpool has been set. Dilemma!

"You have to be seen or not at all," says the director with the fast-evaporating budget.

The solution: put up the prices on specific products being fed to TravelSupermarket so that they no longer appear high on the site's search results, cutting down on the number of leads but without curtailing the brand's exposure.

Sounds very tricky, but what else can you do?

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Obvious to many but nice to have it officially

Mildly off-topic, but we’re here at the Periodical Publishers’ Association annual conference in London today, taking in – inevitably – reams of material about Web 2.0.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects to come out of the day – which travel companies can relate to – is the publication of research about the popularity of social networking and Web 2.0 sites.

The study by Booz Allen Hamilton found 50% of online users visited sites such as MySpace, Wikipedia, Friendster, Hi5, YouTube, Second Life and Flickr.

In the UK the figure was slightly less than the average (41%), while the US (71%) and Germany (73%) lead the way. Germany loves Wikipedia, apparently...

“Contrary to popular belief”, the survey says, social networking and Web 2.0 is not the preserve of young blokes.

Sites such as Wikipedia, MySpace and YouTube have a 50-50 split between men and women, for example.

In terms of age, almost a quarter of visitors to Web 2.0 sites fall into the 35 to 49 age bracket.

A fascinating part of the research (and a crucial one for travel brands) is in the area of user recommendations.

The survey found 50% of users use tips from online acquaintances or friends to make purchasing decisions. In the Middle East this figure soars to an astonishing to 84%...

Interestingly, around 40% are happy to take advice from anonymous sources.

As the power of user generated reviews and recommendations grows, mainstream marketing messages continue to be challenged.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: web 2.0 travel 2.0 user generated content travel reviews

Social networking and blogs for travel companies

Alex Bainbridge, on the TravelUCD forum, points us to a rather curious site, created for businesses by the UK's leadng telecomms provider BT.

BT Tradespace is an area for (predominantly) small and medium-sized businesses to produce blogs, create videos and podcasts, and publish deals.

The site is divided into sectors, including weddings, software and, of course, "Holidays and Leisure".

It is free to sign up and create a "space" - and many travel companies have.

The blog area for each business, for example, allows readers to rate each inidividual post, similar to the Digg model.

This is where the curious nature of the project appears to end and the reality of what is actually going on kicks in.

Most of the posts are little more than ad bulletin boards and are not really blogs at all. A case of using a trendy web model because it sounds like something that should be done. The voting element is a nice touch, but who is going to take the time to vote on a sales pitch.

As Bainbridge points out, the structure of the site - very keyword heavy - suggests it has been built with SEO in mind.

A good initiative but not executed particularly well.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Thomas Cook-MyTravel deal being overshadowed by something bigger

Just as EU regulators were rubber-stamping the Thomas Cook-MyTravel merger this afternoon, news reports sprung up all over the web about a potential deal between Microsoft and Yahoo!.

Oh, those two...

To say this would be the deal of the century would something be an understatement, affecting any company using the web.

Here's the report on the New York Post website, which broke the story under the headline "Bill's hard drive". And Mashable's analysis.

The BBC says the deal could have a value of $50 billion.

Back to the TC-MT merger. The likelihood of the Thomson-First Choice deal not being given the green light - especially after the pair agreed to offload some Irish businesses earlier today - is now very small.

As Travolution has said a number of times, deals between the Big Four were always likely to happen. What has shocked many people has been the timing.

Consolidation within the next year to 18 months - most people would have said yes. Time moves quickly.

Fuelled by the rapid rate of change in the industry and the need to get a grip on stock and route strategy, 2007 will probably be remembered as the year the "traditional" end of the industry woke up.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: microsoft-yahoo takeover

In search of the dark side of travel

The travel industry is littered with dirty, dark little secrets.

Whether it's the dark side of search, as discussed in our most recent edition, or the dark side of affiliate marketing, a subject which we will explore in our next issue, there are a number of concerns lurking about behind-the-scenes of the travel industry.

Travel and expense service provider KDS is now embarking on a path to uncover business travellers’ "dark secrets".

