Flash sales site LivingSocial has sold more than 500,000 hotel room nights at nearly 800 properties since launching LivingSocial Escapes 11 months ago.
The 500,000 room-night milestone doesn't exactly put LivingSocial in the category of Expedia, which sold 79.7 million room nights in 2010 and recently began powering Groupon Getaways, but it's a relatively big number nonetheless.
Doug Miller, LivingSocial's senior vice president of new initiatives, says travel has become "material" to the company's financials.
And, Miller is well-positioned to consider the evolution of online travel into social travel since he worked at Expedia for eight years.
Miller, who formerly handled the media business for Expedia.com, Hotels.com and Hotwire, says online travel agencies aren't generating demand, but are giving consumers choices once they've already decided to travel.
Miller provides some LivingSocial statistics to back up his claim that LivingSocial Escapes, which often pairs hotel stays with lift tickets or restaurant credits, is "telling a story" and providing a dose of travel inspiration.
Miller says:
- 70% of LivingSocial Escapes purchasers indicated in a recent survey that they weren't actively looking to travel when they purchased their Escape.
- And, 30% of Escapes are purchased within 15 minutes of subscribers opening their LivingSocial emails.
And, a considerable number of these travel-voucher purchases took place within minutes of the consumer opening their LivingSocial Escapes email, according to the survey.
In other words, these Escapes purchases took place early in the travel-planning funnel and didn't involve searches of dozens of travel sites before a decision was made, Miller says.
"We are very focused on inspiration and discovery and getting people out from behind the screen and doing something they didn't think of doing," Miller says.
But, aren't flash sales customers focused on price?
Miller prefers to say they are focused on "value," and open to an inspiring travel story.
In tandem with its LivingSocial Escapes initiative, the company launched LivingSocial Adventures in July, and this has LivingSocial taking on what might be considered a tour operator role.
LivingSocial employees are acting as tour guides for the paintball, Bourbon tasting, sailing and OKtoberfest sessions, for instance.
And, Miller says LivingSocial Adventures is in the initial stages of acting like a tour operator by packaging tours and activities with hotel stays.
For example, LivingSocial Adventures is combining a yoga and wine-tasting excursion with a stay at Kokopelli Suites in Sedona, Arizona, for $169.
Speaking of inspiration, perhaps other flash sales sites will follow LivingSocial's tour operator-like lead.