Travel Industry News & Conferences - EyeforTravel - Distribution Strategies

Gauging The Pulse Of The Travel Industry – What’s Exciting? And What’s Not

kerryn — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:15:00 +0000

Précis:

IN-DEPTH: The travel industry is growing globally but the geographical and technological balances are shifting. The Internet continues to be ascendant and disruptive in its ability to change the way the travel industry operates.

By Ritesh Gupta

2011 was marked by several external challenges to tourism and the travel industry. But there is plenty to look forward to this year, be it for spotting the growth markets or even the way consumers are going about their travel planning and buying process.

Significantly, Asia’s travel market is growing steadily despite facing tougher market conditions and a global economic slowdown.

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Primary Event:

Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2012

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Travelocity leads in satisfaction among online travel aggregators: study

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:20:40 +0000

Précis:

A study in the US has indicated that customer satisfaction with online travel remains flat at 78, consistent with the category’s all-time high set last year.

According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s annual E-Commerce Update, produced in partnership with ForeSee, Travelocity (+3 percent to 79) overtakes Expedia (-3 percent to 77) for the top spot, which has led or held a share of the industry lead since 2000.

Orbitz (+1 percent) and Priceline (+4 percent) round out the category with scores of 76.

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UK Civil Aviation Authority helps travel industry to prepare for ATOL reform

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:08:04 +0000

Précis:

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is providing information to assist licenced travel organisers to prepare for changes to the way they sell holidays, following the Government’s decision to introduce reforms to the ATOL financial protection scheme.

Under new measures announced in the UK earlier this month, up to six million extra holidays each year will be fully protected against the failure of a travel company. The development emerged as Aviation Minister Theresa Villiers confirmed measures to strengthen and modernise the ATOL holiday protection scheme.

Changes

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“Travelodge is not going into administration”

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:55:02 +0000

Précis:

Travelodge will get financing from two New York-based hedge funds as the UK budget hotel chain owned by Dubai International Capital restructures debt. The company clarified that it is not going into administration.

The company shared the same in response to a news article that indicated that the company had six weeks to raise the money or it could face bankruptcy.

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Investing in mobile technology as a sales channel

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:36:05 +0000

Précis:

IN-DEPTH: Mobile is a great platform for last minute, on-the-go buying decisions. As a car rental company, Sixt is in the market for it, says the company’s commercial director, Per Voegerl. In an interview with EyeforTravel, Voegerl lists his dos and don’ts in Ancillary Services Selling via mobile phones and tablets.

By Ritesh Gupta

Travel companies acknowledge that while branding is a great benefit to mobile apps, companies that focus on this aspect exclusively are going to miss the opportunity that’s going to come from millions more users willing to search and book on their phones.

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Letting agents book ancillary products in less than a minute

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:44:16 +0000

Précis:

Travel add-ons company Holiday Extras has announced developments to the technology powering its websites. The company says its partners and the travel trade will now benefit from a speedier booking process and a wider range of products.

According to the company, complex add-ons such as hotel transfers or currency cards; natural catastrophe cover and insurance as an add-on; meet and greet parking as an upgrade; text flight and journey alerts or confirmations as an add-on; and airport lounges as an add-on are all now quickly and easily bookable through Holiday Extras.

The company acknowledged that agents can find booking add-ons time-consuming and confusing.

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New deal distribution system launched

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:53:14 +0000

Précis:

TripAlertz Travel Solutions has introduced what is being described as the first-ever Deal Distribution System (DDS).

According to Mark Donohue, chairman and CEO of TripAlertz Travel Solutions, the system has been designed to `aggregate the aggregators’, which allows hoteliers to move large volumes of unsold inventory to an international network of private member websites.

“In most situations, hotels can avoid GDS fees and even credit card fees, which can greatly improve yield,” said Donohue.

The system is expected to reach more than 30 million weekly customers in various markets by the end of 2012.

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United Continental, Orbitz sign deal

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:21:12 +0000

Précis:

Online travel company Orbitz Worldwide has signed a multi-year deal with United Continental. As per the agreement, the holding company for both United Airlines and Continental Airlines will sell United and Continental flights on the Orbitz.com, CheapTickets.com and Orbitz for Business online travel sites.

The agreement will give Orbitz.com, CheapTickets.com and OrbitzforBusiness.com customers access to all United and Continental fares, schedules and inventory.

