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Archives for January 2009

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Dolphin Dynamics completes integration with Telme Farebase

Dolphin Dynamics has extended its airline net fares search and booking service following the completion of an XML-based link with Telme Farebase.

The connectivity to the airfare distribution specialist will further increase the availability of airline product sources bookable via Dolphin. Post this integration, Dolphin users can now seamlessly search Telme net fares, alongside GDS, charter and low cost carrier sourced flight inventory.

According to the software development company, the new integrated service enables Dolphin's travel agents and tour operator customers to sell and package Telme air content in their shops, call centre and also via Dolphin's Internet booking engine products. Connectivity to Telme will complement direct links already available via Dolphin to ancillary travel suppliers including bedbanks, car-rental and transfer suppliers.

Commenting on the development, Roberto Da Re, president at Dolphin Dynamics said, "Integrating Telme Farebase alongside Dolphin's existing links to hundreds of travel product suppliers provides our customers with a huge range of selling options. By offering an efficient and easy way to access their negotiated airline rates our customers now benefit from a more integrated booking process."

The company will be adding links to more product suppliers throughout 2009 in order to meet the needs of its growing customer base.

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Cheapflights gears up for foray into new markets

Cheapflights has reportedly appointed VCCP Search as its first global search agency.

According to mad.co.uk, Cheapflights has appointed the agency to help it consolidate its position in the online travel market ahead of planned international growth beyond its UK, US, Canadian and German operations.

VCCP Search already works with the brand as its UK search agency. It will now be responsible for managing Cheapflights' global account too.

Chris Cuddy, CEO, Cheapflights, said, "In 2009 we're launching in new countries and again in 2010, so we have to constantly evaluate how traffic providers, such as a search agency, can help us in initially local and potentially global capacities."

The appointment coincides with the launch of Cheapflights' first affiliate activity to focus on performance-based marketing in a bid to build brand awareness. The company appointed performance marketing network TradeDoubler recently to manage its affiliate strategy. Affiliates can use components of Cheapflights' booking engine on their own sites, added the report.

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Overcoming the need to rely on custom development of a property's website

GuestCentric Systems has enhanced its online booking and marketing service, including multilingual support for Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese languages.

With this tool, hotel operators can expand their online presence to international markets and attract new website visitors, increase bookings, and online revenue.  

GuestCentric's new multilingual support overcomes the need to rely on custom development of a property's website for each country.

According to the company, hoteliers simply click on the desired GuestCentric-built page to be translated, add the information in the desired language and the service automatically places the new page in the website.

"With support for international languages, independent hotels can now leverage GuestCentric's service to generate more online revenue in a struggling travel economy," said Pedro Colaco President & CEO GuestCentric Systems.

As a user, Rodrigo Machaz, GM, Memmo Baleira Hotel said, "International travelers represent 40 percent of our online bookings that is why it was crucial for Memmo Baleira Hotel to offer a multilingual website. With GuestCentric's language support, publishing our website in different languages was really easy, once we had the hotel's information translated, the website was up and running in a couple of minutes."

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Nordic Direct Travel chooses OpenJaw as its technology partner

Scandinavian online travel company, Nordic Direct Travel, has chosen to partner with OpenJaw Technologies for a new travel technology platform.

The platform will power online travel agencies GoToGate in Norway & Sweden and Flybillet in Denmark. 

Nordic Direct Travel, a subsidiary of VIA Travel AS, chose the new technology platform in order to consolidate its  brands GoToGate.no, GoToGate.se and Flybillet.dk onto a single platform, which supports multiple currencies and languages as well as access to a common back office system. 

The new technology platform will also support the dynamic packaging of air and hotel components which can then be combined with ancillary products, such as events and destination activities, insurance and other travel services.

Nordic Direct Travel will also use the platform for servicing, allowing their call centre agents to amend bookings as well as the cross-selling and up-selling of travel products.

Jon Even Sørlie, CEO, Nordic Direct Travel said other than streamlining its operations and reducing  maintenance costs, the "platform will also enable us to Dynamically Package our inventory and offer multiple selling processes such as shopping cart, the cross selling of hotels and cars and add-on components such as events and insurance".

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Click Travel signs deal with Premier Inn

Click Travel has become the first agency to go live with the latest 2009 version of Premier Inn Direct Connect.

