Shortly after the tie-up between eBay and Octopus Travel was announced, we had eBay director of partnerships Phillip Rinn write a column for Travel Weekly.

Here's a snippet:

"In the past year, eBay has seen its holiday and travel category grow significantly in response to consumer demand for new ways to book a holiday. As a consequence, the travel industry needs to change the way it works.

Many retailers have opened up to the world of online but not explored its full potential. eBay has proved that retailers can have great success and benefit from incremental sales to their existing channels.

Travel retailers must now look at harnessing the web beyond their existing offering to reach new online shoppers."

 

A general call to arms? Or does it translate as "swallow your fears and work with us"? 

Say what you like about Ryanair - and let's face it, most people do - but is there a more successful travel business out there, if you measure success in terms of profits rather than what second-home-owning Daily Mail readers might say?

The Q3 results today tipped the airline to end the year with a profit of €275m (£240m). In the sector's weakest quarter - October to December - it slashed losses to €11m. I wonder what BA will report when its third quarter results come out on Friday.

For a Travolution audience, the key metric is one that Ryanair doesn't even bother mentioning anymore - all of their business is transacted online at www.ryanair.com. Traffic figures for the site must be phenomenal - especially as all of its passengers also have to visit ryanair.com to check in online.

That's 66 million passengers - call them online customers -  this year.  I imagine there are very few online travel agents who gets 66m hits a year, never mind 66m bookers. And if things go according to plan, there will be 85m Ryanair passengers in Europe by 2012.

Ryanair.com effectively has a "total transaction value" of €2.4bn for the first nine months of the year, with €1.9bn from seats and €0.5bn from ancillaries.

Ancillaries is a great catch-all phrase which includes checked baggage fees, card charges, as well as the revenues earned for the partnerships it has in place with car hire providers, hotel providers, travel insurance suppliers etc. There is even a dedicated cruise channel on the site.

Unluckily, Ryanair does not break out the ancillary revenues in any way, declining when asked to give Travolution even a top line indication. So we'll never know how many cruise bookings Costa Cruises secures via its deal with Ryanair, nor the terms of that deal.

Most people think that Expedia Inc invented the media model for travel sites, but Ryanair is also pretty good at monetizing its traffic. It's a pity we'll never find out exactly how good.

Martin Cowen

Not sure this requires much of a preamble - see our news piece on ebookers' new mobile site.

Ebookers has designed the site to be incredibly simple, but that verges on obligatory when producing pages for mobile browsers.

That said, it would be interesting to know how it performs on various different handsets - whether it's simple enough to be user-friendly on my clunky N95 as well as a web-friendly iPhone.

So if anyone has road-tested it, drop a note in the comments section...

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Although the move to meta-search is on the horizon, Cheapflights is still extolling the virtues of its price comparison model.
 
Travo recently spoke to global sales director Francesca Ecsery, who emphasised that the site - which was number one in its category over the turn-of-year period, according to Hitwise - takes its data from all sorts of advertisers, big and small, and has 130 in total. Its nearest competitor had just 23, she claimed.
 
A case in point:

Apparently the site recently featured an amazing deal on flights to Tel Aviv from "mom and pop" agency Moses Travel.

The deal proved so popular that Cheapflights had to call the agency to check it was happy with the number of incoming leads. And it was - it had filled its flights and planned to put on another.
 
Ecsery says the move by operators to reduce capacity has boosted demand for deals in the DIY market, adding that airlines' often complex pricing structures were also pushing consumers to shop around.

A couple more quotes on that subject that we didn't use in today's news story:
 
"The awareness among the consumer that they have to be careful with their money will not go away for a good five years."

...and...
 
"Price is still so important, and yet it has never been cheaper to fly than now. Sometimes people do not end up booking at the cheaper price but when it is advertised it's like moths to a light."

Lee Hayhurst

Mashable reports that Kayak is advertising flights on Oceanic flight 815 - aka the doomed one from hit TV show Lost. Hit the link for screengrabs aplenty.

The sixth season of Lost premieres in the US on Tuesday, so speculation that this is a bit of viral marketing seems reasonable.

Commenter KristoferA has another theory, though:

"Probably a countermeasure against screenscrapers"

Wonder much Kayak users who want a real Sydney-LAX flight will enjoy being Lostrolled - hopefully Lost lore is widepsread enough for them to see it coming...

The last few weeks have been a fraught period for both travel companies and travellers with many travellers suffering major delays to their travel.

Many travel companies have struggled under the sheer volume of customer enquiries and travellers have been left disillusioned after receiving little or no information.

So what can we learn from this situation as, sure as night follows day, it will happen again.