The firm will conduct an online poll about expense claims, inviting travellers from around the world to share their views anonymously on a range of issues, including inflated expense claims (surely no one does that) [you'd better not - Ed]; the frustrations of form filling , and the extent to which losing track of receipts sees travellers subsidising their employers.

With travel expense compliance an increasing concern for businesses , the survey will also shed light on how companies are using modern technology to ensure claims are properly approved and efficiently managed.

To participate in the survey, complete the online questionnaire.

KDS will reveal the survey findings in June.

Remember folks, it's anonymous, so go on...share with us your dark little secrets.

Tricia Holly Davis, chief writer, Travolution

Technorati tags: travel research

Travel could be scared but should be excited about the future

Forget for a second that Intel is most famous for making boring computer chips and irritating jingles in its and other company's TV ads (ding....da, da, da, ding), but you have got to love this stuff coming round the corner.

And the possibilities for travel are truly and joyfully endless...



Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Hat-tip: Graham Donoghue of TUI [of course] and GigaOm

Technorati tags: intel crystal ball gadgets

It takes a special kind of guts to relaunch Boo.com

Back in the good ol' days, Boo.com was best known for being a prime example of How Not To Run An Internet Company.

The online fashion retailer famously spent heaps of its venture capital on not very much - $120 million, according to Wikipedia - and the site was dogged with what can reasonably be called "a crap design".

The company went into receivership in May 2000. The fall-out was huge. Lessons across e-commerce was learned very quickly.

CNet.com even named the Boo project in sixth poition in its Biggest Dot-com Flops of all time.

Here's how it looked at one point:

Fast-forward seven years and Boo.com is back - AS AN ONLINE TRAVEL BRAND!

The site has been re-launched by Web Reservations International as a rather intriguing hotel meta search/portal effort, with some excellent functions such as reviews, destination information, weather, Ajax-driven search functionality, tons of images, destination clouds, user blogs and maps.

It looks the business, too.


The new Boo reckons it has 50,000 hotel properties worldwide and more one million reviews, collected from other WRI sites such as Worldres, Trav.com, Hostels.com.

The question many will be thinking: Is a fancy new site, concentrating on a different sector, enough to eradicate what for many was a name associated with failure?

Seven years is actually quite a long time on the web. The target demographic, we suspect, was probably more concerned with teenage matters than the fate of a flashy fashion start-up.

The site's backers, probably anticipating a surge of interest in Boo.com, have already found someone to update the Wikipedia page today. Got to get rid of that old image...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: boo dot-com crash dot-com bubble

David Soskin does The Long Tail of Travel

David Soskin, the extremely affable chief executive of Cheapflights, was literally overjoyed a few weeks back when he discovered our lead feature for the April edition of Travolution would be focussing on the Long Tail of Travel.

"I'm speaking exactly on that subject at the Internet World conference in May," he gushed.

Soskin made his speech yesterday and has kindly allowed us to include the presentation on our Special Report: The Long Tail of Travel page on the Travolution website. Ta...

The presentation builds on many of the ideas we discussed in the series of articles in the magazine. Any readers who wish to contribute to our ongoing Long Tail project can email us or leave comments below.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: long tail long tail of travel travel economics

Shove in some user content to boost the bottom line

Or so says a report from Compete Inc, a US market research firm which has estimated a whopping $10 billion a year (in the US - we are checking) is created for online travel firms using consumer-generated content.

Really? Just from consumer-generated content?

Compete reckons [in a press release] consumers are finding CGC more credible than professional written reviews (or PR puff) about travel products.

Nothing new there. TripAdvisor's success is testament to that...

However, the survey found that 50% of visitors to the Sheraton website found its now infamous Global Neighbourhood Web 2.0-style tool as being "valuable" to their overall experience.

Furthermore, 57% said it had a positive influence on whether to book a hotel or not.

Of course, there is a fascinating and ongoing debate to had here - and what a dilemma. It's all well and good the likes of TripAdvisor continuing their UGC model, but what about supplier brands, such as hotels.

Consumers can see straight through "glossed-up" (as one hotel boss put it the other week) consumer reviews, rendering the process a bit pointless. But throw up all reviews and a brand is left to the mercy of malicious and downright negative review.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: consumer review hotel sheraton tripadvisor