| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 10/07/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 52 |
| Copyright: Other |
Internet strategies by Roisin Woolnough
On-line bookings get personalised
Web sites target customer preferences
Two years ago, the debate about the usefulness of the Internet for high-street travel agents was in full swing.Now there is no doubt about the significance of the Internet for the industry – the big names are investing millions in Web strategies. Most recently Airtours announced a £100m e-commerce strategy including the launch of mytravelco.com, a global travel brand that will be available through the Internet, digital TV, WAP and the high street.
Thomas Cook first launched its Web site in 1996, then relaunched in February this year with an on-line booking facility. Ventures and futures director Bill James said the fact Thomas Cook is selling direct is no threat to high street outlets. “There will always be a need for a brand network – we’re not cannibalising our own customers,” he said.
Analyst at City bank Warburg Dillon Read, Julian Easthope, said: “All the big players have embraced the Internet because if it does take off, it will be a big form of distribution. The approach travel companies are taking is to give clients the option to book on-line. None of the companies are pushing their Web sites aggressively but they are there for customers who want to use the Web.
“Interestingly, only a handful of the companies are using their brand names on their Internet sites. Thomson’s site is thefirstresort.com while Going Places/Airtours is using mytravelco.com,” he added.
Senior partner at travel technology consultancy Genesys Paul Richer said at the moment most Internet traffic is generated by people looking for last-minute deals.
“Special offers, late deals – that’s the killer information on any travel Web site,” he said.
“What travel agencies that want to keep ahead of the Internet should be doing is looking at having special offers. And they need to e-mail these out to their customers.”
But travel companies are not just interested in attracting holiday bookings. Thomas Cook and Airtours both want their sites to be seen as one-stop shops, offering a whole range of services such as car hire, insurance, accommodation, city guides and weather reports.
Managing director retail and direct business at Thomas Cook Andrew Windsor believes the significant growth area will be personalisation technology that allows companies to target their audience.
If, for example, a visitor has shown a previous interest in cycling holidays, personalisation tools will log this and make sure the visitor knows about any relevant deals. “We won’t need customers to tell us their interests because we will see what they are interested in from the pages they look at,” said Windsor. “Essentially, customers want to be hand held and this means giving them all the information they need and showing them where it is.”
Virgin.com commercial director Andy Owen-Jones agreed that the successful Web sites will be the ones which find out about their clients’ likes, dislikes and send them information accordingly.
“The Internet is potentially perfect for travel. At the moment, booking a holiday is a bit of a black art – you don’t know whether you are being sold the right holiday by an agent. The clever part will be when companies start finding out about you and contacting you with holiday products that are relevant to you,” he said.
Big spender:many operators have invested millions in developing Internet strategies
Web Check
www.travelchoice.com
Information given:the holidays, flights and special offers sections display details of last-minute deals and have a quick choice menu that displays some of the current offers. The information centre only contains information about Travel Choice – there is no information on the site about destinations, weather, tourist attractions orinsurance. Nor are there any links to such pages. This is a site for finding deals, not for researching a location.
On-line booking facility: no.
E-mail contact: yes. Users can request flight and holiday information to be sent to them via e-mail.
Overall impression: easy to navigate and locate information. However, I encountered three failures on my visit. Errors occurred both times when I tried to set up the e-mail facility. Also, when I keyed in details for a particular flight, the system was busy and I was told to try again later.
Marks out of 10:five.
www.thomascook.com
Information given: the holidays section is broken down into categories, such as sun, ski, 18-30s, lakes and mountains and so on. When it comes to viewing flights and offers, visitors key in their requirements to see what is available, or trawl through those displayed on the moving screen. The travel guides provide standard information, such as location overviews, entertainment options, weather reports and a link to the Foreign Office Web page giving details about political situations. The ‘other services’ section contains useful links to other travel information. For example, visitors can do a currency exchange on-line or book their travel insurance.
On-line booking facility: yes.
E-mail contact: yes. There is a dedicated link on the home page that enables visitors to receive information via e-mail.
Overall impression:the site is accessible and easy to navigate. The overall look is bright and breezy but without the fancy graphics that can make navigation lengthy.
Marks out of 10: nine.
Click, click: agents setting up Web sites should bear in mind that most people log on to the Internet in search of late deals and special offers
Julian Easthope, director, leisure analyst at Warburg Dillion Read, looks at the current state of the on-line market.
Recreating the high-street travel agent on the Internet has been a challenge for all the major players.
Each operator has set up a large team and invested huge sums of money to ensure the sites are high quality and secure to use. The principal objective is choice for the customer. The retailers want to ensure that customers can book their holidays through every possible channel.
There have been two approaches to the main Internet sites. Thomas Cook and First Choice (Travelchoice) have set up sites using high-street brands, while Airtours (mytravelco.com) and Thomson (thefirstresort.com) have used new brands.
In addition to the main sites, each of the major operators has set up individual sites for brands and for flight only etc. The main sites offer a multi-branded product including everything you would expect from an agent. However, the sites are basic. They still don’t replicate the service levels seen in the high street.
This is one factor behind the lack of marketing spend on advertising the sites. Until they provide good and quick visuals and advice, they are unlikely to provide a major source of business.
The next generation of Web sites will be in place when broadband arrives – two years away. At this stage quality television footage of resorts and hotels will be available. Each of the operators is spending significant sums building up a video library for use on the sites.
The benefits to the tour operators will be large. Information technology is a cost-effective way of distributing product. Savings will be made on brochure printing and on the less well located shops in the portfolio.
I believe the high street will be with us for a long time but the shops will change to become more like Internet cafes. This will provide much better information for the client at a cost-effective price.