The common theme of travellers' complaints was not necessarily that they were frustrated about the weather or any other specific delay but that there was, in many cases, almost a complete lack of information.

There was very much the feeling from travellers that once the travel company has my money it is not that bothered.

My personal experience is an example of this. Just before Christmas, I was stuck on the M20 on the way to the airport for four hours in the snow.

Firstly, I didn't see a single gritting lorry - sorry, I digress.

More importantly, I had no information about my flight apart from the fact that I heard snippets on the radio that the major airports were closed or running a skeleton service.

It was early in the morning, so I could not contact my travel company as their office was closed and the airline number was permanently engaged.

So there I was, stuck on a motorway with three young kids, no idea whether I was going to miss my flight or even whether it was worth struggling to continue my journey if everything was closed. 

Perhaps irrationally, I was getting increasingly angry with everyone. I was angry with the Airline for not letting me know what was going on.

I was also angry with my travel company as they were not around.

They said when I booked the holiday that I should book with them as they would look after me and that they differentiate themselves by their good customer service.

But where were they when I wanted them? I presume great customer service meant that they would look after me if an issue occurred during the hours of 9am to 5.30pm GMT.

I will have to remember that when I am in Australia next year.

As I was sitting in my car on the motorway, watching an impromptu English vs France lorry driver snowball fight in the outside lane, I was thinking even my children's schools provide information updates on any disruption or trip, and out of school hours.

I also remembered that I get a text confirmation from my dentist and doctor and I even receive text confirmation with car details from local taxi firms.

It has even just been reported that one Taxi firm is now texting a picture of their driver with this confirmation to the booker for security.

However, in travel, a company can send me to the other side of the world but not ensure that they can effectively communicate with me or in fact other travellers, especially in larger numbers.

It was especially frustrating for me as I knew that mobile travel systems are in place already with broadcast functionality, have a very low cost of entry and have also had great customer feedback.

I will not book with the same company again and I wonder how many customers who experience equally frustrating situations will decide to book with a company that will keep them informed?

In addition to this, from our experience at Travel Buddy, travellers are willing to pay for such a service.

Adam Winterflood is managing director at Travel Buddy, a text alert information provider for the travel industry

Some fine tapas and even finer bottles of Spanish red made for an interesting chin wag with the new(ish) head of Amadeus in the UK earlier this week.

Tim Russell was the host with the most as a handful of wise travel tech hacks (plus a newcomer - me) met for a post new year, new year soiree at a Spanish restaurant in central London.

Coincidentally hours earlier Amadeus had announced a board restructuring which will see chief exec David Jones leave in 12 months, probably having seen through a much anticipated IPO.

A philosophical, and very upbeat, Russell was sure he will leave Amadeus in safe hands because the firm has so many talented people coming through the ranks - the next generation.

Amadeus, he told us, is always looking to innovate and find new ways to add value to its commercial partners' businesses - you know the game's up the moment you're asked what's coming up next and you have no answer.

There are those in the industry who would argue with his assertion that there is a growing acceptance that GDSs have a 'symbiotic' relationship with the partner airlines they offer distribution to.

Apparently Amadeus has a presence in more countries than Coca Cola, a seemingly astonishing fact if, like me, you've travelled to some pretty far flung places and yet still managed to get your fix of the fizzy brown stuff.

Figures point to a decreasing proportion of airline business coming through the GDSs, although received wisdom suggests the latest round of contract negotiations with the likes of BA proved to me much less fraught - the UK flag carrier is not in a position to be quite as bullish as in previous negotiations.

It might be true that the likes of BA can distribute in a market like the UK just as efficiently itself, but it relies on GDSs for its vital global reach, so it can do business in exotic markets from Bangalore to Burkina Faso to Buenos Aires.

Russell is confident even an airline as aggressively opposed to third party distribution as Ryanair will come round eventually to realise the added value GDSs can offer.

Is Russell right when he says a system built by one company for 50 airlines to distribute through is always going to be better than a system built by one company to distribute just one company's inventory?

If he is that raises the question of scale and whether the three main global GDS players have a Tesco-like grip on the market.

Certainly they do not seem overly concerned with new entrants and would-be challengers to their crown, their size meaning they can cope with the eye-watering complexity of keeping the world on the move.

All of which led the conversation to another sector in which there's also a three-way battle for dominance (and at this point it's only fair to credit a certain former Travolution editor with this particular line of questioning).

Amadeus, Travelport (Galileo/Worldspan), Sabre. Which is the Apple, which the Microsoft and which the Google of the GDS world, and which one does Russell say Amadeus is most like?