Post this deal, the corporate travel management company's clients can choose to use their Premier Inn Business Account when booking Premier Inn hotels, allowing them to pre-authorise room charges, breakfast, dinner and car parking spend through Click's online system.

"Many corporates still don't even have access to Premier Inn hotels because their traditional TMC has provided them with an old-hat GDS-based booking tool. With the economy piling pressure on everyone to reduce costs, switching to our award winning technology and industry leading content is just one way companies can manage their bottom-line spend," said Click Travel's managing director Simon McLean.

This latest development means that our customers will benefit from being able to use their Premier Inn Business Account to its full potential, via the Click Travel online tool, without any agent intervention, said Daniel Phillips, national account manager, Premier Inn.

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Virgin Charter becomes private jet charter provider for Vacation.com

Virgin Charter, an online booking tool for charter air travel, has signed a deal with travel services marketing company Vacation.com.

Virgin Charter will offer Vacation.com travel professionals an online solution to manage clients' private jet charter needs.

Through the Virgin Charter marketplace, Vacation.com travel professionals will receive multiple quotes for each trip.

"With custom tools enabling them to compare quotes from multiple operators, provide clients with detailed information on the safety and quality of the aircraft and operator, manage post-flight reconciliation and more, we will make the entire process seamless and efficient," said Scott Duffy, founder and CEO, Virgin Charter.

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Over 80 speakers confirmed for European Travel Distribution Summit – face-to-face networking “key to survival” in 2009

Leaders from TUI, Hilton, BA, Priceline, lastminute.com, Accor and easyJet will join over 70 other speakers and 500+ delegates at EyeforTravel’s 2009 European Travel Distribution Summit, taking place on 19-20 May at the Business Design Centre in London.

For full details about this year’s Summit, including detailed agendas and a comprehensive speaker list,  click here

With so much uncertainty and change happening across the industry, putting an event together that is directly relevant to the concerns of travel professionals across all sectors has been more challenging than at any time since the months following 9/11. However, undaunted by this task, we have spent the last three months working hard to create an event to meet the needs of all travel companies in 2009.

The result? A thoroughly fresh take on the issues, with a real focus on the here and now. And a meeting place with the scale and scope to ensure valuable learning and networking opportunities for all attendees.

“With profit margins squeaking from the pressure, networking and partnerships will be the key not just to success, but to survival. The successful networkers of 2009 will be the deal makers of 2010,” said Tim Gunstone, MD, EyeforTravel

“Money doesn’t get made by people cocooned in offices, it comes from building trust based relationships face-to-face. That’s why this event gets better and better – people come away with better distribution and technology deals that lead to significant cost savings and increased sales.”

People will continue to travel. But as they feel the pinch of the downturn they will be turning to the internet in increasing numbers to get the most up to date information, make the most informed decisions and find the best deals.

The facts speak for themselves. In the year to September 2008, 33% of TUI UK’s mainstream business came from online, making it the tour operator’s biggest sales channel. Thomas Cook’s new e-commerce platform is helping increase conversion rates on thomascook.com by more than 300%. EyeforTravel Research indicates that 26% of all UK hotel rooms are now booked online; and in a recent Expedia survey, 30% of respondents were planning to switch from a traditional high street agent to an online source in 2009.

The message is clear. Travel companies who want to maintain and grow sales and profits in 2009 need to be taking online distribution very seriously. Attending the 2009 European Travel Distribution Summit is a good place to start.

To find out more about everything that is happening at this year’s Summit (there’s a lot going on!), and to take advantage of the super earlybird rate (starting at just £795 for a two day pass), click here

  

 

 

 

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"Only by controlling price parity can hotels control and manage yield effectively"

TDS Asia 2009 Special

Over the years, `Rate Parity' and `Best Rate Guarantee' have contributed to the commoditisation of the hotel product.

Considering the fact that there can be several avenues for customers to avail offers related to the "lowest" price, how can hoteliers partner with OTAs to create a value proposition?

From an OTA's perspective, Agoda.com belives in creating a fair rate environment for customers.

"It is something that we share with our hotel partners," says Rob Rosenstein, COO, Agoda.

"There is nothing more frustrating for customers when they find confusing and sometimes fake rates online at sites that are not authorised partners of the hotels. Often customers are enticed to give their credit card data or email address before even being shown the tax and service fees," added Rosenstein, who is scheduled to speak during EyeforTravel's Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2009 to be held in Singapore (1-2 April).

