http://www.travolution.co.ukThe latest information from Travolution601128022802http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/12/3328/mobile-internet-users-not-accessing-travel-sites.htmlCCPFri, 12 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00 The majority of travellers are not using mobile devices to visit travel related mobile sites according to the latest PhoCuswright Consumer Technology Survey. The study shows texting is still the most popular service for mobile phone users with 57% reporting they have sent or received texts on a device in 2009 while only 31% say they have used their mobile to access the internet. Despite this the volume of consumers making a travel purchase or reservation increased to nine per cent in 2009, up from six per cent in 2008. Of the nine per cent making a travel reservation, 87% used it for a flight while 73% used it for a car reservation. When it came to online travellers, maps and flight alerts were the most desired mobile activity according to the report with 29% of travellers interested in using their mobile as a boarding pass. After text messaging, taking photographs was the second most popular activity for consumers on mobile devices. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/12/3324/europe-hotel-prices-drop-7.htmlCCPFri, 12 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -00:00The average price of hotels in Europe was £93 during the period from February to March 2010 - a 7% drop on the same time last year.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/12/3323/one-in-five-want-to-pay-for-travel-on-mobile.htmlCCPFri, 12 Mar 2010 09:00:00 -00:00 One in five consumers would like to use their mobile to make travel payments, according to a survey of nearly 2,000 consumers around the world. The survey by mobile media company BuzzCity revealed that 90% of mobile users had used their phone to purchase products or services. Most of this was related to the mobile phone, such as top-up credit or subscriptions. However, a total of 23% of respondents had bought from online stores, paid a bill, bought prepaid utilities and make bookings for hotels, events or travel through their mobile. There should be more partnerships between banks, carriers and travel operators to increase the number of products available to book using mobile phone, the company said. BuzzCity chief executive KF Lai said: "There are clear opportunities for mobile transactions to grow as users indicate that they want to be able to use their mobiles to buy more goods, such as books, music and travel services."  > http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/12/3325/tripwire-raises-concerns-over-payment-card-security.htmlCCPFri, 12 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Research has found a majority of companies in the hospitality and leisure industry in the UK are not compliant with new rules on credit card payment security.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/12/3326/tripit-to-focus-on-partnerships-and-product.htmlCCPFri, 12 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Tripit will focus on further partnerships and product development after it secured $7 million in funding last week. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/12/3327/exclusive-expedias-breakwell-resurfaces-at-thomas-cook.htmlCCPFri, 12 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Simon Breakwell, former EMEA vice president for Expedia, is currently advising Thomas Cook on its plans to become a major European online travel agent.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/12/3322/leonardo-hotels-to-pioneer-travelclick-marketing-tool.htmlCCPFri, 12 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Leonardo Hotels has become the first major European hotel chain to sign up for TravelClick’s new pricing and marketing tool Hotelligence360.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/11/3319/qwerty-travel-launches-new-website.htmlCCPThu, 11 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00 Qwerty Travel has launched a website aimed at consumers who are still apprehensive about booking online. The site, Travelwasp.com, offers dynamically packaged, air-inclusive holidays and is bonded under the Travel Trust Association’s Atol. It claims to offer a simple “three click to purchase” process. Managing director Matthew Somers said: “We wanted to strip back and simplify the holiday booking process. “There are lots of sites out there with lots of different search options and gizmos, but we wanted to make Travelwasp totally idiot-proof as we believe there are people out there who are still apprehensive about buying travel online. This is a means of appealing to them.” Somers bought the Qwerty Travel agency from previous owner Youtravel.com 18 months ago. In the year ending October 2009, it made a net profit of £267,000 on a turnover of more than £13 million. He hopes to grow the business by at least 50% this year. “Thishttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/11/3321/win-an-ipad-in-our-good-gadget-bad-gadget-competition.htmlCCPThu, 11 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Be one of the first to get your hands on the new Apple iPad, courtesy of Traveltek and Travolutionhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/10/3315/europcar-launches-microsoft-surface-planner.htmlCCPWed, 10 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Europcar is enabling customers to plan their journeys using Microsoft Surface tables following a tie-up with Fortune Cookie. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/10/3316/new-trade-bedbank-launched-by-holiday2travel.htmlCCPWed, 10 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00The Holiday2 Travel Group has launched a new trade-facing bedbank website, searchaccom.com, supplying apartments, villas and hotels worldwide. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/10/3317/travelport-launches-opinions-agent-networking-in-the.htmlCCPWed, 10 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Travelport has unveiled its ‘Opinions’ online networking service in the UK and Ireland following its launch in France last year.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/10/3318/traveltainment-snaps-up-marketing-specialist-pixell.htmlCCPWed, 10 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00TravelTainment, the leisure travel arm of Amadeus, has bought online marketing specialist Pixell. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/09/3313/specific-media-sees-number-of-travel-clients-double.htmlCCPTue, 09 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Digital advertising agency Specific Media saw the number of clients in its travel division double in January compared to the same month in 2009http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/09/3311/travelport-launches-hotel-commission-service-with-net-trans.htmlCCPTue, 09 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Travelport is launching a new service to help agents collect commission payments from hotels around the worldhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/09/3312/illusion-media-invests-in-pocket-places-travel-app-business.htmlCCPTue, 09 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -00:00A smartphone travel guide app producer is looking to expand its business following investment by a software development companyhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/09/3309/guestcentric-launches-hotel-booking-plug-in-for-wordpress.htmlCCPTue, 09 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -00:00GuestCentric has developed an hotel booking plug- in for blogs and websites built on the WordPress platform. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/09/3310/hostelbookers-agrees-partnership-with-wayn.htmlCCPTue, 09 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Budget accommodation specialist HostelBookers has agreed a partnership with travel social networking service WAYN. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/09/3314/fortune-cookie-creates-iphone-app-for-hotel-group.htmlCCPTue, 09 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Small Luxury Hotels of the World has teamed up with Fortune Cookie to develop an iPhone application. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/09/3308/hotelicopter-to-unveil-publishing-platform.htmlCCPTue, 09 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Online accommodation service Hotelicopter is developing a publishing platform with plans to launch this summer. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/05/3299/staycations-are-just-a-fad-says-gap-adventures.htmlCCPFri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00The trend towards holidaying at home is no more than a craze, according to predictions from Gap Adventures. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/05/3300/uk-hotel-prices-down-a-third-says-hotels.com.htmlCCPFri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Overseas visitors to the UK benefitted from hotel price drops of up to 32% in some cities according to the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/05/3301/ebookers-ditches-hotel-cancellation-fees.htmlCCPFri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Ebookers has removed hotel booking, cancellation and amendment fees on its websites. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/05/3302/travel-brands-fly-high-in-hitwise-hot-shop-list.htmlCCPFri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00The travel sector was a clear winner in February’s IMRG-Hitwise Hot Shop list with Easyjet moving up two places to make it into the top 10.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/05/3303/campaign-launched-demanding-uk-minister-for-travel.htmlCCPFri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Travolution sister title Travel Weekly has launched a campaign to persuade the next government to create a senior ministerial post dedicated to the travel and tourism industry.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/05/3304/expedia-and-lastminute-announce-digital-agency-deals.htmlCCPFri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Expedia and lastminute.com have announced deals with digital agencies. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/05/3305/brazilian-tourist-board-launches-google-maps-youtube.htmlCCPFri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Embratur, the state-run tourist board for Brazil, has launched an online marketing campaign which features the first integration of Google Map functionality with YouTube videos.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/05/3306/hotel-prices-declining-at-slower-rate.htmlCCPFri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Hotels.com’s regular look at global room night prices shows that the rate of decline is slowing but that customers can still expect to find deals in the short to medium term.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/05/3307/bings-fridgen-to-speak-at-travolution-summit.htmlCCPFri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Travolution has secured another top industry speaker for the line-up for this year’s one day Summit: Bing Travel boss Mike Fridgen. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/02/3297/copa-airlines-buys-datalex-system.htmlCCPTue, 02 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -00:00 Panama-based Copa Airlines has received a Travel Distribution Platform (TDP) from Datalex. The TDP integrates with the Copa CRS environment and provides copaair.com  with multi-lingual shopping and resevations functionality. Multiple fare merchandising capabilities such as fare families, promotional fares and web exclusive offiers are enabled using TDP's Business Rules Centre, allowing the company to introduce special offers or react at short notice to changes in the business environment. “Our newly designed website site provides our passengers a fast, efficient and secure way to plan their travel,” said Joe Mohan, vice president, commerce and planning, Copa Airlines. “It’s another sign of our commitment to our passengers – our goal is to give them the best experience possible from the moment they make the decision to fly with us.”    http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/02/3295/travelport-brings-advertising-in-house.htmlCCPTue, 02 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -00:00 Travelport is to sell its GDS advertising exclusively through internal advertising consultants. GDS advertising allows travel suppliers to reach travel agents with promotional and product information at the point of sale, as they search for air, hotel and car products information by destination market. Paul Hesser, Travelport GDS vice president, advertising and merchandising solutions, said:  "We evaluated third-party providers, but determined we could best meet the needs of our customers through a direct relationship.” Hesser added: “Really what this is about is the need to offer a complete marketing package to travel suppliers to effectively reach travel agencies and their travelers. By expanding our capabilities, we’ll be prepared to better merchandise our customers’ products.” As part of this transition, Travelport has established an advertising operations and support team. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/02/3296/green-taxes-could-hit-growth-carnival-warns.htmlCCPTue, 02 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Environmental taxes and regulation in Europe could hold back the continued expansion of the cruise market, the leading operator of cruises in the UK has warned.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/02/3293/olympic-holidays-claims-25-uplift-due-to-leadcall-deal.htmlCCPTue, 02 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Olympic Holidays has improved conversions on its website by more than 25% following a tie-up with LeadCall. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/02/3294/gliider-developing-pre-pack-for-destinations.htmlCCPTue, 02 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Gliider is working towards distribution deals with several tourism organisations and is also seeking a tie-up with an online travel agency.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/03/02/3298/abta-demands-eu-catches-airlines-in-regulatory-net.htmlCCPTue, 02 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -00:00ABTA has demanded the European Commission closes "the biggest hole in the financial protection regime" and brings in the airlines.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/26/3292/twitter-language-analysis-points-to-worldwide-growth.htmlCCPFri, 26 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Half of the messages posted to Twitter during a 48-hour period this February were in English, down from two thirds in the first half of 2009.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/26/3289/chicago-to-push-tourist-attractions-through-foursquare.htmlCCPFri, 26 Feb 2010 09:00:00 -00:00The Chicago Office of Tourism has teamed up with mobile social media service Foursquare to raise awareness of the city’s attractions, restaurants and other areas of interesthttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/26/3290/holiday-taxis-to-unveil-new-look-trade-website.htmlCCPFri, 26 Feb 2010 09:00:00 -00:00Transfer specialist Holiday Taxis is to launch a revamped website for travel agents on March 2http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/26/3291/hitwise-figures-show-first-choice-traffic-down-9.htmlCCPFri, 26 Feb 2010 01:00:00 -00:00First Choice has experienced a 9.6% decrease in traffic to its site for the week ending February 15 compared to the same period last year according to figures from Hitwisehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/25/3287/lowcostholidays-starts-search-for-joliday-reviewer.htmlCCPThu, 25 Feb 2010 12:01:00 -00:00Lowcostholidays.com has started a search for a member of the public to be a hotel reviewer with a foreign holiday every month for a year as part of the prizehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/24/3281/cruise.co.uk-adds-blogs-by-call-centre-agents.htmlCCPWed, 24 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00 Cruise.co.uk has set up individual blogs for all 40 of its call centre agents in an effort to offer a more personalised service to customers. Each agent writes a daily blog post, giving their observations or opinions about cruises, destinations and travel industry trends. Some also have a feature called ‘rate my service’ where clients can leave feedback. One of the most popular agents, Hannah Wilson, is attracting 600 readers to her site each week. Managing director Seamus Conlon said: “I wanted to put a face to a name. Rather than just having a site where you ring a number, this allows customers to see the agents and read their opinions. "When you sit down in a high street agency, you have no way of telling if an agent is knowledgeable. This way, customers can do some research before they call us." The blogs are just the first stage in personalising the http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/24/3285/travelsupermarket-makes-great-gains.htmlCCPWed, 24 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Moneysupermarket, the parent of price comparison site travelsupermarket, has reversed a £50 million loss in 2008 to record a £3.2 million profit last year.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/24/3286/sir-colin-chandler-joins-holiday-taxis-board.htmlCCPWed, 24 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00HolidayTaxis.com has announced that Sir Colin Chandler has joined the board as a non executive Director with immediate effect.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/24/3288/ebookers-ready-for-aggressive-european-stance.htmlCCPWed, 24 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Orbitz Worldwide (OWW) has talked up the fourth quarter performance of ebookers and says that the brand is now ready to "compete aggressively" in Europe as a full-service online travel agency.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/23/3277/advantage-focus-signs-deal-with-travelport.htmlCCPTue, 23 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00 The Advantage Focus Partnership has signed a new multi-year deal with Travelport. Net fare programme Focus4Fares manager Steve Murray said: “Advantage Focus Partnership is a development partner of Travelport in their new forthcoming desktop application.  Their ‘can do’ attitude as well as being the number one GDS of choice for the Focus Partners helped seal the deal. “A long-term deal allows Focus to develop products with Travelport that would be tailored to the benefit of Focus Partners and the SME market as a whole,” he added. Travelport commercial director for UK and Ireland Tim Wright added: “We are delighted to sign a new contract and I believe the ongoing innovation and cooperation by both companies is the key to our long-term success together.”   http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/23/3275/thomascook.com-adds-tripadvisor-reviews.htmlCCPTue, 23 Feb 2010 09:46:00 -00:00Thomas Cook has integrated customer reviews from TripAdvisor on its website.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/23/3279/celebrity-cruises-chooses-first-twitter-winner.htmlCCPTue, 23 Feb 2010 09:00:00 -00:00 Celebrity Cruises has selected its first ever competition winner from a promotion that took place entirely on Twitter. The winner will have an exclusive preview of the new ship, Celebrity Eclipse, in March this year. Tweeter @CharlotteWil was chosen as the winner thanks to her tweet of “With Celebrity close to home, many places I will roam. With AquaSpa, Crush and a lawn at sea, I think Eclipse was designed for me!” Judges from the @CruiseCriticUK twitter feed, the cruise tweeter and blogger @CaptGreybeard, and the official @CelebrityUK twitter feed sifted through the entries and chose @CharlotteWil’s for its ability to combine key information about the new ship, its deployment from the UK, and a play on the Celebrity Cruises brand strapline ‘Designed for you'. With the twitter profile @CharlotteWil, the winning tweeter is Denise Wills from Polgooth, Saint Austell in Cornwall who entered the competition after seeing the detaihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/23/3280/sabre-signs-up-first-agent-for-tripcase.htmlCCPTue, 23 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00A first deal has been agreed for a Travel Management Company to offer its customers Sabre Travel Studios’ new TripCase mobile itinerary and information service for travellers.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/23/3278/southampton-base-for-revelexs-aggressive-uk-expansion.htmlCCPTue, 23 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Technology firm Revelex has opened an office in Southampton as it seeks to establish a dominant position in the UK.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/23/3276/wtm-claims-1.14bn-record.htmlCCPTue, 23 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00The organisers of World Travel Market have claimed independent research has found the annual trade show last year will generate a record £1,139 million worth of business.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/23/3273/ratetiger-plans-itb-launch-for-iphone-app.htmlCCPTue, 23 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Hoteliers are to be offered an iPhone application that will enable them to yield control from mobile devices.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/23/3274/insolvency-rates-fall-to-three-year-low.htmlCCPTue, 23 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00The rate of business failures has fallen to its lowest point since June 2007, according to the Insolvency Index from Experian.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/19/3271/january-snow-stalled-three-months-of-leisure-travel-growth.htmlCCPFri, 19 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Three consecutive months of year-on-year growth in the leisure travel market came to an end in January, according to the latest official figures issued by GfK Ascent-MI.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/19/3267/orbitz-starts-paying-travel-agents-commission.htmlCCPFri, 19 Feb 2010 02:00:00 -00:00Orbitz Worldwide is offering commission to agents who book travel via its websitehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/19/3268/travelport-pushes-into-eastern-europe-with-new-traveltech-deal.htmlCCPFri, 19 Feb 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Travelport has extended its deal with TravelTECH to extend the technology company’s reach in Eastern Europe. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/19/3269/lastminute.com-go-north-event-heralds-focus-on-uk-regions.htmlCCPFri, 19 Feb 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Lastminute.com’s Go North event in Manchester this week signalled a move by the online retailer to match the virtues of local marketing and product sourcing with its global platform.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/19/3266/zugu-cheapflights-unveils-next-gen-flight-meta-search.htmlCCPFri, 19 Feb 2010 12:01:00 -00:00Cheapflights has officially unveiled what it believes is the next generation of flights meta-search, Zuguhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/19/3270/koko-signed-up-to-create-netflights-viral-game.htmlCCPFri, 19 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Gold Medal has teamed up with Koko Digital to raise awareness of its netflights consumer direct brand through a ‘viral’ game.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/19/3272/transaction-values-up-80-for-priceline.htmlCCPFri, 19 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Priceline Inc has claimed market "share gains" for its brands, including booking.com, during the last three months of 2009.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/18/3264/hotels-and-holidays-the-focus-for-lastminute.htmlCCPThu, 18 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Hotels, holidays and expansion beyond its south east stronghold will form the basis of a three-pronged strategy for growth for Lastminute.com this year.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/16/3260/ryanair-and-expedia-settle-out-of-court.htmlCCPTue, 16 Feb 2010 11:10:00 -00:00Travolution has learnt that the £4m legal battle between Ryanair and Expedia over an alleged breach of contract has been settled out of courthttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/16/3257/budgetplaces-unveils-mobile-app-for-hotel-bookings.htmlCCPTue, 16 Feb 2010 11:00:00 -00:00Budgetplaces has unveiled a mobile application enabling UK travellers to search and book budget accommodation across 60 cities worldwide. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/16/3258/holidaybreak-results-snow-hits-sales-but-target-still-in-sight.htmlCCPTue, 16 Feb 2010 11:00:00 -00:00Specialist tour operator Holidaybreak expects 2010 to “remain challenging” but still expects to hit its target for its financial year which runs to end-September.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/16/3259/booking.com-tops-paid-search-chart-again.htmlCCPTue, 16 Feb 2010 11:00:00 -00:00Booking.com has strengthened its position as the most visible hotel brand in Google paid search, with laterooms.com improving its leading position within natural searchhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/16/3254/flight-centre-signs-up-digital-visitor-for-user-review-platform.htmlCCPTue, 16 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Flight Centre has joined forces with rich content specialist Digital Visitor to develop an area on its website for customers to upload their travel experienceshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/16/3255/travelport-achieves-compliance-with-useu-privacy-rules.htmlCCPTue, 16 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00The Travelport GDS has announced it has achieved compliance with the Safe Harbor protocol designed to harmonise data privacy regulations between Europe and the US.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/16/3261/spain-turns-to-social-media-to-refresh-image.htmlCCPTue, 16 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00The Spanish Institute of Tourism is looking to expand the image of Spain beyond a destination for the traditional "sun and beach" holiday by using social media.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/16/3262/kayak-launches-trips-planning-tool-in-the-uk.htmlCCPTue, 16 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Travel search engine KAYAK has launched its Trips itinerary management tool in the UK. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/16/3263/micros-travel-integrates-trailstream.tv-into-selling.htmlCCPTue, 16 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Micros Travel has integrated trailstream.tv into its SABSLeisure selling platform. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/12/3247/tte-gdss-to-bring-touch-screen-to-agencies.htmlCCPFri, 12 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Touch screen technology is set to become a reality in travel agencies in the UK as GDS’s develop systems designed to simplify the booking process and enhance point of sale.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/12/3250/expedia-targets-growth-in-hotels-for-2010.htmlCCPFri, 12 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Expedia's strategy for Europe in 2010 will be about improving how it gets its inventory to market and driving demand for hotels.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/12/3248/tte-business-leaders-cautiously-optimistic.htmlCCPFri, 12 Feb 2010 09:00:00 -00:00 Travel business leaders are cautiously optimistic about current trading despite ongoing uncertainty in the economy. Travel Counsellors managing director Steve Byrne said national debt and the forthcoming election were contributing to uncertainty but that he was upbeat about the business he has seen so far. He added that trading was back up to pre 2008 levels for the company and said he believed there was pent-up demand for travel. “People who are in work don’t treat their holiday as discretionary spend. There are doom-mongers around and 18 months ago there were those that thought it was the end of travel. Recession has proved that is not the case.” Traveltainment managing dhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/12/3249/tte-experts-say-website-speed-is-underrated.htmlCCPFri, 12 Feb 2010 08:00:00 -00:00Travel companies are underestimating the importance of speed on their websites, say experts. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/12/3251/laterooms-sees-exceptional-volume-growth.htmlCCPFri, 12 Feb 2010 07:00:00 -00:00TUI Travel’s consumer-facing bedbanks laterooms.com and asiarooms.com have recorded a strong start to the winter season with summer bookings already way ahead of last year. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/11/3256/new-atol-regime-may-be-anti-competitive.htmlCCPThu, 11 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Proposed changes to ATOL regulations debated at Grant Thornton seminar. Lee Hayhurst reportshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/11/3246/travelport-could-revive-ipo-plans.htmlCCPThu, 11 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Travelport has said it will consider reviving its plans to float on the London stock market after deciding pull a £1.2billion IPOhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/10/3244/thomas-cook-unveils-spin-the-globe-ad-campaign.htmlCCPWed, 10 Feb 2010 05:00:00 -00:00 Thomas Cook has renewed its partnership with Microsoft Advertising and has today unveiled a ‘ Spin the Globe to Find Your Holiday ’ campaign. The campaign features unique video content that will be continually updated throughout the duration of the campaign. A year ago Thomas Cook and Microsoft Advertising announced a partnership combining a range of solutions from the online digital space. This latest UK-exclusive activity will run across the Microsoft Advertising portfolio, using Silverlight technology to deliver high quality video and animation.  Silverlight will also plot Bing Maps on an interactive 3D globe enabling holidaymakers to explore the range of Thomas Cook destinations. The campaign also uses Thomas Cook’s inventory of videos and destination images as well as drawing in editorial content from the MSN Travel Channel including a tahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/10/3243/tte-wendy-wu-revamps-website.htmlCCPWed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00:00 -00:00 China specialist Wendy Wu Tours has developed an interactive map to help consumers weigh up the options and find suitable holidays. The interactive tool is designed to bring the destination to life for customers, highlighting tourist attractions across the country and the distances from large cities. Managing director Manuel Mascarenhas said China was on consumers’ wish list but that they did not really understand the destination in depth. The interactive map offers 30 icons of landmarks and other points of interest which enable customers to click and find detailed information, tips from experts and images. Thhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/10/3242/tte-intuitive-adds-gds-to-ivector-dynamic-packaging-system.htmlCCPWed, 10 Feb 2010 11:40:00 -00:00Technology provider Intuitive IT is to incorporate a GDS into its iVector dynamic packaging system, which is used by the likes of Lowcost Travel Group and getabed.com.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/10/3239/tte-sabre-brings-agentstream-travel-agent-community-to-the-uk.htmlCCPWed, 10 Feb 2010 11:00:00 -00:00Sabre Travel Network has announced it will extend its US AgentStream travel agent community to the UK this quarterhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/10/3240/tte-recession-has-driven-investment-in-technology-says-amadeus.htmlCCPWed, 10 Feb 2010 11:00:00 -00:00The downturn has forced travel companies to reassess their technological requirements and invest in new systems to allow them to operate more efficientlyhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/10/3241/tte-iphone-hotel-booking-app-is-uk-first.htmlCCPWed, 10 Feb 2010 11:00:00 -00:00Manchester-based travel software developer Inventive IT claims to have developed the first UK iPhone application for hotel bookingshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/09/3238/tte-likecube-seeks-new-partners.htmlCCPTue, 09 Feb 2010 09:00:00 -00:00LikeCube, a new B2B provider of personalisation solutions, is seeking online travel agency and hotel groups to work withhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/09/3237/tte-eurostar-breakdown-highlights-need-for-social-media-crisis-plan.htmlCCPTue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 -00:00 The social media activity around the breakdown of Eurostar trains in December demonstrated the need for travel companies to have a crisis management plan in place, according to experts. Five Eurostar trains broke down days before Christmas due to freezing weather conditions, leaving hundreds of customers stranded overnight. The incident caused a stir on Twitter and Facebook, with some passengers Tweeting updates from the trains. Speaking at a panel session at the Travel Technology Show in London's Earls Court today, Vexed Digital chief operating officer Xanthe Arvanitakis said companies who engage in social media have to be prepared for anything. "There is a reality that you can't control what is being said. You've got to be ready for all kinds of activity." Eurostar ecommerce ancillary revenues manager Georgia Clelanhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/09/3236/twitter-is-the-most-popular-social-media-tool.htmlCCPTue, 09 Feb 2010 03:14:00 -00:00Twitter is the most popular social media tool for travel companies followed by Facebook according to research from Qube Media.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/09/3229/exclusive-expedia-in-talks-with-non-travel-websites.htmlCCPTue, 09 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Non-travel companies with high volume websites are poised to move into travel by agreeing partnerships with established players.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/09/3232/on-the-beach-and-on-holiday-group-quash-deal-rumours.htmlCCPTue, 09 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Industry speculation that leading online travel agent On The Beach was poised to buy supplier On Holiday Group has been dismissed by both companieshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/09/3233/expedia-and-lastminute.com-make-natural-search-gains.htmlCCPTue, 09 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Natural search performance from Expedia and lastminute.com showed a marked improvement in December, according to digital agency Greenlighthttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/09/3234/dynamic-packaging-drives-ancillary-sales-growth-for-ba.htmlCCPTue, 09 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00British Airways has seen a significant increase in ancillary sales since introducing dynamic packaging to the websitehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/09/3235/mobile-travel-technologies-expands-team.htmlCCPTue, 09 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Mobile Travel Technologies is expanding its team to reflect the growth of travel companies adopting mobile serviceshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/09/3228/exclusive-directline-adds-villas-and-domestic-breaks.htmlCCPTue, 09 Feb 2010 08:00:00 -00:00Directline Holidays has started to integrate Comtec technology as it looks to move in UK domestic breaks and villa holidays. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/08/3227/carnival-plots-slower-capacity-growth-from-2013.htmlCCPMon, 08 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise operator, has said it new ship building programme will be "more slow and rational" from 2013 onwards.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/05/3225/exclusive-directline-reports-strong-start-to-january.htmlCCPFri, 05 Feb 2010 11:00:00 -00:00Online travel agent Directline Holidays has claimed January revenues were 40% up year on year, with dynamic packaging holidays showing a particular uplift.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/05/3223/personalised-content-can-boost-conversions-by-60.htmlCCPFri, 05 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Travel websites have been urged to make more use of personalised information, after a survey found 84% of customers have abandoned their shopping basket in the last year.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/05/3226/travelzoo-uk-ends-year-in-the-black.htmlCCPFri, 05 Feb 2010 08:00:00 -00:00Chris Loughlin, European executive VP for Nasdaq-listed deals publisher Travelzoo, is committed to growing its subscriber base, so long as revenues continue to increase more quickly than the costshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/05/3224/exclusive-google-sees-travel-searches-surge-21.htmlCCPFri, 05 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Google has seen stronger growth in travel searches in January 2010 compared to January 2009, the search engine reporting a 21% increase in queries and a 7% increase in clicks.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/04/3222/exclusive-viking-appoints-i-spy-for-search-campaign.htmlCCPThu, 04 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Viking Airlines has appointed digital marketing specialist I Spy to improve natural search rankings for the carrier’s main website in the UK.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/03/3218/exclusive-travolution-rising-star-assi-joins-hotelscombined.htmlCCPWed, 03 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Hotels search engine and aggregator HotelsCombined.com has appointed Hichame Assi as its new head of strategy for online marketing.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/03/3219/sky-express-signs-deal-with-travelport.htmlCCPWed, 03 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Russian low cost carrier Sky Express has signed a distribution deal with Travelport as it looks to expand its sales channels.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/03/3220/trust-and-price-highlighted-in-ukfast-debate.htmlCCPWed, 03 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Trust is fast rivalling price as one of the main factors for consumers when they are purchasing travel online.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/03/3221/exclusive-carnival-partner-with-traveltek-for-online-agent-booking.htmlCCPWed, 03 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Agents will be able to book Carnival Cruise Lines online for the first time from next week after a new automated booking tool goes live. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/02/3212/exclusive-gekko-eyes-expansion-with-city-guides.htmlCCPTue, 02 Feb 2010 09:55:00 -00:00Hotels recommendation site Gekko.com has started rolling out dedicated city pages for the 50 top destinations it features as it expands the number of booking partners it works with. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/02/3213/exclusive-tui-boss-lundgren-to-speak-at-travolution.htmlCCPTue, 02 Feb 2010 09:00:00 -00:00The Travolution Summit in April will hear from the man who replaced Peter Rothwell at the head of TUI Travel’s northern region which includes the UK.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/02/3214/amadeus-and-concur-announce-global-partnership.htmlCCPTue, 02 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Amadeus has formed a technology and marketing partnership with expense management specialist Concur. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/02/3215/hrs.com-targets-uk-growth-with-new-team.htmlCCPTue, 02 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00HRS.com is looking to significantly expand its UK presence having expanded its sales and contracting teams and installed new divisional heads.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/02/3216/travelport-flotation-to-net-1.1-billion.htmlCCPTue, 02 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Travelport expects to raise £1.1 billion in its floatation on the London stock market with shares offered at an initial price of between £2.10 to £2.90.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/02/3217/exclusive-social-media-push-for-po-cruises.htmlCCPTue, 02 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00P&O Cruises has joined forces with web design specialist Nucleus to unveil a community platform on its website. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/01/3209/exclusive-joan-collins-and-dolly-parton-to-join-simonseeks.htmlCCPMon, 01 Feb 2010 09:47:00 -00:00Travel recommendations website Simonseeks.com is about to launch reviews from two A-list celebrities from the world of film and music after what it described as a promising first six months.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/01/3206/consumer-confidence-rises-for-spending-big-online.htmlCCPMon, 01 Feb 2010 09:43:00 -00:00The number of online shoppers prepared to spend more than £1,000 on web transactions hit a quarter last year, according to research commissioned by Kelkoo.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/01/3205/exclusive-ebookers-unveils-first-mobile-site.htmlCCPMon, 01 Feb 2010 07:00:00 -00:00Ebookers believes it has stolen a march on its rivals by taking a first strategic step into mobile with a new site designed for customers to use on their handsets. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/01/3207/galileo-chosen-by-cook-to-replace-amadeus.htmlCCPMon, 01 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Travelport has been chosen by Thomas Cook to be its new GDS partner in a "multi-year" deal signed with the UK tour operating giant.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/02/01/3208/ancillary-growth-slowing-at-ryanair.htmlCCPMon, 01 Feb 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Ryanair has announced it now expects to make a €275 million profit for the current financial year after a "disappointing although better than expected" third quarter.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/29/3201/exclusive-cheapflights-was-number-one-over-turn-of-year-period.htmlCCPFri, 29 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Consumers demanding value for money during the downturn has been credited with helping Cheapflights.co.uk remain ahead of its competitors in December and January.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/29/3199/powersoft-offers-back-office-system-for-free.htmlCCPFri, 29 Jan 2010 11:41:00 -00:00Powersoft has announced it is to offer licences for its core TSTravel product for free ahead of next month’s Travel Technology Europe show where it will be exhibiting.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/29/3198/top-25-rating-for-near-to-here-iphone-app.htmlCCPFri, 29 Jan 2010 11:40:00 -00:00Travel guide iPhone application Near to Here was ranked in the top 25 travel applications within a week of its launch just before Christmas. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/29/3197/evolvi-reports-12-increase-in-sales.htmlCCPFri, 29 Jan 2010 11:00:00 -00:00Corporate rail booking specialist Evolvi has experienced a 12% increase in sales to £246 million for 2009. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/29/3200/icelandair-partners-with-exacttarget-for-email-campaign.htmlCCPFri, 29 Jan 2010 11:00:00 -00:00Icelandair is working with email marketing specialist ExactTarget to personalise customer emails and create automated campaigns.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/29/3204/exclusive-personalised-content-to-drive-sales-in-2010.htmlCCPFri, 29 Jan 2010 04:00:00 -00:00Providing post-booking information tailored to customers’ needs is set to be a key growth area for travel firms in 2010, content provider Frommer’s Unlimited has predicted.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/29/3202/exclusive-google-uk-chief-to-speak-at-travolution-summit.htmlCCPFri, 29 Jan 2010 03:00:00 -00:00The head of Google in the UK has been lined up as one of the speakers at this year’s Travolution Summit in April. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/29/3203/gail-kenny-reveals-new-brand-identity-for-fifth-birthday.htmlCCPFri, 29 Jan 2010 03:00:00 -00:00Recruitment firm Gail Kenny Executive Search is poised to reveal a new brand identity and websites as it marks its fifth anniversary.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/26/3196/exclusive-trailstream-claims-record-january.htmlCCPTue, 26 Jan 2010 02:00:00 -00:00Destination video supplier Trailstream has smashed its record for the number of monthly views in January as it looks to expand its long-haul offering and presence in high street agencies.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/26/3190/tui-chooses-nixonmcinnes-for-first-choice-campaign.htmlCCPTue, 26 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Tui Travel has chosen social media specialist agency NixonMcInnes to run a First Choice campaign aimed at the family market. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/26/3191/tweet-to-win-with-celebrity-cruises.htmlCCPTue, 26 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Celebrity Cruises if offering Twitter users an exclusive opportunity for a sneak preview of its newest ship, Celebrity Eclipse that will be based in Southampton this summer.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/26/3192/uk-cold-snap-boosts-ski-sites-says-hitwise.htmlCCPTue, 26 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Skiing and snowboarding websites have experienced a surge in traffic following the recent cold spell in the UK according to the latest figures Experian Hitwise.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/26/3193/iclick2go-unveils-mobile-video-service.htmlCCPTue, 26 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00iClick2go, a service enabling smartphone users to download holiday-related video footage and special offers, has been unveiled. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/26/3194/healix-iphone-app-offers-health-advice.htmlCCPTue, 26 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00A new iphone application allowing travellers the ability to download vaccination information has been launched. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/26/3189/viator-unveils-plans-for-language-sites.htmlCCPTue, 26 Jan 2010 10:33:00 -00:00Tours and excursions specialist Viator plans to unveil a number of language sites for Northern Europe this quarter. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/26/3188/sol-melia-teams-up-with-mobile-travel-technologies.htmlCCPTue, 26 Jan 2010 10:29:00 -00:00Spanish hotel giant Sol Melia has teamed up with Mobile Travel Technologies (MTT) to offer customers a mobile booking service.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/26/3195/crashpadder-survey-boost-for-online.htmlCCPTue, 26 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Travel retail online is set for a record year, according to the results of a consumer poll conducted by accommodation network Crashpadder.com.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/22/3183/dolphin-dynamics-eyes-scandinavia-expansion.htmlCCPFri, 22 Jan 2010 11:00:00 -00:00Software developer Dolphin Dynamics plans to expand further in northern Europe after a successful roll out of its technology with Danish independent tour operator Profil Rejser.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/22/3186/exclusive-sunshine.co.uk-to-unveil-two-new-sites.htmlCCPFri, 22 Jan 2010 10:53:00 -00:00Sunshine.co.uk is developing two further sites with plans to launch them before the Spring.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/22/3187/exclusive-ota-plan-for-travelclick-hotel-benchmarking-tool.htmlCCPFri, 22 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Hotel technology business TravelClick has launched a new business intelligence tool which could be adapted for Online Travel Agents.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/22/3184/exclusive-fake-review-firms-are-not-an-issue-says-tripadvisor.htmlCCPFri, 22 Jan 2010 07:00:00 -00:00Hoteliers are being plagued by companies promising to post positive reviews on high profile sites such as TripAdvisor in return for a monthly fee.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/22/3185/oman-air-to-pioneer-in-flight-connectivity.htmlCCPFri, 22 Jan 2010 02:00:00 -00:00Oman Air has is to start offering full mobile phone and wi-fi connectivity on its commercial widebody aircraft, claiming a world first.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/21/3180/exclusive-otas-oppose-abtas-regulation-stance.htmlCCPThu, 21 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Leading independent UK online travel agencies have said expanding the scope of consumer protection threatens their agency status and will push consumers away from the trade.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/20/3175/kayak.co.uk-strikes-deals-with-ryanair-and-lastminute.htmlCCPWed, 20 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Kayak.co.uk has announced two new partnerships with Lastminute.com and Ryanair as it enhances its offering in the UK. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/20/3176/octopus-travel-behind-ebay-uk-push.htmlCCPWed, 20 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00eBay and Octopus Travel have announced an alliance to expand the online auction company’s Travel category.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/20/3178/top-rating-for-travel-sites-in-webcredible-study.htmlCCPWed, 20 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Travel websites are among the easiest to use, second only to news and media company sites, according to research from user experience specialist Webcredible.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/20/3179/exclusive-tealeaf-to-track-direct-ferries-customers.htmlCCPWed, 20 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Direct Ferries has appointed Tealeaf to track customer experience on its website. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3172/e-clear-no-sign-of-missing-cash-as-firm-enters-administration.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00The administration of E-Clear this morning has raised furious questions about where tens of millions of pounds of its clients' money has gone. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3166/costa-deliziosa-website-launches.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 10:32:00 -00:00Costa Cruises’ newest ship Costa Deliziosa has made its debut online with its own dedicated website ahead of its February naming Dubai.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3169/travelport-to-float-on-london-stock-exchange.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 09:45:00 -00:00Travelport, owner of the Galileo and Worldspan GDSs, has announced its intention to offer shares on the London Stock Exchange. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3168/consumers-to-spend-6.2-billion-in-mobile-application-stores.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 09:30:00 -00:00Consumers will spend $6.2 billion in mobile application stores in 2010 according to new research from Gartner.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3165/amadeus-and-iberia-tie-up-full-content-deal.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 08:00:00 -00:00Amadeus and Spanish carrier Iberia have agreed an extension to their full content agreement until 2014.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3159/travel-tech-show-targets-vips.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 08:00:00 -00:00A new VIP senior executive conference has been added to this year’s Travel Technology Europe show reflecting the increasing seniority of delegates.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3160/travel-tech-show-offers-seminar-discount.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 07:00:00 -00:00Delegates need to be quick to qualify for a 20% discount on seminar sessions at this year’s Travel Technology Europe trade show.