TravelBizBuzz

A little more than 30 days remain until the .travel Place Name Priority Rights expires, creating a growing demand for .travel domain names.

In response to this demand, Tralliance Corporation, the .travel Registry, has established a hotline for potential registrants to speed up their domain name application process, according to a Nov. 28 press release.

Those wanting to apply for .travel domain place names, which include cities, states and landmarks, can call 001-954-769-5999 or e-mail PlaceNames@travel.travel to expedite the application process, Tralliance said.

Tralliance was able to extend the Place Name Priority Rights through December 31, 2006, “to encourage nations of the world to protect their natural, historical and cultural tourism assets by registering the .travel domain names of cities, towns, heritage sites, sacred sites, national parks and other landmarks.”

Posted by TDR at 03:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Inspired by the success of KLM’s subsidiary Transavia.com in the Netherlands, the Air France KLM Group will be exploring a new market segment in France.

The Air France and Transavia.com board of directors have approved the launch of “a new French carrier on the international medium-haul leisure market,” according to a Nov. 27 press release.

The new airline’s management will be separate from Air France’s, but the commercial brand will remain Transavia.com. By summer 2007, the new airline aims to serve nine Mediterranean destinations with 67 weekly flights out of France’s Orly airport, including destinations in Morocco, Tunisia, Spain, Italy and Egypt.

The fleet will start out with four Boeing 737-800s, with plans to add five more crafts in the next three years.

“The new airline will use the operational skills and tools specific to transavia.com in the Netherlands, whose original, well-balanced model offering a mixture of scheduled flights to leisure destinations with charter flights is a proven success,” said Onno van den Brinck, president and CEO of transavia.com in the Netherlands.

Posted by TDR at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (267)

The German corporate travel market will soon have a taste of Expedia. That’s because Expedia Corporate Travel (ECT) plans to acquire MTM Reisen, a corporate travel provider that serves the German market.

ECT announced Nov. 15 its agreement with MTM Reisen, which marks ECT’s fourth European acquisition, following the launch of offices in the UK, France and Belgium.

ECT plans to continue expanding in the European market, but notes the importance of knowing that market well. “MTM Reisen’s local market knowledge and service expertise combined with Expedia’s award-winning technology will enable us to better serve travelers in a country that represents one of the largest corporate travel markets in Europe,” said Jean-Pierre Remy, ECT president.

Headquartered in Munich, Germany, MTM Reisen has both German and international clients. Under the terms of the acquisition ECT expects the majority of MTM Reisen’s employees to join Expedia Corporate Travel Germany, including company founder Helmut Rainalter, the release explained.

Neither company disclosed the terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in December.

Posted by TDR at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (280)

One low-cost carrier has decided to put some heavy marketing weight on an online travel agency heavyweight.

AirTran Airways and Expedia announced today they inked a new four-year strategic partnership, through which AirTran’s full range of products and services, including all fares, schedules and inventory, will be marketed through Expedia.com, according to a press release.

AirTran will benefit from “the broad reach and targeted merchandising opportunities Expedia provides,” said the companies. At the same time, Expedia customers gain greater access to AirTran’s content.

Delivering the LCC’s unique services, such as XM Satellite radio and business class on every flight “hinges on our ability to efficiently distribute our product,” said Kevin Healy, VP of planning for AirTran. “By leveraging the broad customer reach and travel expertise of Expedia, AirTran will be able to offer the quality low-fare air service that our customers have come to expect as we continue to expand our route network to new cities across the U.S.”

Posted by TDR at 01:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (359)

Spectators are still waiting in earnest to see what Delta Air Lines will say after U.S. Airway’s bold proposal to merge with the carrier early Wednesday morning.

“We received a letter from U.S. Airways this morning and will of course review it,” acknowledged Delta Airlines CEO Gerald Grinstein on Nov. 15. But the carrier seems hesitant to jump at the offer as its plan “has always been to emerge from bankruptcy in the first half of 2007 as a strong, stand-alone carrier,” Grinstein said.

