TravelBizBuzz

Travel search company SideStep, Inc. is hot on the popularity of consumer-generated content in the travel industry, and it’s wasting no time to incorporate the idea into its assets.

SideStep announced Oct. 31 it completed the acquisition of TravelPost.com, “the largest independently owned site for hotel reviews and ratings,” according to a press release.

The deal couples TravelPost’s lodging content with SideStep.com’s access to online travel search information. The addition of TravelPost’s content, including nearly 500,000 reviews, photos and blogs, will create “an even more powerful online travel experience” for SideStep’s visitors, the release said.

TravelPost.com’s hotel reviews offer a filtering feature that allows travelers to segment reviews by age, gender, purpose of stay and travel budget. The reviews are then integrated with a travel blogging community where travelers can write about their experiences, post photos from their trips and keep track of where they’ve traveled on an interactive world map.

SideStep will integrate TravelPost.com’s travel planning content into site over the coming months.

Posted by TDR at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (599)

Singapore Airlines’ corporate customers now have a “complete payment and cost analysis solution,” thanks to a recent partnership between the carrier and AirPlus International.

AirPlus International, a global business travel payment solutions provider, will now offer Singapore Airline corporate customers the AirPlus Company Account, according to an Oct. 26 press release.

The account is an air travel payment, billing and reporting system that gives the airline’s corporate customers an option to pay for travel on Singapore Airlines and more than 200 other carriers, charge other travel expenses and help manage their company’s travel budgets.

Corporate customers will also gain access to the AirPlus Information Manager, which provides a complete analysis of all travel services. “With the information that is gained, companies will recognize cost-cutting opportunities and have the optimal basis for negotiations with airlines, hotels, car rental companies and other service providers,” AirPlus said.

Posted by TDR at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rail global distribution technology provider Wandrian is riding high on the growth of key international markets.

The company announced today that its North American operation experienced a 101-percent increase in overall sales through Q3 2006 over the same period in 2005. And that’s despite a fairly flat travel market growth, Wandrian told TRB.

The company also announced 85-percent growth in its UK operations and “has seen encouraging market penetration from newly-created Australian operations.”

Wandrian’s trade platform, RailAgent.com, has proved to be the company’s highest performing channel, having registered 8,000 new travel agents to book train tickets since the beginning of the year.

“With demand for international travel up by only 4 to 5 percent this year, we are thrilled to report that Wandrian has seen such a tremendous growth in its online and trade partnerships,” said Bernard Frelat, CEO of Wandrian. “These are exciting times for us; more and more business and leisure travelers want to travel by train.”

Posted by TDR at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

European hotel travel Web site HotelReservations.travel now has more exposure to travelers around the world, thanks to SynXis.

SynXis, a Sabre Holdings business that provides reservation management, distribution and technology services for hotels, announced Oct. 25 it has developed a direct connection to HotelReservations.travel using its Channel Connect interface.

Channel Connect integrates the RedX Distribution Management System directly to third party travel sites and custom-built booking engines. The Channel Connect interface also helps hotels better differentiate their products by providing information such as detailed stay policies and child pricing directly to retail points of sales, SynXis explained.

“Using SynXis’ Channel Connect means thousands of properties can now be distributed on our site with no extra set up costs, no extranet to manage, and reservations are delivered electronically instead of via fax,” said Danny Scholtens, Sales Manager of HotelReservations.travel.

Posted by TDR at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Posted by TDR at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amadeus is getting into the travel search game, promising to relieve suppliers of the screen-scraping burden.

The GDS launched Oct. 23 the Amadeus Meta Pricer, a solution designed to “increase quality, global air content for travel search engines,” according to a press release.

The problem: Travel search engines usually collect travel content from airline and online travel agency Web sites using a technique called “screen-scraping”. This strains airlines’ Web sites and internal systems, both in terms of performance and cost -- and does not always yield accurate results for the travel search engine, Amadeus explained.

As a solution, Amadeus Meta Pricer provides a better connection between airlines and travel search engines. How it works: The airline signals to Meta Pricer the fares it wants to make available to particular travel search engines. In turn, travel search engines use Amadeus Meta Pricer to retrieve the flight information from the registered airlines.

Posted by TDR at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (390)

LeisureLink condos, resorts and vacation rentals now have another way to make their properties more visible to the consumer.

Online hotel distributor and revenue management provider LeisureLink has joined Travelocity’s Net Rate Hotel Program, according to an Oct. 19 press release.