"On some sites, customers are encouraged to make a booking on a site where that hotel is not even available and then the site tries to switch the customer into another hotels. Even more often rates that are not meant for online distribution or room-only are being sold online," Rosenstein said as he shared the realities of the marketplace.

"One of our main focuses is sharing our rate research with our partners so that hotels can be aware of how their rates are being sold online. We work closely with hotels to ensure that our customers receive the best rate and all of the Agoda partners share this mission. The online experience is about saving time, providing easy-to-access information, and booking at a fair price. This experience even in an environmnet of rate parity is never a commodity," he added.

Commenting on profit parity as opposed to price parity, Rosenstein said only by controlling price parity can hotels control and manage yield effectively.

If a hotel can ensure that its partners are selling at the same rate, it can negotiate different profit arrangements to suit its occupancy requirements and own needs.

"Some hotels may want to pay more to expand a geographical niche or support a low season. Different OTA's have different strengths at different times. The most important thing is data and giving the OTA a chance to prove what it can do, so you can evaluate the data," said Rosenstein.

Considering the current environment, it is also critical to assess to what extent can one compromise on price integrity.

"Fortunately, the online channel allows hotels to be very compromising with rate integrity because the rates are online shown for a brief moment to real customers, who tend to book very last minute. Customers know that online rates can change minute to minute, so hotels can afford to be aggressive and dynamic on the online channel," said Rosenstein.

He aadded, "My advice is to be very aggressive with online rate to see what kind of response you can get and what kind of impact you can get."

"If your hotel is on the first page of Agoda.com, it might be interesting to see what kind of a response you would get with a substantial price reduction. You can even learn more about optimal selling rates. Since you control it in real time, it is valuable data and it is in your control."

EyeforTravel's Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2009

Rob Rosenstein, COO, Agoda, is scheduled to speak during `Optimised third party distribution to stimulate sales' session. The session is part of EyeforTravel's Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2009, to be held in Singapore (1-2 April).

For more information click here: http://events.eyefortravel.com/tdsasia/revenue/agenda.asp

Or Contact:

Reece Gladstone at reece@eyefortravel.com

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A strong brand and non-reliance on Search Marketing gives oodles.com 30% direct conversion rate

Steve Sherlock, Managing Director for Oodles.com believes that building a strong brand independent of search engine marketing is critical to a brands success. As a result of weaning oodles.com off heavy search engine reliance, oodles now experiences a 30% conversion rate for direct customers versus only 6% through Google adwords.

In this podcast, hear Steve comment on the following:

http://events.eyefortravel.com/tdsasia/conference/news.asp

http://events.eyefortravel.com/tdsasia/podcasts/Steve_Oodles.mp3 

• Many people see Search Engine Marketing as their most important form of marketing. Do you agree with this view? Why/why not?
• In your opinion, what problems could your brand face with too heavy a reliance on search engines?
• With the western world so heavily reliant on Google as a search tool, how much of a marketing spend should be dedicated to SEM vs elsewhere?
• What other brand building strategies would you recommend outside of SEM? .
• What travel brands have you seen that successfully combine search with a healthy mix of other brand marketing strategies to remain a strong brand? 
   

Steve will present his session How to wean yourself off search engines, at the Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2009 – Singapore, April 1-2 www.eyefortravel.com/tdsasia

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Social Media Marketing: Why a Holistic Approach Pays Dividends Case Studies from Carnival Cruise Lines and Southwest Airlines

Increasing we are seeing travel companies who aren’t just gently participating in user-generated content, or dipping their toes tentatively into the social networking pool, instead, they are investing full-throttle in a multi-faceted social media strategy.  They are participating in a variety of non-travel sites, in a variety of formats simultaneously.  Between them, Southwest Airlines and Carnival Cruise Lines now have a presence on all the major social networking and photo/video sharing sites.  They have pages on YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.  They both have their own blogs and their own social networking communities, all of which have been incredibly successful.

So what can travel companies learn from companies such as Southwest and Carnival, when it comes to their social media strategy?  Can you work with one site, like Facebook, or do you need to have a presence on all of them, at the same time?  How do you manage a multi-faceted social media strategy?  And what benefits have Southwest and Carnival seen, by taking a holistic approach to social media? 

