Advances in data, analytics and technology are creating exciting opportunities for growth in APAC’s travel industry

Asia is a complex and fragmented market with vastly different types of consumer behaviour, languages and cultures. With rapidly changing technological development, the increase of low cost carriers in the region and the capability of the middle class to travel further, the possibilities of travel in Asia are becoming limitless.

 But the question remains, how can travel brands tackle such a diverse market? 

The revolution in data and analytics is changing what brands know about their customers. At the same time the growth of mobile use by travel consumers’ means that travel brands can service and sell more and for longer. According to a study by LeNovo, about 59 per cent of the respondents in Asia said they searched for travel accommodation online via mobile devices – 13 per cent above global average.  

 However, as Tim Gunstone, MD, EyeforTravel highlights, “In the battle to win the travel customer, if you don’t use both mobile and data to send contextualised communications then you risk losing customers to the travel companies that do”. In a recent interview with Tarandeep Singh, IHG’s Director of Revenue Analytics for the Asia Middle East and Africa (AMEA) region he said “data analytics have been able to rewrite our consumer segmentation and break it up by every brand to ensure we are talking to the right audience at all times,” This enables the group to target far more accurately with much higher conversion rates than a few years ago. 

 All this change means that established business models are showing signs of failing and huge opportunities are in place for the brave and insightful. New business models from start-ups such as TravelMob, HotelQuickly, Stayzilla, GrabTaxi and many others could potentially grow into billion dollar industries.  

 EyeforTravel’s 17^th Travel Distribution Summit Asia couldn’t come at a more opportune time. Taking place in Singapore, 20-21^st May, it will aim to bring together some of the leading APAC experts. 

The changes in the industry mean that the travel professional needs to fundamentally re-visit and discuss how they can work together effectively and profitably.  If they don’t, they risk facing commoditisation of their product and missing the huge opportunity to use data and analytics to increase ancillary product sales. 

For years, EyeforTravel’s TDS Asia event has been the educational meeting place for the innovators in the travel industry.  This year is no different, but we also have added into that mix some of the biggest brands in travel to brainstorm on the future of APAC’s travel.

 Marketing, innovation, technology, analytics, RM and mobile experts from all branches of travel use this event as an annual meet up to predict the future of  travel in the region and to network in view of profitable partnerships.

By Mariah Assuncao, Global Conference Director, EyeforTravel
Mariah@eyefortravel.com

The President of Sabre Hospitality or the CTO of Airbnb or the COO of Citizen M hotels?

All three are meeting to look at how mobile is impacting accommodation sales. Who has the best plan to grow?

If any travel sector is reeling from the impact of mobile it’s the accommodation sector. The dominance of OTA hotel booking apps has led to our researchers hearing about huge drops in brand led direct bookings. But the hotels occupancy levels are still high. How will the owners react? 

One way that the brands are defending their position is by investing in incredibly useful apps that their guests will want to use. We are seeing huge ROI on the brand apps that extend the services the big brands can offer and the products they can sell. 

And we heard this week that Barclays financial analysts finally recognise that Airbnb (and its 50% per annum growth) is having an impact on the hotel industry. Accor is singled out by Barclays for attention with “9% of its rooms under threat”

This debate is part of the event I am running at Mobile World Congress this March 2. Who do you feel is going to have the best future strategy?

Come along and participate in the debate live or subscribe to gain access to the recording.

Tim Gunstone

Managing Director

+44 (0)207 375 7557

Mobile +44 (0) 7815814314

tim@eyefortravel.com

Confronting the Social Buying Dilemma!

By - Marco Saio - Industry Analyst!

The Expedia-Groupon partnership has finally stirred me to acknowledge and poke an inquisitive stick at the new 900 lb gorilla in online travel: the social buying phenomenon.

During this period of strained supplier-OTA relations and Google search domination, the concept of group/social/daily/ buying (insert buzzword bingo here) further adds another interesting and disruptive dimension to the online distribution power struggle.

The group buying trend is flourishing very rapidly, this is unquestionable, the question though is how will this affect new business models for travel suppliers and now OTAs?. 

Let’s dig deeper and consider the potential benefits and risks facing suppliers using basic scenarios. The four biggest group buying companies for travel deals are; Groupon, LivingSocial, Coupons Inc and Gilt Group.

Ryanair's cautious. Are oil prices or Facebook to blame?

By - Tim Gunstone

Ryanair is cautious about future growth…it blames oil prices, I would like to know if customer mobile browsing habits or Facebook is also an issue?

The Irish Times on Wednesday last week told us “Despite plans to cut its winter capacity, and the hedging the airline has put in place, it expects its fuel bill will rise by €350 million in its 2012 financial year. As a result, net profit is expected to remain flat at about €400 million, a level that falls considerably below previous market expectations of €490 million.” 


For the full story go to http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0524/1224297637594.html

Is the travel industry in rude health? Or just doing a Nero and watching their industry burn?