However, Delta has not yet made public a definite “no” –- and perhaps for some reason. According to the U.S. Airways proposal, pairing up with Delta “would create one of the world’s largest airlines.” The “New” Delta would be the number one trans-Atlantic airline and second largest airline in the Caribbean. In addition, the carrier would still operate under the Delta name and would be “uniquely positioned to compete with low cost and legacy carriers.”

In a letter to Grinstein, U.S. Airways proposes that “Delta prepetition unsecured creditors would receive $4.0 billion in cash plus $78.5 million shares of U.S. Airways common stock.” The equity component represents a value of approximately $4.0 billion based on the closing price of U.S. Airways’ common stock on Nov. 14. “As a result of this transaction, immediately following the merger, Delta unsecured creditors would own approximately 45 percent of the combined company,” the letter stated.

Posted by TDR at 06:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BCD Travel has gone an ambitious route in attempting to get more inventory at its fingertips.

BCD has chosen Farelogix’s FLX Platform “to better optimize the many supplier and distribution services available in the travel market from a content, functionality, and financial point of view,” according to a Nov. 13 press release.

The key benefit to BCD’s deal with Farelogix is that its travel agents can use the platform to source travel inventory from many channels, including supplier-direct connections, GDSs as well as private and Internet fare sources.

The FLX Platform will also help BCD Travel centralize its data sources, faring and shopping, as well as its travel policy. BCD Travel agents may “source travel content against an infinite number of flexible, rules-based criteria,” including lowest cost to the supplier (competitive booking source) and best content source according to supplier (i.e. Web site), Farelogix said.

BCD Travel will also have the ability to manage contractual commitments made to its customers, the GDSs and suppliers. For example, the TMC can set rules to ensure the appropriate GDS bookings are met, or that a minimum number of bookings per month are made via a particular source of content.

Posted by TDR at 05:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Expedia, Inc. has teamed up with NYTimes.com to grab travelers surfing the “#1 newspaper Web site in the U.S.”

That’s according to an announcement Expedia made yesterday, describing an exclusive relationship in which the online travel company will serve as the booking engine for NYTimes.com Travel.

“Visitors to NYTimes.com Travel will now have access to Expedia’s latest technology and deep travel content, as well as the widest selection of vacation packages, flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises and in-destination activities, attractions and services,” stated the company.

Posted by TDR at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (588)

Agents and their travelers looking for luxury spa resorts in Europe now have a new one-stop online shop.

Ex-managing director of TUI-owned Something Special Holiday Group, David Oldland, has launched Specific Spas, an online travel service specializing in luxury spa hotel experiences throughout Europe, according to a press release.

The Web site includes five-star spa hotels such as the Choupana Hills Resort in Madeira, the Hotel Cipriani in Venice and the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz in Gozo Each hotel gets seven pages to list a summary, hotel information, spa information, local area information, rates, terms and conditions, and a slide show.

The user may select the spa hotel, the room or suite type and pre-book the spa treatments. An instant quote is e-mailed to the user for reference. Specific Spas also supplies details of flights to its destinations, including links to airlineWeb sites.

“Spas have become an important part of a luxury hotel short break or holiday market but, in the past, it hasn’t always been easy to find out detailed information on the spa facilities available,” Specific Spas managing director Oldland said.

Agency commission from Specific Spas starts from 7 percent.

Posted by TDR at 06:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

As online travel booking revenue is estimated to reach $70 billion in 2006 (Jupiter Research), hoteliers want to make sure their online marketing investments are on target.

That’s why Pegasus Solutions has stepped in and launched Web Analytics Service to help hotel marketing and Internet managers get the right data “to improve site conversion and segment their most valuable customers for repeat business,” Pegasus said in a Nov. 8 release.

