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

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