By - Tim Gunstone


If the last 2 years have been hard for you as a travel professional, it’s been really hard for me as a publisher of travel conferences, news and research articles. In the hands of cost focussed (and I would say) short sighted CFOs, the industry limited their purchases of research, conferences and pretty much anything that helped you plan for a successful future ….this made life in EyeforTravel harder for a while.

But the first half of 2011 has seen a 100% turn around, dynamism and optimism is back and as a result all of our shows have grown. This belies my grim weekly reading of the Economist. So who is right, the seemingly dynamic travel industry? or the doom and gloom of the Economists?

User reviews – A missed opportunity for hotels?

How to manage user reviews continues to be an issue that puzzles many hoteliers across the world. Should you reply to each review to show you are listening? Should you leave conversations about your hotel to continue uninterrupted?   Should you encourage guests to post user reviews following their stay?

Although the answers to these questions may seem obvious to some, in my opinion hotels are still not getting it right.

I’ve recently been on holiday to Italy and stayed in a wide variety of places ranging from small B&Bs in the middle of the countryside to bustling beach resorts. I enjoyed each and every place I stayed and whilst some have since asked me to leave my comments online, most properties have not asked.   

I feel that this is a missed opportunity.  If asked, I would not only share my enjoyable experience of their property but would also provide constructive feedback. I'm a busy person and to be honest unless I’m prompted it’s far too easy to forget to go online and write anything.

Google’s acquisition of ITA Software is approved

It’s been a dramatic weekend for the online travel industry as last Friday saw The US Justice Department approve Google Inc's purchase of ITA Software (but with stiff conditions).

The deal, which had been rumbling on for months, will have sizable implications for the online travel industry.  It represents a huge shift by Google into vertical search, something which has long been feared by online travel brands.

Google said it was "excited" to get the deal approved, and would soon bring out a new travel search tool. 

Stating on their blog ‘How cool would it be if you could type "flights to somewhere sunny for under $500 in May" into Google and get not just a set of links but also flight times, fares and a link to sites where you can actually buy tickets quickly and easily?’

Whilst they might be excited, many online travel brands including Kayak, Farelogix, Sabre and Expedia are not.  Last autumn the site - FairSearch.org - was set up to fight the deal.  They argue the deal will harm competition in the industry, limit innovation, and expand Google’s dominance in search overall.


FairSearch.org are however pleased by the announcement that antitrust laws will be enforced.   They feel this enforcement action represents a significant milestone against anti-competitive behaviour.

The deal will most certainly affect search traffic – we’ll be discussing this (the good and the bad) in upcoming posts so stay tuned!

It’s important to note also that the deal will still be subject to further disputes.  The Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department are both contemplating an investigation into claims the internet search giant manipulates its results but there has been no decision made on which agency may take it up.

EyeforTravel

April Fools Winner Announced!

The winner of the free pass was chosen this week after a joke-off on the twittersphere. We invited all our contacts to tell their best travel joke to win a free pass to The Travel Distribution Summit Europe this May. Elliot Pritchard of Travel Republic was the chosen one- with this joke:


 "How many copywriters does it take to change a lightbulb? A: The dark is a wondrous place, full of mystery and intrigue"


We liked it. Runner up goes to Greg Abbott of DataArt for his excellent un-PC jokes. See #tds2011 on twitter to see them!

EyeforTravel

The Rise in Travel Deals in the Online Travel Space - Hotwire launch in the UK

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting with Clem Bason, President of Hotwire, the leading US discount travel website. He was visiting London for Hotwire’s launch into the UK market.

Owned by Expedia, Hotwire offers discount hotel deals in cities worldwide.  Unlike flash sale sites such as the private sale site Jetsetter and group buying sites like Groupon and LivingSocial, the key difference with the Hotwire business model is that the customer does not see the name of the hotel when searching for discounted offers. 

This enables the hotel to offer heavily discounted deals without fear of damaging their brand name. I feel that this is an important differentiator as many hotels partnering with flash sale sites don’t seem to be considering the damage to their brand. A cheap deal at a hairdresser’s might lure a customer back if they are impressed with the cut, but taking a hotel break for leisure is not something people have the luxury of doing that often – surely  making them unlikely to go back and pay full rate? I see most flash sale buyers to be bargain hunters in search of that one time deal.

When quizzed on the competition from the sudden flood of flash sales sites offering travel deals, Clem did not see them as a trend that has longevity.

Lastminute.com already has a similar unnamed hotel discount offering to Hotwire for the UK market with their ‘Top Secret hotel’ option however Clem was not afraid to take on the competition highlighting that Hotwire offer a wider range of hotels that can be booked for a prolonged period and not just 1 or 2 nights.

Hotwire aim to encourage travellers to consider booking their hotel deals for longer periods which enables the hotelier to discount further. I think this is ideal for hotel bargain hunters. I personally love researching specific hotel details before booking a place to stay though!

Travel Ticker® which is part of the Hotwire offering has interesting behind the scenes functionality whereby the customer is offered deals that specifically relevant to their prior search behaviour on the site. Collecting such information on consumers and their preferences is certainly a key trend to watch in the online travel space and will be something we will be discussing in more deal over the coming weeks.