Even though 66 percent of consumers have abandoned purchases while visiting a hotel Web site, Jupiter Research has shown 71 percent of sites do not analyze customer drop-out rates, noted Mike Kistner, Pegasus Solutions COO and president of Reservation and Distribution Services. “Without understanding where you’re losing customers in the shopping and booking process, you can’t be completely accountable for every dollar of your online marketing spend.”

Through a relationship with DDSA Partners, the Web Analytics service will help hoteliers understand online consumers and track online revenue from its originating source through the reservation conversion process.

To show hotels their exact revenue sources, the solution analyzes Web activity integrated with revenue data that comes directly from the NetBooker Internet booking engine.

Posted by TDR at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Suppliers wishing to differentiate themselves over more than just price on a travel search engine may now do so.

PriceGrabber.com, an online comparison shopping provider, released Nov. 7 an enhanced travel search engine that includes “an integrated display of amenity information, such as legroom and onboard entertainment,” according to a press release.

This new feature, along with added discussion forums and hotel reviews “will help travelers make the best decision when comparing airfare and hotel rates from PriceGrabber Travel’s more than 50 online partners,” PriceGrabber said.

“There is more to choosing a flight than price and schedule, but people don’t often have easy access to additional information,” said Brett Snyder, business director of PriceGrabber Travel. “For example, people traveling from Philadelphia to Paris in economy class may want to know that of the two airlines flying nonstop, one offers more legroom along with better entertainment selections via audio/video on demand.”

PriceGrabber.com claims to be the first to respond to that need by integrating amenity information into the flight search process directly. The Web site displays the information in an “easy-to-read stoplight format” that shows green for above average, yellow for average and red for below average.

Posted by TDR at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Suppliers aren’t the only ones these days offering travelers a points and rewards system.

Online travel agency Expedia announced Nov. 7 a new rewards program in which customers can earn “ThankYou” points and rewards for eligible travel they book on Expedia.com.

Expedia.com and financial services company Citigroup formed a strategic relationship to expand ThankYou Network, a free rewards program founded by Citigroup that lets members earn points from a network of places -- now including Expedia.com -- and pool these points into one ThankYou Member Account.

Expedia’s goal was to launch a rewards program for its customers that complemented the frequent traveler programs of its supply partners, according to a Nov. 7 press release. Expedia travelers can earn ThankYou Points on top of points or miles they would already be earning from an airlines’ frequent flyer or hotels’ frequent guest programs.

As an added perk for air travel, Expedia notes ThankYou Network’s travel booking tool eliminates limitations such as blackout dates, minimum point requirements, advance purchase rules and limited seat availability or airline choices.

Expedia.com is powering the redemption of travel rewards on ThankYou Network’s website, www.thankyounetwork.com.

Posted by TDR at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There’s no doubt about it: The India market is hot — especially online.

In fact, “a unique blend of forces” is spurring online channel growth, which promises to quadruple within two years, says travel research firm PhoCusWright in a September report titled The Emerging Online Travel Marketplace in India. And various players in the industry — both suppliers and agencies — are taking aim at grabbing a piece of this pie.

Right now the largest online channel is supplier Web sites, which snagged 61 percent market share in 2005, according to PhoCusWright. That's compared to traditional travel agencies (via suppliers) which grabbed 32 percent and online travel agencies (OTAs) with 7 percent. However, by 2008, OTAs will take 25 percent market share. Supplier sites will grow to 65 percent, and traditional agencies will shrink to 10 percent.

The most recent issue of Travel Distribution Report offers subscribers even more key details from the PhoCusWright report, which highlight just where the Indian online marketplace will grow and compare 2005 booking numbers with 2008 projections.

For further information on the report, The Emerging Online
Travel Marketplace in India, visit http://store.phocuswright.com/emontrmainin.html.

Posted by TDR at 03:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hotel suppliers in the GenaRes system will soon see a speedier content distribution in a “standards-based XML interface,” Worldspan claims.