This means that LeisureLink’s properties will soon be featured in Travelocity’s hotel and packaging shopping engines.

“Travelocity has been a key distributor of our content since the founding of LeisureLink, and joining its net rate program will raise the visibility of vacation rental properties for the consumer and provide additional bookings for our clients,” said Steve Reich, senior VP of sales and marketing for LeisureLink.

At the same time, “This is yet another opportunity for us to provide our customers with richer content, wider availability, and more options,” Noreen Henry, vice president of hotels for Travelocity.

LeisureLink will use Travelocity’s automated, two-way CRS connectivity, which allows travelers booking a room on Travelocity to view current rates and room availability.

Posted by TDR at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Travel agencies and other corporate customers who subscribe to Worldspan won’t have to jump through hoops to get JetBlue’s pricing and content.

Worldspan announced Oct. 19 that JetBlue signed a new five-year full content distribution contract with the GDS, according to a press release.

Under the agreement, all of the carrier’s published fares and inventory, including published fares JetBlue offers through other distributors, its reservation offices and its Web site, will be available today through Worldspan’s multiple booking channels.

This means Worldspan’s travel agencies and corporate customers, including business travelers who book trips online using Worldspan Trip Manager XE, as well as travel buyers who purchase opaque flights or travel packages at Worldspan-connected travel Web sites, will have full access to JetBlue’s shopping, pricing and bookings.

“Worldspan offers a broad and valuable network for delivering JetBlue inventory directly to the travel buyer’s desktop,” said Noreen Courtney-Wilds, director of sales for JetBlue Airways. “Worldspan links us to those customers we are not reaching through other channels and ensures our customers have a state-of-the-art travel buying experience.”

Posted by TDR at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (80)

TripAdvisor is hoping that map functions will bump up its ability to please online travelers.

Expedia Inc.’s online travel community TripAdvisor announced Oct. 18 a new mashup (a Web site or application that combines content from more than one source) that combines hotel popularity, price and availability with a “dynamic mapping tool,” according to a press release.

For instance, consumers looking for an ideal spot between a theme park and the beach can go to the TripAdvisor pages covering Disney World and click on the “maps” link to see the most popular hotels that are close to the attraction. The consumers can then filter their results by room price and availability right from the map.

Ultimately, the mashup simplifies the travel planning process, “combining the power of customer options with the key ingredients: location, location, location,” said Christine Petersen, senior VP of marketing for TripAdvisor.

For now, TripAdvisor Maps covers U.S. hotels, but the company plans to add restaurants, attractions and international destinations in the coming months.

Posted by TDR at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Global travel and transport information company OAG is extending its hand toward leisure and unmanaged business travelers.

OAG announced Oct. 12 new online hotel ‘look and book’ service on its travel Web site, according to a press release.

“The new service is targeted at business and leisure consumers who need a quick and easy solution to finding and booking a hotel,” said Kathy Marr, VP of marketing and publishing for OAG Americas.

The OAG.com hotel booking engine offers major hotel brands worldwide at discounted rates. The site features full color hotel brochures and interactive mapping, and is available in multiple languages and currencies. World Choice Travel, a division of the Travelocity Partner Network, powers the reservation system.

Travelers may also take advantage of the site’s Best Rate Guarantee. For several properties, this gives anyone who finds a better online deal at the property the guarantee that OAG will match the rate, plus pay 10 percent of the difference in price.

“The addition of this simple ‘look and book’ service is complimentary to the subscription products we offer the corporate market for preparing complex and frequent trip plans with preferencing and full itinerary building capabilities,” Marr said.

Posted by TDR at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Smaller agencies now have an agency solution that’s geared specially towards their needs.

Amaedus introduced Oct. 16 its Agenta [basic pack] –- a new Web-based version of its Agenta agency solution –- that is aimed at helping start-up, cruise-only and home-based agencies to serve their consumers, according to a press release.

Available now in the U.S., Agenta [basic pack] is ideal for agencies that book less than 1,500 segments annually, Amadeus said. Agents need an Internet connection and a log-in from Amadeus to get started. They do not need GDS experience or travel industry certifications such as ARC or CLIA.

The solution offers a point-and-click approach for booking air, car, hotel, cruise and tour reservations. It also provides access to “top-tier commission levels” on all bookings and offers online training and support.

