Use the data insight: A good ancillary revenue strategy will not only increase customer loyalty and provide revenue. It will also create deeper customer relationships that can offer a wealth of customer insight, particularly on buyer behaviour.... Read More

Most popular travel websites in the UK for the week ending November 7 2009. Data includes Top Ten travel search terms and the Top Ten Agency, Airline and Destination/Accommodation sites.... Read More

A debate here on Tnooz in October 2009 saw all manner of opinions flying in about the merits - or not - of placing content above the imaginary fold-line on a website. But it is probably worth applying the same scrutiny to search engines. Until reasonably recently, firing in the search term "hotel new york" on Google, for example, would see organic results taking up the vast majority of top half of the page, displayed alongside paid-for AdWords in a narrow right-hand navigation bar.... Read More

A new PhoCusWright study portrays a "bleak" short-term picture for the overall U.K. travel market, but projects that online travel bookings will increase 3% in 2009 when the final tallies are in. The report, PhoCusWright's European Online Travel Overview Fifth Edition, notes that amidst a currency devaluation and the recession, U.K. online leisure and unmanaged business travel grew its share of bookings 5 percentage points to 45% of the overall £37.6 billion U.K travel market in 2009. Online channels in the U.K. are benefitting from travelers' penchant to scour the Web for holiday options, according to the study on travel trends in Europe.... Read More

More destinations are arriving at the point where they have to think about changing the way they communicate their message. The entscheidende point is where the user is just one click away from drawing his attention to competitors, other leisure products or back to a search engine. So Destination Management Organisations (DMO’s) tend to replace existing slogans such as boring marketing-text or press release-friendly phrases - usually describing tourist offers in catalogues, brochures or press conferences – because they cannot be used in the internet as users simply ignore them.... Read More

Select the right partners: There are a number of companies that specialise in providing ancillary revenue products and consultancy. Travel brands should look to choose a partner that will provide the right products to suit its customers and can manage the end to end service, journey and marketing support of these products effectively.... Read More

Deals publisher Travelzoo has lined up five partners to become the first in the UK to join its new Travelzoo Network. Simonseeks, AOL Travel, Lonely Planet, VisitBritain and Skyscanner are five of the high profile brands to take the new widget for their site, featuring Travelzoo-sourced travel deals relevant to the existing content. The launch of Travelzoo Network in the UK (and expected around Europe over the coming months) follows a similar project introduced into the US and joins its existing newsletter service and on-site publishing of deal... Read More

Consider the customer journey: Understanding the entire customer journey including all the touch points where value can be added for the customer is the key here and as well as adding that value for the customer, there is the obvious comfort that revenue will be generated – there’ll be a return on the relationship. By understanding the journey a customer goes through, travel brands are better positioned to decide what to offer them and how to ensure it is viewed as worthwhile to the customer, not just pushing a product.... Read More

What you missed on Tnooz this week, Sunday 1 November to Saturday 7 October 2009. Read on to see the most commented articles, every other article this week, and the most commented articles of all time...... Read More

Jeff Clarke, the chairman, president and CEO of Travelport and also the chairman of Orbitz Worldwide, was explaining why Travelport opted to invest $50 million in Orbitz. In a Travelport conference call with investors about the company's third quarter results, Clarke said the investment would help Orbitz, which is Travelport's largest customer, deleverage the business and give it more operational flexibility. Of the $50 million investment, Clarke says: "I think this is a good thing for Orbitz and a very good thing for Travelport."... Read More

The recent PhoCusWright study on online travel agencies in the US market revealed some interesting tidbits of information. However in context with some other sources and developments, we are beginning to see a picture emerge that should have cause for some concern on the part of investors in OTAs. So let’s start with the PhoCusWright study.... Read More

HomeAway is plotting the next phase of its quest for world domination with a gradual rebranding of its sites around the globe. Sites such as the UK's Holiday Rentals, which was acquired by HomeAway in 2007, have seen a makeover in recent weeks to push the HomeAway branding to the forefront. Other sites are expected to follow suit in the coming months as HomeAway slowly pulls all the acquired brands under one corporate roof.... Read More

More developments from the Skyscanner camp - following the BRIC launches earlier this week - with news that its new hotel and car rental search tools will be rolled out to other country sites including Spain and Germany. A total of 20 language sites will take the hotel search tool and 17 will take car rental. The remaining three awaiting car rental will be added shortly.... Read More

Add long term value to relationship: A recent survey from The Loyalty Practice on changing customer loyalty in 2009 found that only 3% of respondents are most loyal to travel brands. This is compared to banks, which received 23% of votes and supermarkets, which received 33%.... Read More

Kayak launched its all-important TV ad campaign Sunday, Nov. 1, and Hitwise tells me that Kayak's traffic increased 3% in the first three days compared with the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of the previous week. The first three days obviously won't tell the story of what, for Kayak, is a massive ad spend and marketing gamble. Calling those numbers "understated," Hafner adds: "The true measure of lift isn't total traffic but source of traffic (self, affiliate, paid search). You might consider that we could pull back in one channel to see the effects of another."... Read More