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3167/shorex-travel-appoints-astratis.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 07:00:00 -00:00Shorex Travel has appointed Astratis to develop and build their systems and websites.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3164/gills-sets-sail-with-celebrity-iphone-app.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 07:00:00 -00:00Leading cruise retailer Gill’s Cruise Centre has unveiled an Apple iPhone application developed with premium line Celebrity Cruises.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3171/e-clear-placed-into-administration.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00An administration order against credit card processing firm E-Clear was today granted at the High Court after evidence was presented that is has virtually no money.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3173/e-clear-did-not-have-globespan-money.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00The administration of E-Clear this morning has raised serious questions about where tens of millions of pounds of its clients' money has gone. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/19/3174/comment-restore-the-trust-after-e-clear-fiasco.htmlCCPTue, 19 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Chris Photi, senior partner at White Hart Associates, says the E-Clear administration should force regulators to bring in a "one stop shop" protection regime for consumers.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/18/3158/euro-focus-for-2010-travel-tech-show.htmlCCPMon, 18 Jan 2010 05:00:00 -00:00The Travel Technology Show 2010 will offer a more Euro-centric view of developments in the sector this year as organisers look to broaden its appeal.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/18/3161/operational-efficiency-in-focus-at-travel-technology-show.htmlCCPMon, 18 Jan 2010 05:00:00 -00:00Driving operational efficiency through continued investment in technology has been tipped as one of the major themes for delegates and exhibitors at Travel Technology Europe 2010. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/18/3162/showcase-for-delegates-at-travel-tech-show.htmlCCPMon, 18 Jan 2010 05:00:00 -00:00Technology can seem daunting for even the most seasons travel industry exec, so Travel Technology Europe 2010 will once again feature its advice centre for delegates.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/18/3163/travel-tech-show-goes-viral.htmlCCPMon, 18 Jan 2010 04:00:00 -00:00This year’s exhibitor list for the Travel Technology Europe 2010 show reflects the growing imfluence of viral digital marketing. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/15/3152/gomez-counts-cost-of-underperforming-sites.htmlCCPFri, 15 Jan 2010 11:00:00 -00:00Website performance specialist Gomez has developed a tool enabling companies to calculate any loss in potential revenue through slow performing sites.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/15/3153/trailstream-deal-boosts-cosmos-sales.htmlCCPFri, 15 Jan 2010 11:00:00 -00:00Cosmos has claimed to have seen a significant sales increase since sealing a sponsorship deal with rich media specialist Trailstream.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/15/3154/gds-study-raises-concerns-over-paid-for-content.htmlCCPFri, 15 Jan 2010 11:00:00 -00:00The Interactive Travel Services Association and research group PhoCusWright have launched a white paper looking at "the role and value of the global distribution systems in travel distribution".http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/15/3157/skyscanner-poll-backs-body-scanners.htmlCCPFri, 15 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00A poll by Skyscanner has suggested the majority of travellers are in favour of plans to use full body scanners at airports following Christmas Day’s attempted terrorist attack.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/14/3149/travelport-first-for-german-market.htmlCCPThu, 14 Jan 2010 05:00:00 -00:00Growth in the German market achieved by Travelport over the last two years has prompted the GDS to appoint its first dedicated manager for the country.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/14/3150/hostelworld.com-agrees-airline-partnerships.htmlCCPThu, 14 Jan 2010 05:00:00 -00:00Budget youth market specialist Hostelworld.com has agreed partnerships with Ukraine Airlines and Argentinean carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/14/3151/octopus-opts-for-sapient-to-boost-sales.htmlCCPThu, 14 Jan 2010 02:00:00 -00:00Travelport-owned online hotel room retailer Octopus Travel has brought in Sapient Interactive to implement a new booking system it is hoped will triple its range of properties.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/14/3148/travelzest-shares-struggle-despite-fy-profits.htmlCCPThu, 14 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00After a “restructuring and re-energising year”, Travelzest has reported an improvement in sales and profits, with its two Canadian businesses faring better than its UK brand portfolio.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/14/3145/police-deny-e-clear-investigation.htmlCCPThu, 14 Jan 2010 09:29:00 -00:00Police have confirmed they have no plans to launch a full investigation into credit-card processing firm E-Clear.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/14/3146/e-clear-hopes-for-reprieve-over-globespan-cash.htmlCCPThu, 14 Jan 2010 09:00:00 -00:00Intervention by a major creditor of credit card intermediary E-Clear could be its best hope as it battles attempts by Globespan’s administrators to put it out of business.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/14/3147/youtravel.com-ends-processing-facilities-with-e-clear.htmlCCPThu, 14 Jan 2010 08:00:00 -00:00Youtravel.com is ending its card processing agreement with E-Clear to move its payment facilities to Barclays before the end of the month. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/12/3143/amadeus-boss-announces-succession.htmlCCPTue, 12 Jan 2010 03:33:00 -00:00Technology giant Amadeus has confirmed its president and chief executive David Jones will be succeeded by the firm’s current deputy chief executive Luis Maroto in January 2011.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/12/3141/investors-buy-latin-americas-biggest-tour-operator.htmlCCPTue, 12 Jan 2010 01:40:00 -00:00New York-based private equity house Carlyle Group has paid hundreds of millions of dollars for a majority stake in Brazilian vertically integrated tour operator CVC.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/12/3140/exclusive-translated-sites-generate-room-sales.htmlCCPTue, 12 Jan 2010 01:37:00 -00:00Hotel companies can increase their web traffic by launching web sites which support multi-language natural and paid search, according to translation firm Lingo24.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/12/3138/iphone-app-for-etihads-loyal-customers.htmlCCPTue, 12 Jan 2010 01:31:00 -00:00A new i-Phone application was launched on Monday for members of Etihad Airways’ loyalty programme. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/12/3139/trade-push-for-new-southeast-asia-website.htmlCCPTue, 12 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Travel suppliers are being asked to submit content to a website dedicated to southeast Asia that will underpin a new destination marketing campaign to the destination.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/12/3136/exclusive-fly.com-to-twitter-best-flight-deals.htmlCCPTue, 12 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Fly.com, Travelzoo’s flights meta-search site, is to launch live feeds promoting flight deals at UK regional airports on Twitter. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/12/3137/tripit-and-yapta-join-forces-on-fare-refunds.htmlCCPTue, 12 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Tripit has joined forces with airfare tracking service Yapta to enable US travellers to receive an alert if they are eligible for a refund or credit through an airline’s guaranteed pricing policy.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/12/3142/e-clear-given-until-friday-to-prove-it-has-globespan-cash.htmlCCPTue, 12 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00E-Clear has been given until Friday to prove it has the £35 million that Globespan administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers argue it was withholding from the failed Scottish airlinehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/11/3135/exclusive-traveltainment-to-develop-new-fulfilment-tool-for-tour-operators.htmlCCPMon, 11 Jan 2010 12:38:00 -00:00Technology provider TravelTainment has taken a team of developers from BlueSky Travel Systems to develop new fulfilment tools for tour operators.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/08/3134/shaw-to-leave-royal-caribbean-cruises.htmlCCPFri, 08 Jan 2010 03:56:00 -00:00Royal Caribbean Cruises vice-president and managing director for UK and Ireland, Robin Shaw, is to leave the company at the end of March. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/08/3127/carnival-to-launch-virtual-ship-tours-for-uk-trade.htmlCCPFri, 08 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Complete Cruise Solution will unveil its first virtual ship visits for agents on its website next week. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/08/3128/wexas-acquisition-strengthens-tmc-arm.htmlCCPFri, 08 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00WEXAS has acquired a specialist travel management company and its Scandinavian tour operator for an undisclosed sum. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/08/3129/yourtour-extends-its-reach-in-europe.htmlCCPFri, 08 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Tours and itinerary building service YourTour has signed deals with a number of new partners across Europe. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/08/3131/expedia-boss-sets-sights-on-europe.htmlCCPFri, 08 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Expedia chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi has told a US technology conference that the business is only at "the very, very early stages" of its development in Europe.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/08/3133/ryanair-loses-screen-scraping-case.htmlCCPFri, 08 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00A court in Barcelona has upheld a decision which allowed Spanish online travel agency eDreams to continue selling Ryanair seats.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/07/3132/e-clear-challenges-pwc-to-prove-liability-for-35m-debt.htmlCCPThu, 07 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Credit-card processing firm E-Clear has challenged the administrators of Globespan to provide documentation to prove it is not liable for the £35 million it owed the operator when it failedhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/07/3125/royal-caribbean-unveils-3d-cinema-adverts.htmlCCPThu, 07 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Royal Caribbean International, the world’s second largest cruise operator, will premiere its new 3D cinema advertising campaign in the UK from tomorrow.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/07/3124/travelport-and-flight-centre-renew-deal.htmlCCPThu, 07 Jan 2010 07:00:00 -00:00Travelport has renewed a preferred supplier contract with Australian travel agency group Flight Centre which includes its UK territory.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/07/3126/cook-scraps-web-match-policy.htmlCCPThu, 07 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00Thomas Cook has withdrawn its Web Match facility, which allowed agents to compete with discounted prices on its website.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/05/3123/marc-bennett-quits-thomas-cook-for-rival-operator.htmlCCPTue, 05 Jan 2010 02:00:00 -00:00Thomas Cook trade relations director Marc Bennett has resigned to join a rival operatorhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/05/3120/amadeus-celebrates-new-agency-deals-in-ireland.htmlCCPTue, 05 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Amadeus has strengthened its position in the Irish leisure market with a raft of new travel agency deals.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/05/3121/carnival-uk-takes-cautious-line-on-brand-bidding-ban.htmlCCPTue, 05 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Carnival UK will assess how a move in the US to prevent agents bidding on its brand names impacts on agent business before deciding whether to follow suithttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/05/3122/winter-break-demand-set-to-fall-in-2010-says-pwc.htmlCCPTue, 05 Jan 2010 01:00:00 -00:00Nearly 20% fewer UK consumers will take a winter break this year than in 2009, although short breaks are experiencing a resurgence of popularityhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/05/3119/travelport-and-gulf-air-sign-content-deal.htmlCCPTue, 05 Jan 2010 12:20:00 -00:00Travelport and Gulf Air have agrees a full content deal giving agents using Galileo and Worldspan access to the airline's published fares and inventory.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/05/3118/e-clear-faces-legal-challenge-from-globespan-administrator.htmlCCPTue, 05 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -00:00PricewaterhouseCoopers has started legal proceedings against credit card processing firm E-Clear to force it to disclose whether it has the £35m of customer payments it withheld from Globespanhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2010/01/04/3116/first-day-for-new-travelsupermarket-boss.htmlCCPMon, 04 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -00:00Travelsupermarket.com’s new general manager Robin Sutherland has officially joined the online comparison site http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/23/3114/amadeus-signs-content-agreement-with-lufthansa-and-swiss-airlines.htmlCCPWed, 23 Dec 2009 12:30:00 -00:00A new full content distribution agreement has been agreed with Amadeus by Lufthansa German Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/23/3112/details-of-200k-e-clear-dispute-revealed.htmlCCPWed, 23 Dec 2009 09:00:00 -00:00 Details of another dispute between credit card processing company E-Clear and a travel client over outstanding payments have emerged. Totally Travel, a former client of E-Clear, has claimed it was forced to threaten legal action this summer before reaching an agreement to have a £200,000 debt paid.  E-Clear chief executive Elias Elia denied being forced to pay the debt claiming it was “an arrangement” for Totally Travel to end its relationship with E-Clear. And Elia denied a claim he was threatened with a winding up order by Totally Travel, claiming bosses of the firm would not disclose its forward bookings, meaning he could not assess how much it was owed. But, Totally Travel chairman Harry Goodman, rubbished this and said he was still angry about how the firm was treated by E-Clear. He said: “Why would he sign a personal guarantee to get rid of us, why not just pay up? We were a client for four years and we were always open with themhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/23/3113/e-clear-boss-denies-responsibility-for-globespan-collapse.htmlCCPWed, 23 Dec 2009 09:00:00 -00:00 E-Clear boss Elias Elia has said discussions with PricewaterhouseCoopers over the administration of Scottish operator Globespan are proceeding well. Although he would not comment on PwC’s request that the £35 million his credit card processing firm owed the firm to be put into a joint account, he said he was confident of a positive outcome. “We are collaborating very well with PwC, we are getting on extremely well,” he told Travolution's sister title travelweekly.co.uk following a second day of discussions this week. Asked about the collapse of Allbury Travel Group last Friday, the operator that was owned by another of Elia’s companies, he said it had “surrendered its ATOL licence”. He said the company was in a positive state financially before the collapse. “Companies do not go down in December,” he said. And he described the decision to surrender the licence as “strategic” and “nothing to do with E-Clear” although he would not disclose whahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/22/3110/brits-to-spend-1700-on-leisure-travel-in-2010.htmlCCPTue, 22 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -00:00Britons are expecting to spend more than £1,700 on leisure travel next year according to a TripAdvisor survey.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/22/3105/travolution-summit-will-herald-start-of-new-decade.htmlCCPTue, 22 Dec 2009 11:30:00 -00:00This year’s Travolution Summit will herald the start of a new decade and look forward to what the industry can expect in the next 10 years and beyond. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/22/3107/price-comparison-sites-will-come-of-age-in-2010.htmlCCPTue, 22 Dec 2009 11:30:00 -00:00Price comparison sites will come of age in 2010 according to predictions for European online travel from PhocusWright.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/22/3103/bravo-car-hire-signs-deal-with-text-messaging-centre.htmlCCPTue, 22 Dec 2009 10:29:00 -00:00Spanish online car hire broker Bravo Car Hire has started communicating with customers by text after agreeing a deal to use the services provided by Text Messaging Centre. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/22/3104/pegasus-reports-bookings-surge.htmlCCPTue, 22 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -00:00 Technology firm Pegasus Solutions has reported a surge in both corporate and leisure bookings in November. The latest Pegasus View, which collates GDS and ADS (alternative distribution system) data,  found a 13.28% increase in corporate bookings and 2.09% in leisure on November 2008. The report revealed that November was the strongest month this year, based on a year-on-year comparison, and improvements seen in the US in October had now been replicated globally. The findings suggest the business travel sector, which has been hit hard by the recession as corporate reign in on spending, might be showing signs of a tentative revival. Adding to the air of optimism, Pegasus also said November was the first month in 2009 that other key indicators like net average daily rate at hotels, net average length of stay and net revenue were up on 2008. However, Mike Kistner, chief executive of Pegasus Solutions urged caution in drawing overly posihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/22/3108/ba-and-amadeus-sign-three-year-deal.htmlCCPTue, 22 Dec 2009 08:00:00 -00:00 British Airways and Amadeus have signed a three year extension of their content agreement taking it up to 2013. The renewed agreement guarantees full-content access to Amadeus users worldwide, ensuring travel agents have access to the same range of fares through Amadeus as they would through the airline’s website.      John Mornement, head of selling and distribution at British Airways, said: “Amadeus is a trusted and important distribution channel and we are delighted to have reached an agreement that continues to give Amadeus agents worldwide access to our fares and which reduces our distribution costs.”   The full range of British Airways’ fares, schedules and inventory made available through the Amadeus system will be the same as those offered through any direct or indirect channel, distribution provider or website. Amadeus users can continue to access and book fares and inventory that the airline makes available to the pubhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/22/3090/holiday-cottages-tv-campaign-to-go-live-on-boxing-day.htmlCCPTue, 22 Dec 2009 03:00:00 -00:00This Boxing Day will see leading domestic cottage rental supplier Holiday Cottages Group launch its first television campaign in the UK for three yearshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/21/3100/iglu.com-secures-4.3m-investment.htmlCCPMon, 21 Dec 2009 05:00:00 -00:00 Iglu.com, the online retailer of ski and cruise holidays, has secured a £4.3 million investment from a private equity firm. The deal sees Matrix Private Equity Partners take a 35% stake in the Wimbledon-based firm.  Original investors Sussex Place Investment Management, Barclays Ventures and Geocapital Partners have cut their ties with the firm.  “We're heading for exciting and more profitable waters,” Iglu's founder and chief executive Richard Downs said. Downs remains in charge at the company along with sales and marketing director Simone Clark. Downs added: “I'm delighted Matrix want to be part of the next chapter of our growth story.” Matrix partner Bob Henry added: “We are investing in Iglu.com because it is solid and cash generative, with a strong management team that have a successful track record of building a profitable, niche business.” The Iglu concept was devised by Downs as he was doing an MBA course at London Business Shttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/21/3101/royal-caribbean-receives-finance-for-allure-of-the-seas.htmlCCPMon, 21 Dec 2009 05:00:00 -00:00 Royal Caribbean Cruises has revealed financing has been put in place for the second of its 5,400-passenger ships, the world’s largest ever built. The world’s second largest cruise operator today announced it had secured $1.13 billion, or 80% of the cost of Allure of the Seas, sister ship to Oasis of the Seas, which was launched last month. In a statement Royal Caribbean said the facility will be 95% guaranteed by Finnvera, the official export credit agency of Finland, over a 12 year period. In addition, banks BNP Paribas, Citibank, Nordea Bank and SEB have each committed to provide 25% of the financing and each has a seven year option. The company has an option of a floating or fixed rate of interest. Royal Caribbean said the commitments are subject only to "customary closing conditions." http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/21/3099/travelzoo-uk-subscribers-to-travel-more-in-2010.htmlCCPMon, 21 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -00:00 Publisher of online deals Travelzoo has found its UK subscribers are the most likely in Europe to increase how much they travel in 2010 compared to 2009. The survey of 9,359 of the 3.5 million European subscribers, which was carried out between November 22 and December 7,  found 42% plan to travel more and 25% plan to travel the same amount. But respondents in the UK, where Travelzoo claims over 1.6 million subscribers, were found to be more optimistic with 55% saying they plan to travel more than in 2009. They also plan to travel more frequently that respondents on the Continent with 66% saying they would take one to two holidays and 31% planning three breaks. Two thirds were planning to take a short break between December and May, although 91% said they were still to book travel for 2010. Spain topped the destinations people expect to visit an three quarters of trips will be overseas, according to the results of the survey. Thhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/18/3097/thomas-cook-to-use-comtec-travelink-system-in-interim.htmlCCPFri, 18 Dec 2009 01:15:00 -00:00 Thomas Cook has integrated Comtec’s Travelink system for its Signature brands and Gold Medal in a move that has been described by the operator as ‘interim’. The move follows the collapse of BlueSky Travel Systems, the operator’s core reservations technology supplier, in October. Thomas Cook acquired the intellectual property rights of BlueSky and its iTour system for an undisclosed sum at the end of October. The operator also took on a number of former BlueSky staff on temporary contracts. A statement from the operator in November confirmed the purchase of ‘certain assets’, and said the move would enable it to ‘move ahead with its plans for the iTour system.’ BlueSky won the £20 million contract to develop a multi-channel reservation system for Thomas Cook. Neither Thomas Cook or Comtec were prepared to comment other than to confirm the move was ‘interim’. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/18/3094/thomson-to-launch-bespoke-deals-alert-for-customers.htmlCCPFri, 18 Dec 2009 01:00:00 -00:00 Thomson will keep its “holidays built with you in mind” tagline for its peak season TV adverts,  with email marketing forming a large part of the overall campaign. In January, its e-CRM team will launch an initiative called MyHolidayAlerts. Customers who sign up will receive an email containing deals and offers from the entire Thomson and First Choice package holiday range, based on preferences. Thomson will attract people to the alerts using banners on the Thomson and First Choice web sites, and also through its other CRM channels. Customers can also decide how often they will receive the alerts, such as every day, every three days or once a week. Elsewhere, its standard email shot to customers will be personalized according to what the customer searches for on Thomson.co.uk or firstchoice.co.uk. Previously emails were personalized according to what was clicked on in the emails. Thomson will also start to include its customer feedback scores for thehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/18/3095/egypt-tops-holiday-search-charts-at-start-of-winter.htmlCCPFri, 18 Dec 2009 12:50:00 -00:00 Search marketing agency Greenlight has released its analysis of holiday sector searches for October with Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, emerging as the most-searched for destination. The agency identified 5.3m holiday searches in October which came from the top 3,200 keywords. The results were broken down into 2.3m generic searches, 1.2m for short-haul destinations and 1.8m for long-haul. The most popular search terms were “cheap holidays and “holidays” which accounted for 8% each of the total. However, “Sharm el Sheikh holidays” and “Turkey Holidays” each accounted for 5%, with “Egypt holidays” picking up another 2% of the total. At the start of the winter season, “ski holidays” accounted for 5% of the total number of searches.The study ranks the “visibility” of travel brands by looking at how often they appear on the first page of Google natural search results. Overall, directline-holidays.co.uk is the most visible, with a ranking of 64%. It is followed by holidayhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/18/3096/tripit-integrates-with-facebook-connect.htmlCCPFri, 18 Dec 2009 12:45:00 -00:00 Itinerary planning specialist TripIt has integrated its service with Facebook Connect. The move enables travellers to share details of forthcoming trips with friends and family on Facebook. The company said it was prompted to integrate with the social network following demand from customers. TripIt already has a travel application on LinkedIn and recently unveiled mobile applications for the iPhone and Android. A service for Blackberries is currently in development. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/18/3098/call-uma-honoured-at-co-op-star-awards.htmlCCPFri, 18 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -00:00 Cruise giant Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and mobile phone text service operator Call Uma shared the spoils in the innovation category at this year's Co-operative Travel Star Awards. Now in their second year, the awards mark the achievements of key commercial partners the Co-op works with and most are voted for either by customers or employees. However, this year it was decided to have two judged awards, one for innovation and one for sustainability, which firms had to submit an entry for. Shaun Hinds, the Co-op's commercial director, said the judging panel could not separate the joint winners and he also commended the entry by Bourne Leisure for it's Ocean Hotel, opened in Bognor Regis earlier this year. Royal Caribbean last month launched the world's largest cruise ship, the 5,400-passenger Oasis of the Seas and Call Uma has struck a partnership with the Co-op which promotes its information text services as part of a co-branded agreement. Thehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/17/3093/press-release-gds-revenue-increases-13.htmlCCPThu, 17 Dec 2009 04:00:00 -00:00 DALLAS and LONDON, December 17, 2009: Pegasus Solutions has issued The Pegasus View for November 2009, which draws from global distribution system (GDS) and alternative distribution system (ADS) booking data processed by the company for more than 90,000 hotels worldwide during the month. November showed the first year-on-year increase in net revenue for each channel, with GDS, mostly corporate bookings, jumping +13.28%, and ADS, mostly leisure bookings, climbing +2.09% over 2008 levels. Additionally, the report shows GDS bookings had the strongest comparative month this year. GDS gains, previously limited in the October 2009 Pegasus View to North America, have now spread to all regions globally. November 2009 is also the first month that all measures for the global GDS - net reservations, net average daily rate (ADR), net average length of stay (LOS) and net revenue – are positive compared to November 2008. . While these findings are encouraging, the comparisons canhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/17/3092/non-european-destinations-rule-in-ebookers-2010-hot-list.htmlCCPThu, 17 Dec 2009 08:00:00 -00:00Many of 2010's hot destinations will be outside of Europe, according to ebookers.com booking datahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/17/3091/travel-loyalty-schemes-should-focus-on-middle-tier-customers-in-2010.htmlCCPThu, 17 Dec 2009 03:00:00 -00:00Airlines and hotel operators have been warned they could be planning to target the wrong customer groups as they look to boost the profitability of their loyalty schemes in 2010http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/16/3087/kayak-updates-iphone-app.htmlCCPWed, 16 Dec 2009 11:00:00 -00:00Leading global search engine Kayak has launched a 2.0 version of its iPhone application claiming it offers users an enhanced and quicker servicehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/16/3088/gekko.com-adds-hotel-matching-tool.htmlCCPWed, 16 Dec 2009 11:00:00 -00:00Hotel search website gekko.com has unveiled a new version of its site allowing users to find hotels that match their favourite places to stayhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/15/3086/tui-tipped-for-big-jamaica-deal.htmlCCPTue, 15 Dec 2009 11:11:00 -00:00TUI Travel has been talking to the Jamaican government about bringing in a guaranteed number of tourists to the island, according to local reportshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/15/3080/wttc-signs-5m-multi-channel-deal-with-broadcasters-press-release.htmlCCPTue, 15 Dec 2009 11:00:00 -00:00The World Travel and Tourism Council has named CNBC, National Geographic Channel and Sky News as its official broadcast partners http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/15/3082/datalex-implementation-a-success-says-sta-travel.htmlCCPTue, 15 Dec 2009 11:00:00 -00:00STA Travel has said it hopes to continue with the rollout of its new Datalex Travel Distribution system after a successful introduction to 300 branches worldwidehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/15/3083/easyjet-to-launch-group-planning-app-for-facebook.htmlCCPTue, 15 Dec 2009 11:00:00 -00:00EasyJet has developed a group planning application for Facebook enabling users to discuss and share plans before booking.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/15/3084/monarch-to-launch-mobile-service-with-travel-buddy.htmlCCPTue, 15 Dec 2009 11:00:00 -00:00Monarch Airlines has agreed a three-year deal with Travel Buddy to supply customers with information updates on their mobile phoneshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/15/3085/bales-worldwide-acquired-by-virgin-holidays.htmlCCPTue, 15 Dec 2009 11:00:00 -00:00Bales Worldwide has been purchased by Virgin Holidays, but says there will be 'no changes' to the brand or teamhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/15/3081/offermeatrip-gives-travel-agents-tools-to-pitch-online.htmlCCPTue, 15 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -00:00A start-up combining the expertise of travel agents with online technology is to be unveiled in January.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/15/3079/comparison-site-tops-natural-search-charts.htmlCCPTue, 15 Dec 2009 09:00:00 -00:00Carrentals.co.uk, part of Expedia Inc’s Hotwire Group, was the most visible car hire web site during September, according to Greenlight search agencyhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/11/3077/holiday-cottages-launches-tv-campaign-and-online-investment.htmlCCPFri, 11 Dec 2009 12:15:00 -00:00Holiday Cottages Group is planning a television advertising campaign to run from Boxing Day to March.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/11/3078/dft-unveils-atol-consultation.htmlCCPFri, 11 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -00:00The Department for Transport (DfT) has unveiled plans to improve the ATOL scheme in a 12-week consultation launched today.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/11/3075/travel-companies-stay-of-execution-to-expire.htmlCCPFri, 11 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -00:00A top travel accountant has warned that there will be more travel company failures in 2010 as investors’ patience runs out.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/11/3076/egencia-spreads-its-wings.htmlCCPFri, 11 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -00:00Expedia Inc’s wholly owned travel management company Egencia has launched the Egencia Global Alliance (EGA) to help speed its development as a global travel management company (TMC). http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/11/3074/press-release-opodo-inks-two-year-deal-with-affiliate-window.htmlCCPFri, 11 Dec 2009 11:00:00 -00:00Opodo, the leading pan-European online travel company specialising in worldwide travel, have signed an exclusive two-year contract with Affiliate Window appointing them as their sole UK affiliate networkhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/10/3073/mobile-social-media-and-payment-methods-tipped-for-2010-innovation.htmlCCPThu, 10 Dec 2009 02:00:00 -00:00Mobile, the monetisation of social media and new holiday payment methods were hotly tipped as areas for innovation in 2010 at Travolution Question Time this weekhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/09/3072/press-release-holiday-cottages-hires-two-agencies-for-digital-marketing-brief.htmlCCPWed, 09 Dec 2009 12:00:00 -00:00Holiday Cottages Group, the UK’s number one holiday cottage rental agency has announced the appointment of Efficient Frontier and Essence to a joint digital marketing brief in 2010. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/08/3070/uk-outbound-traffic-most-severely-hit-in-europe-says-itb-report.htmlCCPTue, 08 Dec 2009 11:00:00 -00:00Outbound traffic from the UK was the most severely hit in Europe during the first eight months of this year, figures from ITB’s World Travel Trends Report have revealed.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/08/3071/laterooms.com-beats-otas-in-latest-study.htmlCCPTue, 08 Dec 2009 11:00:00 -00:00Laterooms beats OTAs in latest studyhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/08/3069/anite-travel-shifts-to-annual-licences.htmlCCPTue, 08 Dec 2009 10:33:00 -00:00Technology provider Anite Travel has recorded a drop in revenues and operating profits following the loss of contracts with MyTravel and XL Leisure Group.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/08/3068/guestcentric-unveils-social-media-tools.htmlCCPTue, 08 Dec 2009 10:15:00 -00:00GuestCentric unveils social media toolshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/08/3065/sheraton-hotels.htmlCCPTue, 08 Dec 2009 09:00:00 -00:00Sheraton Hotels & Resorts has created its own online social media platform to encourage guests to share their travel experiences.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/08/3066/first-choice-appoints-commission-junction.htmlCCPTue, 08 Dec 2009 07:00:00 -00:00First Choice has appointed Commission Junction to manage its affiliate programme for the next 12 months.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/04/3063/travel-companies-advised-not-to-compare-economic-cycles.htmlCCPFri, 04 Dec 2009 10:30:00 -00:00Travel companies have been advised not to compare the past 12 months with previous economic cycles as the sector continues to battle with extreme trading conditions.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/04/3061/travelsupermarket-to-introduce-news-and-destination-guides.htmlCCPFri, 04 Dec 2009 10:13:00 -00:00Travelsupermarket will introduce news and destination guides before Christmas in a bid to widen its brief beyond price comparison.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/04/3062/press-release-ticketmaster.com-launches-bazaarvoice-ratings-and-reviews.htmlCCPFri, 04 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -00:00Ticketmaster.com has launched the Bazaarvoice social commerce platform with Ratings and Reviewshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/04/3064/press-release-lanyon-secures-10m-expansion-funding.htmlCCPFri, 04 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -00:00Lanyon, Inc., the leading provider of content, bid and spend management solutions to the global travel and hospitality industries, today announced that it has received $10 million in expansion funding from Frontier Capitalhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/04/3059/hotel-review-site-oyster-responds-to-job-cut-claims.htmlCCPFri, 04 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -00:00Hotel review service Oyster has responded to claims by US site Gawker that is has made ‘massive’ job cuts. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/04/3060/press-release-accorhotels.com-launches-iphone-application.htmlCCPFri, 04 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -00:00As of December 4, 2009 accorhotels.com is providing iPhone users with free access to an application that will enable them to book a room in 3,000 Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Mercure, Novotel, Suitehotel, Adagio, ibis, all seasons, Etap Hotel, Formule 1 and hotelF1 hotels directly from their iPhone. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/02/3057/ebookers-in-major-structural-shake-up.htmlCCPWed, 02 Dec 2009 09:25:00 -00:00 ebookers president Tamer Tamar has reorganised the European operations into three regions and announced a new B2B Europe unit to focus on media and private-label revenue opportunities for the brand. He told Travolution that ebookers was “looking to accelerate growth into 2010”. Central to the growth and a key driver of the reorganisation is the common platform on which all twelve ebookers’ European point of sales operate on. “ I think we now have the best platform in Europe of any online travel agent,” he said, “and it has given us the ability to start being more ambitious.” Ebookers is using the same platform as Orbitz in the US and a number of initiatives which have gone live in Europe such as its “innovative mapping and the live chat function”, have already been tried and tested in Europe. Tamar said that the platform is being upgraded in the next few weeks which should make it even easier for European sites to add proven functionality from the US. Thhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/02/3058/conde-nast-digital-to-launch-hotel-booking-service.htmlCCPWed, 02 Dec 2009 09:23:00 -00:00 Condé Nast Digital Britain is delighted to launch a new online hotel booking service, in partnership with TRAVEL INTELLIGENCE.  The service ( www.cntraveller.com/bookings ) will be released to the Web during the first week of December 2009, as an integral element of the re-launch of the CNTRAVELLER.COM site.  Nearly half of UK travel is booked online, and this is only set to increase. The new bookings service will ensure the best possible online experience for users of the site, and signifies a crucial move for Condé Nast Digital into e-commerce, creating a brand new revenue stream for the company, operating under a revenue share deal with TRAVEL INTELLIGENCE.  Emanuela Pignataro, Country Manager for Condé Nast Digital Britain, comments, “Sharing many of CONDÉ NAST TRAVELLER’s values, TRAVEL INTELLIGENCE has vast expertise in delivering the high level of service that the magazine’s clients and readers expect.  This unique partnershihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/01/3050/tui-consumer-bed-banks-up-17-on-last-year.htmlCCPTue, 01 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -00:00 TUI Travel’s B2C bedbanks – laterooms.com, asiarooms.com and hotelopia - booked 17% more room nights during the year to end-September. A presentation to analysts this morning revealed that TUI sees B2C accommodation services as a key growth area within its specialist operations. The growth strategy is to organically grow existing businesses while expanding into new markets. Laterooms  has recently launched a web site in Italian and now has local language versions in France, Spain and Germany. Currently 95% of customers are from the UK while 90% of its bookings are for stays in the UK.  Laterooms sees the opportunity to grow not only its 10% market share in the UK but also in Europe, where it has less than 1% of the market. TUI also revealed that the total transaction value for laterooms.com was £250m, 45% up year-on-year. The web site attracts 3.1m unique users a month. Asiarooms.com netted a total transaction value during the yearhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/01/3051/thomas-cook-targets-european-ota-market.htmlCCPTue, 01 Dec 2009 09:50:00 -00:00 Thomas Cook Group has put running an international online travel agency business at the heart of its long-term growth plans. Europe’s second biggest leisure travel operator told the City yesterday: “We are restructuring our independent business and targeting significant long term growth in the European online travel agency (OTA) market”. Talking to journalists, chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa added: [In two to three years’ time] you will see a much larger e-commerce based business. About 25% of our web bookings are coming from the internet but you will see that increase to about 35-40%. “You’ll also see Thomas Cook competing with Expedia, Priceline and lastminute in their space as well, and we’ll have a much bigger presence in that market.” He ruled out acquisitions as a means of increasing its web presence, talking instead about “building partnerships and competing successfully.” A spokesperson told Travolution that a dedicated online trhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/01/3052/european-train-booking-system-scrapped.htmlCCPTue, 01 Dec 2009 09:45:00 -00:00 Eurostar has confirmed that plans for a pan-European rail booking system have been shelved because of the costs and complexity. The UK-based operator was a founding member of Railteam, which was set up in 2007,  alongside six other European railway operators including Deutsche Bahn and SNCF. It held a press conference on Friday to announce its “achievements and priorities moving forward”. The decision to abandon the booking engine was not mentioned in the press release and only became apparent during the Q&A after a presentation. A Eurostar spokesperson confirmed that the booking engine had been dropped because it was going to cost significantly more than the €30m originally earmarked. The BBC quoted Eurostar’s Lesley  Retallack: "All seven high-speed operators thought the platform would be a good idea but once we started looking at the system in detail we realised that it would be very complicated and therefore extremely expensive." Ithttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/01/3053/small-businesses-prove-most-resilient.htmlCCPTue, 01 Dec 2009 09:35:00 -00:00 The UK business community is at its strongest since July last year with smaller businesses the most resilient, according to the latest Insolvency Index from Experian. The global information services company has released research showing that although the average business insolvency rate increased slightly in October, the average financial strength score of active businesses reached 81.14 during October, compared to 79.80 in October 2008.  The financial strength score predicts the likelihood of a business failing in the next 12 months with 100 being the least likely to collapse. The figures show that businesses are generally in a stronger financial position than previously with a smaller chance of failure in the coming year.   The insolvency rate, calculated by comparing the number of businesses that failed with the total number of businesses in the UK, rose from 0.09 per cent in September this year to 0.10 per cent in October, or 10 businesses in evehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/01/3055/responsibletravel.com-to-offer-carbon-comparison-flight.htmlCCPTue, 01 Dec 2009 09:32:00 -00:00 Responsibletravel.com has announced today that it will offer travellers a flight search which compares not only prices, but carbon emissions of different airlines for requested routes. Following on from responsibletravel.com's carbon reduction campaign (and decision to remove carbon offsetting) launched last month it is a move that adds a tangible dimension to the "when you fly make it count" advice set out on the carbon caution page of the site: www.responsibletravel.com/carboncaution Justin Francis, MD, responsibletravel.com said: "We were the first travel agency to enable tourists to make an informed choice about the holidays they book - based on how they address the social, economic and environmental impacts. "It is exciting to be at the next stage and be the first to offer informed choices, based on carbon emissions, when booking flights. Ultimately we all need to take resphttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/01/3054/ryanair-to-accept-mastercard-prepaid-for-free.htmlCCPTue, 01 Dec 2009 09:30:00 -00:00Ryanair has announced that it will accept the MasterCard Prepaid card as its free form of payment from 1st December and its Visa Electron promotion will end one month later on 31st December.  From 1st January the Visa Electron payment card will attract a €5 administration charge while MasterCard Prepaid will become the sole free from of payment on www.ryanair.com .   The MasterCard Prepaid card is much more widely available than Visa Electron and can be picked up from financial institutions/ card issuers throughout Europe (including Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands and Portugal) and online.  Ryanair will accept both MasterCard Prepaid and Visa Electron as free forms of payment for all bookings during the month of December.   MasterCard Prepaid cards will not only provide savings on Ryanair flights but can also be used to withdraw money from ATMs and make retail purchases in shops and online.   To celebrate its new free paymenthttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/12/01/3056/edreams-becomes-ettsa-member.htmlCCPTue, 01 Dec 2009 09:15:00 -00:00 eDreams, the fast-growing e-commerce travel company headquartered in Spain, is the latest to join like-minded members of the European Technology and Travel Services Association (ETTSA). ETTSA’s mission is to raise awareness of the business and holiday travel benefits provided to consumers by travel distributors and technology providers. Its European policymaking priorities currently include: • Abusive fares and surcharges imposed by some travel providers • Airline measures preventing price comparison • EU investigations into airline alliances and consolidation • Revision of the EU Directives on Package Travel and Consumer Rights Technology has substantially changed the travel and tourism market, making it easier for corporate and individual consumers alike to make informed and cost-effective choices. Online travel distribution is a vital force in the European economy, providing jobs throughout the region. “eDreams shares http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/26/3049/travel-companies-to-focus-on-social-media-in-2010.htmlCCPThu, 26 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -00:00 Social media is seen as the greatest challenge in online marketing for 2010, according to a survey from search marketing specialist Bigmouthmedia . The company surveyed the industry to gauge views on online marketing spend going forward as well as perceived challenges and opportunities . Despite social media being seen as a challenge, respondents described initiatives in the area as their top innovations this year as well as those planned for 2010. When it came to marketing spend, online continues to get an increasing share of the total budget – up from 39% in 2008, 50% in 2009 and an estimated 57% in 2010. However, some areas within travel, such as travel comparison sites, holiday rental specialists and online travel agencies, are anticipating spending more than 80% of their total marketing budgets online. Paid shttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/26/3048/bbc-trust-to-keep-an-eye-on-lonely-planet.htmlCCPThu, 26 Nov 2009 12:30:00 -00:00 The BBC Trust has said that it will keep the long-term future of BBC Worldwide’s investment in Lonely Planet under review as part of a rethink about the role of the state-owned broadcaster’s commercial arm. A report released this week provided “a series of changes to the future remit" for BBC Worldwide. The broadcaster paid £89.9m for a 75% in the guide book brand in October 2007. The BBC’s annual report released this July revealed that Lonely Planet racked up losses of £9.6m during the first eighteen months in BBC Worldwide ownership. While the Trust’s report does not make a value judgment on the economics of the deal, it says; “[We] would not expect to consider a commercial deal of the scale and nature of the Lonely Planet acquisition in future. “The Trust will want to ensure that BBC Worldwide’s plans for Lonely Planet secure the best value for licence fee payers and will keep its long-term future under review.” BBC Worldwide hashttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/26/3045/bahamas-enlists-fox-kalomaski-for-online-campaign.htmlCCPThu, 26 Nov 2009 11:30:00 -00:00 The Bahamas Tourist Board has teamed up with marketing specialists Fox Kalomaski to raise awareness of what its individual islands offer through a six-month online campaign. The campaign began last month with a competition aimed at up and coming filmmakers, which attracted 138 entries. The next stage of the process is for a judging panel to pick a shortlist of 14 to go to the Bahamas at the end of January and produce a three-minute film on one of the 14 islands. The filmmakers will also be expected to blog and tweet about their experiences whilst filming in late January. Gary Jacobs, chief executive of Fox Kalomaski, said using filmmakers was more cost effective than trying to produce film and would also help drive traffic to the tourist board’s website. “We looked at the cost of a 30 second video and it was about £250,000 so to get some great content and lovely film was out of the question but, this way we are helping the film industry which is on its knees.”