Posted by TDR at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another “Web 2.0” travel search engine has popped up, this time for the European market.

Momondo (www.momondo.com) is a Danish initiative that combines searches across hundreds of Web sites and returns relevant flight options using the Kapow Enterprise Mashup Platform, according to an Oct. 11 press release.

The search engine scans everything from low-cost carriers, well-known national airlines, online travel agencies and ticket databases.

This new Web service would not be “technically or economically feasible without Kapow Technologies,” claimed Thorvald Stigsen, Momondo CEO, because “it is the only solution Momondo could find” that would allow their technical team to interact with multiple Web sites in an automated fashion and deliver results to customers within 60 seconds.

Posted by TDR at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Along with big brand name online travel agencies (OTAs), well-branded suppliers are winning their fair share of online consumers’ attention. That's clear when you take a look at Parts I & II of Hitwise's September 2006 Web traffic report created exclusively for TRB.

The rankings reveal last month’s market share of visits, first in an overall category that pits OTAs against suppliers -- airlines, hotels, cruise lines and car rental companies -- and then separated out by travel Web site type for OTAs and each type of supplier.

Highlights of the report reveal that while OTAs Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz have a firm hold on their top tier positions, Southwest Airlines has pushed its way to the front of the pack. That carrier ranked third, with 7.67 percent of Web traffic market share (compared to Expedia in the number one spot with 13.21 percent share).

Other suppliers in the top ten include American Airlines , Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines.

Part I of the Hitwise report appears in the October 11, 2006 issue of Travel Distrbution Report (Vol. 14, No. 20). To read Parts I and II of this report, subscribe to TDR.

Posted by TDR at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FareCompare’s latest innovation is putting more power -- pricing information -- in the hands of consumers.

The airfare search engine’s new alert service will send an email straight to the consumer four hours before fares for his favorite city pair are published on airline and travel agency Web sites, the company said in an Oct 11 press release.

Until now, this information was only accessible to the airlines, the company boasted. “No other subscription service provides this information,” said Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com.

For example, on August 7, the lowest fare from Cleveland to Palm Springs was $360. On August 8, the lowest fare dropped to $109 for three hours and then went back up to $320 that same day. The key: FareCompare subscribers were alerted to the price decrease as soon as it happened.

Consumers can subscribe to low fare alerts from any airport and for a specific market. Alerts indicate the savings and rate it with two to four stars, a four-star rating indicating that the fare is at or near the historical lowest fare for that particular route.

Posted by TDR at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Travelers searching for vacation packages will be chatting with more than just their friends when Orbitz.com launches its beta test of “OrbitzTLC Live Chat.”

Orbitz today announced it will begin beta-testing its live instant message customer support, according to a press release.

How it works: OrbitzTLC Live Chat proactively messages customers who might need additional support when searching for or booking a vacation package on Orbitz.com. In its test phase, Orbitz customers who appear to be having difficulty booking a vacation product will be given the option to try the “live chat” service.

Some of the criteria that could generate an offer for OrbitzTLC Live Chat include: customers receiving some type of error message when searching for a vacation, a customer’s credit card information failing to process at the close of the vacation booking path or a customer’s experiencing longer than normal search session times.

OrbitzTLC Live Chat is being deployed in partnership with LivePerson, Inc, Orbitz said. LivePerson is a hosted online conversion solutions provider, including live chat, live call, e-mail and self-service knowledge database.

Posted by TDR at 04:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sabre Travel Network is encouraging its leisure travel agents to try out a new option for holiday bookings –- lastminute.com-owned holidayandmore.com.

In fact, the company is aiming to boost the number of British travel agents using the Web site by 10 to 20 percent, according to an Oct. 5 press release.

Holidayandmore.com will select appropriate air, hotel and car hire options for the traveler, based on the date and destination of travel and bundle these together for the agent to sell the traveler. In addition, travel providers negotiate opaque deals with holidayandmore.com, the result being that the bundled bookings are often cheaper than the combination of individual components booked separately.

Holidayandmore.com is using the Sabre system to access GDS content for most of its bookings, Sabre said. It sources flights using its own negotiated rates, those in the GDS and charter flight information.

The holidayandmore.com partnership is a good example of having “a presence in every channel of distribution” said Reet Wiseman, Sabre Travel Network’s UK VP. This allows Sabre to “negotiate the fullest possible range of fares and content,” and at the same time, the Web site allows travel agencies to easily package holiday travel, while “earning a nice commission and diversifying their revenue streams,” Wiseman added.