EyeforTravel

April Fool's Day

In case you haven't realised yet, March has whizzed by and tomorrow is 1st April - otherwise known as April Fool's Day. I received a press release from an airline today detailing their April Fool to be released tomorrow. I have to say it wasn't all that funny. I wonder if anyone will be fooled and if the hoped for publicity will be achieved?


Whilst there may be a couple of pranks played on our team tomorrow we won't be trying to fool our customers. We are however looking for funny and entertaining travel jokes. Simply tweet your best travel joke and include the Twitter hashtag #tds2011 and you could win a free conference pass to EyeforTravel's European Travel Distribution Summit, 10-11 May, London. With 7 conference tracks and a large exhibition it looks set to be a great event.  We'll be announcing the winner on this blog tomorrow evening so stay tuned!

EyeforTravel

“The Occasion Marketer” by Rosie Akenhead

By Rosie Akenhead


You can’t blink in London at the moment without seeing Prince William’s and Kate Middleton’s faces splashed all over tacky teacups, snowdomes, aprons and every other piece of tourist junk. It’s seems a fair statement that international tourists are perhaps the target audience for these sales (rather than us Brits). I’ve been contemplating for a while about how this would pan out for the travel industry and british tourism specifically. I have a specific interest in this topic as I live about ten minutes walk from Westminster Abbey. All my friends keep suggesting that I rent my apartment for a vast sum of money while William and Kate walk up the aisle. So I beg to ask the question- is this do-able? And, how are other travel companies preparing for and responding to the surge of interest in the royal wedding?

It makes sense to backtrack a little before throwing ourselves in the deep-end. We know that targeted “event” or “date” marketing works for travel. You only need to ask lastminute.com or Travelzoo about the increasing success of their Valentine break deals to ascertain that. Are “events” becoming more essential (or appealing) for the discening traveller? Is it more important now (with budget and time constraints) to have a REASON to holiday? A Valentine’s break in Venice? To see someone in concert in Moscow? To tie in a holiday with a business trip? A once in a lifetime royal wedding perhaps?

I think our industry marketers speak the answer on this one. How the royal wedding is being presented by travel and accomodation operators is a good indication. Some hotels in the vicinity already have their homepage reservation systems set to the royal wedding dates to facilitate easy booking, and rates start from a high £250 per night (there’s a few happy revenue managers in Westminster I’d bet). However, what are the other options surfacing besides expensive hotels in the area?

Well, the first port of call on google ads is Airbnb (favoured by Lonely Planet’s Tom Hall) which is a mix of Couchsurfer, a B&B retailer and TripAdvisor too. It serves to let locals list their spare room (or their whole flat) for free to travellers. Both hosts and the accomdation are rated and reviewed in the same way as most user-generated sites. Hosts choose their rates (loosely based on quality, location and neighbouring apartments costs) and then it’s up to the traveller to pick and choose a bedroom or apartment. 


It’s an interesting idea and it seems perfect for the royal wedding holiday-maker, largely on the basis that Westminster is full (and I mean FULL) of flats and houses that aren’t used on the weekends (politicians and civil servants who leave the city to go to their country pads each weekend). Quite frankly, I’m impressed by AirBNB. I like that the guests are also rated which means they stand to lose out if they behave badly in your home.So- is this is a future trend?  I wait with anticipation to see if this trend develops further as we become more and more fussy about what we want from our holiday break. Will I put my flat up for rent? Watch this space while I decide J

On a different level, VisitLondon aren’t missing a trick with their guides and suggestions for the big weekend. Topics include the places where Kate shops and hangs out. Slightly creepy but there must be a reason why Visitlondon has risen nearly to the top of the Google ranking for the search term “Royal Wedding London”. 


Tripadvisor rightly has it covered too. So what with wedding fever in the air, how are the travel industry feeling about it? Namedly all of us are BORED of it. Kevin May of Tnooz certainly is. So are all of us at EyeforTravel. 


However, besides all the tourist tat on the streets, expensive hotel rates and mindless wedding chat, I think we can conclude two things. Firstly, the royal wedding is (and was always going to be) essentially a good thing for travel: we’re seeing innovative new travel products brought to our attention which may well stick around for the Olympics next year. Secondly I think the royal wedding has reminded marketers of the elusive guest :“the event traveller”: namedly travelling for a purpose not so much for the sake of it. Re-evaluating how we look at these consumers and how we reach them is not a new topic: it’s an old one that needs to be re-looked at.

Comments welcome. I’m @rosieakenhead on twitter.

EyeforTravel

Welcome!

Welcome to EyeforTravel's new blog!


At EyeforTravel we live and breathe online travel. Since 1997 when the company was founded by our MD, Tim Gunstone, we've followed each and every movement in the online travel space.  This includes the painful shift offline to online (remember those who said the internet would never catch on?!) right through to the dramatic shift we are seeing towards mobile and social communications right now.


It's been a very interesting 14 years and there's certainly many more interesting years to come!  We thought it would be worth sharing our views, research, and opinions to further help travel businesses drive forward online travel best practices.


Happy reading!

EyeforTravel