Dallas-based hotel representation company, GenaRes Worldwide Reservation Services Ltd., will implement Worldspan XML Pro for Suppliers hotel content product, Worldspan announced in a Nov. 6 press release.

The product, a component of the Worldspan Wired suite of messaging products, is a data exchange solution for direct connections between hotel suppliers and a GDS.

Worldspan dubs the new product “the first end-to-end XML solution for hotels,” and boasts that it has expanded the solution to create new e-commerce distribution opportunities for hotels and other travel suppliers using XML-based specifications from the Open Travel Alliance (OTA), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and the latest data transfer standards.

“GenaRes can now electronically build and update properties in Worldspan with unprecedented speed and efficiency,” said Ursula Rhode, executive VP for GenaRes. “We anticipate our operating and system maintenance costs will decrease significantly through the ability to exchange a broad range of structured data with the Worldspan GDS using this advanced messaging technology.”

Posted by TDR at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amtrak will be improving its global access for agents booking US rail tickets, thanks to a direct connection with RailAgent.com.

The Web-based booking system, RailAgent, developed by global rail travel distributor and technology company Wandrian, will directly connect travel agents to Amtrak’s own reservation system, Wandrian explained in a Nov. 6 press release.

The system, which will become operational at the beginning of 2007, will allow international travel professionals to book tickets and passes in real time, print ticket information and receive higher commissions.

“We anticipate that this system will increase sales by reaching numerous Wandrian retail and business-to-business customers in over 40 countries, including the U.K., Australia, Japan, Germany and Canada,” noted Barbara Richardson, Amtrak’s VP of marketing and sales.

Posted by TDR at 05:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A better customer experience on an airline Web site could be all it takes to bump up a direct distribution channel.

At least that’s what Virgin Atlantic Airways is hoping. The carrier has inked a 5-year partnership with travel distribution software provider Datalex to spearhead its mission to improve shopping features on its site, according to a Nov. 3 press release.

Virginatlantic.com is now using the Datalex Travel Distribution Platform (TDP) to “revolutionize the way it sells online,” Datalex said.

For example, the TDP availability management system drives better response times to the consumer. In fact, already “consumer response has been very positive,” said Simon Fox, director of information technology for Virgin Atlantic.

The solution also offers opportunities for distribution cost savings “which were previously unattainable,” says the carrier. Users may now shop preferred flights using low fare shopping functions, upgrade their cabin choices for each flight and shop for available 'Flying Club' redemption fares or the cheapest flights via a calendar display.

Posted by TDR at 02:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Travel search engine FareCompare is now tracking airfare fluctuations specific to its users’ preferences.

FareCompare today released FareFirst, an airfare tracking tool for the Firefox Web browser that automatically notifies consumers as soon as fares change in markets of interest, according to the company’s press release.

Consumers can track fares for specific airlines or track fares below a certain price. When a new fare emerges that matches the specified airline or price, the extension automatically provides an audio and visual alert in a separate window.

Firefox users see fares in a separate window no matter what application they have running on their computers.

“The real beauty of FareFirst is that it runs automatically,” commented Rick Seaney, FareCompare CEO. “The extension alerts Firefox users three times a day as soon as new fares are published.”

Posted by TDR at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Online group travel company Groople is giving consumers more customization and more say in the travel planning process.

Groople’s newly redesigned Web site, announced Oct. 30, simplifies group travel planning by offering travel products for specific group types, trip ideas and even a place for group members to discuss their selections online, the company said in a press release.

The new site will offer customized results, such as hotel searches tailored to the group’s needs. Travelers also have the option for “group collaboration,” which means that group members may collaborate, vote and review their group leader’s top picks for upcoming travel.

In addition, each group receives a personalized Web page with hotel options, amenities and destination information. The group leader has the option to reserve a block of rooms for everyone and allow each member to pay individually.

Groople has also created more than 60 new group event and destination pages that offer recommendations and planning tips.

Posted by TDR at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)