There came a typical politician's answer: all three.

Initially it was more Google, as a late entrant on the scene. Then it went into an Apple phase with the focus on design. And latterly it has been demonstrating more ''Microsoftic' tendencies due to its leading presence in some markets.

If you're into these sort of comparisons this week PhoCusWright produced a first major piece of research on the three leading GDSs, so do read our report by Travolution's Martin Cowan on its findings.

Lee Hayhurst

Ever since it launched in the UK in 2005 online deals publisher Travelzoo has claimed its deals undergo the most rigorous independent testing to make sure they are what they seem.

So this week a select trio of trade journos, Travolution included, was invited down to the firm's Covent Garden offices to see for themselves the process.

We sat through the weekly Monday Top 20 meeting, the first of the week when potential deals and leads are discussed and scrutinised for inclusion in Wednesday's deals alert.

It's easy to be cynical and to expect that, in truth, as long as you're prepared to pay your deal gets in the list, but Monday's exercise was designed to demonstrate this is not the case.

The London team consists of 10 "producers", mainly ex-journalists we were told, with, judging by the array of accents, plenty of firsthand experience of international travel.

Also patched into a conference call, reminiscent of the judging in the Eurovision Song Contest, were producers in Manchester and Switzerland.

"Come in Switzerland, this is London calling."

A long list of deals harvested from the weekend papers were in front of them each to be discussed debated and either discarded or given the Travelzoo seal of approval.

One cruise deal hanging in the balance was put to the vote and lost out - a little too niche, particularly compared to a last minute Med cruise deal that was given the nod.

At first glance trying to verify if a particular deal is the best in the market would appear to be an almost impossible task with all the options available.

But with enough people, enough time and armed with data on previous deals featured it appears it is possible to give a weekly assessment of the merits of a particular deal.

So, on Monday we saw a Croatia holiday deal left out because, when the £3 protection fee was added it wasn't that competitive after all.

A Prague short break costing just over £100 needed more research because, with cheap Prague flights earlier considered good enough to make the list, it might be possible to package up cheaper.

A Tunisia break advertised by a well known Online Travel Agent was discovered to be not as cheap as a comparable trip offered by a well known high street travel agent.

It was decided to contact the latter directly to give them the good news about how good a deal they were offering, and to see if they wanted to get it on the Top 20 list.

Price, clearly, is a key consideration but not the be all and end all.

To make the Top 20 the deal just has to be considered to be market leading, and it also helps if it's eye-catching.

Flight deals from a new eastern Europe airline made the cut, not just because a new airline is something of a novelty these days but departure and destination airports were unusual.

Each week the Top 20 is made up of paid-for advertisements, which Travelzoo says go through the same rigorous testing as the free ads that make up the list.

Travelzoo is also able to segment its subscriber database, so certain slots in the Top 20 can have more than one deal against them.

Producers admit it can be hard to find enough fantastic deals each week and maintain Travelzoo's Top 20 reputation for only highlighting the very best offers.

But still a deal could be knocked back if records of subscriber ratings of previous deals (marked out of 6) are not good enough or even a little local knowledge casts doubt on an advertisers' claim.

We were told a UK hotel was once visited in person by a Travelzoo researcher before an offer was verified and on Monday the inside knowledge of a native New Yorker helped one deal through.

For Travelzoo producing a diverse range of offers for the Top 20 is just as important as making sure those deals exist.

On Monday everything from £1,000 long-haul holidays to domestic coach deals priced in pennies came under scrutiny.

It's travel's very own game of Deal or No Deal?

10 tips for getting your deal on Travelzoo's Top 20
 
1. Market test your offer - make sure your deal beats those being promoted by all your main rivals

2. There's no point lying -Travelzoo's researchers and test bookers claim they will weed out any spurious deals

3. Don't make your deal too last minute and make sure you have sufficient stock to make it a viable contender for Travelzoo's one million UK subscribers 

4. Iron out any glitches in your website - Travelzoo test bookers based in Germany claim to have found 18,000 on European travel websites last year alone  

5. Include something eye-catching, or "newsworthy" like a free excursion, meals or transfers

6. Be prepared to argue your case - you could be called directly by a Travelzoo researcher about concerns about your hotel 

7. Keep an eye on your Tripadvisor reviews - Travelzoo does and factors these in

8. If you're an agent know your product because any concerns that can't be answered might count against you

9. If you can't be the cheapest offer something unusual like a new destination, new flight or hotel

10. Try to make sure there are plenty of departure dates - a cheap deal to the Caribbean in the middle of hurricane season isn't likely to make it

Lee Hayhurst