Read on for an overview on the holistic approach Carnival and Southwest have taken to social media.  Jeremy Jameson, Corporate Strategist – Strategic Planning for Southwest Airlines, will be offering a deeper insight into Southwest’s social media strategy at EyeforTravel’s 2nd Social Media Strategies for Travel Conference, being held on March 10-11 in San Francisco.  For more information visit www.eyefortravel.com/social-media

Carnival has set up their own cruise-centric social networking community called CarnivalConnections.com.  This has been created specifically to bring family and friends together by helping them plan and manage their cruise vacations.  The site features an “e-invite” electronic invitation tool that can be tailored family reunions, girlfriend getaways and other groups. 

John Heald’s Carnival blog has had attracted 3 million visitors.  Through his blog, Heald offers candid and colorful commentary on daily shipboard life, sharing interesting and often poignant tales of the guests and crewmembers he comes into contact with on a daily basis, all with his trademark brand of humor. This enormous amount of traffic creates good brand exposure for Carnival and with 25,000 comments it’s a proven customer-interaction tool.

In terms of videos and photos, Carnival as its own photo stream on Flickr, allowing customers to upload photos, and they also have their own channel on YouTube.  On their website they have created a virtual tour, FunShipIsland.com, with sharing options, personalization tools and downloadable content.
 
Carnival was also an early adopter of Twitter – exploiting it to monitor their brand image, listen to questions from customers, communicate promotions and share experiences

A pioneer in the on-line marketing arena, Carnival’s new Web-based initiatives are designed to provide a effective and innovative means for reaching out to consumers and travel agents.  Both FunShipIsland.com and CarnivalConnections.com continue to achieve unprecedented success, with each exceeding the one million visitor mark in 2008.

Southwest Airlines implemented a social media strategy three years ago and, like Carnival, they have taken a holistic approach, participating in numerous sites simultaneously.  They currently have a presence on popular sites: Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. 

Southwest produces new video content for YouTube on a weekly basis.  By creating new and unique content they are reaching out to a vast and growing audience of people who are watching online videos on a regular basis.  This strategy will also have a positive impact on their search engine rankings. 

Their blog “Nuts about Southwest” is a real success story.  A team of 30 employee bloggers regularly keep the site updated with new content and as a result they receive a massive 70,000 unique visitors each month.  “Nuts about Southwest” was also winner of the 2008 PR News Platinum PR award for blogs.  

As well as a loyal following of blog-readers, Southwest also have a huge following of 8,000 people on micro-blogging site, Twitter. Twitter allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. 

Finally, Southwest Airlines is a heavy user of LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network.  They currently have 3,000 active employees connecting their professional networks via this site. 

No other US airline has participated in such a multitude of social media sites in such a short space of time.  And it is obviously paying dividends for Southwest, not just in terms of brand awareness but also generating huge volumes of traffic.  Southwest continues to be one of the most successful airlines in the world posting a profit for 35 consecutive years -- something no other American carrier can boast.

“Our brand is suited to social media because it’s a natural progression of our 37 year commitment of having authentic relationships and conversations with our customers” said Jeremy Jameson, Corporate Strategist – Strategic Planning for Southwest Airlines. 

The majority of Southwest’s’ customers are online, and if recent statistics are to be believed then those people are inevitably interacting with social networks.  Customer service and transparency make up the DNA at Southwest; social media channels provide a compelling way to bring the brand promise to life.  Although Carnival is less dependant on online bookings, their online image presents a down-to-earth attitude with top management communicating directly with customers. 

Southwest and Carnival are both “fun” brands with loyal followings so are suitably poised to take advantage of the social media revolution.  They both have a mass appeal and a positive, less-than-corporate attitude. Most importantly they are both brands which consumers feel they can easily engage with, and want to engage with. 

Jeremy Jameson, Corporate Strategist – Strategic Planning for Southwest Airlines will be speaking at EyeforTravel’s Social Media Strategies for Travel Conference on March 10-11 in San Francisco (www.eyefortravel.com/social-media).  He will be joined on his session by Jeff Hanson, Regional Director of Marketing & eCommerce - Western Region, Marriott International, Juston Parker, President, Parker Hospitality Group and Kevin Fliess, CEO, TravelMuse. 

For more information on Social Media Strategies for Travel on March 10-11, 2009, in San Francisco, click here: www.eyefortravel.com/social-media

Contact:

Helen Raff
VP North America
EyeforTravel
+44 (0) 207 375 7582
helen@eyefortravel.com

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