The companies will also work together on merchandising and promotional programmes designed to maximise exposure for products, services and revenue sources.

Southwest, Egencia sign deal

In another development, Egencia reached an agreement with Southwest Airlines that will provide Egencia corporate clients with improved access to the carrier’s content and functionality.

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Primary Event:

Travel Distribution Summit North America 2012

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Holiday Extras’ partnership sales go up

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:10:16 +0000

Précis:

Travel add-ons company Holiday Extras says it has witnessed huge growth in the number of bookings last month made through some of its long-term partners.

Holiday Extras, a specialist in pre-booked airport hotels and airport parking, shared that one of the best performing partners was luxury tour operator Page and Moy, where sales boomed by 227 percent year on year. Positive results have also come from travel and leisure retailer lastminute.com, who have increased partner sales by 44 percent. Bookings through British Airways have risen by 14 percent in January; and sales through budget airline Flybe have grown by 60 percent on last year’s figures.

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Wyndham Vacation Rentals unveils redesigned website

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:58:04 +0000

Précis:

Wyndham Vacation Rentals has unveiled its redesigned website to help visitors better navigate its collection of more than 95,000 vacation rental properties.

The new website streamlines the search and booking process, said Geoff Ballotti, president and chief executive officer, Wyndham Exchange & Rentals.

The vacation rentals provider believes that the new website is better equipped to make it easier to book a vacation rental. Visitors can now utilise new search tools to quickly find properties of interest, as well as view enhanced features, amenities and additional property details.

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Global Hotel Exchange promises industry-defining new features

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:48:47 +0000

Précis:

Global Hotel Exchange (GHX), a new worldwide trading platform going live in March across Internet, mobile and social networks, is gearing up to premier a “set of industry-defining new features”.

GHX, which is wholly owned by Global Hotel Exchange LLC with corporate offices in London and the US, is planning consumer-centric features that will “eliminate pre-travel credit card blocking, prepaid room fees and inflexible cancelation policies”.

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“We view meta-search as a complementary product”: Expedia

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:50:38 +0000

Précis:

Online travel company Expedia considers meta-search to be a complementary product to its offering.

When asked about whether the company is thinking about meta-search as a friend or foe (as Expedia discussed its Q4 2011 results, earnings call transcript available on seekingalpha.com), Expedia’s president and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company’s meta-search partners have been big partners for a long period of time.

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US room night volume remains quite healthy: Khosrowshahi

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:17:48 +0000

Précis:

Expedia’s president and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said that the online travel company’s US room night volume remains quite healthy. Responding to a query regarding any changes in market share in any of the larger US metropolitan areas where it seems Booking.com has been getting access to more inventory, Khosrowshahi said the company hasn’t “seen any change in the growth”.

“So to the extent that Booking.com is taking share, they’re either taking share from supplier direct or offline or some of the other players. We’re certainly not feeling it. We take them very, very seriously. They’re a major, major competitor of ours, not only here in the US but worldwide,” Khosrowshahi said, as he discussed the company’s Q4 2011 results (earnings call transcript available on seekingalpha.com).

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ATOL scheme updated in the UK, more holidays to be protected

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:05:00 +0000

Précis:

Up to six million extra holidays each year will be fully protected against the failure of a travel company under new measures announced in the UK.

The development emerged as Aviation Minister Theresa Villiers confirmed measures to strengthen and modernise the ATOL holiday protection scheme. An estimated 37.2 million people fly abroad on leisure trips each year. In the year to 31 March 2011, there were 18.5m ATOL protected holidays and flights, and over 190,000 holidaymakers were repatriated or received full refunds when their ATOL tour operator went bust.

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Thomas Cook initiates sale process for its shareholding in India unit

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:26:36 +0000

Précis:

Thomas Cook Group has decided to launch a formal sale process for its 77.1 percent shareholding in Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL).

TCIL is the largest integrated foreign exchange and travel services company in India.

The group stated that it has received a number of unsolicited informal expressions of interest from third parties to acquire its stake in TCIL and, as a result, has decided to formalise the process.

TCIL’s services include foreign exchange, outbound and inbound leisure travel, corporate travel and insurance. TCIL is listed on the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges of India. TCIL operates in 70 Indian cities across 153 owned locations.

Primary Event:

Travel Distribution Summit India 2012

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Is innovation really happening in the travel planning arena?