Posted by TDR at 03:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Car rental Web sites should turn their focus to customer support areas if they want to stay ahead of the game.

An annual competitive research study by Keynote Competitive Research that examined rental car Web sites, found that customer support areas are “the leading driver of consumer brand perceptions and one of the key drivers of rental likelihood,” according to an Oct. 4 press release.

On overall customer satisfaction and experience, examined across more than 250 metrics, Travelocity ranked number one. Travelocity specifically succeeded in overall price satisfaction and customer satisfaction with the rental car reservation search and booking processes on its site. In addition, the Budget Rent A Car site ranked number one in terms of customer support, reservation process satisfaction, and overall site design and organization.

The Keynote Customer Experience Rankings for Rental Car Web Sites examined the online experience of more than 2,000 prospective customers as they interacted with ten leading rental car sites (both suppliers and online travel agencies), including Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Expedia, Hertz, Orbitz, Thrifty and Travelocity.

Posted by TDR at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (274)

Travel agents subscribing to the Amadeus GDS no longer need to hold their breath over paying airline segment fees.

In a letter dated Oct. 4 to travel professionals from Amadeus executives, the GDS promised that it “will soon finalize a content access program for our US subscribers,” allowing Amadeus customers access to full content from participating carriers without being subject to airline segment surcharges.

The GDS explained that its airline negotiations are not yet complete, but as soon as it can, Amadeus will “provide specific details regarding this program and how it will pertain to your business.” For now, Amadeus agents will “continue to be protected from applicable airline segment surcharges,” the GDS promised.

Amadeus acknowledged in the letter that it wasn’t in the forefront with other GDSs “quick to announce opt-in programs,” but Amadeus explained that it wanted to monitor the “direction of the marketplace” regarding a charge for full content access without additional airline surcharge.

Amadeus now believes that the direction of the marketplace is “clear” in that adoption rates of competitive GDS opt-in programs have shown that the market is willing to accept program access fees to ensure a commitment to full content.

Posted by TDR at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

Air China customers in North America can now book airline tickets, hotel rooms, packages and in-destination activities at us.fly-airchina.com and ca.fly-airchina.com, thanks to Expedia WWTE.

Expedia announced Sept. 25 that its WWTE private label technology will power Air China Web sites, providing online booking services for Air China’s U.S. and Canadian markets.

“The U.S. and Canada are key markets for us,” said Chi Zhihang, general manager of Air China, Los Angeles office. “With Expedia’s WWTE technology, we are able to enhance our presence in these regions quickly by providing customers with a world-class shopping experience and the convenience of booking their entire trip on our site.”

The Expedia WWTE private-label service allows travel providers like Air China to use Expedia’s technology platform to provide a cost-effective and easily deployable booking platform, while maintaining the look and feel of their own brand.

WWTE is operated by Travelscape, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Expedia, Inc.

Posted by TDR at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (378)

Priceline.com users will once again be able to access Northwest Airline’s content.

After two years of opting out of the Priceline program, Northwest and Priceline.com finalized a distribution agreement covering Priceline.com’s published-price and opaque airline ticket services, according to an Oct. 3 press release.

Northwest was a participant in the Priceline program from 1999-2004, and the airline will resume its participation in priceline.com and lowestfare.com immediately.

“Priceline.com has developed a supplier-friendly distribution structure and offers marketing opportunities that meet our needs and allows us to broaden the online base of travelers we serve,” said Al Lenza, Northwest’s VP of distribution and e-commerce.

Posted by TDR at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Travelers in major airport locations across Canada now have access to a new collection of environmentally friendly cars, thanks to Hertz Canada.

The company announced Sept. 27 the launch of its new fuel-efficient cars, dubbed the “Green Collection,” according to a press release.

Travelers can reserve cars by make and model, with a highway fuel efficiency rating of 10.0 L/100 km or less, based on Natural Resources Canada’s annual fuel composition guide. The Green Collection features the Buick Allure, Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata and the Toyota Camry.

As of now, Hertz is “the only major car rental company to offer reservable vehicles that appeal to specific customer segments by offering a collection of fuel efficient cars for customers who want to save on gas and drive a car with environmental benefits while not sacrificing comfort or roominess,” commented John Samuelson, VP and general manager of Hertz Canada.

Posted by TDR at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)