TUI Travel has closed its two Cheqqer user generated content websites after less than two years, although the two million reviews will remain on existing sister operator sites.
The two sites, targeting travellers in the Netherlands and Spain, were closed yesterday following a "business review" by TUI. First opened in September 2009 in Holland, Cheqqer then launched in Spain in June 2010 and was expected to see a wider European roll-out over time.
TUI says all of the two million reviews added to Cheqqer in the intervening period have been integrated into a single database and can be used across any of its raft of websites, as well as with the operator's website that originally had the customer.
"The vast majority of the reviews by far are 'trusted' reviews which have been gathered through the ECRM 'welcome home' email programme from our customers," says its managing director Sandra Leonhard.
Leonhard says the Cheqqer project (and its associated technology) has helped customer review collection across the vast majority of the company's websites, especially in Holland where two of its operator brands, Arke and Kras, have reported an increase in online conversion rates of 100% when reviews via Cheqqer were added.
The fate of the Cheqqer iPhone application, which launched just two months ago in a bid to place its reviews on-the-move but with the beginnings of a FourSquare-style check-in service, is clearer and is expected to remain as a service in its own right for the immediate future.
Recently TUI also finally added TripAdvisor reviews to its First Choice tour operator website, three years after originally announcing plans to do so.