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:33:35 +0000

Précis:

IN-DEPTH: John T. Peters, SVP/GM Digital Strategy & Business Develpment, Rand McNally believes the price-driven, commodity travel space is about to go through it’s most dramatic change since the introduction of the Internet

By Ritesh Gupta

The travel industry believes that consumers are starting to welcome change and freshness in the intermediary arena.

There is trust associated with the larger OTA brands, but it seems that while they still control the lion’s share of secondary market inventory, they’ve grown complacent in new feature enhancements.

A section of the industry believes this is, and will always be, the door opener for new ventures looking at the space keenly.

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Air Canada adopts all-inclusive pricing approach to advertising

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:15:26 +0000

Précis:

Air Canada has chosen to adopt a new all-inclusive price display for its aircanada.com website, webSaver emails, online third party advertisements and print advertising.

The airline says this move will make it easier for customers to shop, compare and determine the final cost of air travel.

Air Canada will prominently display a final price accompanied by a breakdown of the base fare plus the total cost of additional charges. Air Canada’s all-in pricing now includes the fare, taxes, fees, charges and surcharges at a glance.

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MAS finalises organisation structure for short haul operations

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:38:45 +0000

Précis:

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has finalised the organisation structure of its new unit to manage the short haul airline operations.

The new airline will be led by Mohammed Rashdan Yusof as CEO, Short Haul while overall operations will be managed by Ignatius Ong Ming Choy as COO, Short Haul.

The new airline will operate the entire narrow-body fleet and short haul routes of Malaysia Airlines, as well as the Firefly ATR turboprop business. The working target is to have the short haul operation launched by second quarter 2012.

The airline’s operations will be divided into three core functional areas, namely Commercial, Operations and Support Services.

Primary Event:

Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2012

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Assessing how the face of rail distribution is going to evolve in 2012

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:17:31 +0000

Précis:

IN-DEPTH: If rail is to become truly international, the technology that facilitates and standardises the search, booking and fulfillment process will need to have the kind of reach that a global distribution system can provide, says Thomas Drexler, director of Rail, Amadeus.

Also, as the industry recognises the need to become more customer-centric, rail companies will have to ensure that travellers can book their rail journey via the channel of their choice.

By Ritesh Gupta

Late last year apan-European rail passenger survey highlighted that the opportunity for rail is clear as 77 percent of those surveyed would choose to catch an international high speed train instead of taking another means of transport, if the cost is competitive.

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Thomson.co.uk enjoys busiest January ever

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:08:38 +0000

Précis:

Thomson.co.uk reported its biggest ever January with page views up 11 percent year on year.

It seems that British consumers are keener than ever to get away this year, said Nick Longman, distribution and online director for Thomson.

“While customers are of course looking for value, quality is more important to them as they want to ensure that their hard earned cash is spent on a holiday that will wow them,” said Longman. “We are also seeing a multi-channel trend across retail and online, customers are coming into our shops having already researched their holidays through our website or on TripAdvisor.”

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72pc of consumers prefer to research holidays online: study

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:33:47 +0000

Précis:

A study has indicated that around three quarters of consumers (72 percent) prefer to research for holidays online, whilst 53 percent of consumers said that they avoided in-store travel agents altogether when researching and booking their holidays.

According to the latest eCustomerServiceIndex results from eDigitalResearch and IMRG, 72 percent of the 2,000 consumers surveyed said that brand reputation was either ‘very important’ or ‘quite important’ when considering their next holiday. Mobiles are also playing a bigger role for holidaymakers. 68 percent of smartphone owners already use their device when travelling or planning to travel.

Primary Event:

Online Marketing Strategies for Travel 2012: The Americas & Caribbean

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Webjet strongly outperforms travel market

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:29:50 +0000

Précis:

Online travel company Webjet has stated that it “strongly” outperformed travel market as it announced net profit after tax, for the six months to 31 December 2011, of $5.9 million, an increase of 17 percent on the previous year.

The company said it has massively outperformed the general travel market in core operations of Australia and New Zealand by a factor of at least four times.

According to Webjet, total transaction value (TTV) of $369 million represents a growth of approximately 29 percent on last year. Its TTV is up $84 million, or 29 percent.

Hotel TTV has increased on an annualised rate by over 100 percent in the last six months to $25 million.

Primary Event:

Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2012

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“Travel agents must lift the lid on private jet hire”

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:57:31 +0000

Précis:

Private jet booking platform PrivateFly.com has listed its top five tips for obtaining the most cost-effective private jet hire and reveals how the cost of chartering a private jet is actually calculated.

