| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 21/08/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 38 |
| Copyright: Other |
New media by Isabel Choat
New media by Isabel Choat
The future’s at your fingertips….
Mytravelco’s UK launch to revolutionise the way customers search for travel data
After a quick shower to wash off the day’s accumulation of sand, Peter Walters who is holidaying in Alicante with his wife and two children, switches on the in-room TV at the Hotel Paradiso to decide where to eat that night.He flicks through the screen shots of various local eateries checking out the menus displayed and plumps for El Rincon on the other side of town.
En route, after an argument with his wife over the directions, he realises they have been heading the wrong way so he decides to consult his Palm Pilot. This allows him to download a map of Alicante from the Internet.
He keys his location and the name of the restaurant and before he can say paella has his route mapped out for him on screen. Ten minutes later he is sipping sangria on the restaurant balcony enjoying the view of the sea.
The launch in May of Airtours’ mytravelco brand has brought scenarios such as this a step closer.
Mytravelco is not a dot-com company but a mega brand that will span numerous channels including Internet, mobile communications, digital TV and even the high street.
After the UK launch of the service this autumn, customers will be able to research and book holidays through whichever means they choose. When they get to their destination, they will have a wealth of information at their fingertips aimed at helping them make the most of their holiday.
Travel Weekly spoke to Airtours’ group director of new media Jon Hart to find out how the holidaymaker of the future will be able to take advantage of mytravelco.
Internet
Mytravelco is not a dot com but there will be a mytravelco.com Web site. Here holidaymakers and agents will be able to search for holidays under different product types such as ski or city breaks.
With a dedicated editorial team producing articles on destinations from Iceland to India, Hart is hoping the site will be used for reference and entertainment as well as a booking channel.
“Until now, most operators have taken their brochure product and put it on-line. Few offer real-time bookings. Our aim is to provide a consolidated inventory of products rather than having 20 or 30 independent Web sites representing different parts of the group. We also want the experience of logging on to mytravelco.com to be less passive than most Web sites and more interactive,” said Hart.
The operator currently has teams of reporters and TV cameras at the majority of its resorts collecting information that will be downloaded onto Internet sites so visitors can log on and see footage of resorts they may wish to visit.
“It will be more like a broadcast channel,” she added l
DIGITAL TV
Airtours already has a digital presence with Going Places on the Open channel that allows viewers to book holidays in real time.
HIGH STREET
While everyone is jumping on the technology bandwagon, savvy travel companies recognise that, for the moment at least, there are still millions of people who do not have access to a PC at home.
“If you create a service that is only available to a privileged few, you end up disenfranchising potential customers,” said Hart.
For this reason, the mytravelco brand is likely to be extended to the high street, with the first flagship mytravelco store expected to open early next year. “We already have a high-speed network in some of our shops so we would look at having live video links,” said Hart.
Shops will have banks of PCs that customers can use to search for details of holidays and destinations. Specially trained sales consultants will help customers navigate their way around the Internet, or can show customers live footage of properties.
There will also be digital TVs in store so instead of pointing to blurred pictures in a brochure, sales consultants will be able to show customers specific resorts inside and out on large TV screens.
There could also be live video feeds from inside resorts where, for example, reps may be able to present the resort themselves l
MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS
Mention new technology and the word WAP comes up pretty regularly. In fact, WAP will soon be superseded by the next generation of broadband technology that will allow information to be downloaded to your mobile phone as fast as it is on your PC. However the concept remains the same – users will be able to access the Internet via their mobile phones or through the growing range of other hand-held devices, such as the Palm Pilot.
According to BT, there are 30 million mobile users in the UK. It is no surprise then that techies see WAP or its successor as becoming even more widespread than PCs.
Customers interested in making a late booking may be alerted of offers via e-mail and then asked to click OK to be connected to a call centre.
A couple on a weekend break in Dubai may want to find out the best shopping malls for designer gear for example l
CRUISE/HOTEL ACCESS
Like Peter Walters and his family in the scenario above, customers will have access to information on where to go and what to do in resort from their hotel rooms, on cruise ships and hotel bars.
The operator hopes this will generate customer loyalty and ensure that holidaymakers associate the mytravelco brand with their holiday.