<http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/26/3043/towergate-partnership-signs-agreement-with-calluma.htmlCCPThu, 26 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -00:00 Insurance intermediary Towergate Partnership  has signed a deal with travel services specialist CallUma to provide all its overseas holiday home customers with its ‘Pass The Phone’ interpretation and information service. The ‘Pass The Phone’ service gives clients the chance to call CallUma’s interpreters and have them speak directly to someone on their behalf, be it medical staff, utility companies or the emergency services. In the event that the customer requires an overseas tradesmen, CallUma’s staff will locate the appropriate trade and arrange everything for the customer 24 hours’ a day. Gavin Peacock ACII, Regional Development Manager at Towergate said: “The Pass-the-Phone service gives our customers access to an excellent and reliable service whilst abroad. Finding the right person when overseas can be a daunting prospect but with Pass-the-Phone, customers will benefit from peace of mind and a service that delivers.” CallUma founder and chief execuhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/26/3044/user-reviews-will-become-obsolete-says-oyster.htmlCCPThu, 26 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -00:00 User reviews generated anonymously will become obsolete moving forward as consumers seek professional advice backed up by recommendations from friends and family. This is the view of Elie Seidman, co-founder and chief executive of of US-based start-up Oyster , which is aiming to combine professionally generated reviews with validation from friends and peers via Facebook Connect. Oyster unveiled its service in June and currently provides hotel reviews for major cities in the US as well as Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Hawaii and the Bahamas. Seidman told Travolution there would be a shift in the next five to 10 years with consumers no longer seeing value in anonymous comments and reviews. “When we first launched we had our user comments wide open and we saw people commenting on their own reviews and properties so we closed down anonymous review content.” Oyster users, who want to comment, now hahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/26/3047/flipping-travel-brochures-offers-operators-free-uploads.htmlCCPThu, 26 Nov 2009 09:30:00 -00:00 Electronic brochure specialist Flipping Travel Brochures is enabling tour operators to upload their online brochures for free. The venture is part of 3sDPS which was formed by Paul Green, ex-managing director of Onlinetravelbrochures, last year. The company will also create electronic brochures at a cost of £2.20 per page. The service is integrated with Twitter to let users know when a new brochure has been added to the site. Brochure content on the site is also search engine friendly to help travel companies with natural listings. Leger Holidays and Exodus are already using the Flipping Travel Brochures page-turning system. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/24/3038/loughlin-promoted-to-travelzoo-chief-executive.htmlCCPTue, 24 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -00:00 Deals publisher Travelzoo has announced that Chris Loughlin, executive vice president for Europe, will take over as chief executive at the start of July next year. He will replace current boss Holger Bartel, who will take over from his brother Ralph as chairman of the board. Ralph, who has been chairman for more than a decade, remains with the business as a board member. The announcement follows on from last week’s news that Stephen Dunk , currently commercial director for the UK, has been promoted to operations director for Europe. His UK role is being taken over by Joel Brandon-Bravo who joins from Frommers. Loughlin’s promotion comes after eight years with the business. He started out as business development director in 2001, based in Silicon Valley. In 2003 he moved to Chicago to help with the North Ahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/24/3039/booking.com-lifts-paid-search-presence.htmlCCPTue, 24 Nov 2009 08:50:00 -00:00 Greenlight’s look at the search trends for the hotel sector during September found that laterooms remains the most visible hotel site in Google natural search, with booking.com topping the paid search rankings. The agency’s Hotel Sector Report Q3 09 found that laterooms.com kept its number one slot in the natural search visibility rankings, appearing on the first page of Google for 57% of the 9.6m hotel searches carried out in September. The TUI Travel-owned bedbank was significantly ahead of booking.com, hotels.co.uk and peremierinn.co.uk which all achieved a rating of 31%. The natural search visibility ratings are based on analysis of 1300 keywords. During the third quarter, these terms generated 29m searches from UK users of Google. The most popular term searched for during the quarter was “hotels” which was used for nearly one in four searches during the period. “Hotel”  and “London hotels” accounted for 9% each. However, in terms of pahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/24/3040/expedia-offers-rare-country-specific-insights.htmlCCPTue, 24 Nov 2009 08:45:00 -00:00 Expedia’s US press office has issued a release about its recently launched EasyManage programme for hoteliers, giving an indication of where its inventory growth efforts in Europe are concentrated. The biggest year on year growth is in Russia, where Expedia now has 80% more hotels on its books. In the UK, its supply has grown by 48% while France and Germany are 30%. Italy is up by 20%. As well as supply, the release also discusses actual transactions. In terms of the number of customers globally, Expedia and Hotels.com sent 21% more travellers to Italy than in 2008, 26% more to Greece and 31% more to Turkey. Room nights booked have also shot up in some destinations. Bookings from Expedia and hotels.com for the UK are 36% ahead, Russia is 28% ahead across all Expedia-branded sites while Spain is up 26% from hotels.com bookings alone. Dara Khosrowshahi, Expedia CEOhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/24/3041/tripit-expands-mobile-offering.htmlCCPTue, 24 Nov 2009 08:40:00 -00:00 Travel planning specialist TripIt has expanded its mobile offering to include an application for Android devices. The free service is in beta and follows the company’s launch of an iPhone application in April. The iPhone application has also been upgraded to support TripIt Pro users as well as offer a number of other travel tools. The company is also working on a service for Blackberry devices with launch planned before the end of the year.   http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/24/3042/myvouchercodes-to-launch-assault-on-holiday-market.htmlCCPTue, 24 Nov 2009 08:30:00 -00:00 The money saving website that revolutionised the way in which people spend and save money online has announced that it is launching an assault on the travel sector by bringing out Mega Deals & Savings Book filled with offers. www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk can today announce that after months of test mailings, focus groups and research the company will this January be rolling out a book of discounts that will be sent to millions of homes across the UK. The discount book will be the second of MyVoucherCodes large-scale offline marketing campaigns, the first being with MyVoucherCodes Christmas booklet during November and December of 2009. The number one site in the competitive voucher code sector, has just celebrated its 3rd birthday, with record sales figures. MyVoucherCodes.co.uk saved Brits a record £52million pounds during 2009, and can report sales of £481m. MyVoucherCodes is now in discussions with big nahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/23/3037/thomas-cook-appoints-site-intelligence-press-release.htmlCCPMon, 23 Nov 2009 05:00:00 -00:00 Site Intelligence has been chosen as the group-wide supplier of e-commerce analytics and business intelligence for Thomas Cook Group . The win means that Site Intelligence will retain its position as supplier of ecommerce analytics to Thomas Cook and has extended its services across key brands in the Thomas Cook Group such as Neilson Holidays, Fly Thomas Cook and Gold Medal. Site Intelligence will deliver traditional web analytics and reporting as well as group wide business performance management reporting to each of the Thomas Cook Group companies throughout Thomas Cook UK and Ireland. This appointment will enable Thomas Cook to centralise its measurement of all the group companies using the same metrics; it will provide a simplified system to compare the different business areas and ensure the business is operatinghttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/20/3036/brandon-bravo-to-join-travelzoo-in-uk-restructure.htmlCCPFri, 20 Nov 2009 10:05:00 -00:00 Deals publishing specialist Travelzoo is undergoing a restructure in the UK. It is believed current commercial director Stephen Dunk has been promoted to operations director for Europe. Joel Brandon-Bravo, who is currently general manager of Frommers Unlimited, has been recruited to take over Dunk’s role. Dunk has been with Travelzoo since March 2007. A spokesperson for Travelzoo said the company would be releasing full details of the restructure next week. Last week Travelzoo unveiled its deals publishing network in the UK with launch partners including fly.com, Skyscanner and Lonely Planet. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/20/3032/generic-terms-dominate-seat-only-searches.htmlCCPFri, 20 Nov 2009 09:45:00 -00:00 Greenlight’s latest look at Google search patterns in the UK has found a massive increase in the number of people using “flight” and other generic words as their search term. The digital agency’s Q3 Flight Sector Report found that in September the word 'flight' was used to generate 20.4m searches out of a total of 44m. In May, 'flight' accounted for only 2.7m searches from a total of 21m. Flight was used extensively in July and August as well. Greenlight found that the top 3,200 flight-related keywords accounted for 139m searches during the third quarter, reflecting the fact that it is the peak period for travel.  In Q2 the top 3,200 keywords resulted in 77m searches. This shift towards generic terms in Q3 led to a change in the visibility rankings of travel brands, with SkyScanner the major beneficiary.  It appeared on the first page of Google for 90% of the 44m searches carried out in September, way ahead of Cheapflights which came second wihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/20/3031/rough-guides-launches-mobile-app.htmlCCPFri, 20 Nov 2009 09:35:00 -00:00 Rough Guides is enabling consumers to access its content via travel applications on the Vodafone 360 Apps Shop. Each guide offers background information on each destination, a round-up of the best places to eat, drink and shop as well as what not to miss. The guides cost 49p each and also include images to give travellers a taste of the destination. Rough Guide has made 50 travel guide apps available with the launch of the Vodafone 360 Samsung H1 phone with plans for a further 150 destinations in the coming weeks. The guides will also be available on other handsets including the Vodafone 360 Samsung M1 and a range of Nokia Symbian smartphones.   The travel apps were created in partnership with Mobile Commerce. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/20/3034/marriott-international-relaunches-its-website.htmlCCPFri, 20 Nov 2009 09:25:00 -00:00 Hotel chain Marriott has unveiled the first stage of its revamped Marriott.com , with a new-look homepage prioritising the search box. The new home page has gone live this week for users in a number of key markets, including the UK. In  his blog , Marriott International chief executive Bill Marriott said: “When I started in the hotel business 52 years ago, the first impression customers had of our hotels was the lobby when they walked through the front doors. But in this digital age, often the first impression comes when they visit Marriott.com. It's our digital front door.” Marriott.com generated $6bn of revenues last year, which makes it the seventh largest online retailer. Shafiq Khan, senior vice president, e-Commerce for Marriott International, said that the site currently gets around 12m visitors a month and that 75http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/20/3033/travolution-to-name-power-brands-in-december-issue.htmlCCPFri, 20 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -00:00Discover the top 20 power brands in travel in the December edition of Travolution, which will be a digital-only issuehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/18/3029/traveller-journey-ripe-for-innovation-says-amadeus-poll.htmlCCPWed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -00:00The traveller journey is ripe for technological innovation according to a poll by distribution giant Amadeushttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/17/3028/amadeus-unveils-affinity-shopper-technology.htmlCCPTue, 17 Nov 2009 02:00:00 -00:00 Amadeus has unveiled technology unleashing consumers from the traditional online search parameters of destination and date. The global distribution giant has developed Affinity Shopper enabling consumers to provide a rough idea of where they might want to go, when and their budget. It also enables users to drill down by interests such as skiing or adventure holidays and then view options based on where they can go relevant to their interest and within their budget. Amadeus claims the technology returns options within milliseconds using caching technology which is refreshed every couple of seconds. Vice president of marketing and distribution Ian Wheeler said: “The travel industry forces you into a certain way of making a decision and if the traveller wants options they have to invest a huge amount of time on the internet.” Wheeler described the technology as a ‘revolution’ and said Affinity Shopper is part of a suite of ‘Extreme Search’ tools http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/17/3024/wtm-rich-content-more-cost-effective-than-ppc.htmlCCPTue, 17 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -00:00 Rich content is now one of the most important techniques for driving consumers to websites from natural search results. Speaking at the ‘Connect to Content’ session at World Travel Market, Frommer's Unlimited general manager Joel Brandon-Bravo said natural search had become the biggest battleground for travel companies. He also estimated that website content requires about half the investment of cost-per-click advertising. Frommer's conducted research among eight of its clients to reveal the content costs about 17p per visitor. This compares to the average cost-per-click in travel search of 33p according to US figures from Efficient Frontier released in the summer. Market figures show 70% of people click on natural search results. To get to the 17p cost per visitor, Frommer's divided the total investment in content against the number of unique visitors brought to a client’s website from natural search. The sample of eight clients included onlhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/17/3025/holiday-rating-specialist-zoover-set-to-expand.htmlCCPTue, 17 Nov 2009 09:50:00 -00:00 Holiday rating specialist Zoover plans to expand in Europe with new sites in the Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic next year. Chief executive Stephan Bosman said a total of 21 sites would be live from the beginning of the year. He added that the UK was still one of Zoover’s biggest markets but stressed the goal was not to be another Tripadvisor. The company also plans to unveil an English version of its MyZoover community in January. The service is currently available on its Dutch site and enables users to create a profile with travel pictures and videos. More than 20,000 profiles have already been created in Holland and Zoover is also working on integrating Facebook Connect and other social media networks. Zoover has  lined up several deals to enable tourist boards to take over its homepage for a week beginning in December with Australia. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/17/3026/expotel-acquires-latemeetings.com.htmlCCPTue, 17 Nov 2009 09:45:00 -00:00 Expotel has acquired LateMeetings.com, the real time online booking service, for an undisclosed sum. The £200m-a-year hotel and travel management services group currently places over 20,000 conferences and meetings annually and expects the acquisition to lead to significant growth in this market. Comments Ian Burnley, CEO for Expotel, 'LateMeetings.com delivers the advantages of immediacy, connectivity, 24/7 accessibility, internationality and sustainability.  Increasingly these will be the values that corporate and public sector buyers, as well as venue operators, will rate most highly' Burnley adds, 'this expansion should be seen as integral to the development of our recently re-launched expotel.com online presence.  Whilst call centre bookings will continue to dominate, within five years perhaps 25% of all business event transactions will be web-driven'. LateMeetings.com directors John Gallery and Chris Martins are being retained as cohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/17/3023/brittany-ferries-sees-natural-search-pickup.htmlCCPTue, 17 Nov 2009 09:30:00 -00:00 Brittany Ferries has experienced a significant improvement in the number of pages being indexed by Google since the relaunch of its site. The ferry operator teamed up with GOSS Interactive to redesign the site and introduced functionality to improve the booking and searching capability. The website uses GOSS Interactive’s iCM content management system. Brittany Ferries internet services manager Matt Randle said that in two months the number of pages indexed by the search giant had jumped from 3,000 to 308,000 improving the companies natural search results. The site now enables consumers to build their own holiday using a range of criteria and a filtering process. Brittany Ferries also plans to extend the redesign and new functionality to its French and Irish sites. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/17/3027/hp-signs-7-year-deal-with-pegasus-solutions.htmlCCPTue, 17 Nov 2009 09:24:00 -00:00 Palo Alto, Calif., Dallas, London, Nov. 16, 2009 – HP Enterprise Services and Pegasus Solutions, the leading provider of technology and services to hotels and travel distributors, today announced they have entered into a seven-year services agreement that will allow Pegasus to enhance customer service, deliver business innovation and serve new markets while at the same time improving cost-effectiveness. Under the agreement, HP will manage Pegasus’ industry-leading technology infrastructure, providing data center services including server, storage and network management for Pegasus and its clients, which include hotels and travel distributors around the world. HP also will provide its world-class disaster recovery services for Pegasus’ data center environment. “With our shared expertise in the travel industry, a relationship between Pegasus and HP was a natural move,” said Mike Kistner, chief executive officer, Pegasus Solutions. “The integration of Pegasus’ RezView®http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/17/3022/easyjet-profits-plunge-amid-high-fuel-costs.htmlCCPTue, 17 Nov 2009 09:20:00 -00:00 EasyJet's profits have dropped by 50% to 54.7 million for the year to September, despite increases in passenger numbers, load factors and market share. The airline blamed higher fuel costs for the drop in profits, with fuel costs for the year £86.1 million higher than last year. However, a number of key indicators were positive. The airline managed to increase its market share of the overall European short- haul market, carrying 45.2m passengers during the year, 3.4% ahead. Load factors were up by 1.2% to 85.5%. Overall capacity, measured in terms of seats flow, was 1.8% up. In the UK, capacity at Gatwick was increased by 12%, giving easyJet a 30% share of the airport. Elsewhere, it reduced capacity at weaker performing markets such as Luton and the UK regions. In Europe, capacity was lifted in France, Italy and Spain by 30%, 78% and 16% respectively. Business travel is an important part of easyJet's business, with 15% of businhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/13/3021/lee-hayhurst-appointed-editor-of-travolution.htmlCCPFri, 13 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -00:00Lee Hayhurst, currently news editor of travel trade title TTG, is to take over as Travolution editor in Decemberhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/13/3019/web-reservations-international-in-private-equity-buyout.htmlCCPFri, 13 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -00:00 Dublin-based Web Reservations International has been bought by San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman & Friedmann. While WRI’s flagship brand is hostelworld.com, it also owns  hostels.com , boo.com , bedandbreakfastworld.com and trav.com .  In 2008 it recorded net revenues of €38m on the back of sales worth €350m, resulting in an operating profit of €19.6m. The business was rumoured to be on the market for £275m. The price paid is not disclosed in this morning’s announcement. In October, Hellman & Friedmann closed an $8.8bn investment fund. It said at the time that the fund “will fochttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/13/3014/top-travel-sites-show-poor-load-times.htmlCCPFri, 13 Nov 2009 09:50:00 -00:00 Consumers are waiting anything from six seconds to more than 30 seconds for the homepage’s of the top ranking travel sites to load. Web management specialist Gomez tested a range of Hitwise top travel sites over a four week period in October to find complete load times range from just over six seconds to more than 30 seconds. Industry reports show consumers are turned off when websites fail to respond quickly, with Aberdeen Group saying business performance suffers when web pages take longer than five seconds. All of the companies in the Gomez study failed to meet the five second threshold with some taking more than 30 seconds to fully load homepage content. Sites such as easyJet, Thomas Cook and the TrainLine were among those tested with the low-cost airline emerging as having one of the best average response times. Rivals such as Ryanair and British Airways did not perform as well. Gomez measures how quickly visitors can access conhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/13/3013/wtm-google-travel-searches-rise-despite-recession.htmlCCPFri, 13 Nov 2009 09:45:00 -00:00The number of travel searches carried out on Google has continued to grow despite the recession. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/13/3015/wtm-hilton-sees-spike-in-mobile-revenue.htmlCCPFri, 13 Nov 2009 09:40:00 -00:00 Hilton Hotels Corporation has seen a massive spike in revenue from its mobile channel in the past year. The hotel giant has reported a return on investment of $44 for every $1 invested in mobile in 2009, compared with a $22 return for every $1 invested in 2008. Speaking at the EyeforTravel conference at World Travel Market, director of website strategy and testing Chris La Rose, said the return on investment had been achieved without marketing. He also said the company had seen a 59% mobile revenue increase for the third quarter of 2009 compared with the first quarter of the year. La Rose added that mobile investment was 0.1% of Hilton’s online spend. “It’s going to explode. I see a day when mobile will do more business than online. We are having the same conversations about mobile that we had about online 10 years ago.” He also said the company wanted to be device agnostic and expand internationally with some of the functionalihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/13/3017/indian-ota-yatra-seeks-offline-agent-partners.htmlCCPFri, 13 Nov 2009 09:35:00 -00:00 India-based online agency Yatra is looking to partner with UK offline agents for its newly developed itinerary building service. The OTA wants to make its content rich 'build your own package' tool available to traditional UK agents because of customers' propensity to book long-haul travel face to face. In India, the tool will be available direct to consumers. Yatra chief executive Dhruv Shringi said turnaround times for agents in the UK to get a response from local suppliers could be between 24 and 48 hours which in many cases meant losing the customer. The 'build your own package' service offers the latest pricing and availability information as well as images, destination guides, YouTube videos and the ability to book flights, accommodation, car-hire and tours. It also includes sliders to help consumers choose theirhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/13/3018/booking.com-reports-gross-bookings-of-more-than-1-billion.htmlCCPFri, 13 Nov 2009 09:35:00 -00:00Priceline.com’s international businesses have reported gross bookings of more than £1bn in the July-September period this year.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/13/3016/expedia-deal-with-nokia-offers-global-hotel-booking-service-press-release.htmlCCPFri, 13 Nov 2009 09:30:00 -00:00Press release: Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN) together with mobile phone giant Nokia have today announced details of a new co-operation that will see the unique integration of Expedia’s hotel booking functionality with Nokia’s Ovi Maps mapping and navigation technology. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/13/3020/travel-republic-victory-reaction-from-trade.htmlCCPFri, 13 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -00:00 Travel Republic and its managing director Kane Pirie have been cleared of all charges relating to breaching ATOL regulations in a court victory that could see more travel companies operating without an ATOL licence. Judge Nicholas Evans delivered the not-guilty verdict at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday. In a case brought by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the online travel agency was accused of breaching ATOL regulations by selling unlicensed package holidays. In his judgment, Evans said the prosecution had failed to prove that Travel Republic did anything other than "sell components of holidays separately, but at the same time". Legal adviser to the Association of ATOL Companies, Alan Bowen, said the verdict was disappointing and surprising. "Other online agencies will see no reason to hold an ATOL if they can see there is a loophole through which they can operate. They will act as an agent so that they are not held responsiblhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/13/3012/wtm-relieving-confusion-is-key-to-web-success.htmlCCPFri, 13 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -00:00Buying holidays online is getting more complicated and the travel brands that can make it easier for customers will be the mosthttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/12/3011/ba-and-travelport-agree-new-long-term-deal.htmlCCPThu, 12 Nov 2009 04:25:00 -00:00Press release: Travelport, one of the world’s leading providers of global distribution systems (GDS) and operator of both the Galileo and Worldspan platforms, is the first GDS provider to reach a new long-term, global full content agreement with British Airways. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/12/3010/expedia-and-choice-hotels-international-sign-long-term-deal.htmlCCPThu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -00:00Press release: Choice Hotels International (NYSE: CHH) and Expedia, Inc., the world’s leading online travel company (NASDAQ: EXPE), today announced they have signed a new three-year agreement to include Choice Hotels International properties on the more than 80 Expedia® and Hotels.com®-branded sites that Expedia operates worldwide. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/10/3007/travel-republic-found-not-guilty.htmlCCPTue, 10 Nov 2009 10:45:00 -00:00Travel Republic has been found not guilty of breach of ATOL regulations. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/10/3006/lastminute.com-boss-hints-at-european-shift.htmlCCPTue, 10 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -00:00Lastminute.com remains committed to its full service online travel agency model, although chief executive Ian McCaig has acknowledged that the “sweet spot” is hotels. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/10/3005/online-travel-companies-shift-marketing-away-from-google-adwords-says-expert.htmlCCPTue, 10 Nov 2009 09:45:00 -00:00Online travel companies are devoting marketing funds away from Google Adwords to metasearch specialists, according to one expert.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/10/3004/erevmax-allows-hoteliers-to-manage-inventories.htmlCCPTue, 10 Nov 2009 09:30:00 -00:00eRevMax is enabling hoteliers to increase exposure and update rates, availability and descriptions on global distribution systems through direct connectivity. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/10/3009/rock-insurance-buys-online-broker-24drtravel.com.htmlCCPTue, 10 Nov 2009 09:20:00 -00:00Rock Insurance has made its third acquisition of the year with the purchase of online insurance broker 24drtravel.com.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/10/3008/appetite-grows-for-mobile-travel-services-says-sabre-survey.htmlCCPTue, 10 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -00:00Press release: Travellers both young and old are increasingly using mobile devices for flight notification, check in, and seat selection, and are also willing to accept advertising with free travel applications. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/09/3003/travelzoo-develops-deals-publishing-network.htmlCCPMon, 09 Nov 2009 01:30:00 -00:00Travelzoo has developed a deals publishing network and has already signed up partners including fly.com, Lonely Planet, Skyscanner and SimonSeeks. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/06/2998/exclusive-virgin-atlantic-to-track-online-campaigns-with-tagman.htmlCCPFri, 06 Nov 2009 10:05:00 -00:00 Virgin Atlantic has signed a deal with TagMan to track its online campaigns and avoid duplication affiliate fees. TagMan uses a web-based system to automatically add code to the airline’s web pages across 25 markets to enable tracking across campaigns, display advertising, natural and paid search, e-mail and affiliates. The technology saves time and avoids the process of manually creating code for web pages. Jon Baron, general manager of TagMan, said the system also saves money in terms of highlighting where affiliate sales channels have been paid twice for the same booking. “Because all the codes don’t talk to each other people have been getting two commissions for one sale,” he said. The company has carried out work for Thomas Cook and saved the operator 25% on its affiliate commission payments because of the de-duplication. “It gives you a single view of the customer over any time period and automates how you make those payments.” The tehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/06/2997/vic-darvey-to-leave-lastminute.com.htmlCCPFri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -00:00 Lastminute.com vice president of distribution Vic Darvey is to leave the business at the end of the year. In a statement, the company said Darvey is leaving to work in online financial trading. A Lastminute.com spokesman said: "We wish Vic the very best in his new role and also wanted to thank him for his amazing contribution and for developing strong leaders who are already in place to continue his good work." Darvey will not be replaced at the online travel agency. His team within the Distribution EMEA organisation will be absorbed into existing areas of the European business.   Affiliates will be moving to Mark Newton’s European Marketing team; Whitelabels will be moving to the B2C organisation under VP Patrick Hoffstetter; and business and new market development will be moving to VP Arnaldo Munoz.     http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/06/2999/turkey-tops-julys-google-searches.htmlCCPFri, 06 Nov 2009 09:55:00 -00:00 Turkey was the most searched for destination in July, according to Greenlight’s regular look at Google natural search results for the UK market. Greenlight analysed 3,200 keywords in the holiday category for the June, July and August period. In total, these terms delivered 29m searches to UK users  - around 9m in June, 11m in July and 9m in August. In July specifically, generic terms accounted for 56% of the 11m searches, short-haul destinations for 27% and long-haul for 17% “Turkey holidays”  was the most popular destination specific term in July, accounting for 6% or 637,000 searches . Cyprus holidays accounted for 3%, Sharm el Sheikh, Ibiza and Crete each picking up 2%. Spain holidays only had 1%. “Holidays” was the most popular term, accounting for one in four searches in July. “Cheap holidays” was used 11 % of the time. Greenlight also ranks brands according to how often they appear on the first page of Google for thhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/06/3000/ebookers-recovery-gathers-pace.htmlCCPFri, 06 Nov 2009 09:40:00 -00:00 Ebookers has recorded “double-digit increases” in its hotel room nights booked and dynamic packaging transactions during the third quarter of 2009. The increase in hotel room nights was 43% year-on-year, according to Barney Harford, chief executive of ebookers’ parent company Orbitz Worldwide. The increase in dynamic packaging transactions was not quantified. Talking to analysts on Orbitz’ Q3 earnings call this week, Harford explained that ebookers was seeing the benefits of its migration onto Orbitz’ global platform. “We’re reducing our dependancy on third parties to supply the inventory,” he said, “which was a relic of our relationship with GTA and Travelport. We’re now starting to optimise the relationship we have with the new hotels.” Another benefit from having ebookers on the same platform as Orbitz is that conversion rates have started to improve. Harford talked about the overall business being “better able to concentrate on the retail experihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/06/3001/housetrip-plans-social-media-campaign.htmlCCPFri, 06 Nov 2009 09:30:00 -00:00 Holiday rental specialist HouseTrip is planning social media campaigns using the groups function on the website. The company can put together seemingly diverse groups of properties and target them at a segment or interest group such as accommodation suitable for surfers. HouseTrip co-founder Ben Doyle said the company would then use social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter to target the groups. He also said further cities would be added to the site in the next few weeks, following its launch a month ago with accommodation in London, Berlin and Paris. “Our initial entry strategy was for those territories because they are popular but we will be spreading out to other cities.” Doyle also said partnerships with airlines were an obvious area for growth for the company. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/06/3002/homeaway-sees-40-growth.htmlCCPFri, 06 Nov 2009 09:20:00 -00:00Holiday rental specialist HomeAway claims to have increased revenue by 40% in the past year and is predicting similar growth for next year.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/04/2996/directski.com-acquires-skiingthealps.com-press-release.htmlCCPWed, 04 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -00:00 Directski.com, the UK’s fastest growing ski holiday company, has acquired the longest established and most comprehensive online source of European ski resort information, www.skiingthealps.com www.skiingthealps.com contains detailed information about more than 120 featured ski resorts, gathered over a 45 year period and compiled onto the site by skier and former site editor, Paul Youden.   New owners, Directski.com, say they will continue to invest in the site level by adding more regularly updated content, resort reviews, news stories and ski deals. They will maintain the site’s popular features, covering snow reports, information about travelling with families, driving holidays, travel by train and air and ski insurance. They also plan to add in new ski holiday offers, bookable online via the site. Owner and founder of Directski.com, Anthony Collins, said “While maintaining all the elements that have made Skiingthehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/04/2995/sta-travel-launches-iphone-ad-campaign.htmlCCPWed, 04 Nov 2009 03:00:00 -00:00 London, 4 November 2009 – STA Travel, the global travel specialist for students and young people, is turning to mobile advertising to promote flights to its key global destinations. Working with AdMob, the world’s largest and fastest growing mobile advertising platform, STA Travel has rolled out an iPhone focused advertising campaign to engage its target audience of 18 to 30 year olds and drive calls to its contact centre. Following successful test campaigns in July and August this year, resulting in more than 1,000 calls to its contact centre, STA Travel has deployed a combination of CPC text and tile ads across AdMob’s network of mobile websites and iPhone applications. The ads publicise flights to New York, Bangkok, Sydney, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Auckland and the click-to-call function directs consumers straight through to a dedicated contact centre number so that they can easily book flights. Currently focused on UK consumers, STA Travel may extend the mobile advertihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/03/2988/thomas-cook-nabs-bing-search-top-spot.htmlCCPTue, 03 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -00:00Thomas Cook has linked up with Microsoft Advertising to launch a three-month online competition branded “Bing Around The World”.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/03/2987/expedia-ramps-up-easy-manage-hotel-signings.htmlCCPTue, 03 Nov 2009 09:50:00 -00:00 Expedia now has around 6,500 European hotels as part of its Easy Manage agency program - up from 1,500 hotels three months ago. Speaking to Wall Street analysts on Expedia’s Q3 earnings call last week, Expedia chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said that Easy Manage would help Expedia to increase its global supply of hotels, which currently stands at around 110,000. This breaks down to around 63,000 merchant hotels and 48,000 agency hotels. Easy Manage was introduced during Q2 and was specifically launched to help bridge the gap between Expedia and the market leading bedbank in Europe, booking.com, by targeting smaller hotels in secondary destinations.  At the time of the previous earnings call, there were 1,500 properties under the Easy Manage programme. Expedia said the program would not have an immediahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/03/2989/ryanair-keeps-marketing-costs-in-check.htmlCCPTue, 03 Nov 2009 09:45:00 -00:00 Ryanair spent €65.8 million on “marketing, distribution and other expenses” in the six months to end-September, 7% less than in the same six months last year. However, the no frills airline stepped up spending during the peak summer season. The July-September period saw it spend €31.6m, 3% higher than Q2 08. The breakdown between the three elements of this reporting line are not revealed. It only says that “increased focus on internet promotions” is one of the ways it keeps this cost in check. During the six months the airline carried 36.4m passengers, a 15% increase on the first half of 08. Load factors remained constant at 85%. Ancillary revenues accounted for 20% of the six month’s total of €1.8bn. Almost all of the €1.8bn of revenue will have been transacted online, which makes Ryanair.com one of the biggest travel websites in Europe. Overall, the carrier reported a profit after tax of €387m (£350m)http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/03/2990/russian-airline-teams-up-with-mobile-travel-technologies.htmlCCPTue, 03 Nov 2009 09:40:00 -00:00Russian domestic airline S7 has joined forces with Mobile Travel Technologies to unveil a range of mobile services. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/03/2991/ewaterways-signs-agreement-with-travelport.htmlCCPTue, 03 Nov 2009 09:30:00 -00:00 Langley, UK.  3 November, 2009:  eWaterways,  the world’s first global aggregator of small ship cruises, has signed an agreement with Travelport, a leading provider of global distribution systems (GDS), to distribute its extensive niche cruise content to GDS users for the first time. The new content will be distributed through two separate Travelport point of sale leisure systems – initially the Galileo Leisure portal from November 2009 followed by the Travelport Cruise & Tour™ platform in the U.S. and Canada in 2010.  eWaterways offers over 1200 contracted vessels comprising river cruise ships, hotel barge trips, expedition voyages, coastal cruises and sailing and yacht journeys, which can either be chartered wholly in many cases or booked by cabin. Jane Lewis, senior director, hospitality and car rental, Travelport GDS, said: “We are always looking for ways to bring valuable new content to our GDS customers to help them earn new revenues at http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/03/2992/fastbooking-launches-luxury-hotel-website.htmlCCPTue, 03 Nov 2009 09:25:00 -00:00 Paris—November 3, 2009—FastBooking, a leading provider of advanced Internet booking systems and e-marketing services for the hospitality industry, announces the launch of Collection-Hotels.com, an exciting new booking website for luxury hotel properties. An emphasis each hotel’s brand and its prestigious character Featuring only four- and five-star luxury establishments, Collection-Hotels.com debuts with a unique selection of hotels located in the world's most sought-after locations. Guests staying at these properties will experience breathtaking environments, fine gourmet dining, luxurious spas, and spectacular golf courses. Each hotel is illustrated with up to 50 sumptuous photos and presentation videos produced with Steadycam technology. “The quality of the selected hotels, the richness of the site’s content and, of course, a direct link to each hotel’s official website, are key resources contributing to the promotion of each establishment, “sayhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/03/2993/stella-travel-signs-with-travelport-gds.htmlCCPTue, 03 Nov 2009 09:20:00 -00:00 Sydney, 2 November, 2009 - Travelport, one of the world’s leading global distribution system (GDS) providers operating both the Galileo and Worldspan platforms, has signed an exclusive, long term agreement with Stella Travel Services Group to once again provide GDS services to Harvey World Travel. Galileo has now been the GDS of choice for Harvey World Travel for nearly two decades. Shelley Beasley, Travelport’s Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand said: “We are very proud to continue our long term partnership with an agency group of Harvey World Travel’s calibre and look forward to working closely with them to meet their retail travel needs.”  “The latest enhancements made to our mid/back office solution, CrossCheck Travel Enterprise, coupled with Travelport being the only GDS in the region to provide a full service and support centre onshore, demonstrates our “customer first” approach and has helped us with many of our recent significant wins like thttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/11/03/2994/mottershead-returns-to-tui-travel.htmlCCPTue, 03 Nov 2009 09:15:00 -00:00 Former Travelzest boss Chris Mottershead is to return to work with TUI Travel. Negotiations for a return of the chief executive to the operator were held earlier this year but were shelved in April when he was accused of "potential misappropriation of company funds". However, following his complete exoneration, it has been announced that Mottershead will join TUI Travel's Canadian business on January 1. He will serve as interim chief financial officer and integration director of a new enlarged Canadian operator Sunwing, following the combining of its operations with TUI's in Canada. Mottershead will report to the current Sunwing chief executive Stephen Hunter. Mottershead returns to the travel giant after quitting in 2004 following two and a half years' service. He was replaced as TUI UKhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/30/2980/travelzoo-uk-business-in-the-black.htmlCCPFri, 30 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -00:00 The UK division of deals publisher Travelzoo  has recorded its first ever operating profit for the first nine months of 2009. Travelzoo managing director for Europe Chris Loughlin told Travolution that the small profit was “doubly good news, because our European base is in London so the UK figures also take into account a lot of the central costs of the European operations”. Loughlin acknowledged that the £300,000 operating profit for the year to the end of September was modest, but added that it showed the UK business had reached an ‘inflexion point” where the revenue was growing faster than the costs. Revenue so far this year for the UK is £4.9 million, giving it a year-to-date operating margin of 5%. During the July to September period, the UK market was boosted by Spanish hoteliers looking to fill room nights. One central Barcelona hotel picked up 2,000 room nights off the back of onhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/30/2981/easyvoyage-to-spend-5m-euros-on-uk-marketing.htmlCCPFri, 30 Oct 2009 09:55:00 -00:00 French online travel specialist EasyVoyage plans to plough 5 million Euros into marketing its UK service between now and the end of 2010. The funds will be devoted to e-mail and affiliate marketing as well as search engine optimisation. The UK version of the service was unveiled almost a year ago and is now in the top 20 travel info-mediation sites in the UK. Chief executive Jean-Pierre Nadir said the company was on track to achieve its target of being in the top 10 UK travel info-mediation sites by next summer. The company recently completed a Euros 31.6 million leveraged buyout and Nadir said that money raised would be used to ‘accelerate development’ in the UK as well as Germany, which is scheduled to go live in November.  He also said the company was eyeing potential acquisitions in those countries with a view to buying companies with large volumes of traffic. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/30/2982/business-as-usual-as-wri-considers-options.htmlCCPFri, 30 Oct 2009 09:50:00 -00:00 Dublin-based Web Reservations International has responded to rumours that it is on the market for £275m by confirming that it is considering its options. Following reports in last week's Sunday Times that the business was for sale, WRI said it had "initiated a process to consider potential investment options which may or may not lead to an investment transaction”. WRI, which was founded in 1999, owns hostelworld.com, boo.com, hostels.com and trav.com. In a statement, WRI pointed out that “throughout the company’s history it has experienced a number of shareholder changes and new investments without significantly altering the operations or culture of the organisation,” adding that “the continuing focus of management is on growing and developing the business". The report suggested that the business would be of interest to Expedia and Priceline, and suggested a £275 million price tag. In 2008, WRI made an operating profit of €19.6 million on revenhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/30/2986/travel-republic-case-caa-accused-of-disproportionate.htmlCCPFri, 30 Oct 2009 09:50:00 -00:00 The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was accused of taking "manifestly disproportionate" action against Travel Republic and its managing director Kane Pirie as the case was summed up on October 27. Hugo Keith QC, representing Pirie, told Stratford Magistrates Court that the CAA had brought the prosecution because it wants a "test case" that would clarify the currently "grey area" around which companies must hold an ATOL licence. Keith said: "If this is a test case, then it emphasises the disproportionate manner in which this case has been brought against Pirie. It leads me to ask why all three directors were not prosecuted. If this case had been brought properly, all three directors should have stood together." Travel Republic and Pirie are each charged with 19 counts of breaching ATOL regulations in a case that began on October 12. They arehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/30/2985/twgroup-appoints-lucy-huxley-as-group-editor.htmlCCPFri, 30 Oct 2009 09:35:00 -00:00 The TWgroup has appointed Lucy Huxley as group editor. Huxley is editor of Travel Trade Gazette and will join the TWgroup , which owns Travolution, Travel Weekly and online resource Gazetteers.com, in January 2010. TWgroup chairman Clive Jacobs said: "I am delighted that Lucy has chosen to join our team. Lucy's commitment, drive and professionalism over the past 12 years has taken her to the very top of her profession. "This significant appointment marks our intention to further our position as the clear leader in travel and tourism information and communication." TWgroup chief executive Simon Ferguson said: "Lucy has an unrivalled reputation as an editor in the travel trade and her appointment signals the scale of our ambition. We are determined to stretch Travel Weekly's lead, and to expand our overall position in the travel publishing market over the coming months." Lucy Huxley succeeds Karen Dempsey who is leaving the TWgroup at thhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/30/2983/expedia-affiliate-network-announces-new-emea-vp-press-release.htmlCCPFri, 30 Oct 2009 09:30:00 -00:00 Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN) has today announced the appointment of its new VP for EMEA, Sean McDonald. In his new role, McDonald will be responsible for driving the continued growth of the EAN business across the EMEA territories. He will oversee the smooth running of existing partner relationships and retention as well as directing the new business acquisition. McDonald will report directly into EAN president Henrik Kjellberg. Kjellberg comments “We are delighted to welcome Sean to the EAN team. He brings with him a wealth of experience that will ensure the EMEA business continues to go from strength to strength. We have a dedicated team and strong growth plans for the EAN business, not only across the EMEA territories, but on a global scale, and Sean will be an integral part of the team driving this forward.” McDonald brings to EAN more than 12 years of online and consulting experience and joins the business from IT research and advisory company Gartnerhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/30/2984/gtm-carbon-friendly-flight-finder-adopted-by-media-brands-press-release.htmlCCPFri, 30 Oct 2009 09:20:00 -00:00 Global Travel Market's Carbon Friendly Flight Finder continues to gain traction. The low key launch of Global Travel Markets Carbon Friendly Flight Finder continues to attract attention from a variety of sources whilst also throwing up some intriguing results. The Carbon Friendly Flight Finder has now been adopted by UK newspaper The Independent and the Australian / Pacific region for Lonely Planet with other significant media brands currently in discussion to adopt the unique functionality. Dave Simmons, CEO of  Global Travel Market commented “we are delighted with the response we have had to the launch of this unique and innovative meta-search concept.  We are finding that media companies see the Carbon Friendly Flight Finder as being a great way of reinforcing their environmental propositions”. The Carbon Friendly Flight Finder is also producing some fascinating statistics.  Of the more than 30,000 flight searches that have been completehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/28/2979/tripit-opens-up-service-outside-the-us.htmlCCPWed, 28 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -00:00Itinerary specialist TripIt has made its Tripit Pro service available to users outside the US. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/27/2975/travel-companies-hold-back-from-social-networking-ads.htmlCCPTue, 27 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -00:00The travel industry fell behind most other sectors in terms of advertising on social networking websites at the peak of this summer, according to a new study by market research company comScore. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/27/2974/travel-companies-to-increase-borrowing-to-survive.htmlCCPTue, 27 Oct 2009 09:50:00 -00:00Travel and leisure companies are seeking to increase their borrowing to survive the economic downturn according to research from Santander Corporate Banking.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/27/2973/online-bookings-set-to-soar-for-us-corporations.htmlCCPTue, 27 Oct 2009 09:40:00 -00:00Three-quarters of travel managers in the US are planning to “encourage or mandate online bookings” as a key cost control measure for 2010. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/27/2972/de-vere-hotels-appoints-dbd-media-for-search-engine-marketing.htmlCCPTue, 27 Oct 2009 09:30:00 -00:00De Vere Hotels has appointed DBD Media to handle its search engine marketing brief.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/27/2971/press-release-air-france-and-klm-adopt-amadeus-inventory-management-system.htmlCCPTue, 27 Oct 2009 09:20:00 -00:00Press release: Air France and KLM to jointly adopt new generation inventory solution from Amadeus.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/27/2969/press-release-bmibaby-to-offer-cartrawler.htmlCCPTue, 27 Oct 2009 09:15:00 -00:00Press release: In an important shift, bmibaby has become the latest European low cost airline to switch from a single supplier car rental model in favour of a fully fledged, retail minded multi-supplier offering from CarTrawler. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/27/2970/press-release-thetrainline.coms-iphone-app-is-number-two-for-free-downloads.htmlCCPTue, 27 Oct 2009 09:15:00 -00:00Press release: Business rail travellers who’ve missed their usual train home can avoid the stress of not knowing when the next one is, or even if there is a next one, thanks to the new journey planning iPhone app from thetrainline.com.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/26/2968/kane-pirire-defends-travel-republics-business-model.htmlCCPMon, 26 Oct 2009 03:00:00 -00:00Travel Republic director Kane Pirie defended his company in court on Friday, suggesting its business model was misunderstood by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/23/2967/simonseeks-to-unveil-tv-ad-campaign.htmlCCPFri, 23 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +01:00 User review service SimonSeeks plans to unveil a television campaign at the end of the first quarter of 2010. Commercial director Chris Nixon said the first three to six months were about getting the site live, the reviews up and the functionality in place. He said: “We’re beginning to get it close now to the product being at a level we want to push it.” Search engine marketing work will begin next week to help boost visitor numbers and the site is currently receiving about 1500 unique visitors a day. Nixon said the company was planning a seven-figure investment in television advertising. He also said the site has seen a dramatic fall in the number of reviews it rejects because they are poorly written or not within style guidelines. The start-up, which was launched in June, was rejecting up to 75% of guides submitted from professional and amateur travel writers but is now only rejecthttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/23/2962/comtec-to-develop-searchable-attributes-system.htmlCCPFri, 23 Oct 2009 09:55:00 +01:00 Comtec is developing a system which allows users to search by a wider range of holiday attributes and plans to unveil the first phase at World Travel Market next month. The attributes search system will allow people to search for holidays which are, for example,  family friendly or include a hotel with a swimming pool. Chief technology officer Humphrey Sheil said the company had trawled through information it receives from UK tour operators and devised a list of about 14 attributes that consumers can choose from. He said: “It’s going beyond price, date and availability driven search. It’s trivial to build it from the brochures we load up but the hard piece is getting the best of worlds in terms of search and attributes and provide the accurate price and availability information.” The system will be integrated into Comtec’s API and made available for desktop applications as well as the web. Phase two of the projecthttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/23/2963/cosmos-to-invest-in-e-commerce-platform.htmlCCPFri, 23 Oct 2009 09:45:00 +01:00 Cosmos Holidays is planning to plough savings from switching operating systems into its new e-commerce platform. The operator is forecasting technology savings of 40% per year for the next three years with the migration of its inventory platform to a new Linux-based system, provided by Micro Focus. The operator had been using a UNIX system and was incurring massive hardware support costs until the migration earlier this year.  In addition to the cost savings, the system is also up to 10 times faster when it comes to updating sales information and generating caches of holidays or travel elements for the operator’s various distribution channels. It is anticipated the switch to the Linux system will see a return on investment within a year and savings are to be used to widen the distribution for its new e-commerce gateway. Cosmos IT infrastructure manager Rainer Kern said: “The technology is now in place so we can move forward with expansion plhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/23/2966/travel-republic-director-insists-we-dont-sell-packages.htmlCCPFri, 23 Oct 2009 09:40:00 +01:00 Travel Republic director Kane Pirie insisted in court yesterday (October 22) that the online retailer does not sell package holidays. Pirie told Stratford Magistrates Court: "It is clear on our website we do not sell package holidays. We offer an alternative to package holidays." Travel Republic and Pirie stand trial for breach of the ATOL regulations in a case that began on October 12 and are accused of offering flights and accommodation in combination and thereby selling unlicensed package holidays. They have been charged by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) with 40 offences. Pirie told the court: "What we do is sell flights and hotels separately, and do everything to make clear they are separate. We sell them separately and at the same time." Later he said: "We do not bundle any products." He said Trahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/23/2964/social-web-for-business-travellers-impossible-to-ignore.htmlCCPFri, 23 Oct 2009 09:35:00 +01:00 Social media will become increasingly important for business travellers and their agents, according to a report commissioned by a travel management company. Advito , which is the independent consulting arm of BCD Travel, released its 2010 Industry Analysis this week. The study says that it is inevitable that [business travellers] will generate content about their business travel experiences through social networks, just as they do about other aspects of their lives. Travel managers therefore should offer an official channel for them so that the information can captured and used. A well-executed corporate network could give travel managers information about every hotel within a preferred programme, identifying strengths and weaknesses of the various properties. Similarly, a social network could be set up to float ideas among travellers on issuhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/23/2965/skiiers-prefer-to-book-by-phone.htmlCCPFri, 23 Oct 2009 09:30:00 +01:00 Most snowsports holidays are still booked over the phone, with online bookings continuing to grow their share, the Ski Club of Great Britain’s annual report has found. For 2008/9, 47% of snowsports holidays were booked over the phone, the same level as last year. Online grew to 16% from 14%, “helped by the fact that more holiday companies now offer an online booking facility”. High street agents saw their share of the market drop for the fifth consecutive year - now 8%. In the 2003/4 survey one in four snowsport holidays were booked on the high street. The study also found a small shift in favour of tour operator packages against independent travel. Lack of  consumer protection, the limited availability of low-cost seats for key resorts at peak times and the prohibitive cost of checking in ski equipment is working against the DIY market. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/20/2959/thomas-cook-predicts-half-its-london-2012-games-tickets-online.htmlCCPTue, 20 Oct 2009 11:46:54 +01:00 Thomas Cook predicts half of its London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games packages will be sold online. The travel company made the prediction after announcing it is to be an official sponsor of the games and the exclusive provider of UK short breaks and trips to the event. Thomas Cook will sell packages with tickets to the games from May 2011 but fans can pre-register on its website  or through its shops. It is estimated the travel company will sell more than 250,000 tickets with its packages - accounting for around 3% of tickets on sale for the games overall. Chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa said: "We are very excited about this and we are confident we can get it right. We believe sales will be about 50-50 through the internet and through our high-street shops." But he admitted that sales could be higher initially through the chain's 800 nationwide stores because of a window http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/20/2960/travel-hit-by-four-fold-rise-in-fraud.htmlCCPTue, 20 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +01:00The travel, leisure and transport sector has seen a four-fold increase in fraud in the past year, according to a global survey of 700 senior executives. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/20/2958/amadeus-and-travelport-refuse-to-comment-on-merger-talks.htmlCCPTue, 20 Oct 2009 09:50:00 +01:00 Global distribution system suppliers Travelport and Amadeus have refused to comment on speculation that they have been in merger talks. The two companies are believed to have had merger talks over the past few years, but never come to a deal. The Sunday Times reported over the weekend that the two companies finished another round of discussions last week. A merger would create an industry giant worth $12 billion. Both firms are preparing to float on the stock market. Amadeus is due to list on the Madrid stock market and Travelport is expected to float in London. The newspaper said the latest talks would be the "last hurrah" as discussions would be unlikely after the companies are listed. Spokesmen for each company refused to comment on the speculation. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/20/2956/ebookers-launches-package-holiday-booking-engine.htmlCCPTue, 20 Oct 2009 09:15:00 +01:00 Press Release: Ebookers.com, one of Europe's largest online travel companies, has today announced the launch of a new package holiday booking engine offering customers access to millions of holiday offers. The new service, packageholidays.ebookers.com , is delivered using technology provided by TravelTainment. It is the latest move by ebookers.com to broaden the range of innovative tools and services available on the website, which allows consumers to easily plan and book travel. The new package holiday booking engine will also use ebookers.com’s familiar booking path to ensure customers have a one-stop shop when they search for holiday or destination information. TravelTainment technology will add to ebookers.com’s existing dynamically packaged holidays which can be created onsite using the ‘Flight + Hotel’ feature. This will offer a wider range of inventory for ebookers.com customers by allohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/20/2961/simonseeks-announces-further-flight-partnerships.htmlCCPTue, 20 Oct 2009 09:13:00 +01:00Simonseeks.com has announced further commercial partnerships focusing on flights as it looks to build its reputation as a one stop travel resource. The new partners are featured in a money saving guide to short haul flights which gives expert tips on how to book the lowest fares using five simple steps, authored by site editor Nick Trend.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/20/2957/three-hotels-sign-up-to-clasixs-traveltalk.htmlCCPTue, 20 Oct 2009 09:10:00 +01:00 Press Release: Following the recent launch of TravelTalk, Clasix has announced new partnerships with three of Europe’s leading hotels. The Wyndham Hotel at Chelsea Harbour, London, the Hotel De L’Europe, Amsterdam and the Hyatt Regency, Paris, have taken on Clasix’s revolutionary network solution designed to slash the cost of international calling. All hotel guests will benefit from the new technology, which works automatically through in-room phone systems. Slashing the cost of international calling, TravelTalk offers up to 60 minutes of talk time for just 5.95 Euros. Clasix, the leading provider of telecoms, high speed internet access and in-room entertainment to the hospitality industry, is forecasting installation in 60 hotels by the end of 2010. “It’s a great start for TravelTalk - the technology has been warmly received in the hospitality industry both in the UK and across Europe,” said Michael Lacy, Clasix. “Travellers staying at any ohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/16/2949/tui-beta-launches-review-site.htmlCCPFri, 16 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +01:00TUI Travel has launched a beta version of cheqqer.com, a portal for user-generated content that will be developed to generate recommendations rather than just offer reviewshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/16/2951/travel-republic-in-the-dock.htmlCCPFri, 16 Oct 2009 09:50:00 +01:00Travel Republic and director Kane Pirie stood trial for breach of the ATOL Regulations this week in a case that will test the legality of operations at many other firms and the ability of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to regulate the sector.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/16/2953/court-case-reveals-suspension-of-atol-agreement.htmlCCPFri, 16 Oct 2009 09:40:00 +01:00The agreement providing ATOL cover for 160 TTA-Worldchoice members was suspended in May, it emerged in court this week. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/16/2954/nileguide-unveils-expansion.htmlCCPFri, 16 Oct 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Trip planning service NileGuide is extending its systems to accommodate thousands more destinations. The service currently covers about 150 destinations, but development scheduled for the end of the year will open the system to accommodate many more. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/16/2948/customer-loyalty-biggest-challenge-for-airlines-says-study.htmlCCPFri, 16 Oct 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Airlines view customer loyalty and retention as one of their biggest challenges in future according to a study. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/16/2950/brussels-airlines-introduces-pre-paid-vouchers.htmlCCPFri, 16 Oct 2009 09:15:00 +01:00Brussels Airlines is allowing travellers to pay for flights online with a pre-paid voucher following a tie-up with Paysafecard Group. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/16/2952/responsibletravel.com-ditches-carbon-offsets-from-site.htmlCCPFri, 16 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Responsibletravel.com is to remove the facility for its customers to offset carbon emissions via its website. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/16/2955/global-travel-market-redesigns-site.htmlCCPFri, 16 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Metasearch specialist Global Travel Market is redesigning its site and plans to complete the development in mid-November. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/13/2947/travel-republic-case-firm-caused-serious-detriment-to-consumers.htmlCCPTue, 13 Oct 2009 10:40:00 +01:00Travel Republic was accused yesterday of causing “serious detriment” to consumers by selling holidays in breach of the ATOL Regulationshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/13/2939/travel-republic-boss-in-court-over-alleged-atol-breach.htmlCCPTue, 13 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +01:00 Travel Republic director Kane Pirie appeared in court today at the start of a summary trial on charges that he and the online retailer have systematically breached the ATOL Regulations. The charges brought by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) allege Pirie and Travel Republic operated in such a way as to sell package holidays without either the necessary ATOL or as the agent of an ATOL holder. Counsel for the CAA Ian Croxford told Stratford Magistrates Court: "We will show there were packages sold and inadequate information was given to consumers." Croxford said: "Travel Republic took advice on the law, and elected to trade in a manner it did. It has been aware throughout, and certainly since September 2007, that the authority [the CAA] did not accept the trader was operating within the regulations." He argued consumers had lost the financial protection they would otherwise have had under the ATOL scheme. "We say Travel Republic does organise packahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/13/2943/fewer-consumers-using-travel-reviews-says-us-report.htmlCCPTue, 13 Oct 2009 09:50:00 +01:00 The number of people visiting US travel reviews sites for reviews is declining according to the PhoCuswright Online Traffic and Conversion Report. TripAdvisor is the clear leader with 12.3 million monthly unique visitors, a figure that has doubled in the past 18 months. It’s nearest rival is IgoUgo with 1.7m unique visitors every month. However,  the study carried out in conjunction with Compete shows a drop in the number of people looking at reviews from 55% in October 2007 to 46% in October 2009. It seems visitors are being attracted by other content as well as new initiatives such as TripAdvisor’s Flight Search tool. Only a small number of people are carrying out travel search on TripAdvisor according to the figures – 9% of unique visitors in June 2009 made a hotel booking search as opposed to entering a hotel name. However, these figures are expected to increase, with the flight search tool already drawing significant traffic – up from 5.4http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/13/2941/monarch-completes-brand-overhaul.htmlCCPTue, 13 Oct 2009 09:45:00 +01:00 Monarch Travel Group has relauched its website to allow customers to book flights, hotels and holidays on the same site, completing the rebranding of the group's direct-sell brands. Monarch managing director Liz Savage said that the relaunch of the website last week was the last step in the process of moving all the company's direct to consumer products to the Monarch brand. Accommodation-only provider Somewhere2Stay has become Monarch Hotels and Cosmos now Monarch Holidays. However, both these brands still exist to the trade. The re-branding aimed to create more consistency in Monarch’s on and offline activity, from its press advertising to email marketing. Savage said: “Before, we had three totally separate sites for the three product ranges, which led to duplication of content. The new site is designed for our frequent customers who come to site and know exactly whathttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/13/2945/search-site-bosses-slam-untrustworthy-travel-ads.htmlCCPTue, 13 Oct 2009 09:40:00 +01:00 The heads of holiday search sites Cheapflights and Travelzoo have questioned the value of industry advertising and the authenticity of some travel offers. Speaking at the ABTA Travel Convention in Barcelona last week, Cheapflights chairman Hugo Burge said: "We took the banner adverts off our deals pages and now have a higher conversion rate - though it was not what we set out to do." He told an e-tid briefing at the convention: "People are just one click away online from something more trustworthy [Cheapflights' search results]." Travelzoo managing director Chris Loughlin said many of the advertised offers submitted for inclusion in a regular newsletter to Travelzoo subscribers did not stand up to scrutiny. "We reject about 25% of all submitted adverts," he said. "In the UK, that means throwing away about £2 million a year. But the quality [of offers] is essential. If we send a deal that subscribers do not like, there is a poor return rate." http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/13/2944/travelsupermarket-launches-non-uk-departures.htmlCCPTue, 13 Oct 2009 09:35:00 +01:00Following customer demand, travelsupermarket.com has recently introduced a non-UK departures option on its flights searhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/13/2942/travel-writers-launch-shortbreaks-website.htmlCCPTue, 13 Oct 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Looking for new ways to escape for a sneaky short break? A new website launched today, 101 short breaks , is exclusively dedicated to the subjehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/13/2946/holiday-rental-site-housetrip-launched.htmlCCPTue, 13 Oct 2009 09:28:00 +01:00 HouseTrip, a service designed to make the holiday rental process easier, has been unveiled. The service provides a platform for owners to list their property free of charge, upload images and answer questions from potential guests. It also allows them to view the profiles of potential guests and receive online bookings. HouseTrip has adopted some of the features of social media channels including a ‘Wall’ feature for interacting with customers and a reviews feature for feedback on the properties. The service  features an auction service for owners to put their property out to the highest bidder as well as a groups area enabling owners to target specific organisations and communities. HouseTrip also provides hosts with a property management system allowing them to manage bookings, define booking conditions and calculate revenues. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/13/2940/eastern-european-operator-renews-deal-with-travelport.htmlCCPTue, 13 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Press release: One of the most established Romanian tour operators, Eximtur, has renewed its distribution deal with Travelport, one of the world’s leading global distribution system (GDS) providers, cementing a relationship that has spanned more than 12 years. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/12/2938/privatefly-launches-white-label-solution-to-travel-trade.htmlCCPMon, 12 Oct 2009 05:30:00 +01:00Press release: PrivateFly, the unique online booking engine for private aviation charter, has launched a white label solution to global travel partners. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/12/2937/europcar-launches-online-reservations-for-accor-clients.htmlCCPMon, 12 Oct 2009 02:00:00 +01:00Press release: Europcar, the European leader in car hire, has launched a customised online reservation tool for customers of its hotel partner, Accor. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/09/2931/lonely-planet-adds-more-than-600-titles-to-kindle-store.htmlCCPFri, 09 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +01:00BBC Worldwide’s travel brand Lonely Planet is now available on Kindle, Amazon’s wireless reading device. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/09/2928/traveltainment-to-make-microsoft-surface-application-available-from-january.htmlCCPFri, 09 Oct 2009 09:50:00 +01:00 Traveltainment plans to launch its Microsoft Surface application into agencies as early as January or February next year. The Amadeus-owned technology specialist has developed the service by combining information and geo-coded holiday and destination images onto Google Maps and putting them on a Surface table. Traveltainment chief executive Andy Owen-Jones said the application would hit shops early next year and that launch was unlikely to be in Germany. He said the company had already had some significant interest outside Germany and that the application had been developed in English, French and German. The likelihood is that Traveltainment will provide the Surface table and application on a rental basis. Owen-Jones anticipated the rental cost would be covered by booking two holidays a week. Customers can use the application to look up hotels and destinations, get more information and then have the information switched to a travel agent’s terminalhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/09/2935/agents-get-access-to-expedia-flights-inventory.htmlCCPFri, 09 Oct 2009 09:45:00 +01:00UK travel agents in Expedia’s Travel Agent Affiliate Programme will be able to earn commission on seat-only bookings, the company announced yesterday.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/09/2930/agents-use-12-sites-at-any-one-time-finds-travelport.htmlCCPFri, 09 Oct 2009 09:40:00 +01:00 Travel agents are switching between an average of 12 applications and websites at any one time according to Travelport. The company discovered that agents were using hotel, destination, weather and a host of other travel related sites and applications during focus groups and feedback from the seven partners piloting its Universal Desktop technology. Travelport plans to move its Universal Desktop technology, which aims to aggregate the services agents need on one screen, into beta next April. The Universal Desktop prototype, unveiled last February, combines search, booking and tracking capability with productivity tools on one screen. Other features include e-mail, instant messenger, links to favourite websites and travel widgets. Travelport portfolio director Jason Nash said the pilot phase was to ensure the company was ticking all the boxes in thttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/09/2933/kayak-makes-travel-search-trend-data-available-press.htmlCCPFri, 09 Oct 2009 09:30:00 +01:00 KAYAK Makes its Travel Search Data Available at kayak.com/trends and Launches Proprietary Travel Demand Benchmark, the KAYAK Travel Index™ Norwalk, CT (Vocus/PRWEB ) October 8, 2009 - KAYAK (kayak.com), the world's leading travel search engine, announced that it has opened access to the site's travel search data and launched a travel demand benchmark, providing an open source of travel statistics and information from hundreds of millions of travel searches. Trends data is available at kayak.com/trends for nearly any commercial airport in the world and for hotels in hundreds of the most searched destinations. The company also launched a proprietary travel demand benchmark, the KAYAK Travel Index™, a statistical model that provides a measure of travel demand from analysis of searches on KAYAK sites by modeling data for the average combined hotel and flight prices that people select. Paul English, KAYAK CTO and co-founder said, "people have conducted hundredshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/09/2934/premier-inn-offers-hotel-locator-service.htmlCCPFri, 09 Oct 2009 09:25:00 +01:00 Budget brand Premier Inn has joined forces with online marketing specialist Artemis8 to unveil a  hotel locator service providing location and route information for the chain’s UK portfolio. Premier Inn Hotels aims to provide business travellers and anyone going on a long journey with information on any of its hotels along the way. The service, which is already live, simplifies the hotel selection process by asking travellers to enter a destination and then returning location, journey planning and pricing information and providing a link for booking to the main site. Future versions of the site could also offer additional information on places of interest and events around Premier Inns. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/08/2927/four-seasons-launches-iphone-and-ipod-application.htmlCCPThu, 08 Oct 2009 11:40:00 +01:00 Press release: Four Seasons has now become portable. Whether on planes, trains, automobiles or even foot travellers can now get instant access with the new iPhone/ipod Touch application.  Live today and free to download from iTunes app store, the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts app was created in conjunction with leading personal technology company Apple to meet guest demand for both a functional booking portal and gateway to mini escapes while on the go. An extension of the brand’s increasingly robust interactive marketing endeavours, which include the recent launch of FourSeasonsMagazine.com, a Four Seasons channel on YouTube as well as corporate and individual hotel Twitter feeds, the application provides both existing supporters and aspiring loyalists with a Four Seasons experience far beyond its Hotels and Resorts. Four Seasons research and website visitor comments have shown that in addition to checking for hotel availability and property locatiohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/07/2926/the-co-operative-travel-signs-new-deal-with-calluma.htmlCCPWed, 07 Oct 2009 03:25:00 +01:00The Co-operative Travel has signed a new deal with travel services company CallUma to use the company’s trackable single-use luggage tags. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/07/2924/teletext-holidays-to-open-travel-agencies.htmlCCPWed, 07 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +01:00 Teletext Holidays has signed a deal with supermarket Tesco to open up to 20 retail outlets over the next two years. Announcing the move at ABTA's Travel Convention, Teletext Holidays managing director Victoria Sanders said the first Teletext Holidays' shop will open on December 2 in Tesco Extra in Pitsea, Essex. The agencies will be in, or next to, existing Tesco stores. The locations of the next five stores to open are already earmarked, with two confirmed, and the other three in negotiation with the supermarket chain. Sanders said the shops will sell product from its sister online travel agency Thisistravel, which already has a range of commercial agreements with operators in place. The first shop will open from 8.30am-10pm and will also handle any overspill calls from the Thisistravel call centre during busy times. Sanders said: "This is about brand awareness and it is an exciting move to develop our business. "In store,http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/07/2925/intrepid-travel-announces-two-investment-deals.htmlCCPWed, 07 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +01:00 Specialist tour operator Intrepid Travel has announced two investment deals to expand its product range and global reach. It has taken a stake in UK niche operator Chameleon Worldwide Group as well as an equal shareholding with Australian Pacific Touring (APT) in APT’s touring division Connections. Chameleon carries 3,500 passengers a year and Connections 15,000. Intrepid Travel chief executive Darrell Wade said: “Both acquisitions mean over time we can significantly increase our offering to the trade in terms of an expanded product range and through our ground operations to wholesalers. They help secure our position as a global operating, marketing and distribution travel company.” The Chameleon deal gives Intrepid access to seven specialist brands, including Wildlife Worldwide, and to an established direct-sell model in the UK. Intrepid’s ground operators will provide Chameleon with tailored worldwide itineraries. Meanwhile, Connections will be set http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/06/2920/tripadvisor-launches-flight-meta-search-engine.htmlCCPTue, 06 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +01:00 TripAdvisor has unveiled a flight meta search engine on its UK site, eight months after the launch of the service in the US. The meta search engine has been given a UK-centric focus and features the fees estimator with information on fees and charges across scheduled and no-frills airlines as well as estimated onboard food and drink costs. Prior to launching the UK search engine, TripAdvisor carried out research on flight booking behaviour among 600 Britons. It revealed that 68% are surprised by the final price of a flight when they get to the payment stage. TripAdvisor general manager of new initiatives Bryan Salzburg said: “Given the confusion in the market place, not being surprised by extra fees [as a result of the fees estimator] has a big impact.”  The engine searches for flights from a number of online travel agencies including Ebookers, parent-company Expedia, and Opodo as well as the major airlines. Salzburg added that Trihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/06/2918/technology-companies-eye-bluesky-travel-systems.htmlCCPTue, 06 Oct 2009 09:50:00 +01:00 A number of travel technology companies are circling BlueSky Travel Systems, which went into administration last Tuesday. It is believed that at least three players are interested in acquiring parts of the failed company such as its intellectual property rights and perhaps key technical staff. A spokesman for administrators MCR confirmed there were a number of interested parties and that no deadline had been set for bids. Travolution understands that established players such as Traveltek, Comtec and Partners Software could all be in the frame. BlueSky began trading in 2002 with a handful of employees and rapidly grew to employ more than 100 people, predominantly based in Manchester, before its failure last week. According to the company website, turnover in 2008 was more than £9 million. Major cushttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/06/2919/tourism-thailand-to-rethink-web-strategy.htmlCCPTue, 06 Oct 2009 09:45:00 +01:00 Tourism Thailand UK (TAT UK) is working on a new web strategy as it seeks to promote Thailand as a "value destination". TAT UK marketing manager Joanna Cooke said the site will have an active Facebook and Twitter presence as part of the rethink. The Facebook profile will be based around the festivals which TAT UK is involved with and would steer clear of trying to sell holidays through the site. The organisation will use Twitter to make consumers aware of what being said about Thailand elsewhere on the web, as well as its TAT’s own specific messaging. For its latest marketing campaign, TAT will move away from promoting Thailand as a "chic" destination and instead focus on value. A value-led brochure has been uploaded to the site, along with commissioned photography featuring local people with price boards for various services. The shift to value is driven by “recent changes in consumer purchasing patterns http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/06/2917/travel-intelligence-in-marketing-drive.htmlCCPTue, 06 Oct 2009 09:40:00 +01:00 Travel Intelligence is planning a marketing push including affiliate marketing and other e-marketing channels. The luxury hotel specialist has just completed a website revamp as well as the move to a new technology platform. Chief executive Alan Josephs said the plan was to invest in marketing and a deal has already been signed with digital marketing company Trade Doubler. There are further plans to expand the newsletter as well as introduce a deals section on the site. He said: “For the last six to nine months it has really been a heads down focus on relaunching the site and moving on to the new platform. We have also optimised the site for search engines and there was a lot we had to do in terms of the architecture.” Travel Intelligence will also be expanding its content through partnerships with bed banks as well http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/06/2921/restaurant-booking-site-picks-up-16m-funding.htmlCCPTue, 06 Oct 2009 09:35:00 +01:00 London-based livebookings.com, a B2B online marketing and reservations service for the restaurant industry, has picked up another $16m of funding. This brings the total raised so far to nearly $30m. The second round, completed last week, was led by Wellington Partners, with existing investors also contributing. During 2008/9, the site raised $12m from investors including Balderton Capital. Restaurant owners can use livebookings.com technology to take bookings on their own website or shift their inventory via the Livebookings Network, which has partnerships with more than 500 sites worldwide, including lastminute.com. In 2008, it delivered more than 2.4 million diners to restaurants worldwide, and surpassed that number in the first six months of this year. Speaking on CNBC, livebookings.com co-founder and chief executive Niklas Eklund said that only 7% of restaurants have online booking capability, while 60% of customers use thttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/06/2922/simonseeks-founder-launches-holiday-homes-business.htmlCCPTue, 06 Oct 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Press release: Hot on the heels of his new travel guides website Simonseeks, entrepreneur Simon Nixon has unveiled another new venture in travel. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/06/2923/somewhere2stay-boss-questions-worth-of-abta.htmlCCPTue, 06 Oct 2009 09:15:00 +01:00Accommodation-only website Somewhere2stay.com managing director Stuart Jackson has questioned the worth of trade association ABTA if its own travel agent members do not comply with the new bed bank liability ruling.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/05/2916/skyscanner-continues-international-expansion-press-release.htmlCCPMon, 05 Oct 2009 03:54:00 +01:00 Travel search site Skyscanner ( www.Skyscanner.net ) is continuing its international expansion with the launch of new internet domains and subdomains for six territories across Asia and Europe. The new domains include Norway ( www.skyscanner.no ), Denmark ( www.skyscanner.dk ), Turkey ( www.skyscanner.com.tr ), South Korea ( www.skyscanner.kr ), Taiwan (tw.skyscanner.com) and China (cn.skyscanner.com). Barry Smith, co-founder and Director of Business Development explained: “The launch of these new domains further increases Skyscanner’s visibility in these markets and local search engines. "With more than 60% of our traffic now coming from outside of the UK and Ireland, it’s vital that Skyscanner is accessible to everyone, not just English speakers, which is why we are dedicated to creating a travel search site which is as international and multilingual as possible.” The latest launch fohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/05/2914/tourism-ireland-launches-integrated-marketing-campaign-press-release.htmlCCPMon, 05 Oct 2009 03:00:00 +01:00 Tourism Ireland has launched a new integrated marketing campaign, created by direct marketing agency Entire, to drive interest in autumn breaks to Ireland. The campaign aims to promote Ireland as a unique holiday destination and deliver new names to Tourism Ireland’s nurture programme. Entire’s latest direct marketing campaign utilises a combination of direct mail, email and door drops to drive consumers seeking further information and special offers to a dedicated microsite. Consumers that register their interest on the site will be entered into Tourism Ireland’s nurture programme, which delivers tailored dynamic content and special offers according to the recipient’s interests. To further develop Tourism Ireland’s ‘Go where Ireland takes you’ positioning, the creative is brought to life with Irish characters acting as the pivotal moment in the holiday experience. The campaign will specifically target sightseers and culture-seekers that value the rich blend of historyhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/05/2915/eurostar-launches-trip-planner-on-eurostar.com-press-release.htmlCCPMon, 05 Oct 2009 03:00:00 +01:00 Eurostar, the provider of high-speed, carbon neutral rail journeys between the UK and the Continent, has launched “Trip Planner” on www.eurostar.com/tripplanner . Trip planner is an interactive online tool which allows Eurostar travellers to discover a huge range of different possibilities of things to do and see to maximise on their trip and to create their own personalised itineraries.  . Available in English, French and Flemish, Trip Planner provides valuable information on Paris and London to first timers as well as appealing to regular visitors to the cities who long to sample something new and exciting. It gives visitors the best hotels, restaurants, bars, activities and sights as chosen by experts. It also provides sample itineraries, detailed information on attractions and venues and the local currency. Using the tool, visitors can mix and match ideas to quickly create bespoke itineraries according to their interests, or choose from set ihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/02/2908/us-consumers-go-direct-despite-otas-axing-fees.htmlCCPFri, 02 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +01:00Moves by online travel agents (OTAs) to remove fees for booking flights has not stopped consumers going direct to airline sites, research in the US suggests.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/02/2909/travel-among-least-confident-sectors.htmlCCPFri, 02 Oct 2009 09:50:00 +01:00Travel is one of the five least-confident business sectors in the current economic climate, according to a study by Santander Corporate Banking.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/02/2910/us-site-targets-free-time.htmlCCPFri, 02 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +01:00A service to help travellers plan their evening and weekend free time has been launched in the US. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/02/2911/ba-targets-indias-bloggers.htmlCCPFri, 02 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +01:00British Airways has expanded its social networking site Metrotwin.com to include Indian mega-city Mumbai. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/02/2907/bluesky-travel-systems-goes-into-administration.htmlCCPFri, 02 Oct 2009 08:30:00 +01:00 Travel technology company BlueSky Travel Systems has gone into administration. Adminstrators MCR is now seeking a buyer for the Manchester-based company, which counted Thomas Cook, First Choice and tour operator Mark Warner among its clients. A total of 106 people were employed by the company, which was founded in 2002. A former staff member said: "In this current climate it is very sad for the staff to find themselves suddenly unemployed and without any redundancy pay." The company was responsible for developing the Globe project , an on and offline reservation system that Thomas Cook had planned to roll out across its entire company after signing a £20 million contract in 2006. In a statement, Thomas http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/10/02/2912/50-increase-in-us-searches-for-uk-flights-press-release.htmlCCPFri, 02 Oct 2009 08:00:00 +01:00London, 30 September 2009 - Experian Hitwise, the online competitive intelligence service, reveals that both American and Australian internet searches for flights to the UK have increased by more than 50% over the last 12 months. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/30/2906/travolution-awards-2009-winners-and-photos.htmlCCPWed, 30 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +01:00All the winners from our third annual celebration of the online and technology sectors - plus photos from the evening on TWgroup's travelhub communityhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/29/2894/nokia-buys-travel-site-dopplr.htmlCCPTue, 29 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +01:00Mobile giant Nokia has bought travel social-network site Dopplr for an undisclosed sum as it seeks to develop its services for mobile users. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/29/2896/service-slashes-call-costs-from-hotels.htmlCCPTue, 29 Sep 2009 09:55:00 +01:00A service enabling travellers to make calls from hotel rooms for a fraction of the normal cost has been unveiled. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/29/2898/online-marketer-adds-google-earth-tool.htmlCCPTue, 29 Sep 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Online marketing specialist Bigblueroad has unveiled a Google Earth tool enabling travel companies to plot hotels and attractions on their websites by global positioning system (GPS). http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/29/2900/seo-agency-launches-with-travel-clients.htmlCCPTue, 29 Sep 2009 09:25:00 +01:00A search engine optimisation and social media agency has been set up by former Central Office of Information digital director Jamie Galloway. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/29/2904/jet2.com-to-go-on-gds-press-release.htmlCCPTue, 29 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Jet2.com to participate in GDS channel for first time http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/29/2905/direct-holidays-adds-user-reviews-press-release.htmlCCPTue, 29 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Direct Holidays is giving holidaymakers the chance to become holiday reviewers with the launch of a bespoke reviews website – thebigpicturedirect.co.uk http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/2887/bed-bank-warns-agents-over-content-liability.htmlCCPFri, 25 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +01:00A senior figure at leading bed bank Holiday Brokers has warned travel agents to be aware that varying content descriptions to sell accommodation can affect the issue of liability when something goes wrong. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/2892/trademark-case-turns-in-googles-favour.htmlCCPFri, 25 Sep 2009 09:55:00 +01:00A leading lawyer has warned major travel companies that a legal opinion delivered to Europe's highest court has tipped the balance in favour of Google in the battle over online brand hijacking. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/2888/holiday-videos-drive-online-bookings.htmlCCPFri, 25 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:00Travel sites with videos encourage consumers to spend more than those without, according to a leading technology supplier. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/2891/hostelbookers-claims-to-out-price-rivals.htmlCCPFri, 25 Sep 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Hostelbookers has launched a campaign claiming it offers prices an average 5% cheaper than rivals, following research into the budget accommodation market. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/2886/destinology-aims-towards-50m-turnover.htmlCCPFri, 25 Sep 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Tailor-made luxury specialist Destinology has overhauled its online booking system. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/2890/traveltainment-to-add-user-reviews.htmlCCPFri, 25 Sep 2009 09:20:00 +01:00Traveltainment plans to unveil user-generated content such as reviews on its booking system later this year. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/2901/agents-to-use-caching-to-improve-web-sales.htmlCCPFri, 25 Sep 2009 09:15:00 +01:00 Agents with an online offering will increasingly use caching to improve website performance, according to a major bed bank supplier. Caching, when agents store booking information, such as prices and availability, on a local server, avoids having to continually access live information. Holiday Brokers sales director Brian Young told delegates there would be greater pressure to improve search speeds. “Agents can store data locally; it cuts live search time by 90% and massively increases response time.” The downside of caching, however, is that price and availability is not always accurate, providing a headache for online retailers. “It’s hard for agents because they are producing one price and then having to get a live price. One in 20 find the price has changed when they book.” Young said the bed bank’s most searched-for destination was Majorca and claimed to return searches in less than eight seconds. Holiday Brokers is part of thehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/2899/ryanair-will-have-to-use-gdss-in-future-claims-amadeus-boss.htmlCCPFri, 25 Sep 2009 09:10:00 +01:00 Ryanair will have to use global distribution systems (GDS) in the future, Amadeus UK and Ireland managing director Tim Russell has claimed. At the moment, 56 low-cost carriers distribute through Amadeus, Russell told delegates at the Travel Technology Initiative' s autumn conference. Russell said: “Agents prefer to use GDSs rather than trawl the web. The volumes remain low, but I think maths will win the day. “In the end, yield will win. Even Michael O’Leary [Ryanair chief executive] will consider distributing through anyone. He calls us parasites, but we will see." Russell said Amadeus was working with its airline partners to get access to web-only fares. He added: “We aim to become airlines’ preferred distribution channel. For agents, the enhanced content will help them sell. Andhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/2897/travel-counsellors-calls-for-common-standards.htmlCCPFri, 25 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00 Travel Counsello rs has called for accommodation suppliers to develop a common standard for destination and hotel codes. Inconsistent destination and hotel codes are a major gripe for travel agents, according to Paul Speakman, IT director at home-based agency chain Travel Counsellors. Speaking at the conference, Speakman said suppliers often change codes, which can cause them to drop off the travel agency system. “The main problem we have is inconsistent hotel and place codes. It would be good if all bed banks had standard codes. Some have reindexed all their hotel identities and then they drop off the system because they have renamed them,” he said. Similarly, Speakman said operating XML feeds to a number of bed banks was difficult to manage. “We have 20 XML feeds to bed banks and 15 are live, but they all work differently. “If therhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/2895/travel-agents-do-not-have-video-capability-says-specialist.htmlCCPFri, 25 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00 A “damning” mystery shop of major high-street travel agencies has highlighted that agencies have yet to invest in the technology needed to show customers destination videos. Dave Howard, managing director of video specialist Trailstream , told delegates at the Travel Technology Initiative autumn conference in London that agents should be able to offer the same experience of video-streaming technology that customers can access from home computers. But a mystery shop of eight Thomas Cook, Thomson, Holiday Hypermarket, Hays Travel and The Co-operative Travel branches, in which agents were asked for more details about a hotel, showed major flaws in in-store technology, Howard said. The agents failed to get information on the hotel, either in a brochure or online, and struggled to show a video of the hotel because of connection restrictions. Howard sahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/25/2889/kuoni-launches-major-business-restructure.htmlCCPFri, 25 Sep 2009 08:00:00 +01:00 Pan-European tour operating group Kuoni has launched a major shake-up of its business in a move that has resulted in the departure of one of its senior board members. The restructure will deliver "substantial" savings and forms part of the group's cost-cutting programme announced at the start of this year. This aims to save 40 million Swiss francs by 2012. But a "difference of opinion" over the new strategy has led to the departure of Reto Wilhelm, head of strategic business for the Style division and a member of the group's executive board. The changes, aimed at increasing the group's customer focus, include the creation ohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/24/2885/thomas-cook-loses-ecommerce-director.htmlCCPThu, 24 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Thomas Cook director of ecommerce Russell Gould has left the company. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/24/2893/report-highlights-soaring-rate-of-brand-hijacking.htmlCCPThu, 24 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Four out of five online travel retailers suffered brand “hijacking” in a survey conducted last month and the number of incidents has doubled in the past year. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/22/2877/travel-firms-missing-growing-youth-market.htmlCCPTue, 22 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +01:00Travel companies and tourism organisations are missing out on the growing youth travel market, says a leading academic. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/22/2862/web-shoppers-expect-two-second-response.htmlCCPTue, 22 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +01:00A study in the US suggests close to half of online customers become frustrated if web pages take more than two seconds to open and longer than three seconds will lead many to abandon a site. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/22/2878/cheapflights-growth-puts-it-in-tech-100.htmlCCPTue, 22 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:00Cheapflights is the only business to feature for a sixth successive time in the annual TechTrack 100 report published this week. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/22/2882/travel-brand-hijacking-doubles-press-release.htmlCCPTue, 22 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:0021 September 2009: 80% of the travel operators surveyed in Nucleus’ latest study of brand interception in the UK travel industry were victims of brand interception, or brand hijacking, where one online advertiser pays to intercept search enquiries for a competitor brand, often using their brand name in the text of the ad. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/22/2883/recession-drives-up-online-brand-interception.htmlCCPTue, 22 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:00It may not come as a surprise that online brand hijacking in the travel industry has increased sharply in the past year as bookings have fallen.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/22/2879/hotel-site-offers-booking-via-twitter.htmlCCPTue, 22 Sep 2009 09:40:00 +01:00Online hotel start-up Inoqo has unveiled a Twitter-based hotel booking engine for travellers seeking last-minute accommodation. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/22/2880/hotel-search-site-to-pay-partners-for-downtime.htmlCCPTue, 22 Sep 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Australian vertical-search business Hotelscombined.com is to compensate affiliates if its website is unavailable. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/22/2881/ncl-to-extend-cruise-reviews-to-uk-site.htmlCCPTue, 22 Sep 2009 09:15:00 +01:00Norwegian Cruise Line plans to extend client-review facilities to its UK and other international sites after recently unveiling them in the US.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/22/2884/thomas-cook-goes-wholly-public-for-first-time.htmlCCPTue, 22 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Ownership of Thomas Cook changed after 44% of shares in the company were placed on the London Stock Exchange and snapped up by institutional investors.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/18/2871/budget-airlines-suffer-fallling-online-reputation.htmlCCPFri, 18 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +01:00The online reputation of budget airlines has taken a dive over the summer as customers grow increasingly vocal about misleading charges.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/18/2872/amadeus-plans-listing.htmlCCPFri, 18 Sep 2009 09:57:00 +01:00Travel technology giant Amadeus is considering an initial public offering (IPO) expected to involve shares worth $12 billion.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/18/2870/content-is-king-for-hotel-sites.htmlCCPFri, 18 Sep 2009 09:55:00 +01:00Almost two in five online travel bookers in the US are deterred from booking a hotel without "photos, videos or written content that makes them feel comfortable”, according to analyst Forrester Research. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/18/2874/radisson-launches-mobile-service.htmlCCPFri, 18 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:00Radisson Hotels & Resorts has joined with Mobile Travel Technologies to unveil a mobile service for guests in the UK, India and Australia.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/18/2875/travel-intelligence-revamps-site.htmlCCPFri, 18 Sep 2009 09:40:00 +01:00Hotel specialist Travel Intelligence has teamed up with web-design agency Aquanota to revamp its website.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/18/2876/tribewanted-seeks-new-recruits.htmlCCPFri, 18 Sep 2009 09:25:00 +01:00Social network Tribewanted plans to recruit new teams of travellers for projects around the world next year. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/18/2873/orbitz-makes-hotels-appointment.htmlCCPFri, 18 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00John Ryan has been named director of Orbitz Worldwide hotel supplier relations in Europe as the former US airline booking portal strengthens its focus on hotels. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/15/2868/sabre-to-launch-social-network-for-agents.htmlCCPTue, 15 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:00Sabre plans to launch its online social network, AgentStream, for UK travel agents early next year. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/15/2864/vertical-group-buys-controlling-stake-in-villas-for-travel.htmlCCPTue, 15 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:00 Travel technology specialist Vertical Group has bought a controlling stake in tour operator Villas for Travel . The deal, for an undisclosed sum, will allow the group’s brands, including accommodation-only specialists bedbank.com and bedbankski.com, high-street travel agency Miss Ellies Travel and homeworking company Holiday Experts, to sell Villas for Travel’s 1,000-plus properties worldwide. The villa specialist currently sells around 75% of its product direct and 25% through the trade. Vertical group, which also owns TARSC, bought the trading assets of Holiday Experts in July. Chief executive Peter Healey said: “This deal enables us to provide the villa product that our customers were requesting and differentiate our accommodation service to the travel trade.” Bedbank.com sales manager Catalina Vera Pilhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/15/2867/uk-hotel-rates-down-16.htmlCCPTue, 15 Sep 2009 09:35:00 +01:00UK hotel rates fell 16% year on year in the first half of 2009, according to accommodation site hotels.com. However, prices fell even more for visitors from the US and the euro zone, falling 28% in US dollars and 22% in euros. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/15/2865/microsites-key-to-visitbritain-strategy.htmlCCPTue, 15 Sep 2009 09:31:00 +01:00UK tourism promotion body VisitBritain reported 26 million visits to its websites in the past 12 months, well ahead of its 19 million target.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/15/2863/fly.com-nears-uk-take-off.htmlCCPTue, 15 Sep 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Travelzoo vertical-search tool Fly.com is nearing the final stages of testing following a beta launch in the UK. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/15/2869/yourtour-goes-live-in-us.htmlCCPTue, 15 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Tour-planning specialist YourTour has gone live in the US with a service helping travellers put together a trip based on tours, excursions and hotels.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/11/2861/discover-the-world-marketing-targets-uk-trade.htmlCCPFri, 11 Sep 2009 04:10:00 +01:00 Discover The World Marketing is targeting a hike in business from the UK trade following a deal to represent Las Vegas hotel chain Harrah’s. The travel sales representation, marketing and outsourcing specialist already works in 51 countries worldwide to represent more than 60 companies including bmi, Delta, Etihad, Virgin Atlantic, Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean. Traditionally most of its business has been outside the UK. Its UK office oversees 20 offices worldwide and more than 20 clients.   Vice-president Rob Pope said several further UK deals were in the pipeline. He added: “We have not had a strategy to build our UK sales representation arm before because we have been focused on managing the whole region we represent. We have come out of our shell and made it known more recently through existing clients that we can do UK work for them.” Chief executive Jenny Adams said the http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/11/2856/tui-takes-commissionable-rooms-global.htmlCCPFri, 11 Sep 2009 09:50:00 +01:00TUI Travel's AsiaRooms.com has followed the lead of laterooms.com and dropped the merchant model in favour of an exclusively commission-based relationship direct with hotels.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/11/2858/priceline-boss-says-mobile-phones-next-battleground.htmlCCPFri, 11 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:00Mobile phones will provide the next battleground for online travel agents and lead increasing numbers of travellers to book accommodation only on arrival in their destination, according to Priceline.com chief executive Jeffery Boyd. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/11/2857/po-ferries-tackles-drop-out-rate.htmlCCPFri, 11 Sep 2009 09:30:00 +01:00P&O Ferries reports improvements in its online drop-out rate, return on marketing and staff efficiency through use of a customer-insight tool supplied by partner Speed-Trap. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/11/2859/cheapflights-revamps-offers-pages.htmlCCPFri, 11 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Cheapflights has revamped its offers pages to improve navigation, make flight offers and search-by-date functionality more prominent and provide information faster. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/11/2860/tripwolf-unveils-latest-version.htmlCCPFri, 11 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Online travel guide Tripwolf has unveiled the latest version of the service with a new trip planner. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/11/2855/press-release-aa-and-expedia-announce-white-label-deal.htmlCCPFri, 11 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00From today, users of www.theAA.com will be able to book UK hotel accommodation following a white label deal with Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN)http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/10/2852/thomas-cook-to-change-hands-as-banks-place-shares.htmlCCPThu, 10 Sep 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Ownership of Thomas Cook is poised to change after banks holding almost 44% of shares in the company confirmed their placing on the London Stock Exchange.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/08/2850/expedia-site-drops-booking-fees-in-australia.htmlCCPTue, 08 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +01:00Leading travel sites in Australia, including Expedia and lastminute.com, are to drop booking fees on airline tickets following similar moves in the US.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/08/2846/hotelly.com-targets-teletext-customers.htmlCCPTue, 08 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:00Price comparison site Hotelly.com hopes to pick up some of the holiday market held by Teletext Holidays ahead of the shut-down of its travel service on analogue television, now expected late next year.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/08/2847/easyvoyage-reports-doubling-in-revenue.htmlCCPTue, 08 Sep 2009 09:15:00 +01:00Travel website EasyVoyage reported group revenue doubled in 2008 to £14 million, with an increase in earnings before interest and depreciation (EBITDA) to £4.9 million.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/08/2849/travel-a-right-not-a-luxury-say-young.htmlCCPTue, 08 Sep 2009 09:14:00 +01:00Young people view travel as a right and not a luxury, according to MTV youth culture and trends site MTVsticky. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/08/2848/dot.travel-in-promotion-on-youtube.htmlCCPTue, 08 Sep 2009 09:10:00 +01:00Dot.travel has produced a video for distribution by social media in an effort to raise awareness of the travel industry domain name.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/08/2851/amadeus-claims-to-save-agents-time-on-car-rental.htmlCCPTue, 08 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Research commissioned by Amadeus suggests its GDS tool for car rental can save travel agents time and money compared with suppliers’ microsites and call centres.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/04/2836/improved-handsets-key-to-mobile-web.htmlCCPFri, 04 Sep 2009 09:50:00 +01:00The mobile phone market in Europe appears to have reached saturation, with no significant growth in the 300 million handsets forecast over the next five years. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/04/2837/ba-targets-tv-with-online-opportunities.htmlCCPFri, 04 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:00British Airways will launch its first TV advertising campaign for two years on Monday, with BA.com as a vital component of the sales drive.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/04/2838/ba.com-hails-third-party-ads-success.htmlCCPFri, 04 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:00Third-party advertising will become a regular feature on BA.com after a trial proved popular with clients and customers.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/04/2843/press-release-hotelly.com-to-revolutionise-price-comparison.htmlCCPFri, 04 Sep 2009 09:40:00 +01:00Friday 4th September, 2009 – Hotelly.com, a ground-breaking price comparison site has today launched into the UK market. Never has it been easier to find the right holiday first time as the innovative site is the first to offer consumers ‘best value’ holidays by price and user reviews simultaneously. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/04/2839/abta-chief-issues-cash-flow-warning.htmlCCPFri, 04 Sep 2009 09:30:00 +01:00ABTA chairman John McEwan has warned agents to keep a close eye on their cash flow following the sudden failure of Scottish agency Cambuslang Travel. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/04/2842/launch-of-local-specialist-service-tripbod.htmlCCPFri, 04 Sep 2009 09:25:00 +01:00An online fee-charging service that connects travellers with local specialists in destinations has been launched. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/04/2840/failed-agency-owner-predicts-further-collapses.htmlCCPFri, 04 Sep 2009 09:10:00 +01:00The future for independent travel agents is bleak, according to the owner of Cardiff agency Millennium Travel which ceased trading this week.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/04/2841/tui-survey-reveals-power-of-word-of-mouth.htmlCCPFri, 04 Sep 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Nine out of 10 people tell family and friends about their holiday on returning home, according to research by TUI Travel, which found many more people read online reviews of travel experiences than write them.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/01/2835/business-travellers-want-inflight-wi-fi-above-all-else.htmlCCPTue, 01 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +01:00Business travellers value inflight Wi-Fi access more highly than meals, free movies and other airline services.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/01/2834/google-strengthens-grip-on-global-search.htmlCCPTue, 01 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +01:00Google has strengthened its grip on online search, accounting for more than two-thirds of the worldwide total of 113-billion online queries in July.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/01/2833/web-based-mobile-gaining-ground.htmlCCPTue, 01 Sep 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Two-in-five mobile-phone users in western Europe will access the internet via their handset by 2014, according to a report by market-research company Forrester.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/28/2832/european-commission-to-review-package-holiday-directive.htmlCCPFri, 28 Aug 2009 05:09:00 +01:00 The European Commission is to launch a review of the Package Holiday Directive this autumn. Announcing the continent-wide review in Galway, Ireland, yesterday, the European commissioner for consumer affairs, Meglena Kuneva, said the legislation is out of date, having been created and implemented in the 1990s. The commissioner's spokeswoman said: "We will have a big launch in October or November of the review of the Package Holiday Directive, which is out of date. "The directive dates back to the 1990s when (thanks to the number of package holidays sold) it covered something like 90% of passengers on leisure flights. "Now, more than 50% of people are booking dynamic packages and making independent travel arrangements and the package holiday companies are telling us they are being penalised by the changes." The spokeswoman added it was too early to say whether the review would look at widening the current regulations to bring more travel companihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/28/2830/octopustravel-tops-paid-search-on-google.htmlCCPFri, 28 Aug 2009 10:10:00 +01:00Travelport’s OctopusTravel.com had the largest share of voice in the paid-search space for hotels on Google in June, according to research by Greenlight.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/28/2828/travelzoo-finds-one-in-four-still-plan-summer-trip.htmlCCPFri, 28 Aug 2009 09:50:00 +01:00A Travelzoo survey in mid-August found more than one in four of 5,000 UK subscribers still planning to book a summer holiday this year.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/28/2827/spanish-hotel-group-signs-with-expedia-to-offer-diy.htmlCCPFri, 28 Aug 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Lopesan Hotel Group has signed a white-label deal with Expedia Affiliate Network that will allow customers to book dynamic packages through its websites.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/28/2826/simonseeks-adds-video-to-travel-site.htmlCCPFri, 28 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Travel guides service Simonseeks has enhanced its website with the addition of videos. Writers can now add their own YouTube videos to reviews or clips of destinations and resorts. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/28/2829/changes-at-the-top-for-travel-ad-network.htmlCCPFri, 28 Aug 2009 08:30:00 +01:00Brian Silver has been promoted from chief operating officer to president and chief executive of Travel Ad Network, with current chief executive Cree Lawson becoming chairman.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/27/2825/press-release-lastminute.com-appoints-marketing-director-following-thompsons-exit.htmlCCPThu, 27 Aug 2009 10:20:00 +01:00 Lastminute.com has appointed a new European marketing director, Mark Newton, who will be joining the business in September 2009. Mark Newton has 13 years' experience marketing on and offline businesses and building online brand identity. Mark is joining lastminute.com having spent the last five years helping American Express grow its digital business internationally. Following the departure of Simon Thompson, the European managing director and chief marketing officer, in September, lastminute.com confirmed it would not be directly backfilling his role, instead appointing a specific European marketing director, reporting directly into Ian McCaig, lastminute.com chief executive; the country-based managing directors will also report directly to Ian. Mark proved the ideal candidate with his evident wealth of pan-European digital marketing, commercial wisdom and strategic leadership.  Mark will lead pan-European centres of excellence and overall brand dhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/26/2824/thomson-and-easyjet-make-it-into-top-ten-of-imrg-hitwises-top-e-tailers.htmlCCPWed, 26 Aug 2009 03:30:00 +01:00 Two travel companies have made it into the top ten of IMRG-Hitwise’s top 50 Hot Shops this quarter. with Expedia.co.uk the only travel company to see a fall in its rating. Bar Expedia, the other eight travel companies listed in the top 50 have risen up the chart, with Thomson Holidays and easyJet moving into the top 10 for the first time - the only newcomers to the top ten. Amazon came in at number one, followed by Argos at number two. But Hitwise director of research Robin Goad warned that behind the seasonal increases for travel companies was a decline in traffic to most sites. “Most of the travel companies moved up the rankings this quarter, but this seasonal increase masks an annual decline in traffic to most of the sites. The notable exception was The Trainline, which is benefiting from the boom in domestic travel and staycathttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/26/2823/former-teletext-holidays-boss-launches-web-review-service.htmlCCPWed, 26 Aug 2009 11:15:00 +01:00 Former Teletext Holidays managing director Matt Cheevers  has launched a one-day independent web review service aimed at small travel businesses. OneDayReview.co.uk is a trading name of company Smooth Direction, recently set up by Cheevers to provide consultancy, recruitment and marketing services. Cheevers is already in talks with two consortia with a view to rolling out the service to agents, particularly those working on small budgets and need advice on how to improve their websites. The service aims to give an independent and frank review of a company’s website, including branding analysis, design, and booking processes. Cheevers said the service was purely aimed at giving a review, not undertaking the work required. He said; “Most people pay to have a review only if they are going to pay the companyhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/25/2819/pegasus-highlights-global-fall-in-hotel-bookings.htmlCCPTue, 25 Aug 2009 09:55:00 +01:00Pegasus Solutions reports a global decline in hotel reservations, length of stay, average daily rates and revenues so far this year. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/25/2822/best-practice-old-hat-says-online-marketer.htmlCCPTue, 25 Aug 2009 09:50:00 +01:00Travel websites are making basic mistakes and not improving their web metrics, according to Mark Simpson, founder of online-marketer Maxymiser, who dismissed "best practice" as "old hat”. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/25/2817/thetrainline-relaunches-with-focus-on-conversion.htmlCCPTue, 25 Aug 2009 09:45:00 +01:00Thetralineline.com anticipates a double-digit percentage rise in conversion rates after relaunching with an enhanced focus on bookings. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/25/2821/visitbritain-partner-to-expand-abroad.htmlCCPTue, 25 Aug 2009 09:15:00 +01:00Digital Visitor plans to expand internationally following its partnership in the UK with inbound-tourism body VisitBritain. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/25/2818/loyalty-schemes-need-new-approach.htmlCCPTue, 25 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Travel companies operating loyalty schemes should refresh their approach in light of the downturn, says information and transaction management company the Logic Group.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/25/2820/john-bevan-joins-jet-broker.htmlCCPTue, 25 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Former lastminute managing director John Bevan has been appointed a non-executive director of private jet broker PrivateFly. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/25/2816/easyjet-tops-greenlight-paid-search-analysis.htmlCCPTue, 25 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +01:00EasyJet has the greatest share of paid search on Google, according to the latest study from search-marketing agency Greenlight.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/21/2807/lower-rates-promised-as-teletext-holidays-retains-analogue-for-further-year.htmlCCPFri, 21 Aug 2009 10:15:00 +01:00 Teletext Holidays has promised reduced rates for travel advertisers as it announces the retention of its analogue TV service for a further 12 months. The deal - a result of discussions with Ofcom  - follows Teletext’s decision to bring forward the shutdown of its news and information services on analogue from January 2010 and removing all its services, including travel, news and information, from Sky in December. Managing director Victoria Sanders said the service will be retained until at least September 2011. Teletext Holidays is also available on Freeview channel 101 and teletextholidays.co.uk, thisistravel.co.uk and villarenters.com. "We have got analogue until we want to switch it off. I see another 12 months as viable," she said. But she pledged to offer thttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/21/2808/social-networkers-value-special-offers.htmlCCPFri, 21 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +01:00A survey by travel and lifestyle social-network site WAYN has found airport lounge passes and special offers with priority access to events top the list of benefits most valued by users.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/21/2809/exclusive-commission-junction-joins-up-with-fusepump.htmlCCPFri, 21 Aug 2009 09:50:00 +01:00Affiliate network Commission Junction has joined forces with feed-technology specialist FusePump to develop a solution aimed at the UK travel industry. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/21/2811/hilton.com-top-for-user-experience-for-second-year.htmlCCPFri, 21 Aug 2009 09:45:00 +01:00Hilton.com has emerged top of a user-experience survey of hotel websites for second year in succession. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/21/2810/press-release-superbreak-teams-up-with-multicom.htmlCCPFri, 21 Aug 2009 09:40:00 +01:00 Travel software specialists Multicom and market leading short break provider Superbreak have joined forces to further support the significant increase in demand for UK breaks from the domestic market. Driven partly by the credit crunch and the weakness of sterling, particularly in the Eurozone, Superbreak reports that bookings for UK breaks from agents have increased by over 20% for the year to date compared to 2008. In a move designed to maximise the opportunities of this increase in demand, the York based company has teamed up with Multicom to launch its hotels and apartments product on the FindandBook platform (FAB), favoured by over half of UK travel agents. It will provide agents using FAB and other web based travel businesses access to Superbreak’s award winning range of hotels and apartments at a time when demand has never been better. Superbreak sales director Ian Mounser said: “We are delighted to be working with Multicom to make our accommodatiohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/21/2812/happy-campers-get-the-web-bug.htmlCCPFri, 21 Aug 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Interest in camping and caravan holidays among the UK public is reflected in strong web-traffic statistics from two of the sector’s leading membership organisations.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/21/2813/sabre-revamps-virtually-there.htmlCCPFri, 21 Aug 2009 09:15:00 +01:00Sabre Travel Network has relaunched its itinerary service Virtually There with a range of new features including enhanced mobile phone functionality.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/20/2814/press-release-kuoni-reports-23-million-half-year-loss.htmlCCPThu, 20 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +01:00 The first six months of the 2009 business year were dramatically affected by a number of negative external influences for the Kuoni Group. The global financial and economic crisis, significantly adverse currency movements, and the first effects of the swine flu, all depressed the first-half results. Turnover for the period totalled CHF 1 760 million, down 21.0 %. Underlying earnings before interest and taxes (underlying EBIT 1) fell to CHF –40.7 million (£23.2 million). The net result amounted to CHF –51.0 million. With deep economic recession, the continuing reluctance to spend among consumers and negative currency movements, results were down on their prior-year levels in all Kuoni markets. However, booking trends for the second half of 2009 suggest a slight improvement in general consumer demand. FACTS AND FIGURES FOR THE FIRST HALF OF 2009 Turnover for the Kuoni Group totalled CHF 1 760 million, a 21.0 % decline on the samehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/20/2805/pester-power-influences-parents-holiday-choices.htmlCCPThu, 20 Aug 2009 09:45:00 +01:00 Children’s pester power has a major influence on where families go on holiday, according to research exclusive to Travolution's sister title Travel Weekly. Almost 80% of 2,000 children surveyed in a YoungPoll survey commissioned by Teletext Holidays said their parents sometimes or always let them help choose the family holiday destination. Children surveyed were aged five to 15, with an average age of 10. Of the respondents, 17% said their parents always let them help when they are deciding where to go on holiday, while 61.4% said their parents sometimes allowed them to help. But 21.6% said they had no say in the decision. The findings suggest children are a critical advertising market for family holidays, said Teletext Holidays managing director Victoria Sanders. “It’s important the industry realises how much inflhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/18/2803/press-release-skyscanner-launches-holiday-search-function.htmlCCPTue, 18 Aug 2009 05:00:00 +01:00[EDINBURGH] Travel search site Skyscanner today launched a brand new holiday search function (www.skyscanner.net/holidays) which brings together the holiday offerings of over 20 leading suppliers, including Thomas Cook, Airtours, On The Beach, Virgin Holidays and Monster Travel. From today users can now search from 35 million holidays worldwide on the Skyscanner site. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/18/2804/press-release-hostelworld-launches-bb-site.htmlCCPTue, 18 Aug 2009 05:00:00 +01:00Dublin, Ireland – Online travel company Hostelworld.com has launched a B&B website bedandbreakfastworld.com, bringing B&Bs direct online access to customers. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/18/2801/stella-hospitality-group-to-be-renamed-mantra-group.htmlCCPTue, 18 Aug 2009 11:00:00 +01:00 Stella Hospitality Group is to be renamed the Mantra Group, according to Travolution’s sister title in Australia . The Stella Group announced earlier this month that it was splitting its group into two divisions under the Stella  Hospitality Group and Stella Travel Services, which includes Stella Travel Services UK. The group now has two separately managed, financed and operated businesses. Stella Hospitality Grou p operates a portfolio of more than 140 resorts, hotels and apartments, including the Peppers, Mantra and Breakfree brands. Travel Today, the online daily news service operated by Travel Weekly Australia, has reported that the hospitality group will change its name to the Mahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/18/2796/laterooms-ramps-up-extranet-for-hoteliers.htmlCCPTue, 18 Aug 2009 10:55:00 +01:00Laterooms.com has announced a range of new tools on its supplier extranet to help hoteliers fill more rooms in the downturn. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/18/2798/bahamas-to-assess-online-marketing-impact-on-arrivals.htmlCCPTue, 18 Aug 2009 10:35:00 +01:00The Bahamas Tourist Office in the UK has linked up with London-based advertising agency Fox Kalomaski to assess the impact of online-marketing on arrivals through customs and immigration data. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/18/2794/travel-firms-lose-millions-in-transaction-failures.htmlCCPTue, 18 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +01:00Transaction failures are costing major travel businesses $11.5 million a year as IT systems become more complicated, according to a study by software business Progress.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/18/2793/walt-disney-world-resort-florida-tops-childrens-poll.htmlCCPTue, 18 Aug 2009 09:50:00 +01:00 Florida’s Walt Disney World Resort has topped the chart of favourite holiday destinations in a survey of 2,000 children. The resort was the clear favourite with 22.65% of the vote in a YoungPoll  survey of five to 15 year olds commissioned by Teletext Holidays. It was followed by Spain, with 8.3%. If combined with Majorca and Menorca, listed separately in the poll, Spain took 11.35% of the vote. The US, separately from Walt Disney World, received 6%. The survey also highlighted regions of the UK as popular holiday destinations for the next generation. Wales came third overall in the chart of dream holiday destinations, with 6.10%, and was closely followed by Cornwall at 5.9% and Devon at 4.05%. Despite these results, 75.8% of youngsters said they would rather go abroad on holiday, compared with 24.2%, who http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/18/2802/cheapflights-gm-francesca-ecsery-promoted-to-global-sales-director.htmlCCPTue, 18 Aug 2009 09:45:00 +01:00 Cheapflights Ltd, the pioneer and a global leader in independent online flight price search and deal comparison, today announced changes to its leadership team designed to strengthen and support the company’s international expansion. Francesca Ecsery, formerly Cheapflights’ UK general manager, has been promoted to global sales director. Francesca joined Cheapflights in 2007 and successfully guided the growth of Cheapflights.co.uk as a market leader.  Francesca will be responsible for Cheapflights’ global revenue and will lead teams internationally in sales, sales operations and advertiser relations. Francesca builds on her 20 years experience in the travel industry that includes leadership roles at STA Travel, IfYouTravel.com, Airtours, and Thomas Cook.  Chris Cuddy, Cheapflights’ CEO, said: “We are thrilled to have Francesca’s considerable talents fully engaged in supporting Cheapflights’ global growth.  Francesca has built effective relationships withhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/18/2795/the-co-operative-travels-web-sales-to-soar-by-300.htmlCCPTue, 18 Aug 2009 09:30:00 +01:00 Sales from The Co-operative Travel’s website are set to grow from £3 million to £11 million this year - a hike of 300%. The site was relaunched in December last year. Since December 1, 2008, it has had more than 3.2 million visitors, who have looked at more than 20 million pages. Importantly, the number of holidaymakers who buy holidays direct from the site - the look-to-book numbers - has gone up by more than half. The most popular destinations are Majorca, Turkey, Ibiza, Faro and Crete, with Sharm-el Sheikh in Egypt, Goa in India and Florida the top worldwide destinations. In line with the market, all-inclusive holidays remain popular. Head of e-commerce Neil Hardy said the newly-launched Co-operative brand was a “huge factor” in the website’s success as it is seen as “secure and trustworthy”. In May, Hardy told Travolution that the http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/18/2797/travelodge-creates-e-commerce-division.htmlCCPTue, 18 Aug 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Travelodge has combined its marketing and IT teams to create a new e-commerce division headed by Charlie Herbert, who has spent the past six months as a consultant to the budget hotel chain. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/18/2800/carnival-signs-with-search-works.htmlCCPTue, 18 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Carnival UK has appointed the Search Works to manage paid search across all its brands as well as search engine optimisation (SEO) for P&O Cruises.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/14/2786/ba.com-books-in-third-party-banners.htmlCCPFri, 14 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +01:00British Airways says it has had a positive early response to the first-ever third-party banner advertisement on ba.com. Luxury car manufacturer Jaguar is running a banner ad on the site. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/14/2787/hostelworld-moves-to-online-commission.htmlCCPFri, 14 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +01:00Hostelworld.com will move to a commission-based model to generate ancillary revenue after ten years of selling accommodation only. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/14/2788/teletext-holidays-has-rubbished-icelolly.com-takeover-bid.htmlCCPFri, 14 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +01:00 Teletext Holidays has rubbished claims by marketing portal Icelolly.com  that it is “actively pursuing” a takeover of the group. Icelolly.com put out a statement yesterday to clients as well as the press that said: ““We are actively pursuing taking over Teletext. It has now become an outdated service and we would be looking to bring it up to date and make it successful once again.” Les Etienne, co-owner of Icelolly, which also owns travel agency Sunsave, admitted the company had yet to put in an official bid for the company. But she maintained: “It is a serious bid; it’s something we have spoken about for a few years and we are now in a position to make an offer.” Mike Stewart, managing director of Teletext, which is owned by the Daily Mail & Generhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/14/2789/lastminute-claims-improved-response-to-crises.htmlCCPFri, 14 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +01:00Lastminute.com claims to be responding more effectively to "crisis incidents" than traditional travel firms thanks to its relationship with customer relationship management (CRM) specialist RightNow.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/14/2790/galaria-spots-new-opportunity.htmlCCPFri, 14 Aug 2009 09:20:00 +01:00Faisal Galaria has been named global head of business development for music-download site Spotify, three months after he unexpectedly quit as European managing director of Kayak.com. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/14/2791/expedia-vet-to-join-borders.htmlCCPFri, 14 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Former Expedia Distribution president Paul Brown is being lined up to join the board of book retailer Borders Group. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/13/2785/rumours-of-on-holiday-group-sale-to-on-the-beach-denied.htmlCCPThu, 13 Aug 2009 03:45:00 +01:00 Rumours that online travel agency On The Beach is to acquire dynamic packaging specialist  On Holiday Group have been denied by both parties. Speculation surfaced this week of a £6 million deal to buy On Holiday Group, which owns trade bed bank Holiday Brokers and direct brand Fresh Holidays. It was set up in 2004 and in 2005 the business was valued at £4 million. On Holiday Group founder Steve Endacott has never ruled out a merger or acquisition as a way to expand the business further, but said no such deal was in the pipeline during the current tough trading climate. He said: “It’s not a year you would do a deal but you can never say never. We are not actively looking for a deal.” But he admitted consolidation in the bed bank sectorhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/13/2784/directline-holidays-reports-sales-hike-on-pay-day.htmlCCPThu, 13 Aug 2009 03:30:00 +01:00 Online travel agency Directline Holidays has reported a significant rise in bookings on pay day for the past three months. The agency, which also dynamically packages its own holidays, has seen sales conversions almost triple on the last Fridays of June and July – traditionally when businesses pay staff. Chief executive Maria Whiteman, who started in the role three months ago, said the trend was clearly linked to the recession, with consumers trying to manage their cashflow in order to afford a holiday. She said: “We have seen a real bookings peak in the past three months on the last Friday of each month, even more so for the last month [July]. “Customers would appear to be worried and cannot pay their bills until they get paid. A lot of people have been searching for deals beforehand but it seems they are waiting until pay day thttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/13/2783/directline-holidays-to-expand-into-new-markets.htmlCCPThu, 13 Aug 2009 03:20:00 +01:00 Online travel agency and tour operator Directline Holidays is to expand into the domestic, luxury and long-haul markets for the first time, new chief executive Maria Whiteman has revealed. The company already has separate flight-only, hotels, cruise, ski and city break websites in addition to its main holiday site. It is in the process of adding content and functionality, including new layouts and price tools to change mark-ups on products. The new areas will be served by dedicated websites and offer a mix of tour operator and dynamically packaged product. Whiteman, drafted in by co-founders Tony Bradley and Matthew Flint three months ago, said the new products will ensure improved year-round margins. She said: “At the moment we have a real peak in the summer because we sell the Mediterranean. The areas we are trying to grow will help fihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/11/2781/uk-air-passenger-decline-stabilises.htmlCCPTue, 11 Aug 2009 02:00:00 +01:00Airport operator BAA’s July traffic figures suggest passenger numbers may have stabilised following the downturn up to June.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/11/2779/holiday-extras-launches-late-sales-campaign.htmlCCPTue, 11 Aug 2009 10:25:00 +01:00 Holiday Extras, the UK market leader in pre-booked UK airport hotels and parking, is launching a display campaign aimed at driving sales for its airport parking and airport hotel products with consumers booking late summer getaways. Starting on August 10 and running until September 21, the campaign was created by digital direct marketing agency CheezeDMG. Established in 1983, Holiday Extras is the UK market leader in pre-booked UK airport hotels and parking. With a turnover of £155 million in 2008/2009, the company made arrangements for 6.2 million travellers, selling 433,186 hotel rooms, 1,114,700 parking bookings as well as travel insurance and holiday car hire.Holiday Extras prides itself on providing the best products, the best service and above all, great low prices. Pete Oxlade, group account director at CheezeDMG explains the agency’s strategy. “Using five different creative sizes, with four different messages around ‘parking’, ‘hotels’, ‘hotels’ and ‘parkihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/11/2776/several-companies-in-line-to-bid-for-titan-travel.htmlCCPTue, 11 Aug 2009 10:10:00 +01:00 Several companies have expressed an interest in buying tour operator Titan Travel. The company is up for sale with a price tag of £15 million to 20 million. Over-50s specialist Saga is already known to be one of the bidders. McInnes, the corporate finance arm of insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor, is dealing with the sale. A spokeswoman would not comment on the sale but admitted there were a "number of interested parties" because Titan was an "attractive company" to buy. Details of the sale were leaked to The Independent , which claimed Saga was likely to fend off rival interest for Titan. Titan sells holidays worldwide and came top in a Holiday Which? survehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/11/2775/hotel-giants-own-brand-online-business-falls.htmlCCPTue, 11 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +01:00InterContinental Hotels has reported a fall in the proportion of online bookings through its own websites, although the web accounts for an increased proportion of room revenue overall.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/11/2780/booking.com-cautious-on-advertising.htmlCCPTue, 11 Aug 2009 09:50:00 +01:00Priceline Inc has acknowledged advertising revenues from its booking.com “could be an opportunity” despite current ad income from the site being close to "non-existent". http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/11/2774/the-co-operative-travel-groups-agents-embrace-social-media-and-new-sales-channels.htmlCCPTue, 11 Aug 2009 09:50:00 +01:00 The Co-operative Travel Group’s agents are increasingly embracing social media websites and online distribution channels to replace falling revenue from traditional channels such as Teletext Holidays’ analogue service. Teletext Holidays recently announced plans to bring forward the switch off of its analogue service to January 2010 from 2012, although it has yet to confirm if this will be the case for travel nationwide. The holiday service remains on Freeview channel 101 and teletextholidays.co.uk, thisistravel.co.uk, and villarenters.com. The Co-operative Travel distribution director Alistair Rowland said more of its agents were signing up to micro-blooging site Twitter  and social networking sites such as http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/11/2777/holidaybreak-link-to-adventure-travel-site.htmlCCPTue, 11 Aug 2009 09:45:00 +01:00Big Earth Media has launched an adventure travel site bigearth.co.uk which uses social media to deliver its “plan, share, discover” tag line.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/11/2773/itt-to-hold-question-time-at-wtm.htmlCCPTue, 11 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +01:00 The Institute of Travel and Tourism is to hold its second Question Time at World Travel Market . The ITT has already announced plans to hold a series of nationwide Question Time events, based on the popular TV show. The first is to be held in Manchester on September 29. Chairman Steven Freudmann has now revealed plans to hold the second event on Tuesday, November 10 on the main stage at the UK’s largest travel trade show WTM, held at London’s ExCel  exhibition centre. The event will be moderated by The Times columnist Tim Hames and will cover topical issues affecting the travel industry. Speakers have yet to be lined up for the event. Freudmann said: “This will build on a big, new presence for the ITT at WTM.” ITT is running specialist http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/10/2772/former-worldspan-boss-tim-wright-to-join-travelport.htmlCCPMon, 10 Aug 2009 11:25:00 +01:00 Travelport GDS, one of the world’s leading providers of global distribution systems (GDS), operating both the Galileo and Worldspan platforms, has appointed Tim Wright in the newly created role of UK and Ireland commercial director.  Reporting into Jérôme Moisan, general manager for the UK and Ireland, Wright’s appointment takes immediate effect.  As commercial director, Wright will be charged with managing the sales and account management teams and working closely with customers to ensure they are kept fully up to date on all new Travelport innovations, products and services. Jérôme Moisan commented on the appointment: “We have appointed Tim to this key customer-facing role as part of our on-going drive to support our customers through these challenging economic times.  Now, more than ever, our customers need to understand how our technology and offering can help support their businesses and Tim will be looking at how to build in new efficiencies and hhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/07/2771/travel-buddy-in-new-deal-to-sell-services-on-board-aircraft.htmlCCPFri, 07 Aug 2009 10:20:00 +01:00 Travel Buddy will be able to provide local guides to holidaymakers’ mobiles as they arrive in destinations thanks to a new deal to sell the service on board aircraft. Travel Buddy, owned by Mobile Trails and sold via travel agents as a mobile and text service, is offering the new service following a deal with GuestLogix , which provides retail services on flights. Airline passengers who register for the service on board, via cabin crew’s hand-held terminals, will receive destination-related information such as events, attractions and theme parks, bookable via a call centre, when they disembark. Travel Buddy commercial director Jason Rivolta said: “The ability to earn revenue from passengers while on board has always been a key revenue stream for airlines. The most exciting opportunity is that of a new off-board revenue stream for airlines thhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/07/2768/monster-travel-signs-commerical-deal-with-trailstream.htmlCCPFri, 07 Aug 2009 10:15:00 +01:00 Monster Travel has become the latest online travel agent to sign a commercial agreement with rich media supplier trailstream to add video content to its website. Monster Travel clients can now view their chosen property.  Each film is typically one minute in length, professionally filmed and edited with music and voice-over, allowing a snapshot visit of the key areas of the property and surrounding amenities. There are currently 1,800 live films with more than 350 currently shot and in editing. Monster Travel’s managing director David Hawke said: “The user experience is key, we aim to give our customers a true representation of the hotel before they book and we are reacting to the growing demand for information using trailstream video content.” He added: “We have developed our own bespoke hotel landing page to synchronise Monster's search and booking engine, with the video content to make the searching process rich in content and more interactive to drivhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/07/2766/travel-companies-poor-at-email-promotions-report-claims.htmlCCPFri, 07 Aug 2009 10:00:00 +01:00 Travel companies risk losing some of their customer base because they are poor at sending out personalised emails when promoting products to subscribers, according to research by email specialists Return Path. The company researched 69 companies, ten of which were travel businesses and the rest of which were publishing, retail, non-profit, and social networking organisations. They were surveyed over a five week period in January and February this year. The travel companies surveyed were: Opodo, Thomson, Kuoni, Virgin Holidays, British Airways, EasyJet, Thomas Cook, Lastminute.com, Expedia.co.uk, TravelSupermarket.com. Margaret Farmakis, senior director of response consulting at Return Path, said travel companies were missing opportunities to tailor e-mails to holidaymakers’ needs and gain follow-up business. She said: “They are collecting the data, like which airport you would like to fly from, http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/07/2770/travelport-gds-volumes-fall.htmlCCPFri, 07 Aug 2009 09:35:00 +01:00Galileo and Worldspan owner Travelport has reported a big drop in the number of bookings coming through the global distribution systems (GDSs).http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/07/2769/twitter-books-first-hotel-application.htmlCCPFri, 07 Aug 2009 09:30:00 +01:00An Indian software business has launched what is claimed to be the first hotel-specific application for Twitter. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/07/2767/internet-gets-closer-to-uk-ad-market-dominance.htmlCCPFri, 07 Aug 2009 09:15:00 +01:00Ofcom's annual report into the UK communications market suggests the internet will become the UK’s biggest advertising channel “in the next few years”. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/07/2765/ebookers-continues-revenue-recovery.htmlCCPFri, 07 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +01:00Orbitz Worldwide’s European brand ebookers recorded "double-digit revenue growth across all its major product lines" during the second quarter of the year. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/04/2761/simonseeks-creates-consumer-guides.htmlCCPTue, 04 Aug 2009 10:16:00 +01:00 Fledgling user review site SimonSeeks is to launch a series of travel saving guides as part of the next stage of its aggressive launch strategy. The site, which launched in June under the tutelage of Travelsupermarket founder Simon Nixon, will produce the guides to focus on areas of the industry including car hire, flights, hotels and travel insurance. The guides will be penned by the website’s editorial director and consumer travel expert, Nick Trend. “Nick is one of the best known consumer travel experts out there and we expect our travel saving guides to be a real draw to the site and our partners will benefit for this,” commented Chris Nixon, commercial director. “We now have over 1500 travel guides covering the world. After our visitors have read these guides for inspiration and ideas they will be looking for expert advice and money saving tips on the how best to book these travel essentials and http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/04/2760/expedia-to-expand-white-label-scheme-as-meta-sites-pull-out.htmlCCPTue, 04 Aug 2009 09:45:00 +01:00 Expedia Affiliate Network president Henrik Kjellberg say there is “no technical limit” to how many websites the business can work with, and that cannibalisation of customers from the core Expedia Inc brands is not an issue. Kjellberg was talking to Travolution about EAN’s latest signing – a partnership with The Guardian to power the transactional channel on its website’s travel pages. EAN replaces travelsupermarket.com, which stopped working with The Guardian as part of its decision to drop its white-label business. Kjelberg declined to comment on travelsupermarket’s move, but said that EAN welcomed the opportunity which arose as a result. The travel pages on the Guardian’s web site attract 1m unique users a month. Kjellberg said that this made it ‘ a medium-sized deal on a global basis.” As with all its white-label deals, EAN will work with The Guardian to cuhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/04/2759/another-scraping-case-for-ryanair-lawyers.htmlCCPTue, 04 Aug 2009 09:26:00 +01:00 Travelviva , an online German travel business, is the latest “screen-scraping ticket tout” to face legal action from Ryanair in the Irish courts. Travelviva AG is the most recent site to be accused on breaking Ryanair’s terms and conditions. Ryanair claimed that it Travelviva has declined an “offer of licensed access to Ryanair.com’s flight information for price comparison purposes.” TravelViva declined to comment on an ongoing legal case, although it has removed Ryanair flights form its pages. The business operates two web sites in Germany – airline-direct.de and billigflug.de . Ryanair suggested that it was stepping up its campaign against vertical search engines. “ In rehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/04/2758/expedia-sets-sights-on-booking.com-territory.htmlCCPTue, 04 Aug 2009 09:09:00 +01:00 Expedia Inc is hoping that new initiatives on supply acquisition in Europe will help it to give booking.com “a pretty good run for its money”. Talking through Expedia Inc’s Q2 with Wall Street analysts, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi talked up its “Easy Manage” agency hotel program launched in Europe during the quarter. The new program is targeted primarily towards “smaller properties outside primary destinations”, a sector where  booking.com has traditionally done well. “I think we signed up around 1500 hotels or so to the Easy Manage program,” he said. “We will see what kind of momentum we get as the year progresses.” He added that Easy Manage was “a lighter touch” and that “the margins tend to be lower and as a result, the services to the hotel tend to be lower as well.” Hotels which sign up to Easy Manage will also be distributed through hotels.com. During the quarter, hotels.com Europhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/08/04/2763/stella-restructure-to-end-speculation-says-uk-boss.htmlCCPTue, 04 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +01:00A restructure of the Stella Group has turned the UK operation into a standalone business and will put paid to rumours about the group’s finances, according to UK chief executive Andrew Botterill. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/31/2757/small-businesses-up-travel-spend.htmlCCPFri, 31 Jul 2009 08:16:00 +01:00 Small businesses in the UK have increased their travel agency spend according to the latest figures from Visa Europe . The payment card specialist has reported an improvement in small business spending in the first two quarters of 2009, after declines in the last three months of 2008. Travel, alongside temporary recruitment, has seen significant increases with the number of transaction made on Visa Business Cards up 10% year-on-year in June 2009. Payment values for the first two quarters of this year showed increases of 5% and 13% respectively following a decline of 26% decline in the value of payments between the third and fourth quarters of last year. Although the figures show payments to travel agents have been increasing, businesses are still keeping tight control of spending on travel and accommodation. The number of Visa Business Card transactions made on air travel has returned to phttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/31/2756/voyij-ramps-up-tools-with-customised-deals-offering.htmlCCPFri, 31 Jul 2009 08:03:00 +01:00 Price comparison specialist voyij.com has unveiled a deals service allowing consumers to customise what sort of offers they want to see. Voyij Deal Alerts enables users to select where, when and how much they want to pay, and the system then alerts them of the deals matching their criteria. The company claims to be filling a gap in the market by using filtering technology to prioritise what is important to travellers under a range of criteria including travel dates, accommodation ratings, location, activities and price. Voyij launched earlier this year with a founding team of former-executives and technicians from meta search engine Sidestep. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/31/2755/camping-site-pegs-down-specific-content.htmlCCPFri, 31 Jul 2009 07:57:00 +01:00 A bespoke search engine is the driving force behind pitchup.com , a site launched this week for the UK camping and caravanning community. Founder Dan Yates, formerly of lastminute.com, told Travolution that the search engine had been built from scratch and was “appropriate” to the needs of a camping audience, with the information coming from a number of sources, including campsite managers and the government agencies. “We’ve adopted a crowdsourcing, wiki-type approach for some content,” he said. “Some campsite managers have got log-in details so they can provide details about their site which then feeds into the search.” He also said PitchUp.com was taking advantage of the information provided by government agencies in the UK. “There is a lot of data which is made available to the open-source community for mash-ups,” he said. “We’ve sourced the battlefield information from English Heritage, there’s thhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/31/2754/web-chat-cited-as-preferred-query-channel-for-gen-y.htmlCCPFri, 31 Jul 2009 07:53:00 +01:00 A report into online customer service suggests that online chat is the channel of choice for young shoppers wanting more information for a website. Using stats from a YouGov nationally-representative sample of 2000+ people, the study found that more than 20% of 18-24 year olds would use live chat with an expert if they had a query with an online transaction, compared with the overall average of 13% for the whole sample. The age group least likely to try a website’s live chat function were the 55+. This demographic was the most likely to try to contact a website by email. Using the FAQ section of a website would be the most cost effective for a business, as once the page has been created there is little additional cost. However, this channel is preferred by only 22%. A call centre was still demanded by just under 20% of the sample. However, businesses are warned that customers’ biggest frustration with online customer service is being kept onhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/31/2753/mixed-results-for-travel-firms-on-twitter.htmlCCPFri, 31 Jul 2009 07:47:00 +01:00 A detailed analysis of how 140 brands from a variety of sectors use Twitter offers a wealth of advice and best practice examples, with the simplest distinction being whether brands should use the micro-blogging site for engagement or broadcasting. Immediate Future released the 200-page white paper 'The Truth About Twitter' this week. The most effective “engagement” site comes from the hospitality sector. @hyattconcierge is ranked as having 100% engagement, based on the percentage of @replies which feature on the feed. “The clue is in the name,” as the study says of Hyatt Concierge. Its role is to respond to queries from its customers. Other hotel Twitter feeds looked at in the report perform less well in terms of engagement, although the feeds from Marriott (@MarriottIntl) and Macdonald Hotels (@MacdonaldHotels) provide more deals and destination content, performing better in terms of broadcasting. @vishttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/30/2752/multicom-signs-serhs-tourism-to-findandbook.htmlCCPThu, 30 Jul 2009 08:09:00 +01:00 Travel software specialists Multicom has extended the range and choice of accommodation to its FindandBook (FAB) platform with the recent signing of Spanish based Serhs Tourism. Bristol-based Multicom, suppliers to more than half the UK travel agents via Findandbook, are delighted with the recruitment of Serhs Tourism, a business that can boast over 30 years experience, has created a very strong culture of organization and is currently developing a rapid expansion into the international market. The Spanish company offers a wide range of products and services, with a unique offer of accommodation in all categories in 40,000 hotels, in over 100 countries and is among the leading groups in on-line sales in Spain. Raúl Santiago Hinarejos, Serhs Tourism’s sales manager UK and Ireland, said: “We are delighted to be working with Multicom, providing such a wide choice of hotels to the UK market through its FAB platform for travel agents to access and compare online. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/28/2751/travelzoo-sees-largest-ever-increase-in-subscribers.htmlCCPTue, 28 Jul 2009 07:53:00 +01:00 Travelzoo is getting close to 1.4m UK subscribers, with 67,400 signing up so far in July. The deals publisher announced its Q2 2009 results this week, in which the overall business saw the biggest quarterly increase in subscriber numbers in its history. During the quarter it added 1.3m, bringing the number to 16.7m. Chris Loughlin, Travelzoo’s MD for Europe, said that business would continue to invest in adding quality subscribers to its list, even if the costs of enhancing its list was having an impact on its return. “The business is managed for long-term profitability,” he said, “and in the current climate we can acquire subscribers at a reasonable cost.” Across Europe, Travelzoo added 408K subscribers in Q2 at an average cost of $2.74. In the first three months of 2009, it added fewer – 295K- at a higher average cost - $3.09. Revenues from Europe have increased by 100% in local currehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/28/2750/egencia-embarks-on-sector-wide-research-project.htmlCCPTue, 28 Jul 2009 07:47:00 +01:00 Egencia , Expedia Inc ’s wholly-owned travel management company, is linking up with two big organisations in the US to produce “the most comprehensive look at the global business travel industry available today”. Egencia, which is the fifth largest travel management business in the word, has joined forces with US organisation the National Business Travel Association to launch the research, carried out by IHS Global. Full details will be released in August. Top-line figures unveiled this week indicate where the growth in business travel is likely to come over the next five years. Rob Greyber, president of Egencia. “Over the next five years, we’ll see countries like India and China grow at rates of 5.3 and 6.5% respectively, versus the US projected growth rate of 0.3%.” However, the study also looks at how different sectors travel. The educatiohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/28/2749/ryanair-grows-passenger-numbers-with-lower-fares.htmlCCPTue, 28 Jul 2009 07:43:00 +01:00 Low-cost airline Ryanair has shown that it is capable of attracting more passengers onto its flights by reducing its fares. The airline's results for the three months to end of June 09 showed a profit of €135.6m compared with €21m for the same three months last year. Ryanair admitted that this increase was “distorted” by a big reduction in its fuel costs. Costs excluding fuel were also reduced by 5%. Marketing and distribution costs for example fell to €29.7m compared with €35.7m last time. Ryanair said part of this reduction was down to “the increased focus on internet based promotions.” Numbers relating to general travel patterns suggests that demand can be stimulated by price, or at least that price-sensitive customers will continue to travel at the correct price. Compared with the same quarter last year, load factors were up 2% at 83% with the number of passengers carried increasing from 15m thttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/28/2747/the-adventure-company-builds-customer-community-site.htmlCCPTue, 28 Jul 2009 07:01:00 +01:00 The Adventure Company has unveiled a new online travel community called My Adventures. The community aims to make choosing a trip easier and enhance the holiday experience by enabling travellers to share information. My Adventures also caters for the solo travellers who want to hook up with other members of a tour before they go. The community also enables users to write reviews and rate holidays and offers a live chat facility. The service includes an area for sharing tips and recommendations as well as allowing them to upload travel photos and create and comment on blogs. Claire Wilson, managing director, said: “We have developed our My Adventures Community for two main reasons. First, to enhance our customers' holiday experience by enabling them to interact and secondly, this user-generated content provides a real life showcase to introduce our tours to prospective travellershttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/28/2748/starwood-brand-unveils-online-community-service.htmlCCPTue, 28 Jul 2009 07:00:00 +01:00 The Luxury Collection , part of Starwood, has teamed up with private community ASMALLWORLD to unveil a travel community platform. The partnership sees the launch of a microsite integrated within the private community where members can interact directly with representatives from the Luxury Collection. A series of blogs from Luxury Collection concierges around Europe and Africa sharing local knowledge and information on key events in the social calendar will be central to the community. Events planned for the blog include insiders’ guides to the Venice Film Festival and the Gansbaai Great White Shark Festival in South Africa. ASW users will also be able to question the concierges on the blog content and add comments. The community platform will also include an interactive calendar of events around the world, deshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/28/2746/nucleus-creates-portal-site-for-maybourne-group.htmlCCPTue, 28 Jul 2009 07:00:00 +01:00 Digital specialist Nucleus has developed an online portal for the Maybourne Group , which owns Claridges, the Berkeley and the Connaught. The portal enables users to search for room availability across all three properties with access to best available rates and special offers. The booking system, which is based on Pegasus Ultra Direct, also enables multi-room booking and offers upgrades and ancillary items such as spa treatments and champagne. The development of the group portal and online booking engine follows the launch of three new websites for the properties last year. A direct news feed featuring local information on events, shows and exhibitions is also a feature of the portal as well as being integrated into each site. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/27/2745/the-co-operative-travel-joins-travelsupermarket.htmlCCPMon, 27 Jul 2009 02:51:00 +01:00 Travel comparison website travelsupermarket.com is pleased to announce The Co-operative Travel is the latest holiday provider to go live on the site, significantly increasing the number of holiday options for visitors to compare. Part of The Co-operative Group, The Co-operative Travel is one of the UK’s largest travel agents, taking care of more than 3 million passengers every year. It sells holidays from all of the UK's top travel companies as well as flights from charter, scheduled and low cost airlines and hotels from the industries leading hotel providers. Kayte Williams, head of holidays at travelsupermarket.com, said: “The Co-operative Travel is a great addition to our holidays search. They offer a great choice of family and couple friendly holidays in a range of popular destinations, as well as city breaks and ski holidays”. Neil Hardy, head of e-commerce for The Co-operative Travel, said: “As one of the UK’s largest travel agents, we are delighthttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/24/2744/worldreviewer-throws-adnet-system-open-to-third-parties.htmlCCPFri, 24 Jul 2009 09:35:00 +01:00 Worldreviewer has developed a white-label version of its AdNet advertising platform for publishers. The destination specialist has already signed up Columbus Travel Media’s World Travel Guide as its first partner. The technology enables partners to add their own advertisers to the system as well as their Google Adsense code. Worldreviewer, which gets a share of click through revenue, has also affiliated the system to about 20 other travel websites including Wanderlust and placesonline as a means of building up traffic. The company has also revamped its weather guide adding sliders enabling users to select destinations by choosing a maximum daily temperature and average daily rainfall. Users can click on the destination and view relevant offers and experiences. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/24/2742/tripadvisor-and-visitengland-in-talks-over-user-review-strategy.htmlCCPFri, 24 Jul 2009 09:13:28 +01:00 VisitEngland has held discussions with TripAdvisor as part of its strategy to review the current accommodation grading scheme. The organisation announced earlier this week that it was seeking opinions from accommodation businesses in England via a survey which will be followed by consumer research in the autumn. A major part of the review will be the relevance of the current criteria for grading accommodation in a digital world and how user-generated content could be incorporated to improve the service and provide consumers with a complete picture. An VisitEngland spokeswoman said: “We have had conversations with people like tripadvisor about working together more closely. This is about looking at how consumers make decisions and the different places they go to help them make decisions. “The web and user-generated content are becoming inhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/24/2743/ritz-hotel-moves-to-bolster-web-and-social-media-presence.htmlCCPFri, 24 Jul 2009 09:12:00 +01:00 London’s Ritz hotel has selected TravelCLICK to help it increase awareness and community as well as its web traffic and search rankings. The Ritz will be using TravelCLICK’s recently unveiled Social Media Optimization service which will provide the hotel with a customized strategy targeting the most relevant sites TravelCLICK’s digital marketing team will work with The Ritz to build the right social network presence using user-generated content across all media, from blogs to guest review sites and digital viral content. The strategy includes Facebook to provide news about special events and promotions, London travel tips, and engaging fans and guests. Twitter will also be used for last-minute promotions, customer relations, and guest feedback. Ruth Jones, director of mrketing for The Ritz said: “With SMO, we can begin our next evhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/24/2741/dealchecker-appoints-screen-select-founder-as-non-exec-director.htmlCCPFri, 24 Jul 2009 09:01:00 +01:00 Travel comparison specialist Dealchecker has appointed William Reeve as non-executive director. Web entrepreneur Reeve co-founded internet research firm Fletcher Research in 1997 before selling to Forrester Research two years later. He then went on to found online DVD rental service screen-select.co.uk, which merged with LOVEFilm three years ago. He also serves on the board of a number of other internet businesses including iAnnounce and Zoopla. Reeve described dealchecker as a natural choice for him for its proven business model and great growth prospects. “The ambitious management team has identified some great opportunities that will take the business to a new level.” http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/24/2740/discounts-giving-the-web-a-steal-over-retail-and-call-centres.htmlCCPFri, 24 Jul 2009 08:54:00 +01:00 Price remains the most important factor for UK travellers in the current climate, with online discounts giving the internet edge as consumers “bounce” between the web, the high street and call centres. The report by eDigitalResearch issued this week benchmarked  18 travel web sites, but also provided an up-to-date overview of how the travel market stands. Price emerges as the key reason to book in the current climate, with customers willing to “trade brand loyalty for a good deal”. Brands however can build trust and loyalty by ensuring that their prices are transparent. The survey was carried out with 1,300 UK consumers in mid-July 2009. While price is the obvious response of consumers to the credit crunch, the survey also found that Brits are also planning to spend less money when they are on holiday. Weekend breaks are being cut, while cruises are emerging alongside ahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/24/2737/teletext-unveils-online-price-index-for-holidays.htmlCCPFri, 24 Jul 2009 12:00:00 +01:00 Teletext Holidays is to launch an online price index for sun holidays as it beefs up its web presence and shifts its focus away from analogue TV. The Sunshine Price Index goes live on its main website teletextholidays.co.uk on Monday and coincides with the trend for holidaymakers to leave it later to book summer holidays this year. It is thought to be the first index that offers typical holiday costs alongside the daily cost of living for holidaymakers in resort based on current exchange rates. It follows news Teletext is shutting down its news and information services on its analogue and digital TV channels from January 2010 to focus on travel. A decision has yet to be made on whether Teletext’s holiday service on analogue TV will also switch off in January instead of in 2012. Teletext Holidays will continue to broadcast on Freeview 101 and its sites teletextholidays.co.uk, thisistravelhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/23/2739/expedia-signs-white-label-deal-with-travel-boutique-online.htmlCCPThu, 23 Jul 2009 02:53:00 +01:00 Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN) has today announced a partnership with Travel Boutique Online (TBO), India’s leading airline consolidator, to offer its customers access to Expedia’s market leading hotel product. The Expedia global hotel product numbers more than 100,000, including an extensive choice of one to five star properties, individual guest houses and bed and breakfasts. The size and scale of the organisation enables EAN to offer the broadest spectrum of accommodation options at the best prices, both in popular and emerging destinations. TBO’s is used by over 4,000 travel agents across 130 cities in India. The partnership with EAN enables these agent of offer customer’s access EAN’s extensive hotel offering through one convenient, easy to use, online platform. Jens Uwe Parkitny, Managing Director, EAN APAC, comments, “The EAN solution has been tailored to ensure that it meets the needs of the TBO customers. It is a comprehensive solution that willhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/23/2733/comtec-group-undertakes-major-restructuring.htmlCCPThu, 23 Jul 2009 10:26:00 +01:00 A year of acquisitions and industry demand for increased services and global reach have led Comtec-Group to undertake a major restructure, effective immediately, which enables the company to be more customer focused. The business will now be divided into three distinct business units with dedicated product teams, meaning increased levels of expertise and enhanced product knowledge, faster roll out and higher service levels. Each of the three business units will be led by a General Manager, which is a new role within the organisation. Comtec has made a number of new appointments as a result of the restructure, including Chris Nourse, who was formerly a GM at Multicom.  The three new business areas are: * Tour Operating.  Led by General Manager Chris Suddell, this team’s focus is on selling, managing and supporting the continued roll-out of Comtec’s highly successful Travelink, which has just announced Ramblers Holidays as its latest client. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/23/2732/sas-group-signs-long-term-content-agreement-with-amadeus.htmlCCPThu, 23 Jul 2009 10:23:00 +01:00 The SAS Group, Northern Europe's largest airline group has signed a five year, full content agreement with Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, guaranteeing its travel agents access to the full range of fares and inventory of SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Widerøe, Blue1 and Estonian Air. The agreement ensures that the airlines' schedules, fares, last seat availability and associated inventory available through Amadeus will be the same as through the airlines' other sales channels worldwide. This agreement provides the customer with the confidence that they have access to the widest range of fares through Amadeus and demonstrates SAS Group's commitment to the travel agencies channel.  "This agreement is of very significant importance in order for SAS to offer very competitive products and services to our customers worldwide," says Robin Kamark, SVP and Chief Marketing & Sales Officer, SAS Shttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/23/2731/iberia-signs-new-global-full-content-agreement-with-travelport-gds.htmlCCPThu, 23 Jul 2009 10:00:00 +01:00 Travelport GDS, one of the world’s leading global distribution system (GDS) providers operating both the Galileo and Worldspan platforms, has today announced details of a new global full content agreement with Spanish flag-carrier Iberia. The new multi-year agreement secures all Travelport GDS-connected travel agents worldwide with access to the airline’s full range of published fares and inventory with immediate effect. Iberia joins the vast majority of European carriers with whom Travelport has successfully negotiated content agreements. “Iberia is a true global aviation power and its extensive route network is highly valued by our travel agency customers,” said Jérôme Moisan, Travelport GDS general manager UK and Ireland. “Both Travelport and Iberia are also committed to exploring new opportunities together in developing geographic regions such as Latin America.” Jose Arribas VP Commercial Logistics for Iberia added: “Travelport GDS has worked hhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/21/2730/visitengland-considers-user-reviews-in-hotel-rating-shake-up.htmlCCPTue, 21 Jul 2009 09:17:00 +01:00 VisitEngland is to survey the industry on its Common Standards star rating system as part of a wider review which could see user generated reviews taken into account. The survey, which has been sent out to more than 13,000 assessed accommodation, focuses on the relevance of the criteria used to assess accommodation in the digital world. The industry survey will be followed up by consumer research planned for the autumn to gauge the factors important to consumers when booking accommodation and how they have changed in recent years. The role of user generated content and other independent reviews is to be a key part of the review process as the organisation seeks to remain relevant. Booking processes and sources of research will be a key focus of the consumer research reflecting the increasing importance of the internet. The Common Standards initiative was unveiled more than four years aghttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/21/2728/travel-vertical-improves-in-q2-for-google.htmlCCPTue, 21 Jul 2009 09:04:29 +01:00 Search giant Google has told analysts that its travel vertical is improving, based on its performance during the three months from April to June. Talking through its Q2 results last week, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt told Wall Street on its earning call: “With the notable exception of the financial vertical, other verticals which had been significantly affected - in particular shopping and travel - appear to be recovering.” However, the Google execs on the call talked in terms of “stabilisation” of the business. “We’re not at the moment looking at that downward spiral that we thought we might see six months ago,” Schmidt said. The UK’s  revenues for the second quarter came in at $715m, an 8% year-on-year drop. In the first three months of this year UK revenues were $733m. Foreign exchange and hedging have a unquantified impact on the UK numbers. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/21/2726/hilton-creates-mobile-phone-service.htmlCCPTue, 21 Jul 2009 09:04:29 +01:00 Hilton Hotels has teamed up with Mobile Travel Technologies to develop a mobile phone application. The system, which will be unveiled on Friday in the UK and Germany, enables travellers to look up a hotel, view pictures, directions and facilities and make a booking. A ‘click to call’ facility is also available. The technology also allows users to access and change their bookings and is integrated into the Hilton HHonours loyalty scheme. The system uses MTT’s m2bed platform to optimise the site to the relevant handheld device. An iPhone application has also been developed. MTT estimates that the usage of travel services on its platforms is increasing 20% a month. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/21/2727/hotelscombined-plans-further-global-expansion.htmlCCPTue, 21 Jul 2009 09:04:00 +01:00 Australian hotel search engine hotelscombined.com is building momentum in Europe, with plans in place to move into non-English speaking markets. Last week it added Ebookers and easytobook.com to the list of hotel supply partners. Ebookers joins other Orbitz Worldwide businesses including ratestogo and hotelclub. OTAs such as Expedia and lastminute are also partners, with TUI Travel’s laterooms.com and Thomas Cook Groups’ hotels4u also part of its offer. Hilton and InterContinental are featured as well. Earlier this moth, Travolution reported that Skyscanner signed a white-label deal with hoteslcombined.com so that it could add vertical search for hotels to its established flights and car rental channels. A hotelscombined.com spokesperson told Travolution that it had seen “some interest, but nothing to concrete” from other big name sites about a similar tie-up. The interest in hotelscomhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/21/2729/co-op-unveils-multi-channel-retail-offering.htmlCCPTue, 21 Jul 2009 09:04:00 +01:00 Co-op Travel has unveiled a concept store aimed at bridging the gap between traditional high-street bookers and online customers. Part of the concept is to turn the commission structure on its head and reward consultants according to how the service is rated by customers. Head of Co-op Travel Tony Evans said: “Teams are normally incentivised on profit and sales but this is about customer satisfaction. If you’re serious about customer service then you have to have a metric for it. It’s about getting the customer back next year and increasing the likelihood that they will recommend you to friends and family.” So far the concept has been rolled out in two shops, Thame and Evesham, and the aim is to provide a seamless experience between bricks and online. Shop staff receive a cut of online bookings made within a radius of postcodes in their area thus rewarding them for customers who use the shhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/17/2725/tripadvisor-reluctant-to-reveal-number-of-review-warnings.htmlCCPFri, 17 Jul 2009 09:26:00 +01:00 TripAdvisor has refused to disclose how many warnings about the validity of reviews on hotel property pages have been posted on the site. An Associated Press report claims the review site is continuing to post disclaimers against a number of hotels warning customers against potentially false reviews. It is the second time in a matter of weeks that the trustworthiness of Tripadvisor reviews has come into the question. A UK spokeswoman declined to say what percentage of hotels were affected or how long the warnings remain against a property except to say that it was a tiny number of the 400,000 properties on the service. “By featuring these warnings, as opposed to dropping the hotels  in question from TripAdvisor, we provide more information to travellers so they can make thhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/17/2720/tripit-unveils-lotus-notes-application.htmlCCPFri, 17 Jul 2009 09:03:45 +01:00 Travel planning specialist Tripit is to be integrated into IBM Lotus Notes providing thousands of business travellers with access to the service via a widget. Tripit has been selected, alongside LinkedIn, to provide Lotus Notes users with the travel itinerary service. Tripit vice president of business development Scott Hintz said the development gave it access to more than 100 million Lotus Notes users. “It’s the right audience for us because it’s corporate travellers and for them it’s the convenience of having all their travel plans on the desktop.” The widget provides travellers with their upcoming trip details as well as flight status and online check-in. Hintz said IBM’s widget gallery is part of a wider strategy to develop and enhance Lotus Notes for corporates. “Lotus Notes is not Facebook and users are not used to widgets but http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/17/2721/sunshine.co.uk-launches-airport-transfer-service.htmlCCPFri, 17 Jul 2009 09:03:45 +01:00 Online travel retailer sunshine.co.uk has developed an airport transfer website as part of its offering.   The AirportTransfer service is Abta protected and integrates prices from a number of airport transfer companies enabling consumers to compare rates on shuttle bus transfers, minibus and executive transfers. Founder of the new service Chris Brown said the aim was to save consumers money by providing them with the cheapest transfers as well as cater for anyone on a higher spend holiday. AirportTransfers offers an quick booking process with instant confirmation and online access to transfer documents and further information. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/17/2722/sabre-amadeus-payment-scheme-prepares-for-uk-effort.htmlCCPFri, 17 Jul 2009 09:03:45 +01:00 MoneyDirect , the joint venture set up two years ago between Amadeus and Sabre, plans to unveil a bill-back solution in the UK next year. The technology will enable travel management companies to use a virtual credit card facility to smooth the payment and reconciliation process between corporations and hoteliers. MoneyDirect chief operating officer Laurent Chartier said the company had been working with the Guild of Travel Management Companies as well as Hedna to develop the technology. He said TMCs are currently having to deal with the discrepancy between rates booked and what is invoiced. “We are in a good central position to gather the information and provide a tool to reconcile the payment.” Chartier also said he welcomed competition from Travelport’s eNett automated payment service unveiled last week. “Our intent is still to provide a standard to the industry and competition is nohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/17/2723/lonely-planet-10m-in-the-red.htmlCCPFri, 17 Jul 2009 09:03:45 +01:00 BBC Worldwide has stressed Lonely Planet ’s web strategy is still a “hugely important” part of its long term future after figures revealed the guide giant has racked up losses of nearly £10 million in eighteen months. The scale of Lonely Planet’s overall losses was disclosed in the BBC’s Anual Report 2008/9 released this week and comes after a number of redundancies earlier this year in its digital and content divisions. The state-owned broadcaster’s commercial arm paid £89.9 million for a 75% stake in Lonely Planet in October 2007. In the eighteen months since then, Lonely Planet has lost £9.6 million on sales of £43 million. A BBC Worldwide spokesperson told Travolution that the website was “a hugely important part” of the five-year plan for Lonely Planet. “We bought the brand because it had a significant market share of the travel content business without having exploited its onlhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/17/2724/thomson-winning-for-destination-seo-prize.htmlCCPFri, 17 Jul 2009 09:03:45 +01:00 SEM agency Greenlight ’s natural search analysis now includes holidays, with figures from May showing how Thomson.co.uk is the most effective brand when it comes to optimising destination-specific keywords. Using its usual methodology of looking at a number of keywords for a sector to find which businesses appear on the first page of Google natural results, the holiday sector report also offer an insight into what Brits were looking for in May. Thomson.co.uk was the most visible brand for short and long-haul specific keywords. Greenlight analysed keywords which generated 2.7m searches for short-haul destinations. Thomson.co.uk was visible on the first page of Google 83% of the time. TUI’s other major brand, firstchoice.co.uk, had a visibility rating of 27%. Thomascook.com came up on the first page of less than one in ten short-haul searches. For long-haul, Thomson.co.uk and First Choice cahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/16/2719/dmgt-to-shut-down-teletext-analogue-tv-services.htmlCCPThu, 16 Jul 2009 10:47:00 +01:00 Associated Newspapers, the national media division of DMGT, announces that, following a comprehensive review, it has decided to bring forward the shut down of Teletext's loss-making analogue television services. Transmission will end in January 2010, rather than 2012 as previously envisaged. In addition, Teletext will halt a number of its digital television services from the same date. The holiday service on Freeview, channel 101 and other commercial services on Freeview channels 102 - 107 will continue to broadcast. Teletext's successful and profitable travel websites, teletextholidays.co.uk, thisistravel.co.uk and villarenters.co.uk, will continue to serve the needs of the leisure traveller. As anticipated, the continued fragmentation of television audiences and the growth in the use of the internet has resulted in a significant reduction in the audience and volume of commercial activity generated by the  television services. In addithttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/16/2718/gap-adventures-launches-new-website-and-branding.htmlCCPThu, 16 Jul 2009 10:12:00 +01:00 Gap Adventures, a leader in small group adventure travel, has launched its newly redesigned and rebranded website. At the cusp of its 20th anniversary, the Toronto based company embarks on a new chapter in its history, breaking new ground in an industry it pioneered. "We are excited to be launching our new website and new brand. Our new look is amazing. The rebrand is our launching pad into a new era of innovation, with many new projects and partners, we couldn't be more thrilled for what the future holds in store." Says Bruce Poon Tip, chief executive of Gap Adventures. The feature packed new website presents the new Gap Adventures logo - a modern and energetic new take on the iconic G brand. The new brand look-and-feel comes not only as a celebration of the company's nearly 20 years in business, but also as a stepping stone to achieving an aesthetic that has an even greater global reach. The new and improved features of the website include a navihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/16/2717/thomas-cook-denies-holidayautos-bid-talk.htmlCCPThu, 16 Jul 2009 09:25:00 +01:00 Thomas Cook has refused to comment on speculation it is bidding to buy HolidayAutos . HolidayAutos’ owner lastminute.com has again denied the car broker is up for sale following initial reports in June. Early negotiations are understood to have started with at least interested parties on the sale. It is estimated the company could fetch anywhere between £30 million and £50 million. Travolution also revealed in June that a high profile financial consultancy was recently appointed to handle the sale. Lastminute bought HolidayAutos in 2003. The rumour comes ten months after the online retailer was forced to deny similar plans for bedbank Medhotels.com, which was then sold to Thomas Cook. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/15/2716/eac-acquired-by-tui-travel-plc.htmlCCPWed, 15 Jul 2009 02:49:00 +01:00 EAC, one of the UK’s leading providers of Activity Camps and English Language Teaching (ELT) has been acquired by TUI Travel PLC Activity Sector - Student Division. Established in 1992, EAC provides Activity Camps through the Easter and Summer holidays providing a 8am-6pm total childcare solution. EAC also runs a broad range of English Language Courses for students through 35 summer school venues in addition to year-round centres in Hastings & Edinburgh for students and adults. Situated in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cobham and Ramsgate, the EAC Activity Camps offer a full programme for 5-16 year olds including indoor/outdoor games and sports, arts, crafts and drama. The Ramsgate centre is OfSTED-registered as it caters for children younger than nine-years old. Andrew Fisher, managing director, EAC explains, “It is a really exciting time for EAC as we set out on this next chapter in our growth. We have always been proud of our strong customer relationhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/14/2715/ettsa-backs-away-from-multicom-ryanair-dispute.htmlCCPTue, 14 Jul 2009 10:11:00 +01:00 The European Technology and Travel Services Association has decided it will not offer lic support to companies involved in proceedings as a result of disagreements over travel technology and distribution. The ETTSA this week declined to back Multicom ’s action against Ryanair brought to the European Commission earlier this year. The EC “accepted” a complaint by Multicom in April over alleged abuses of competition regulations by Ryanair and its stance against third parties scraping fares for their own websites. ETTSA Secretary general Tom Parker said the organisation would not be commenting on individual cases including the Multicom-Ryanair proceedings. He said that while the organisation “shared Multicom’s concerns”, it was unlikely to comment on the case despite its launch mandate to investigate “measures introduced by airlines to prevent online trhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/14/2714/guestcentric-secures-4m-funding.htmlCCPTue, 14 Jul 2009 09:32:12 +01:00 A software-as-as-a-service business focused on providing independent hotels with tools to get supplier direct bookings has nailed $4m of funding after a 100% take-up from its trial customers. US-based GuestCentric has offices and a sales team in the UK and Portugal. Chief executive Pedro Colaco told Travolution that there were up to 125,000 hotels in Europe which fitted its target market of independent hotels with between 40 and 240 rooms. “There is a big structural shift in the market which we are benefitting from,” he said. “We can improve the online presence of hotels which already have a good online presence, and we can show late adopter hotels that they don’t need Expedia, booking or venere.” Guestcentric tools range from basic web design and booking engines to managing PPC and SEO. Colaco added that Guestcentric was repositioning the traditional reservation management systems as part ofhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/14/2712/isango-in-complete-relaunch-of-website.htmlCCPTue, 14 Jul 2009 09:32:12 +01:00 Destination tours and services specialist Isango has completely overhauled its website as it attempts to take its “experience-led travel offering to the next logical level” The company quietly introduced the new main site earlier this month and it is the first major redesign of the web product since Isango launched in late-2006. The new service includes what it calls ‘experiential holidays’ where in-resort products such as tours and attractions are combined with hotels and accommodation. Other new features include holiday suggestions categorised by theme, integration of accommodation and activities in all major travel destinations, a multi-save function and product stores for top destinations. Chief executive Ranjan Singh told Travolution: “Now you don’t get flogged just hotels when you want a romatic break in Paris... you get recommendations for a truly romantic experience where hotel is just a part.”http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/14/2713/co-op-travel-integrates-holidays-brand-online.htmlCCPTue, 14 Jul 2009 09:32:00 +01:00 The Co-Operative Travel 's recently launched tour operator brand, Co-operative Holidays, is now available and bookable online through the Co-op’s main travel web site. The 2010 brochure product is included within the general “holiday search” function on co-operativetravel.co.uk. Results for the Co-op product will appear alongside dynamically packaged products and other tour operator product which the Co-op sells. The ATOL-protected dynamically packaged holidays, which are created by Traveltek, are illustrated from its own branded products in the search results with different Co-operative logos. There is also an “exclusives” tab on the home-page which will only search for the  Co-operative Holidays products. There is also an online version of the summer 2010 brochure. E-commerce manager Neil Hardy said that Co-operative Holidays is being promoted by a PPC campahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/13/2711/virgin-holidays-selects-coremetrics-for-web-analytics.htmlCCPMon, 13 Jul 2009 11:33:00 +01:00 Virgin Holidays has selected Coremetrics, the leader in marketing optimisation, to drive online conversions and bookings and increase average transaction values. The deal delivers Coremetrics Analytics and Coremetrics Explore(tm). Virgin Holidays is the largest, most successful transatlantic tour operator, and the market leader for travel to the USA and the Caribbean. Following a competitive pitch, Coremetrics Analytics will provide Virgin Holidays with accurate, actionable data on online customer behaviour, website performance and marketing effectiveness, enabling the tour operator to continually monitor and fine-tune its digital campaigns. Virgin Holidays will use Coremetrics Explore, a powerful ad-hoc reporting tool, to better understand their customers' behaviour and to build marketing programs that address its needs in the most effective way possible. Thanks to Explore's customisable reports, Virgin Holidays will be able to analyse and thhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/13/2710/monarch-rolls-out-online-check-in-at-overseas-airports.htmlCCPMon, 13 Jul 2009 11:28:00 +01:00 Award-winning low fares airline Monarch is expanding its successful online check-in facility, with the service now available to passengers travelling on scheduled flights from overseas airports. Monarch's scheduled passengers travelling from a range of destinations throughout Mainland Spain and the Balearic and Canary Islands can now check in for their flight via the airline's website monarch.co.uk and issue a boarding card from the comfort of their own home. Online check-in is available between seven days and 4.5 hours prior to departure, reducing the required time spent at the airport and ensuring that seating on flights is allocated in advance. Online check-in can be used by all passengers with pre-allocated seats travelling on scheduled flights from Alicante, Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Majorca, Malaga, Menorca, Murcia and Tenerife. If seats have not been pre-allocated at the time of booking, this can be done during the chttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/13/2709/travelport-gds-signs-full-content-agreement-with-finnair.htmlCCPMon, 13 Jul 2009 09:28:00 +01:00 Travelport GDS, one of the world’s leading global distribution system (GDS) providers, operating both the Galileo and Worldspan platforms, has today announced a new full content agreement with Finnish flag-carrier Finnair. The agreement will provide all Travelport GDS-connected travel agents worldwide with access to the airline’s entire published inventory and fares. “This full content agreement with Finnair will provide increased functionality to the airline as well as the very best service to our agency customers”, said Matthew Hall, vice president, supplier services for Travelport GDS. This is further to Travelport GDS’s strengthened position in Scandinavia where we are gaining share.” Tom Kallstrom, vice president for Finnair added:  “We are happy that we were able to conclude the agreement with Travelport GDS, which significantly strengthens our multi-channel distribution strategy. "Finnair is committed to developing its business network http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/10/2708/travelsupermarket-to-improve-online-customer-experience-with-tealeaf.htmlCCPFri, 10 Jul 2009 02:49:00 +01:00 Moneysupermarket.com, the UK's leading price comparison website, has deployed Tealeaf’s customer experience management software on its two websites moneysupermarket.com and travelsupermarket.com. Tealeaf’s CX Solutions will give the two price comparison brands unparalleled visibility into what each and every online visitor is seeing and doing in real-time. Moneysupermarket.com will then use this comprehensive dataset to increase site conversions by identifying and fixing friction points, quantifying business impact and improving usability. As the recession bites, price comparison websites have seen a substantial growth in popularity amongst cash-stripped consumers.  moneysupermarket saw a 32% increase in visitors in  2008 – with 120 million visitors over the year. However, with competition in this sector also increasing, to prevent drop-off moneysupermarket.com wants to ensure it is providing a faultless experience for every customer. Ushttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/10/2705/ticketmaster-priceline-tie-up-expected-to-reach-europe.htmlCCPFri, 10 Jul 2009 09:40:36 +01:00 Priceline.com has become the official travel partner for Ticketmaster in the US, with the relationship possibly extending to other territories in the future. In response to emailed questions, a Priceline.com spokesperson told Travolution: "Right now, were focused on providing US residents with travel arrangements to US event venues. "As we continue to roll this out, our intention is to expand our offerings internationally, both in terms of the travel arrangements we provide and the customer bases we aim to reach." In a joint release, Priceline and Ticketmaster said fans using Ticketmaster.com will gain access to Priceline's suite of travel services, including specially tailored hotel, airline, and rental car offers to accompany their live event ticket purchases. Ticketmaster.co.uk has a Shttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/10/2706/travelport-launches-re-pricing-tool.htmlCCPFri, 10 Jul 2009 09:40:36 +01:00 Travelport has unveiled a ticket re-pricing technology Rapid Reprice for UK and Ireland Customers. The technology was originally developed by Worldspan to cut down the time it takes to re-price and re-issue flight tickets, which can take up to 25 minutes manually. Travelport Rapid Reprice reduces the time down to between 1 and 5 minutes by automatically searching old and new fares and presenting a new airfare. The result takes into account any applicable rules, taxes, refunds, penalties and administrative fees.    The technology can process up to nine passengers within a single booking file and includes public and private fares of participating airlines. The speedy re-price of tickets can be made before departure as well as during the journey. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/10/2703/agents-defeat-web-in-battle-for-solo-travellers.htmlCCPFri, 10 Jul 2009 09:40:36 +01:00 Research giant Mintel has discovered a niche travel area where high street agents are successfully differentiating compared with web-based agents. Solo travellers and friendship groups have not yet migrated en masse to the internet, it said in this weeks report into single travellers. Although solo travel and travel with friends are relatively small markets compared to the core family/couples market, these holiday types are favoured by the growing singles population and offer a further point of differentiation for high street agents with relevant expertise. Mintel estimates that as many as five million Brits are likely to travel alone this year, equivalent to a 5% growth over the past four years. The growth has come not only on the back of a demographic shift towards single households but also the development of specific products for the single traveller. By 2030, singles will account for 45% of thhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/10/2704/partners-in-place-for-fly.com-launch-in-europe.htmlCCPFri, 10 Jul 2009 09:40:00 +01:00 Travelzoo 's fly.com has a number of partnerships already in place for its UK and European launch following the US versions exit from its beta version this week. Chris Loughlin, Travelzoo's MD for Europe who will oversee fly.com in the region, told Travolution: "We are closer to launch in Europe. The team is busy conducting pre-release testing and we have secured partnerships with a host of airlines and online travel agents." Fly.com is a vertical search engine for flights, which launched five months ago in the US. In June, more than 2.4m searches were carried out on the site, an 85% increase on Mays figures. Fly.com's general manager Brian Clarke said: "After only five months of operation, we are exiting our beta release with a large and growing community of users." Travelzoo this week also announced that its Spanish newsletter has picked up 250,000http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/10/2707/ratetiger-overhauls-service.htmlCCPFri, 10 Jul 2009 09:40:00 +01:00 Revenue management specialist RateTiger has streamlined its offering into three main areas. With RT Suite, the company offers a complete platform for hotels enabling hotels to choose the functions they need. The platform includes channel management and pricing strategy and gives hoteliers more flexibility to change rates according to market forces. The company has also developed RTCorp for chains and hotel groups. The system enables head office to monitor rate activity across hotels on a number of sales channels as well as benchmarking the rates against competitors. It also shows them where they rank on travel website searches. The final product area is RTConnect, which allows integration between hotels and online retailers and software providers via XML. Deals have already been signed with property management system specialist Micros and accommodation specialist, Trust Internationalhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/08/2702/travelzoo-launches-entertainment-special-offers-in-europe.htmlCCPWed, 08 Jul 2009 09:51:00 +01:00 Travelzoo, a global Internet media company, announced today that it will recommend entertainment special offers in the European editions of its popular Top 20 list which have over 2.8 million weekly subscribers. The decision comes after six months of successful testing where Travelzoo featured offers from 20 popular shows and events across the UK, Germany, France and Spain, including Billy Elliot, Chicago, Cirque de Soleil, Disney’s The Lion King, Dirty Dancing, Grease, and U2 at Wembley. “We have discovered that our European subscribers are very interested in entertainment special offers. Our picks for Disney’s The Lion King and Chicago received some of the highest audience interest and user ratings of any offer we have featured so far this year. "Production and theatre companies have confirmed that this interest quickly translates into strong bookings, with one show recording 680 ticket sales from one mention in the Top 20,” said Melanie Bower, vice president,http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/08/2701/travelport-and-psp-form-payment-solution-venture.htmlCCPWed, 08 Jul 2009 08:45:00 +01:00 Travelport has entered into a strategic relationship with PSP International to form a joint venture company to provide state-of-the-art innovative and integrated payment solutions tailored specifically for the travel industry. The joint venture, in which Travelport holds a majority stake, was completed on June 24, 2009. The joint venture will be branded “eNett, A Joint Venture with Travelport.”  It leverages the existing successful payment and settlement capabilities already established by PSP International in the Pacific region with Travelport’s world-wide travel product distribution capabilities and significant airline, rail operator, hotel and car rental relationships. The joint venture also leverages Travelport’s leading position with the on and off-line travel agency community and its global brand in the sector. The two companies have enjoyed a strong commercial relationship since 2003. The eNett suite of products will enable automated paymhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/07/2700/rbi-agrees-to-sell-travolution-and-twgroup-to-clive-jacobs-led-team.htmlCCPTue, 07 Jul 2009 12:05:00 +01:00 Travolution and the TWgroup is to be acquired by Holiday Autos founder Clive Jacobs. The acquisition will see the paper undergo expansion while the deal involves all of the TWgroup’s associated brands including Gazetteers.com, Travel Weekly (UK), the Globe Travel Awards and associated websites and events. The announcement came this morning from publishing and information group Reed Business Information (RBI), which said Clive Jacobs and former TWgroup publishing director Simon Ferguson had persuaded it to accept an offer for the business from Mr Jacobs’ newly formed TW Group Ltd. The deal, for an undisclosed sum, is expected to complete early in August. Clive Jacobs, chairman of the TW Group, said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to acquire the leading publications and information services in the travel and tourism industry, and look forward to helping Simon and his successful team build on the group’s market leadership.” Simon Fergushttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/07/2693/overseas-holiday-rise-forecasted.htmlCCPTue, 07 Jul 2009 08:59:28 +01:00 Market research body Key Note is predicting a post-recession bounce-back for sales of overseas holidays and a fall in domestic holiday bookings by 2010 or 2011. Its Market Assessment 2009 report predicts long-term trends of increasing overseas holiday sales and declining domestic holidays will quickly be restored after the recession, and concludes that overall there will be a fall in the number of trips taken but a rise in value. For this year, however, Key Note predicts an increase in the overall number of all holidays taken, from 120 million trips in 2008 to 121 million in 2009, because of more affordable breaks, particularly in the UK. These figures refer to all trips being taken by the UK holiday market. Its figures show 43 million overseas holidays will be booked this year - a decline of 4.4% in volume terms on last year - and 78 million domestic trips, valued at £24.5 billion for abroad and £15 bilhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/07/2694/nearly-half-of-consumers-reject-planning-in-favour-of-return-to-old-destination.htmlCCPTue, 07 Jul 2009 08:46:28 +01:00 Almost 40% of holidaymakers did not spend much time planning their last holiday because they had been to the destination before, while just under a third visited their travel agent to plan their break. According to exclusive statistics from market research body Key Note in its Market Assessment 2009 report the travel industry is now dealing with more sophisticated and experienced holidaymakers. In total 37.4% - the highest response of a weighted sample of 1.001 adults carried out by NEMS Market Research in February this year for Key Note - said not much planning had been involved in their last holiday. Interestingly, using a traditional method of planning - a holiday brochure - came second, at 36.8% of respondents. The report added: “Brochure usage applies mainly to the foreign holiday market, where consumers need more advanced information than when organising a self-drive domestic holiday.” Bothhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/07/2695/direct-booking-pushing-online-intermediaries-aside.htmlCCPTue, 07 Jul 2009 08:46:28 +01:00 A new monitor of UK travel patterns has found that hotel direct websites are more dominant that third party intermediaries. Surrey-based Arkenford 's Travel Navigator is based on a nationally representative online panel comprising 2,000 people. In April and May they were asked about bookings and plans for the next three months. The findings are the latest to suggest that the UK is likely to be a popular destination for Brits this year and that much of the growth is coming via the web. 13 UK destinations feature on the top 20 places people have actually booked to go. Around half the sample book the accommodation directly, with this figure including phone reservations as well as online. Arkenford director Ben Moxon said that smaller bed and breakfasts were using their web sites for information with the booking being made over the phone. Established hotel chains, particularly budget brands shttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/07/2696/simonseeks-signs-string-of-early-partnerships.htmlCCPTue, 07 Jul 2009 08:46:28 +01:00 Start-up Simonseeks has signed a raft of commercial deals with product providers including Opodo, TravelIntelligence and TravelRepublic. The user-generated travel guide specialist, which launched in mid-June, claims visitors reached a peak of 8,000 a day within a week of launch and 500 travel guides were submitted to the site. Of the guides, 60% came from travel enthusiasts and the remainder from professional travel writers with a total of 40% reaching the required quality level to go live on the site.   Further commercial partnerships include i-escape, Hotel Pronto, Octopus Travel, Hostelworld and Hostelbookers.   Commercial director Chris Nixon said new features were in the pipeline, which would help build traffic. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/07/2697/hotelicopter-launches-property-ranking-tool-for-facebook.htmlCCPTue, 07 Jul 2009 08:46:28 +01:00 Hotelicopter has teamed up with Facebook to unveil a new hotel rating platform. The development enables users to create reviews and share them with their facebook network. The ratings engine allows consumers to create an account on Hotelicopter using the same account information they would on Facebook. The system also shows users recommendations from their friends. Hotelicopter co-founder and chief executive Adam Healey said: “This is the first layer but it’s exciting because our belief is that you don’t need to rate 12 million reviews so we are leveraging facebook to showing you a few.” The company has also signed a deal to incorporate tripadviser’s reviews on the system. Healey added that the partnerships enabled it to focus on the hotel search experience. Additional enhancements include a hotel comparison function. He said there would be a ‘steady stream’ of new featurhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/07/2698/klm-unveils-online-destination-guides.htmlCCPTue, 07 Jul 2009 08:46:00 +01:00 KLM has developed a series of destination guides for its website. The guides currently cover about 100 destinations and feature regularly updated information on local weather and events. Practical advice such as time zone, currency and airport information are also included as well as tips on shopping the best restaurants and nightlife. A booking link is included on each page of the guides. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/07/2699/travelsupermarket-moves-away-from-high-profile-white-labels.htmlCCPTue, 07 Jul 2009 08:46:00 +01:00 Travelsupermarket has confirmed it is in the process of withdrawing from all its major white label partnerships. The UK’s largest meta search engine said it had taken the decision after a review of its existing strategy to grow the brand through a string of high profile deals including those with a number of UK national newspaper websites. A spokeswoman confirmed that deals to provide travel search tools on sites belonging to the Guardian and the Telegraph ended at the end of June this year. Another major partnership to provide similar services on the Virgin Media website’s travel channel will not be renewed at the end of August 2009. The deal was signed in April 2008. Managing director Graham Donoghue told Travolution: "We have been looking at the cost of ownership and our general partner strategy and took the decision in travel to focus on our direct site." Rival provider Kayak has stehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/07/2691/responsible-hotels-of-the-world-website-launched.htmlCCPTue, 07 Jul 2009 12:01:00 +01:00 Leading global travel website for responsible holidays, responsibletravel.com, will today launch a new collection of stunning hotels that respect local people and environments under the brand name Responsible Hotels of the World. The company is at the same time launching a dedicated travel agency division to book these hotels on behalf of their customers. The new collection can be found on the new microsite - responsiblehotelsoftheworld.com  and will also be marketed through the main responsibletravel.com site. Justin Francis, managing director and co-founder of responsibletravel.com said: "When we launched in 2001 there was a definite feeling in the tourism industry that customers didn't care about responsible tourism. What we have shown over the last eight years is that there is a real demand for enjoyable, authentic, locally distinctive holidays that are better for local people and environments. "Whilst the UK remains our most popular destinatiohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/06/2692/bankersavenue-and-expedia-affilaite-network-announce-partnership.htmlCCPMon, 06 Jul 2009 01:38:00 +01:00 Bankersavenue.com, an exclusive social networking website for the financial sector, and Expedia Affiliate Network have today announced a partnership which will give Bankers Avenue members booking access to Expedia’s hotel products through a white label portal on bankersavenue.com. The Expedia hotel offering currently encompasses over 100,000 properties across the globe, ranging from one to five star hotels, bed and breakfast properties, unique guest houses, self catering properties, gites and villas. The global scale of Expedia’s product ensures highly competitive pricing and breadth of choice to the members of Bankers Avenue. Since its launch in early 2008, BankersAvenue.com has steadily climbed in popularity among bankers and finance professionals and now has more than 1500 members, and hundreds of pending invitations. The members represent over 600 financial companies of all sizes. This independent platform provides a place for finance professionals thttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/06/2690/air-berlin-group-signs-full-content-agreement-with-travelport-gds.htmlCCPMon, 06 Jul 2009 09:49:00 +01:00 Travelport GDS, one of the world’s leading global distribution system (GDS) providers, and the Air Berlin Group have today jointly announced a new, full content agreement for Galileo and Worldspan-connected travel agents worldwide. The new agreement guarantees all Travelport GDS-connected travel agents with access to the fares and inventory of the various airlines making up the Air Berlin Group including Air Berlin, LTU and NIKI. As part of the agreement, all of the airlines’ published fares - including their online fares - will be distributed, at no additional cost to Travelport GDS-connected users. “The Air Berlin Group is a significant player in the lower-cost airline market and offers an extensive route network across Europe,” said Jérôme Moisan, Travelport  general manager UK and Ireland. “In the current economic climate, corporate customers are increasingly attracted to the Air Berlin Group’s winning combination of lower prices and high servihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/06/2689/travel-job-firm-launches-specialist-finance-division.htmlCCPMon, 06 Jul 2009 08:46:00 +01:00 Travel recruitment consultancy C&M Travel Recruitment has launched a finance division in a bid to provide travel firms with more specialist staff with financial experience. Traditionally, travel firms have recruited finance staff through non-travel recruitment firms, said C&M Travel Recruitment managing director Angus Chisholm. He said: “We will now be able to offer them genuine financial expertise coupled with a strong understanding of their travel businesses.” The company has recruited Jim Gervaise-Brazier, who previously worked as product manager for TUI and most recently worked in the City specialising in financial and accounting recruitment. He approached C&M with the idea of creating a specialist division to provide finance staff for the travel industry. Chisholm added: “Jim spotted a gap in the travel sector for a skilled financial recruitment team with travel knowledhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/03/2688/monster-travel-opt-for-traveltainment.htmlCCPFri, 03 Jul 2009 01:54:00 +01:00 Fast growing online business, Monster Travel, has announced today that they have signed up with TravelTainment, a multi-channel distribution system. This new technology system will put Monster ahead of the market by adding a dynamic booking engine to their consumer website, www.monstertravel.co.uk . Monster managing director, David Hawke, commented, ”Our business is firmly focused on providing the best possible experience for our online customers when they are looking for, and booking a holiday. "The technology we choose to deliver the holiday, including options, price, availability and booking, has a major impact on how our customers view our business. TravelTainment provides a level of content and connectivity to book online that is not available elsewhere for package holidays. The TravelTainment booking path will be live on our site in August. We’re confident that it will give customers far more flexibility when researching their http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/03/2687/homeaway-hires-former-opodo-france-chairman.htmlCCPFri, 03 Jul 2009 01:30:00 +01:00 HomeAway, Inc, which operates the world’s largest network of vacation rental websites, has announced the appointment of Petra Friedmann to the position of President of HomeAway Europe. A longtime veteran of the travel industry, Friedmann brings invaluable online consumer experience to her new role managing the company’s European presence. She replaces Alexis de Belloy, who transitions to a similar position overseeing the HomeAway brands in the U.S.  “We’re pleased to have a proven leader to oversee our rapidly growing European business," says Brian Sharples, CEO of HomeAway.  "Her expertise in online consumer travel will benefit our operations throughout the world.” From Paris, Friedmann will manage teams based in the U.K., Germany and France and oversee the business operations of Europe’s leading vacation rental sites, including Holiday-Rentals.co.uk, OwnersDirect.co.uk, FeWo-direkt.de, Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com. She joins HomeAwayhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/03/2686/lastminute.com-to-move-against-other-brand-hijackers.htmlCCPFri, 03 Jul 2009 11:26:00 +01:00 spike digital Lastminute.com will continue to pursue other companies for alleged infringement of its trademark after taking legal action against Virgin Holidays this week. The online travel agency has stepped up its threat against online brands whose messaging or actions it believes will confuse consumers. Following news from the High Court that Virgin Holidays had been served with a document demanding damages over copyright infringement, lastminute.com denied the move is a publicity stunt. Virgin Holidays’ retained agency Spike Digital created a website – dontleaveituntilthelastminute.com – to drive traffic to the operator’s homepage – a move which upset lastminute.com’s lawyers and prompted the legal action against Virgin (rather than SD). A lastminute.com sphttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/03/2685/business-taxis-overhauls-web-offering.htmlCCPFri, 03 Jul 2009 10:05:15 +01:00 Holiday Taxis spin off Business Taxis has revamped its booking platform and widened its destination coverage as part of a site relaunch. The business transfer specialist enables travel management companies and corporate travellers to pre-book transfers in 70 countries including the UK The service allows customers to make single bookings or open an account as well as enabling companies to set travel policies and produce management reports. A carbon- offset function is also a feature of the new site.   Strategy director Russell Parr claimed no one else offered such coverage or range or product with full control of ground transport expenditure.   The next development will be the integration of business taxis into the global distribution systems as well as the white label solutions and XML integrations for customers. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/03/2679/social-networks-not-suited-to-booking-travel-question-time-report.htmlCCPFri, 03 Jul 2009 10:05:14 +01:00 Consumers are not ready for social networking integrated with travel booking it emerged at Travolution Question Time earlier this week. While social media is being broadly used in the travel research stage an expert panel said the time was not right for the booking element. Tamara Heber-Percy, co-founder of boutique hotel specialist Mr & Mrs Smith , which has a partnership with Dopplr, said it was not at the stage of people booking. “We are looking at it with our affiliates to see what we can do but it does not seem to be the right time.” WAYN co-founder Jerome Touze said its attempts at integrating a booking facilities had not been as successful as hoped. “We have a community who are interested in where they are going next so we thought by plugging in a booking engine it would work but it was naïve because they don’t come to WAYN to http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/03/2680/money-should-not-be-the-driver-for-social-media-question-time-report.htmlCCPFri, 03 Jul 2009 10:05:14 +01:00 Track everything you do on social networks and don’t expect major financial return was the message from online experts earlier this week. A high-profile panel including Frommers Unlimited , Orange , Microsoft and Mr & Mrs Smith told the room to measure success on social media by more than just the return on investment. Mr&Mrs Smith co-founder Tamara Heber-Percy said it viewed its ROI as threefold – bookings, brand awareness and membership renewals. “It’s how much our new media is drawing in people who have never visited the site before and we have just started tracking membership renewals and we’re looking at re-engaging them on facebook or twitter.” Frommers Unlimited’s Joel Brandon-Bravo warned against just focusing onhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/03/2681/aggregation-of-networks-is-next-step-question-time-report.htmlCCPFri, 03 Jul 2009 10:05:14 +01:00 A technology that aggregates social networks and user-generated content could be the next major development online said panellists at the Travolution Question Time. Those gathered at Tuesday’s event heard that a service connecting all the social networks consumers now subscribe to is needed because of the huge spread of social media sites. Frommers Unlimited ’s Joel Brandon-Bravo said a filtering system would also need to be built in to filter out the noise. Microsoft Advertising community manager Mel Carson described the holy-grail as a technology, which would not only aggregate these new technologies but provide value to marketers and consumers by capturing the desires and conversations of everyone interacting with each other. Others said developments such as Facebook Connect pointed to the way things would go. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/03/2682/major-survey-identifies-consumer-woes-with-travel-websites.htmlCCPFri, 03 Jul 2009 10:05:14 +01:00 A global study of more than 1,300 online travellers has identified a number of frustrations with travel websites, with one-third identifying the lack of response to email queries as a major irritation. The study was carried out by Frommer’s Unlimited and eDigitalResearch in March and April this year. More than half the respondents came from the UK. When asked about their bad experiences online, 52% said that major that travel sites were ‘confusing’, although the responses didn’t drill down into more detail about where the confusion lies. A similar percentage felt let down by a lack of images on travel sites. One-third of users revealed that they had received no response to emailed questions, suggesting that customer service remains an issue for travel web sites. Ignoring a pre-booking email could result in the sale being lost; ignorinhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/03/2683/anite-boosted-by-thomas-cook-compensation-payment.htmlCCPFri, 03 Jul 2009 10:05:14 +01:00 Anite ’s travel technology business performed “reasonably well” in the year to end-April09 , with the results boosted by a one-off payment of £2.3m from Thomas Cook Group “in relation to the early settlement of a contract with MyTravel”. The contract was lost as a result of Thomas Cook’s takeover of MyTravel, which saw the former MyTravel businesses move away from Anite’s reservation system and services and onto the Thomas Cook platform. While the original contract seems to have been cancelled, Anite will continue to provide “a modified service” to Thomas Cook Group for another five years. Similarly, Anite also lost First Choice as a client as a result of its merger with TUI and the move of First Choice onto the Thomson reservation systems. “The loss of these two companies as clients will effect future revenues,” it acknowledged. Anite also provided the reservation systems for XL, the tour operatorhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/03/2684/skyscanner-in-major-expansion-into-hotel-market.htmlCCPFri, 03 Jul 2009 10:05:14 +01:00 Skyscanner is taking another step towards becoming a more comprehensive travel search engine by launching a hotel channel for the first time, Travolution can reveal. The new accommodation search facility – released to the site this week – follows just a few months after the Edinburgh-based meta search engine unveiled car hire tools to go alongside its successful and original flight product. The hotel channel will be powered existing accommodation meta search engine HotelsCombined , giving Skyscanner access to 200,000 hotels in 195 countries around the world. The car hire search tool is currently run by Dublin-based CarTrawler. HotelsCombined uses product lines from the likes of booking.com, Expedia, hotels.com, gtahotels.com and LateRooms. Skyscanner will roll out the hotel search facilities across sites in 20 markets during July, usinghttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/02/2678/travelmood-shops-will-not-be-traditional-travel-agencies.htmlCCPThu, 02 Jul 2009 10:00:00 +01:00TUI Travel-owned Travelmood shops will be more akin to modern retailers than traditional travel agencies following a revamp, according to TUI Travel UK specialist long-haul division managing director Clare Tobinhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/01/2677/travel-republic-pleads-not-guilty-to-atol-breach.htmlCCPWed, 01 Jul 2009 04:30:00 +01:00 Travel Republic and its director Kane Pirie have pleaded not guilty to a breach of the ATOL Regulations in a case brought by the Civil Aviation Authority . A summary hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court today, July 1, resulted in the case being referred for trial before a District Judge at Stratford Magistrates Court on October 12. The trial is likely to last three weeks. Travel Republic was summonsed on 20 counts, and Pirie on another 20, relating to breaches of the Civil Aviation ATOL Regulations 1995. Counsel for the CAA described the issue as "whether the defendants put together package holidays" and "whether there was a single contract between the consumer and compahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/01/2676/airline-it-trends-survey-shows-sharp-decline-in-new-investment.htmlCCPWed, 01 Jul 2009 02:30:00 +01:00 Airline investment in IT is set to reach a new low this year as aircraft operators cope with unprecedented financial losses, according to the 2009 Airline IT Trends Survey co-sponsored by SITA and Airline Business, which was launched today at the annual SITA Air Transport IT Summit in Cannes. IT and Telecommunications operating spend as a percentage of airline revenue is forecast to be just 1.7%, the lowest level recorded since 2002, as airlines seek to reduce costs against a backdrop of $10.4 billion in losses last year and an IATA forecast of $9 billion in losses this year. Many airlines are in survival mode; 72% of survey respondents intend to renegotiate IT supplier contracts and 70% will invest in solutions that lower overall enterprise costs. Most airlines have already put in place measures such as rationalisation of IT suppliers, IT infrastructure consolidation, reduced head count and outsourcing. Launching the survey, Paul Coby, SITA Chairman and http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/30/2674/kuoni-group-selects-tealeaf-to-further-improve-online-customer-focus.htmlCCPTue, 30 Jun 2009 02:18:00 +01:00 Kuoni has selected Tealeaf, the leader in online Customer Experience Management (CEM) software, to support its future global website roll-outs, which are part of an increased online-focused business strategy. The Switzerland-based tour operator will use Tealeaf CX solutions, to further understand customer needs and preferences in order to improve usability, site content, information architecture and transaction simplicity. With over 100 years experience, Kuoni has built its reputation on providing personally tailored holidays and travel packages supported by unparalleled customer service. Recognising that focusing on the customer is a key differentiator in a highly competitive market, Kuoni will use Tealeaf to further ensure it is delivering a consistent first-class experience across all customer touch points. The next generation of Kuoni websites aims to unify and continuously improve the quality of the online experience while customising content for individuhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/30/2673/freudmann-shrugs-of-challenge-to-chairmanship.htmlCCPTue, 30 Jun 2009 02:12:00 +01:00 Institute of Travel and Tourism chairman Steven Freudmann has branded news of a challenge to his position as a “storm in a tea cup” based on politics rather than policy issues. The new chairman will be decided at the Annual General Meeting on August 4, when members will be asked to nominate and second a new chairman. Board member Lawrence Assock has said he will stand if no-one else does. If Freudmann is challenged, it will be the first time in seven years. Freudmann has held the chairman position unopposed for seven years and also holds the paid-for chief executive role, a role he was offered after he had been chairman for some time. He was recently re-elected to the board as the travel agency representative, winning 70% of votes cast. He admitted he found news of a potential challenge to his position as chairman as “bizarre” and believes it to be rooted in ‘political’ issues unrelated to ITT, rather than on the basis of differences of opinion on ITT polhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/30/2672/hoseasons-profit-boost-as-domestic-holidays-gain.htmlCCPTue, 30 Jun 2009 01:56:00 +01:00 Hoseasons ’ pre-tax profits for the year ending October 31, 2008, have risen by almost £1 million as domestic breaks continue to prove popular during the recession. The operator, which is known for its UK lodges, cottages and boating programmes, saw profits rise from £2.15 million in 2007 to £3.13 million in 2008. Sales were up from £13.7 million to £15.6 million. Chief executive Richard Carrick said the hike in profits was a reflection of a major business restructure, and was despite the fact around £1 million was ploughed back into the company in the last financial year to pay for web technology and new product. “It was one of the most difficult restructuring processes we have ever undergone,” he added. The figures were also a result of strong sales of upmarket park lodge accommodation and new city-break apartments, said Carrick, who revealed plans to triple the city apartment programme by early nexhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/30/2670/rewe-deal-for-thomas-cook-more-likely.htmlCCPTue, 30 Jun 2009 09:40:00 +01:00 A takeover of Thomas Cook by Germany’s Rewe is the most-likely outcome of the uncertainty about the group’s ownership, according to a leading UK analyst. German retailer Arcandor, which owns almost 53% of Thomas Cook, entered bankruptcy protection in June and is working on a restructuring plan to be unveiled in August or September. Arcandor chief executive Karl-Gerhard Eick insisted this week he would seek to retain control of Thomas Cook, but admitted to the Financial Times: “The decision is out of my hands.” Thomas Cook’s share price has fallen since Arcandor went into bankruptcy, suggesting investors anticipate a cut-price sale. However, leisure analyst Nick Batram of City firm KBC Peel Hunt said: “The longer the process drags on, the longer it gives Rewe to make a bid.” German tour operator and retailer Rewe has already declared an intereshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/30/2663/youtravel.com-appoints-new-non-executive-chairman.htmlCCPTue, 30 Jun 2009 09:34:00 +01:00 Bed bank youtravel.com has appointed a new non-executive chairman to help expand the business internationally. Niels R Andersen replaces Nigel Jenkins, who left in November last year, and will chair his first board meeting this week. Andersen has worked for management consultancy McKinsey & Company and worked as finance or executive director for a number of multi-national corporations outside of the travel industry. His experience includes running a business transformation programme at the  BBC , where he was head of group finance and introduced a new accounting system, and at Sainsbury’s where he was programme director. Group managing director Graham Nichols said: “He’s got a very good track record and has a lot of ehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/30/2667/thomson-creates-personalised-web-service.htmlCCPTue, 30 Jun 2009 09:27:12 +01:00 Thomson Holidays has developed an online pre-departure service for customers, which will launch at the end of summer.   The MyThomson site aims to enhance the pre-departure experience by providing a customer’s holiday details and information in one place. The service will initially be available for Thomson’s Premier customers before being extended to all Thomson online bookers.   Customers log in to the site to access information such as the weather forecast in their destination, directions to the airport from home and notifications of road-works en-route. Additional features include links to videos and photos as well as further details about the hotel and destination.     Ancillary items such as airport parking, car hire, holiday insurance and excursions are also available from the MyThomson service and all quotes are tailored to the customer’s local details. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/30/2668/domegos-unveils-new-site-for-the-uk.htmlCCPTue, 30 Jun 2009 09:27:12 +01:00 Holiday home specialist Domegos has launched a beta version of its site for the UK. The company has spent recent months developing new functionality for the site as well as increasing the number of properties available. Domegos co-founder and director Dennis Klett claimed there had been a 157% jump in new properties listed on the site. He added that it was predominantly from owners new to the holiday home market wanting to earn extra revenue in the current economic climate. The service has also seen an increase in the number of enquiries, 21% in the past six months, on the site from people looking to holiday at home. Klett anticipated the site would continue to grow at a rapid pace because of it does not charge fees or commission to homeowners. “We only have 3,000 properties but growth has been quicker than others because the service is free and that will help us grow. We are a marketplahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/30/2669/laterooms-eyes-overseas-markets-as-web-marketing-switch-boosts-profits.htmlCCPTue, 30 Jun 2009 09:26:00 +01:00 TUI Travel’s late availability bedbank LateRooms has reported a triple digit lift in profits after outsourcing its search engine marketing. The business also has its eye on expansion into markets in Australia and Russia. Efficient Frontier took over laterooms.com paid search last autumn. Glyn Powditch, head of business analysis at laterooms.com said: “In January 2009 we saw a 60% rise in bookings and a 128% increase in profit compared to January 2008; and all this was achieved with only a 33% increase in our paid search spend.” Previously, laterooms.com’s paid search was carried out in-house. The decision to outsource its paid search “freed up internal resources to concentrate on other valuable marketing activities such as Search Engine Optimisation.” Efficient Frontier was also able to offer a scalable platform for SEM, which laterhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/29/2666/long-haul-lead-in-times-falling.htmlCCPMon, 29 Jun 2009 01:46:00 +01:00 TUI Travel specialist long-haul division managing director Clare Tobin said late sales were up but with vastly reduced lead-in times. "We are up year-on-year significantly on all brands, but we are seeing a change from people booking six to 18 months in advance to four to six weeks." She added: "We have had the luxury in the past of being able to look so far out, but long haul has become the new short haul." To boost winter bookings, Hayes and Jarvis has launched a Going the Extra Mile campaign, which focuses on value offerings on 5,000 holidays if booked by the end of September. Meanwhile, Tobin said the group would focus on key relationships with suppliers to boost volumes and keep costs down. She said the policy had proved successful with Hayes and Jarvis, which dropped charter flights to base its holidays purely on scheduled flights. She warned: "It's easy to become a low-margihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/29/2665/lonely-planet-appoints-new-global-online-director.htmlCCPMon, 29 Jun 2009 01:18:00 +01:00 Lonely Planet has today announced Kelly Brough as its new global online director. Reporting to Matt Goldberg, Lonely Planet’s CEO, Brough has joined the company in London and will relocate to Lonely Planet’s head office in Melbourne later this month. "Brough is responsible for leading Lonely Planet’s online business which includes developing the strategy and delivering a proposition that supports and enhances the company’s aim to become the world’s leading travel media organisation. Accelerating the digital and online strategies will be core to that proposition. Over the past year Lonely Planet has put a considerable effort into developing its online offering. Lonelyplanet.com was re-launched last year and recently won the Webby for Best Travel Site. The website features Lonely Planet guidebook content, images, videos and maps covering over 8,000 destinations, as well as the ability to book, hotels, flights and a range of other services. By combinihttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/26/2650/lastminute.com-dismisses-holidayautos-sale-talk.htmlCCPFri, 26 Jun 2009 10:10:28 +01:00 Lastminute.com has moved quickly to rule out a speculation that it has put its car hire brand HolidayAutos up for sale. Travolution also understands a high profile financial consultancy was recently appointed to handle the deal. However, the online travel agency giant, which purchased the HolidayAutos brand in 2003, said it would not comment on “rumour and speculation”, but stressed that the subsidiary was not on the table. The latest round of gossip circulating in senior industry circles comes just nine months after lastminute.com was forced to deny similar plans for its high profile bedbank MedHotels, only to announce a few weeks later it had secured a deal to sell it to Thomas Cook Group. Any move to dispose of HolidayAutos would see the lastminute.com portfolio of companies dramatically reduced in number from the diverse collection bought http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/26/2652/hostelworld-reports-massive-surge-in-interest-in-emerging-destinations.htmlCCPFri, 26 Jun 2009 10:10:28 +01:00 Budget accommodation specialist Hostelworld has reported growth in travel to emerging destinations driven by the current economic climate and demand for cheaper accommodation options. In the past year bookings to Moldova grew 600%, Columbia 266% while Ukraine hostel bookings increased 181%.   The top emerging cities experiencing growth were Kiev at 218%, Zadar in Croatia at 160% and Hiroshima in Japan, 89%. El Salvador, South Korea and Malaysia also saw significant growth in hostel bookings the past year.   A Hostelworld spokesperson said the growth was also driven by the desire for more authentic travel experiences as well as the maturing of the hostel industry. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/26/2653/travel-browsing-blamed-for-skiving.htmlCCPFri, 26 Jun 2009 10:10:28 +01:00 UK companies are losing up to £15 billion a year as workers waste hours surfing the net for holiday deals and e-mailing friends according to a survey. The report, from internet security specialist SmoothWall , claims a third of workers waste at least one fifth of the working day searching for deals or exchanging e-mails with friends.   The survey believes that UK employees may currently be at their least productive with the holiday season looming and schools about to break up for the summer. While in the past studies have shown that British workers have forfeited nearly £200 million of holidays by not using up their annual allowance, the current trend, according to Abta, is for only 7% of workers seem prepared to forego their summer holidays this year.   Already in 2008 research showed time-wasting at work was on the increase, with UK workers spending more than an hour and a half surfing the whttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/26/2654/mantic-point-creates-content-tool-for-smes.htmlCCPFri, 26 Jun 2009 10:10:28 +01:00 Mantic Point has developed a service enabling small to medium sized travel companies to send itineraries and travel information to their customers’ mobile phones for free.   The service lowers the barriers to entry for smaller companies looking to exploit the mobile channel and enables them to brand any information they send to their customers’ mobile phones.   This is the latest phase in Mantic Point’s SME strategy and based on its StreamThru platform.   Managing director Mike Atherton said: “This allows the smaller travel businesses to have quick and easy access to a mobile phone service – something most travellers are coming to expect as part of their package.”    “The other real value of sending travel itineraries to a mobile phone is that customers can avoid having to carry around lots of paperwork and will always have access to their travel details.”   To acchttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/26/2655/easyjet-expecting-good-fortune-from-ryanair-online-woes.htmlCCPFri, 26 Jun 2009 10:10:28 +01:00 EasyJet is expecting a good return from a promotion which ran during ten hours Ryanair 's website was down for maintenance this week. EasyJet emailed several million customers alerting them to discounts of up to 10% on ten routes where easyJet competes directly with Ryanair. A spokesperson told Travolution: "This was very much a serious attempt to capitalise on Ryanairs down time. "We havent got the exact figures yet but these promotions are always good for business, especially on the head-to-head routes. The routes were also described as big summer routes and included Stansted to Faro, Liverpool to Ibiza and Edinburgh to Palma. A secondary aim of the promotion was to alert easyJet customers to the apparent inconvenience Ryanair customers would suffer as a result. "When we carry out maintenance on our stie we dont take the website down," hhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/26/2656/dialaflight-in-legal-wrangle-with-tripadvisor-and-microsoft.htmlCCPFri, 26 Jun 2009 10:10:00 +01:00 Top travel site DialAFlight is in discussions with TripAdvisor regarding a legal settlement for an alleged libellous comment that appeared on the review giant’s subsidiary HolidayWatchdog. The move comes within days of initiating a bevy of defamation lawsuits in the UK and Germany against review sites – including one included in Microsoft’s new Bing brand – and a high profile consumer travel blog. Peter Stephens, managing director of DialAFlight parent company, Lotus Group Ltd, said the company filed defamation actions against Microsoft-owned shopping site Ciao in Germany, as well as consumer forum Grumbletext and Darren Cronian of the Travel Rahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/26/2651/alan-josephs-joins-travelintelligence-as-ceo.htmlCCPFri, 26 Jun 2009 10:10:00 +01:00 Former Ebookers boss Alan Josephs is to become chief executive of online high-end accommodation specialist TravelIntelligence . Josephs stepped down from his previous position as managing director of Orbitz-owned Ebookers earlier this week, replaced by ex-Expedia distribution boss Tamer Tamar. Current TravelIntelligence boss Marin Muyser is staying within the company and will become its new executive chairman, Josephs told Travolution this week. TravelIntelligence has a consumer-facing site and a sizeable white label business for a range of other web-based firms. The business was created in 2000 by a number of high profile figures including Sunday Times journalist A A Gill. Its first boss, managing director and co-founder James Dunford Wood, later left the business in 2007 to launch Worldreviewer. Meanwhile, Ebookers is exhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/25/2649/travelsupermarket-appoints-head-of-commercial.htmlCCPThu, 25 Jun 2009 03:07:00 +01:00 Leading travel comparison website, travelsupermarket.com has appointed Duncan Barraclough to the role of head of commercial. Barraclough currently looks after the site’s hotels channel and will continue to perform this role alongside his new responsibilities. Heading up the commercial team, Duncan has been tasked with driving profitability across all channels, while also ensuring the customer remains the focus of everything the website does.  Barraclough said: “The website has taken a significant step forward in recent weeks with the re-launch. I’m looking forward to developing the opportunities the new look now opens up to us, including the introduction of a series of new, innovative travel products.” He joined the travelsupermarket.com team in April 2008, and has over 12 years' experience in the travel sector. He jumped from becoming a Lawyer to pursuing an avid interest in travel, spending 5 years with a direct sell Ski specialist and thehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/25/2648/youtravel.com-set-to-broaden-destination-portfolio.htmlCCPThu, 25 Jun 2009 10:00:00 +01:00 Bed bank Youtravel.com  is poised to add a further 9,000 hotels to its city and worldwide portfolio, moving it into new destinations. The bed bank is set to announce a partnership deal that will give it access to the new bedstock, revealed sales and marketing director Paul Riches. Currently, Youtravel focuses mainly on eastern and western Mediterranean destinations. Riches, who would not reveal more details at this stage, said: “This will really widen our portfolio into new areas and new destinations.” Meanwhile, Riches said the bed bank remains on track to deliver a healthy profit for the year ending October 2009. It expects to make revenues in the region of £80 million for the year, similar to last year. Summer sales so far for May to October departures are flat year on year. “We have still got a couple more months’ selling [for this summer] and if it carries on we couldhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/24/2660/low-cost-model-pressured-by-late-discounts.htmlCCPWed, 24 Jun 2009 12:00:00 +01:00The low-cost business model is under pressure from deep late discounting, according to a former senior executive at easyJet. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/24/2661/holiday-discounts-to-restrict-future-investment.htmlCCPWed, 24 Jun 2009 12:00:00 +01:00Savage discounting threatens a long-term fall in investment in product as well as the future of some companies. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/24/2662/fears-for-ski-capacity-this-winter.htmlCCPWed, 24 Jun 2009 12:00:00 +01:00Ski capacity will be well down this winter, with a cumulative reduction of as much as one third on two years ago. However, Inghams chief executive Litsa Constantinou fears that too much remains available. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/24/2647/tripit-launches-pro-service.htmlCCPWed, 24 Jun 2009 09:19:00 +01:00 TripIt has unveiled a new service enabling travellers to monitor their trips on the go. TripIt Pro gives travellers access to their itinerary and automatically alerts them to any changes, cancellations or delays. The company’s co-founder and vice president of business development Scott Hintz said the development was about driving the TripIt model and monetising it. This is a huge step in our evolution and will be a major revenue source. We are really ingrained in the travel experience and so building some services around that makes sense.” The service, which costs US$99 a year and has been trialled with about 1,000 travellers, also allows users to look for alternate flights. TripIt Pro is currently only available for US registered phones and US credit cards but Hintz said the plan was to open it up for other users. Other features include the Inner Circle enabling travellers to provide access to http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/24/2659/tui-readies-for-growth.htmlCCPWed, 24 Jun 2009 12:00:00 +01:00Capacity cuts at TUI Travel UK could be at an end, with the group expecting to keep mainstream availability for summer 2010 on a par with this and add capacity as the economy exits recession. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/23/2646/virgin-atlantic-unveils-vtravelled.htmlCCPTue, 23 Jun 2009 03:23:00 +01:00 Virgin Atlantic, one of the world's leading long-haul airlines, today launched a new website, vtravelled.com, to create a new global online community dedicated to people with a passion for travel. Dreamt up by Virgin Atlantic, vtravelled.com is a website designed to engage and inspire travellers, and showcases destinations through personal insights, stunning photography and quality editorial. Featuring guides on hundreds of cities, beaches, ski resorts and national parks, vtravelled.com is designed to inspire new adventures as well as make it easy to create, plan and share travels. In true Virgin Atlantic style, vtravelled.com offers a dynamic, fresh and entertaining social media channel foe people to share their travel knowledge and aspirations, and contribute to a new, online environment. Steve Ridgway, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, said: "Vtravelled is a unique proposition for travellers who want to celebrate and share their travel experiences http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/23/2645/tamer-tamar-in-as-ebookers-boss-as-alan-josephs-quits.htmlCCPTue, 23 Jun 2009 01:17:00 +01:00 Orbitz Worldwide Inc today announced the appointment of Tamer Tamar as president, ebookers, effective July 30, 2009.  Previously Tamer was vice president of Europe and Middle East (EMEA) distribution for Expedia. Tamer will replace Alan Josephs, who is resigning his position within the company to pursue another professional opportunity. Alan will remain with the company through July to ensure a smooth transition. “The European market represents a significant growth opportunity for Orbitz Worldwide, and with the migration to the global platform behind us, ebookers is well positioned to be a strong European online travel player and an important part of the Orbitz Worldwide portfolio,” said Barney Harford, president and chief executive, Orbitz Worldwide. "Tamer Tamar’s deep strategic insight combined with his extensive experience in the European online travel industry positions him very well to take the helm of ebookers.  