The company mentioned that safety and service levels are still primary considerations for the private jet customer, but in the current economic climate, price is becoming more and more important. With the global financial downturn squeezing every travel sector, travel agents are under increased pressure to secure the best price and deliver greater transparency - even for luxury and business travellers, highlighted the company.

Primary Event:

Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2012

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CheapAir’s flight results to feature onboard amenities

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:05:44 +0000

Précis:

CheapAir.com had added new tools to its travel deal website in order to share information pertaining to in-flight technology features like personal video monitors or Internet access. CheapAir.com says it is the first online travel agency in the US to offer these listings of in-flight technology features.

The agency says its focus is on letting consumers quickly and easily compare not just the various prices of each flight but also the in-flight amenities.

Travellers can now see icons next to each flight indicating if the plane has Wi-Fi, live TV, personal video monitors and other attractive onboard perks.

This tool was designed to help travellers choose the flight that not only fits their budget but also their needs and wants, streamlining the decision-making process and enabling users to enjoy the trip.

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Carving niche as a social platform and an aggregator of home rentals

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:49:41 +0000

Précis:

IN-DEPTH: There are a finite number of hotel rooms in any given city yet there are exponentially more properties - apartments, homes and even spare bedrooms - that could be rented to travellers through peer-to-peer sites.

The market for these properties is only going to expand as travellers realise that this is a viable, cost-effective and fun way to see the world, says Jen O’Neal, co-founder and CEO of Tripping.

By Ritesh Gupta

Awareness, trust and process are considered to be the main challenges when it comes to vacation and short-term rental sites in the online accommodation category.

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Primary Event:

Online Marketing Strategies for Travel 2012: The Americas & Caribbean

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Kayak processes over 100m search queries in January

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:03:50 +0000

Précis:

Travel search engine Kayak processed over 100 million user requests for travel information in January.

Sharing information about the milestone, the company said these search queries encompass flight, hotel, car and other travel searches performed on Kayak’s site and mobile apps.

The site also added, “Oh, and one more expression of gratitude for making us the #1 travel app (we also surpassed 12 million downloads in January).”

Primary Event:

Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2012

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New approach needed to address the payment issues: report

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:53:56 +0000

Précis:

A study in the UK has indicated that a new approach is required to address the payment issues facing the travel industry. This is particularly the case with credit card surcharges, difficulties reconciling transactions when working outside of global distribution systems and the high costs for inbound and outbound payments, according to Ixaris’ report.

The report, Travel Industry Payments Barometer, shared that organisations have not adapted their systems and processes quickly enough to meet the needs of today’s modern travel industry.

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Jeff Edwards to head Amadeus’ hotel division

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:23:00 +0000

Précis:

Amadeus has chosen Jeff Edwards, formerly chief information officer and EVP Distribution of Wyndham Worldwide, to lead its hotel division.

Edwards officially joined Amadeus on 1 February 2012 and will be based in Madrid, Spain.

With the addition of Edwards to the newly created New Business division in Amadeus, the company has made three appointments – Thomas Drexler for Rail, John Jarrell for Airport IT and Jeff Edwards for Hotels.

The company expects that this team will contribute to the company’s effort in diversifying the business.

Experience

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Making travel agencies more interested in selling optional services

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:48:40 +0000

Précis:

A global airline merchandising survey has found that travel agencies would be more interested in selling optional services if the process was more efficient.

The survey, initiated by Travelport, highlights the challenges travel agents face in the selling of these services, amid their own pressures to grow revenues, reduce costs and increase productivity. Even as it shows strong support amongst travel agencies to assist airlines in selling ancillary services through the GDS, survey respondents indicated that booking optional services currently required approximately 29 percent more time.

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Primary Event:

Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2012

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“Vacation rentals are the long tail of the lodging market”

kerryn — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:54:20 +0000

Précis:

IN-DEPTH: The core vacation rental market tends to attract the group and family market with the largest markets comprised in the US and large EU countries. However, the shared space market attracts a younger and international audience, says TJ Mahony, CEO & Co-Founder, FlipKey.com.

By Ritesh Gupta

FlipKey, which currently has more than 120,000 vacation rental properties around the world, believes its inventory, verification processes, and easy-to-use website make it simple and safe to find the perfect vacation rental.

The category continues to gain acceptance worldwide but it still grappling with numerous challenges.

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