I’m excited by thehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/23/2644/chris-mottershead-cleared-of-wrongdoing-but-quits-travelzest.htmlCCPTue, 23 Jun 2009 09:46:00 +01:00 Travelzest PLC , a company engaged in providing a range of online and specialist holidays, said Tuesday that Chris Mottershead will step down as the chief executive officer of the company. Mottershead's suspension has been lifted and he will remain an employee of the company until July 15 and a director of the company until further notice. The board further announces that its investigation into the allegation of a potential misappropriation of company funds, which it announced on April 24, has been concluded. The allegation is unsubstantiated and all monies are accounted for. Whilst it is satisfied that it took all appropriate steps and acted in accordance with its obligations throughout the process, the board regrets any upset or distress caused to  Mottershead as a result. Jonathan Carroll, who has been acting as interim chief executive officer of the company since April 24, whttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/23/2643/starwood-and-microsoft-pioneer-new-service-for-uk-push.htmlCCPTue, 23 Jun 2009 09:10:00 +01:00 Starwood Hotels & Resorts is promoting its Westin brand to the UK market via a deal with Microsoft Advertising which it claims is a travel industry first. The campaign will promote the idea of “wellbeing while you travel”. It is appearing on MSN.co.uk’s life and style  channel as well as the travel section home-page, the first time that a travel brand has tried a “duo takeover” approach. The creative is based around superfoods which are a key part of Westin’s food and beverage offer at the hotels. The placement of the banners and skin on the lifestyle pages will engage MSN users interested in health, complementing its appearance on the travel page. It is hoped that this dual approach will appeal to its target audience of health-conscious travhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/23/2642/hilton-admits-3m-hole-due-to-web-error.htmlCCPTue, 23 Jun 2009 09:03:00 +01:00 Online consumer insight specialist Speed-Trap claims that it real-time analysis of hilton.co.uk helped the hotel chain close a $3m revenue gap. The posting of a generic error message during the booking path was prompting customers to abandon the site, Speed-Trap found. The error message appeared when a particular rate was unavailable on the day requested, rather than suggest alternatives. Suniel Curtis, online business analysis manager at Hilton Hotels, said: “This error, if it had been left uncorrected, could have led to a potential loss of bookings equating to $3 million per year.” Speed-Trap’s software helped Hilton identify a number of other issues, although the major discovery was the number of exits when the message appeared. Malcolm Duckett, vice president of marketing and operations explained that the web analytics business had moved on http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/23/2641/findsyou-targets-uk-hotel-sector.htmlCCPTue, 23 Jun 2009 08:53:00 +01:00 Findsyou , an online service enabling consumers to post product requests and then be handed a matching service from suppliers, is expanding into the UK accommodation sector. The service, which currently specialises in property and cars, is making its first foray into the travel market by allowing consumers to post their accommodation needs. Chief executive Guy Walker said the service was not looking to compete with what is already out there but sit alongside it by letting providers respond to consumers’ posts. Suppliers will receive notification of customers whose needs they match and they can get in touch directly with the consumer. The service works on a subscription model of up to about £10 per month although Walker said the plan was to offer it free initially to encourage suppliers to trial it. “We’re not asking people to pay for our development so it will be free until we’re running at a levehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/23/2640/nileguide-ready-for-uk-focus.htmlCCPTue, 23 Jun 2009 08:46:00 +01:00 Trip planning and itinerary site NileGuide is close to signing its first partners in the UK. Chief executive Josh Steinitz told Travolution that the company was in ‘deep discussions’ with companies including online travel agents, media portals and travel publishers and hoped to finalise a deal within a month. The plan is to unveil a co-branded version of NileGuide within the partner’s site giving consumers access to an interactive trip planning experience. Steinitz stressed that the UK and Europe were core markets for NileGuide, which recently added UK and Ireland content to its service. The company plans to further widen its coverage of the region as well as Europe including France and Spain. Currently, the UK amounts to 25% of NileGuide’s traffic, out of a total 100,000 a month. Steinitz estimated traffic would grow to 500,000 by the final quarter of the year. “Growth is coming from word of mohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/19/2632/us-start-up-tripeedo-plans-uk-launch.htmlCCPFri, 19 Jun 2009 10:00:00 +01:00US start-up Tripeedo, which combines powerful travel search technology and social media, is planning a UK version of the site. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/19/2633/tunisia-launches-new-site-with-google-map.htmlCCPFri, 19 Jun 2009 09:30:00 +01:00The Tunisia National Tourism Office claims a travel industry first for its cometotunisia.co.uk site which is using a Google Maps API allowing visitors to create their own itineraries. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/19/2634/monarch-moves-to-new-skies-platform.htmlCCPFri, 19 Jun 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Monarch has upgraded its IT platform, becoming one of the first airlines to implement the latest version of Navitaire’s widely-used New Skies platform. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/19/2636/spain-tops-car-hire-search-list.htmlCCPFri, 19 Jun 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Carrentals.co.uk is the highest-ranking website in the car-hire sector with 60% visibility in Google natural-search results, according to Greenlight’s analysis of search volumes generated in April. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/19/2635/insurers-and-aggregators-keep-margins-to-selves.htmlCCPFri, 19 Jun 2009 12:30:00 +01:00Moneysupermarket.com has come out top of a study into natural search visibility in the travel insurance sector, with most consumer travel-ancillary specialists noticeable by their absence. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/18/2631/simonseeks-offers-travel-reviewers-a-cut-of-click-through-revenue.htmlCCPThu, 18 Jun 2009 10:00:00 +01:00A new travel start-up from Moneysupermarket founder Simon Nixon will offer users a chance to make money from their travel reviewshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/16/2629/dopplr-finds-travellers-share-plans-before-making-them.htmlCCPTue, 16 Jun 2009 09:30:00 +01:00Research by travel and social networking service dopplr suggests people share their travel plans so long before departure, many have not booked a thing. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/16/2630/late-bookings-double-for-lowcosttravel.htmlCCPTue, 16 Jun 2009 09:20:00 +01:00The Lowcosttravelgroup has reported a strong lates market in the UK, with the value of transactions up 108% year on year and bookings up 122% since May 1. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/12/2628/online-push-drives-club-med-sales-in-uk.htmlCCPFri, 12 Jun 2009 01:30:00 +01:00Club Med has more than doubled its UK media spend allocated to the web in the past year, leading to a 65% growth in web sales. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/12/2626/google-identifies-travel-search-peaks.htmlCCPFri, 12 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +01:00Search-query analysis by Google could help travel companies make crucial decisions this summer. The search giant has compared consumer behaviour this year and last to assess the impact of the weather, state of the economy and other factors. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/12/2627/exclusive-mantic-point-adds-twitter-to-offering.htmlCCPFri, 12 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +01:00Mobile services specialist Mantic Point is introducing Twitter as a travel information delivery channel, complementing its existing SMS and mobile web products. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/12/2625/lastminute-wins-european-court-appeal.htmlCCPFri, 12 Jun 2009 12:30:00 +01:00Lastminute has won an appeal to have a rival company’s European trademark cancelled in the European Court of First Instance. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/12/2623/sta-group-managing-director-interview-john-constable.htmlCCPFri, 12 Jun 2009 08:00:00 +01:00 High-street agency chain STA Travel has reported a hike in customers to its shops this year thanks to the recession. According to John Constable, who has recently taken on the new role of STA Travel group managing director, the 44-strong chain has even been forced to delay some shop refits in its brand roll-out programme based on increased footfall. He said: "In this climate we have seen a big increase in customers to stores in terms of footfall, which has delayed our retail roll out. "There are more people shopping around and they want to speak to someone. That’s restricted us from saying we are going to close a shop or do a refit because it would be wrong thing to do at this time." The unusually upbeat report from a high-street agency chain is linked to its customer base. Not only does it have a core base of students, who are either unaffected by the recession, have deferred uhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/11/2624/lastminute.com-founder-to-become-government-digital-champion.htmlCCPThu, 11 Jun 2009 01:35:00 +01:00 Lastminute.com co-founder Martha Lane Fox is set to be appointed as a digital champion for the government. Lane Fox, who co-founded the online travel agency in 1997 and is seen as one of the trailblazers of the internet age, is set to take on the role as part of the government's efforts to encourage more people to go online.  The news, revealed by Travolution sister-title Computer Weekly,  was revealed at a meeting earlier this week. The aim is to get the 17 million people in the UK who do not have access to the internet online. More information: * The government is poised to announce internet pioneer Martha Lane Fox as a digital champion (Computer Weekly, June 11, 2009) http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/09/2622/trust-emerges-as-pan-european-constant-for-travel-sites.htmlCCPTue, 09 Jun 2009 05:41:00 +01:00 A study by Yahoo has revealed  that “trustworthiness” is the most important characteristic for a  travel web site looking to appeal to users across Europe. The survey asked 11,000 internet users in Europe’s five biggest online markets – UK, France Germany, Italy and Spain – a number of questions about travel web sites. While trustworthiness emerged as the number one across Europe, the characteristic most preferred by Brits was ‘simplicity and clarity’ whil the French went for web sites that were ‘friendly’. “Special offers and latest deals” emerged as the most desired content feature for a travel web site, followed by a price comparison tool. The lowest priority was information about carbon footprints. While evenings  are well-established as the prime time for researching travel, Brits emerged as  the most likely to be online after work during the week, with 62% doing so againshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/09/2621/priceline-boss-as-assesses-european-rivals.htmlCCPTue, 09 Jun 2009 05:37:00 +01:00 Jeffery Boyd, CEO and president of booking.com parent company Priceline Inc, has shared his thoughts on how Ebookers, lastminute.com and TUI are fairing in the European accommodation-only market. Boyd was speaking at last week’s Bank of America Merrill Lynch Conference in New York. Priceline’s non-US operations are a bigger part of its overall business than for other US OTAs, accounting for around two-thirds of its EBITDA. The vast majority of Priceline’s international business is booking.com. During the presentation, Boyd was asked directly about how rival OTAs were faring in Europe. He was candid in his response. “ebookers has lost a bit of momentum over the past three,four years since Orbitz bought them. "At this point they are not a big player in the pan-European hotel market, but they are addressing that with better inventory and tools, so we’ll see what happens.” Lastminute.com, he said, “hahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/09/2620/british-airways-axes-outsourcing-programme.htmlCCPTue, 09 Jun 2009 04:44:00 +01:00 British Airways has ditched plans to outsource elements of its main ba.com website to third party technology players. The airline, which began talking to a number of companies late last year, had been seeking to create efficiencies and reduce costs by finding different ways of working. Travolution understands that it costs the airline in the region of £30 million annually to run ba.com. It is believed however that the expense of putting the business out to tender including the employment of consultants has proved too deep for the airline’s pockets in the current climate. A BA spokeswoman said: “We did launch a procurement process to see if there were any further efficiencies they we could achieve with ba.com at this stage. "Due to the economic crisis, we are currently concentrating on core business and have put the formal process on hold.” She added the airline would continue to speak to a number of playershttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/09/2619/travelsupermarket-launches-new-cruise-offering.htmlCCPTue, 09 Jun 2009 04:39:00 +01:00 Travelsupermarket has teamed up with Cruise118 to unveil a new cruise offering. In an exclusive deal with the price comparison specialist, Cruise118 will offer a cruise holidays white label on travelsupermarket. The cruise section is part of a site revamp enabling travelsupermarket to change and manage content according to market dynamics. Cruise is also the first of a number of products to be launched in the next six months since travelsupermarket carried out detailed research and testing on customer behaviour and needs. Graham Donoghue, travelsupermarket’s managing director said: “The old site had worked well for us since launch, but we really wanted to update it with a fresh and modern look that would motivate and inspire customers to research and book their travel. “The new platform opens up opportunity for a wide range of nehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/09/2618/viator-launches-in-france-spain-and-germany.htmlCCPTue, 09 Jun 2009 04:31:00 +01:00 Tours and experiences specialist Viator has developed new local language sites for three European markets. The sites - France , Germany and Spain - will feature the same breadth of content although they can be tailored to each market slightly differently with attractions featuring guided tours in the language of the site displayed more prominently. Viator Europe managing director Patrik Oqvist said the company had been able to launch the three sites together because of its powerful backend system. “Translating the words is not that difficult, it’s more about managing the content. It’s also a question of spreading the risk and running three in parallel means we get better learning from the content.” Viator has also ramped up the team in its London ofhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/09/2617/dealchecker-unveils-wider-search-functionality.htmlCCPTue, 09 Jun 2009 04:23:00 +01:00 Price comparison service Dealchecker is enabling consumers who are flexible to find a snapshot of its best deals through new search functionality. The technology trawls through a database of deals to highlight the best value holidays by destination over a three-month period and from four different departure points across the UK. The system returns three of the best deals for each hotel star-rating from three to five-star. Consumers then have the option to phone the relevant travel provider or go to their website to book. The technology has also been incorporated into the flight section of the site allowing consumers to see the best value flights per duration – weekend break, short break or seven nights. Dealchecker managing director Alex Saint said the enhanced system was part of its strategy to position the service as the deals champion for consumers.   “We have set up interfaceshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/09/2616/ancillary-products-holding-up-during-downturn.htmlCCPTue, 09 Jun 2009 04:19:00 +01:00 More than half of regular business and leisure travellers would consider buying ancillary products if offered by a preferred travel supplier despite the economic climate, according to new research. The study, run by YouGov with more than 2,000 adults, shows 54% of travellers will consider value-add items and that insurance is the most popular (39%). The survey was commissioned by technology specialist Collinson Latitude . Further findings showed that travel related services are the second most popular component within ancillary offerings with 32% of travellers stating that airport lounge access and travel wi-fi are attractive. Meanwhile, 14% said they would be interested in buying mobile phone services, including trip management and check in-services while 13% of travellers said leisure and lifestyle benefits such as magazine subscriptions and gym and spa access would be attractive as a vhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/05/2615/online-booking-volumes-more-resilient-in-recession.htmlCCPFri, 05 Jun 2009 10:30:00 +01:00 The online hotel sector is proving more resilient than traditional channels in volume terms but not prices, acccording to hotels.com. Nigel Pocklington, managing director of the Expedia-owned accommodation-only website, said volumes continued to be robust but admitted prices were under pressure for major online players. Speaking at the WTM Vision Conference this week, he said: “It’s a story of high volumes for lower prices.” The Hotel Price Index, produced by hotels.com at the end of last year, showed global hotel prices were 12% down. “There is some fairly aggressive price cutting,” added Pocklington. He maintained there continued to be a shift to booking on the web, with the online sector proving more resilient during the economic downturn. He added: “From an industry point of view, people will continue to shop around but the shift to online is continuing. I suspect we will continue to see volume growth in the online sector. It’s been vhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/05/2613/expedia-boss-laughs-off-google-rumours.htmlCCPFri, 05 Jun 2009 09:29:00 +01:00 Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Expedia Inc , has for the first time commented on suggestions that the world’s biggest online travel agency is a takeover target for Google. He was speaking at this week’s Bank of America/Merrill Lynch US Technology Conference When asked directly to address the Google acquisition rumours, he said: “I think that there’s a hedge fund some place laughing all the way to the bank,” he said. “Someone needs to have a good quarter, they introduce this rumour and the market does what it does.” He added that, “other than that, I won’t comment.” Khosrowshahi also added some detail to previous comments about Expedia’s decision to waive its air booking fees and reduce hotel booking fees for US consumers. In its Q1 earnings call, he said the move was costing it about $3m a month, in profit, for both products.  “On a gross basis these numbers would be higher, especially for air, bhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/05/2612/google-trademark-case-on-hold.htmlCCPFri, 05 Jun 2009 09:25:00 +01:00 A significant legal announcement expected this week on Google ’s appeal against losing a trademark case in France has been postponed. The advocate general of the European Court of Justice was due to deliver his opinion on the long-running Google/Louis Vuitton(LVMH) trademark dispute yesterday. However, the announcement has been postponed, with no new date set. The luxury goods manufacturer won a case in France against the search giant in 2005 for trademark  infringement after it objected to Google AdWords selling LVMH trademarked brand names. Google appealed, with the French Supreme Court referring the case on to the European Court of Justice. Lawyers for both sides presented their case to the court in March. A spokesperson for the ECJ said there were a number of possible reasons for the delay, ranging from “not having the translations ready” to the case requiring more time. The advocate ghttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/05/2611/travel-products-tipped-for-eco-friendly-label-system.htmlCCPFri, 05 Jun 2009 08:46:00 +01:00 Consumers will come to expect "labelling" to indicate the environmental and social impact of holidays, TUI Travel head of sustainable development Jane Ashton has predicted. Other industries, such as food, are already putting information on their products about CO2 as well as about fairtrade, she said. Speaking at the WTM Vision Conference, she said: "Other industries are addressing these issues in product labelling; so our customers are going to expect carbon and social impact and other tourism labelling." In TUI's own research, only about half of 25 airlines surveyed currently report their carbon footprint. Carbon labelling would highlight efficiencies of individual airlines, she added. She predicted a change in the next decade. "Carbon labelling on flights might well be something we see on flights in the next ten years," she said. Ashton admitted holidaymakers were not currently dhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/05/2610/c-and-m-and-ex-teletext-boss-unite-for-new-travel-job-service.htmlCCPFri, 05 Jun 2009 07:52:00 +01:00 Former Teletext Holidays boss Matt Cheevers has unveiled Rise Search , a new travel recruitment agency in conjunction with C&M Recruitment . The agency is the first project launched by the Smooth Direction business consultancy brand created by Cheevers following his departure from Teletext in December 2008. Rise Search is aiming to tap into the job market for “high-end”, senior professionals in the travel and leisure markets. Cheevers said: “I have been both a candidate and a client in the past and have always held strong views on the recruitment experience. “Rise Search will be underpinned by our recent ‘hands on’ business experience in the travel sector and this is supported by our knowledge of recruitment, not the other way around.” Rise will operate indhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/04/2608/air-industry-could-take-three-years-to-return-to-normal-report.htmlCCPThu, 04 Jun 2009 03:33:00 +01:00 Air travel is expected to take three years to recover to pre-recession levels of 2007 while the hotel sector could take four years, Euromonitor International has warned. The market analysis provider's latest report, revealed today at the WTM Vision Conference and based on statistics up to April this year, has revised forecasts it made last summer as a result of the contraction in the global economy. It claims the worldwide travel and tourism industry will in fact shrink this year, instead of growing by 4%, as it originally predicted, although a slight recovery will start as early as next year. Hotels were predicted to grow by 4.8% this year but that sector is now expected to decline by 3.6%, while air travel will decline by 2.3% instead of growing by 5.3%. Euromonitor International global travel and tourism manager Caroline Bremner said: "Peohttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/04/2607/forecast-says-travel-under-pressure-as-all-sectors-predicted-to-shrink.htmlCCPThu, 04 Jun 2009 03:00:00 +01:00 The global downturn will lead the travel and tourism industry to shrink in 2009, reveals Euromonitor International today at World Travel Market's inaugural WTM Vision Conference. The Forecast Restatement - Travel and Tourism in a Crisis report gives the latest predictions for recessionary impact on the industry. The report, exclusively revealed at WTM Vision Conference this morning, also explores the correlation between global GDP and the worldwide tourism industry. The worldwide travel and tourism industry was expected to grow by more than 4% in 2009, however the latest forecasts show the industry will in fact shrink with hotels and air travel particularly suffering. Hotels were forecast to grow by 4.8% in 2009 but are now expected to shrink by -3.6%. Air travel was originally forecast to grow by 5.3% but will now decrease by -2.3%. Travel and tourism arrivals, departures, hotel and air value sales are now predicted to contract by -1.1, -0.9, -3.6http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/03/2605/kuoni-acquries-holding-in-chinese-travel-company.htmlCCPWed, 03 Jun 2009 11:01:00 +01:00 The Kuoni Group acquired an equity holding of about 32% in Et-china.com International Holdings Limited (Et-china) as of  June 3, 2009. The holding was previously owned by Gandhara Master Fund Ltd. The acquisition makes Kuoni the biggest single shareholder in this important southern Chinese travel corporation: Et-china is one of south China's best-known tour operators through its GZL subsidiary, and also provides a leading internet platform in China for individual travel arrangements. The acquisition is a major step in Kuoni's endeavours to substantially expand its activities in the fast-growing Chinese travel market.   Founded in Guangzhou in 2000, Et-china today owns a majority stake in Guangzhou International Travel Services (GZL), which specialises in group inclusive-tour arrangements both within China and to destinations abroad. GZL is one of south China's best-known travel brands, and also holds a licence to offer foreign travel products. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/03/2604/tui-travel-signs-deal-with-travelport.htmlCCPWed, 03 Jun 2009 10:00:00 +01:00TUI Travel PLC has signed a multi-year agreement with Travelport GDS to distribute its extensive car content to users of its Galileo GDShttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/02/2603/kayak-wins-white-label-deal-with-pricerunner.htmlCCPTue, 02 Jun 2009 04:31:00 +01:00 Kayak has taken over the travel search functionality for European price comparison site Pricerunner . The meta search engine has replaced Swedish firm TravelLab for the UK, France, Germany and Denmark country sites around Europe. TravelLab will continue to run Pricerunner’s Sweden site. The announcement is a significant deal for Kayak in the mainstream European consumer markets after it recently lost its managing director Faisal Galaria following a disagreement over its overseas strategy for expansion. Kayak will provide flight, hotel and car hire search on an embedded white label within the Pricerunner travel channel. PriceRunner general manager Peter Carlsson said: “We wanted to strengthen our travel channel to give our customers a comprehensive and objective view of their travel options through our white label holiday search tool. “We revhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/02/2602/comtec-to-roll-out-travelconnect-to-sta-travel.htmlCCPTue, 02 Jun 2009 02:24:00 +01:00 Travel specialist STA Travel is rolling out Comtec Group’s Travelconnect product in all of its 45 UK shops. Travelconnect was chosen because of its rich content, ease of use and flexible functionality all of which meet STA Travel’s requirements to sell the widest choice of student, budget and independent travel across the UK. STA Travel will be the largest single roll out of Travelconnect since it ‘went on sale’ at WTM in 2008. Comtec’s Travelconnect product will enable STA Travel’s specialist advisors to search, cost and book an extensive range of trips and holidays in branches across the UK, using the Comtec Travelgateway. Travelconnect will provide agents with accurate pricing for traditional package offerings, access to Charter Flights and Low Cost Carriers (replacing the Dolphin Flight Scanner previously in place) and a variety of ways to display the results including in list, comparison, and calendar format. “Travelconnect is a fantastic sellhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/02/2600/ryanair-posts-first-annual-loss.htmlCCPTue, 02 Jun 2009 12:12:00 +01:00 Ryanair has reported a net annual loss for the first time of Euros 169 million for the 12 months to 31 March 2008. The low cost carrier blamed higher fuel costs and its decision to write down the stake it currently has in Aer Lingus. Sales reached Euros 2.94 billion over the period – an increase of 8.4% on the previous 12 months. However, fuel costs jumped from 791 million to Euros 1.26 billion. Chief executive Michael O’Leary, said: “Despite the global recession and record high oil prices Ryanair’s lowest fare/lowest cost airline services again delivered traffic growth and profitability which demonstrates the fundamental strength of the Ryanair model." http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/02/2599/online-credit-card-payments-on-the-decline.htmlCCPTue, 02 Jun 2009 09:51:00 +01:00 Credit card usage on the internet is declining in the UK while the demand for alternative payment methods is on the rise, according to a nationwide survey from NEMS market research . The study, conducted on behalf of Prepaid Services Company, found that 28% of people are using their credit card online less or not at all this year and more than a third said they would use cash online if it were as easy as over the counter sales. David Hunter, chief executive of Prepaid Services Company, which launched its Cash-Ticket product earlier this year, said the economic situation was definitely a factor. “If people are wary about using cards online for whatever reason, be it safety from fraud or simply because they want to monitor their online spending, they should have other options.” The survey of 500 people also revealed that women are now more reluctant to use their cards with 31% either reducing their crhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/02/2598/microsoft-bing-to-launch-travel-platform-in-the-uk.htmlCCPTue, 02 Jun 2009 09:27:41 +01:00 Microsoft will launch a dedicated version of its new Bing Travel system in the UK, officials have confirmed. The widely talked about new Bing search engine – which launched in Beta earlier this week – has integrated the Farecast travel search provider which Microsoft purchased in 2008. US web users are currently able to tap into the Farecast-driven flight and hotel search functionality, now operating under the new brand of Bing Travel. The original Farecast technology of drawing data from airlines, hotels and online travel agencies and using tools to predict when is the best time to make a booking is included in the new system. Bing Travel will also include a Hotel Rate Indicator to trawl through historical data to indicate via a colour-coded system as to whether a current price for a room is a fair price for the user. A Microsoft spokeswoman toldhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/29/2588/success-at-tourism-for-tomorrow.htmlCCPFri, 29 May 2009 10:56:00 +01:00 An airline, a major destination and one of the world’s largest hotel groups were among the winners of sustainable tourism awards at the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) summit. Organisers of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, held under the auspices of the WTTC, hailed the results as bringing sustainability into the mainstream. Chairman of the judging panel Costas Christ defended tourism’s role in conservation, saying: “If we stopped flying, it would unleash an ecological nightmare. “Places like the Serengeti would be transformed by human settlement. The Pantanal in Brazil [the world’s largest wetland] would be almost entirely cattle ranches if not for tourism. Tourism is probably the single greatest catalyst for conservation.” Grupo Puntacana, parent company of the Puntacana Resort in the Dominican Republic, won the Tourism for Tomorrow Destination Stewardship Award. Nature Air, the Costahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/29/2587/property-speculation-blights-resorts.htmlCCPFri, 29 May 2009 10:54:00 +01:00 Developers stand accused of blighting tourist resorts through rampant speculative investment in the run-up to the financial crash last autumn. But the resulting crisis means resorts are now being starved of cash they need even for sustainable development. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) summit in Brazil heard minister of tourism and environmental protection in Montenegro Predrag Nenezic insist: “There are some good sides to the crisis. “We have had the pressure of speculative capital – two years of tremendous pressure and prices going up and up, especially in coastal regions. [In Montenegro] we could not stop anyone selling their land. It was difficult to keep prime locations beautiful or sustainable, and that is a big problem. "We have limited carrying capacity, and a green economy is the only future for us.” Arthur de Haast, chief executive of hospitality investment group Jonhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/29/2581/isango-scoops-top-online-growth-prize.htmlCCPFri, 29 May 2009 09:56:08 +01:00 Travel activity and experiences specialist Isango has secured second place in a list of the fastest online companies in Europe. The Media Momentum Award is decided by investment banking firm GP Bullhound and a panel of judges including lastminute.com co-founder Martha Lane-Fox, Anil Hansjee (Google Europe) and Seb Bishop, global chief executive at RED. The panel recognised Isango’s growth rate of 1,836% over the last two years – a strategy which has seen it secure funding as well as the creation of a product line of over 10,000 bookable trips for consumers in three languages. GP Bullhound partner Manish Madhvani said: "The Media Momentum Top 50 league table has become a key barometer for the health of the digital sector and this year’s impressive results reaffirm the importance of the industry to both the UK and EU economy. "Competition thishttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/29/2584/keyword-concentration-revealed-in-flight-searches.htmlCCPFri, 29 May 2009 09:56:08 +01:00 Natural search results for flights are concentrated around specific key words, according to a study from SEM agency Greenlight . The study into how UK users of Google searched for flights found that three search terms 'Alicante flight', 'Dublin flight' and 'Malaga flight' accounted for 41%of the total volume in March. Greenlights look at the flight category analysed 3200 generic and destination-specific key words. In total, 17m searches were carried out in March using these terms. Cheapflights.co.uk was by far the most visible site, appearing on the first page of Google results in 91% of searches. The next most visible site is lastminute.com, appearing 58% of the time. The highest-ranked airline dotcom is monarch.co.uk, visible 36% of the time. Ryanair made the top ten with 19%, coming in ahead of its rival easyJet which got onto the first page 14% of the time. Coming in at 29 on the http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/29/2585/reworked-seo-study-still-has-tripadvisor-as-top-site.htmlCCPFri, 29 May 2009 09:56:08 +01:00 TripAdvisor was the most effective site in the hotel sector in terms of its natural search visibility this March, according to SEM agency Greenlight . Greenlight has changed the methodology of its study and will now provide actual search figures for the month under discussion. Previously, the monthly figures were an average based on the previous twelve months. The rethink is in response to a change in how Google makes its data available. TripAdvisor.com came up on the first page of Google results in 39% of searches in March, with tripadvisor.co.uk appearing 37% of the time. TUI Travels laterooms also featured in 37% of the searches. The leading hotel chain web sits were Marriott.com and Hilton.co.uk, although both sites were only visible on 5% of searches. The study looked at 1362 key words relating to 115 top destinations. In total, 8.2mhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/29/2582/cheapflights-restructures-boardroom-and-sets-new-growth-target.htmlCCPFri, 29 May 2009 09:56:00 +01:00 Cheapflights is aiming to be one of the top travel media companies in the world after a “restructuring and refocusing” of the business which includes the appointment of Hugo Burge as executive chairman. The price comparison service is also expecting to accelerate its expansion programme into new territories and is hoping grow the company ten-fold over the course of the next three to five years. A shake-up of the Cheapflights boardroom has seen Burge installed as the company’s first executive chairman and Mo Bulbrook promoted to executive director. Chris Cuddy will remain as chief executive and David Soskin becomes a non-executive director. Existing non-executive chairman John Claire has left the organisation. Burge told Travolution the company is currently in the top five travel media firms in the world, amongst the likes of Tripadvisor, Kayak and Travelzoo. “Our ambition is to be in thttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/29/2583/amadeus-online-bookings-soar-despite-10-decline-in-air-sector.htmlCCPFri, 29 May 2009 09:56:00 +01:00 Amadeus has revealed that its online booking technology handled over Euro 9 billion worth of bookings for its airline dot-com customers in 2008, around one-third up on 2007’s figure. The Madrid-based business’ annual results, released this week, highlighted a number of different revenue streams as Amadeus continues to expand beyond its traditional role as a GDS. As well as providing the booking engine, Amadeus also hosts a number of airline dot-com web sites. Its kit supports more than 6 million unique visitors every day. During 2008, it delivered over 2.85 billion page views with 99.9% reliability. In order to highlight the strength of its airline IT business, it has introduced a new metric – passengers boarded. This will cover airlines which use two or more products from its Altea Customer Management Solutions. In 2007, passengers boarded was 123.8 million. This year http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/28/2580/enquiries-from-start-up-companies-on-rise-says-law-firm.htmlCCPThu, 28 May 2009 11:00:00 +01:00Law firm Travlaw has said enquiries from entrepreneurs to set up tour operators and travel agencies have soared this year despite the recession. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/28/2579/ncl-returns-to-profit-despite-poor-economy.htmlCCPThu, 28 May 2009 10:30:00 +01:00Norwegian Cruise Line has announced a return to profit despite the poor economy.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/26/2570/holidaybreak-interim-results.htmlCCPTue, 26 May 2009 10:00:00 +01:00Holidaybreak Plc, the education, leisure and activity travel group, announces interim results for the six months ended March 31, 2009.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/26/2569/fly.com-will-not-acquire-to-gain-traction-in-europe.htmlCCPTue, 26 May 2009 06:28:00 +01:00 Fledgling meta search engine fly.com is hoping to grow in Europe “organically” when it launches this summer. The Travelzoo -backed business, which launched in the US in February, enters a busy and growing market in the region but told Travolution last week it expected to utilise the reach of the parent company’s existing following to gain traction. Brian Clark, senior vice president and general manager of fly.com, confirmed the site will launch under the fly.com domain in the UK in the third quarter of 2009. He added: “Travelzoo gives us the best opportunity to grow the business in Europe.” Cross-promotion of the new fly.com site is expected to feature heavily on the existing Travelzoo subscriber emails and website, Clark told Travolution. He added: “There are no plans to acquire other businesses.” The deals publishing business has grhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/26/2568/ryanair-signs-price-comparison-deal-with-momondo.htmlCCPTue, 26 May 2009 05:44:00 +01:00 Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline, today (25 May 2009) announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with Momondo.com, a 'price comparison only' website, which will now see ryanair.com’s guaranteed lowest fares displayed on Momondo’s travel search engine. Ryanair’s licensing agreement, which is subject to a €100 charitable donation by Momondo, will allow Momondo.com to access Ryanair.com’s timetable and pricing information in order to compare Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares with those of high fares, fuel surcharging, competitor airlines.  Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: “Only Ryanair offers passengers the guaranteed lowest fares, which are only available at ryanair.com. "Our new licence agreement with Momondo.com will allow our fares to be listed on their travel search engine and will prove to more and more consumers that Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares can not be beaten. All licence fees will be donated by Ryanair to charity.  http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/26/2571/intercontinental-hotel-group-retains-top-spot-in-world-hotel-group-ranking-2009.htmlCCPTue, 26 May 2009 12:00:00 +01:00World Hotel Group Ranking 2009: due to pre-planned projects, most leading hotel groups posted positive supply growths, as revealed by MKG Hospitality’s world ranking 2009.http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/22/2567/web-guru-jakob-nielsen-says-travel-sites-only-above-average.htmlCCPFri, 22 May 2009 09:18:00 +01:00 The world’s foremost figure in online user experience has said usability on travel websites is “above average” at best compared to other sectors. Speaking exclusively to Travolution this week, Jakob Nielsen – one of the academic pioneers of website user experience since the web’s creation – said travel sites on the whole had so far failed to address the issues of “complication” of product. “There is a lot of complexity involved in travel which is difficult to manage from a user perspective,” he said. Although financial services sites were generally performing better than travel From a user experience perspective, Nielsen said other sectors such as government and B2B lag even further behind. Nielsen admitted making the complex data associated with travel available on the web had been a “significant breakthrough” but suggested much more could be done to meet http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/22/2566/tui-travel-says-ad-trial-did-not-impact-own-sales.htmlCCPFri, 22 May 2009 09:11:00 +01:00 TUI Travel is “looking at doing a lot more” with third-party advertisers on its web sites after a trial showed that there was no impact on conversion rates for its own product. Sandra Leonhard, director of web strategy and business development, said that it had offered advertising placements on thomson.co.uk, its TUIfly.com site in Germany and four activity specialist web sites. “It was a low-key trial to see what would happen to our conversion rates but there was no obvious impact. It was a very positive start and we are looking at doing a lot more with this.” Leonhard was talking to Travolution following her presentation at the EyeForTravel summit in London. TUI Travel is Europe’s largest travel business, and Leonhard’s role as web strategy director sees her report into commercial director Will Waggott. She has also been looking at ways to optimise its search engine marketing spend. Ithttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/22/2565/lastminute.com-mulls-new-plan-to-earn-from-site-exits.htmlCCPFri, 22 May 2009 09:05:00 +01:00 lastminute.com has identified selling exit traffic to its competitors as a way to monetise non-transactional traffic. Ed Kamm, chief operating officer for lastminute.com , said that the move could help the business offset some of the costs of buying traffic from Google. The traffic is sold on by lastminute.com on a CPC basis. The pop-under screen offers to direct exiting lastminute.com visitors to other sites, not only sister sites such as Travelocity but also direct rivals including Expedia. Kamm argued that exit traffic from lastminute.com offered better value for money than Google paid search because its leads are qualified. Kamm was a panellist during a session during this week’s EyeForTravel conference in London. In a separate session about ancillary revenue, Vic Darvey, lastminute.com’s VP distribution EMEA, said; “We talk to our parent http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/22/2564/expedia-to-roll-out-affiliate-programme-across-europe.htmlCCPFri, 22 May 2009 08:57:00 +01:00 Expedia is speeding up plans to launch its Travel Agent Affiliate Programme (TAAP) across Europe following its successful launch in the UK and Germany. Cameron Jones, director of business development for Expedia Affiliate Network, said. “It’s gone down so well that we’ve accelerated our plans for other countries in Europe, and there will be some announcements soon.” When Travolution talked to TAAP in March, there were 200 agents signed up, with hotels the main driver of business. It now has 300 agents signed up, with dynamic packaging starting to gain traction in the run-up to the peak holiday season. “Hotels and dynamic packaging are generating the bulk of the revenue for us, but there is a move towards the packaging. We’ve seen that customers want the security of a package holiday, and what we offer is ATOL-protected security but with a more flexible product than tour operator packages.” He said thathttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/22/2563/tech-deal-may-signal-new-easyjet-stance-on-leisure-links.htmlCCPFri, 22 May 2009 08:49:00 +01:00 Partners Software is to facilitate travel industry connections to easyJet ’s reservation system in a move which could signal the airline’s readiness to further embrace elements of the leisure sector. The Bremen-based software specialist has extended its deal enabling it to manage connections between approved travel agents and booking engine suppliers and the airline’s inventory. EasyJet originally developed the API to target corporate travel and eliminate screen-scraping and distribution development manager Jerry Dunn said the strategy had not changed. “It was developed for business travel and that remains the case, that is our main opportunity.” However, industry insider estimate volumes booked over the technology could be as much as 9% of easyJet’s flights with the majority being leisure tickets. Leisure technology specialists and high-streehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/22/2562/yourtour-gears-up-european-tourist-board-push.htmlCCPFri, 22 May 2009 08:38:00 +01:00 Travel and tours itinerary specialist YourTour is poised to unveil deals with major tourism organisations across Europe. The site, which enables travellers to put together an itinerary by suggesting tours and hotels appropriate to their route, is to provide its content to several major tourism businesses in the coming weeks. Business development manager Emmanuel Guisset said YourTour also planned to reveal a number of deals with major French hotel companies. YourTour is currently seeking its latest round of investment, which will take it to the next phase of growth including plans to expand the team. Guisset said the strategy was to extend the service, which currently only features content in France, to Italy and Spain and eventually the UK. YourTour was recently named one of the top 20 start-ups in Europe across different sectors at the Next Web Conference in Amsterdam in April. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/22/2561/airlines-not-owning-reputations-online.htmlCCPFri, 22 May 2009 08:28:00 +01:00 Global airlines are failing to manage their online reputation effectively according to new research. The study, from US-based online branding specialist RepRelations , on ten of the world’s largest airlines, shows carriers are not ranking highly on Google or taking advantage of new media including YouTube. Of the airlines only Continental, American and British Airways own seven out of the top 10 Google results while others such as Ryanair and Lufthansa only own up to three. The majority of airlines scored a ‘C’ overall based on a number of criteria including negative results on Google, strength of the negative versus positive results, number of websites in the top 10 results owned by the airline and presence and placement of YouTube or other video service. BA and AA tied for second place in the research, scoring a ‘B-‘, while Southwest Airlines was the only carrier to score an ‘A-‘. Ryanair, meanwhilhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/22/2560/thomas-cook-creates-talk-tool-for-online-bookings.htmlCCPFri, 22 May 2009 08:17:00 +01:00 Thomas Cook has unveiled a web chat service targeting customers on the point of booking. The facility, which offers consumers the opportunity to chat to someone instantly online if they need help, is not being opened up to everyone. According to UK and Ireland e-commerce director Russell Gould, it is aimed at people who seem to have "stalled" in the booking process or who need help with the searching process. “It’s for anyone who sees an error message or who seems to be going backwards. We’re targeting people who we think are good leads and then engaging them with online chat and helping them find what they were looking for and then they book on the website.” The next step is to introduce a co-browse facility to the web chat service so agents can help customers walk through the site. Gould said that the company was looking at the conversion rates of the customers engaged in web chat verhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/22/2557/seadream-yacht-club-sees-signs-of-business-travel-recovery.htmlCCPFri, 22 May 2009 08:00:00 +01:00SeaDream Yacht Club sees signs of business travel recoveryhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/22/2558/thomas-cook-close-to-concluding-talks-to-buy-russian-travel-business.htmlCCPFri, 22 May 2009 08:00:00 +01:00Thomas Cook close to concluding talks to buy Russian travel businesshttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/22/2559/embedded-player-tool-next-for-tvtrip.htmlCCPFri, 22 May 2009 07:58:00 +01:00 Hotel video specialist TVTrip is offering to integrate videos into hotels and chains own websites. TVTrip, which now has more than 3,000 filmed hotels, aims to offer travellers an unbiased view of hotels and their facilities helping them choose the best place to stay. The company is now offering hotels the possibility to host and serve their videos through a new embeddable video player. The player is available in 25 languages, enabling hotels to appeal to customers worldwide. TVTrip has also signed a deal to film 900 properties across the globe for French leisure giant Accor. The videos will be posted on both Accor ’s website as well as TVTrip’s 25 sites. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/21/2555/philippine-airlines-and-travelport-sign-global-marketing-agreement.htmlCCPThu, 21 May 2009 03:38:00 +01:00 Philippine Airlines and Travelport, one of the world's largest travel conglomerates, have signed a three year global marketing agreement that enables Galileo, Apollo and Worldspan connected travel agents to access automated market fares and take advantage of additional functionality until the end of 2011. The Travelport deal includes two strategic solutions for Philippine Airlines’ customers with the implementation of Octopus Travel hotel content on the airline’s website and the deployment of Travelport Rapid Reprice, an automated ticket repricing product. Octopus Travel, Travelport’s innovative online travel company, provides hotel content on Philippine Airlines’ website giving customers’ access to more than 21,000 hotels in 129 countries. The expanded hotel offering provides customers with a wide mix of properties at affordable prices ranging from one to five star hotels, international chains to small boutique hotels. Customers can also compare prices, view hhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/21/2554/chris-mottershead-serves-legal-proceedings-on-travelzest.htmlCCPThu, 21 May 2009 08:50:00 +01:00 Christopher Mottershead founder and CEO of Travelzest plc has