European tour operating giant TUI Travel is to begin a gradual roll-out of its Cheqqer user generated content site following the success of a Dutch pilot scheme.
Launched in Holland in late-2009 as a new division within the TUI empire, Cheqqer has grown at a rapid rate to attract around 780,000 reviews and a peak of 250,000 unique visitors in the peak holiday booking month on January.
Perhaps more importantly for Cheqqer, which has its own P&L in within TUI Travel, is how quickly it has secured a string of major advertisers to the site including Expedia, Booking.com and other European tour operators outside of the TUI portfolio.
The success of the Dutch project will trigger what Sandra Leonhard, TUI’s director of web strategy and business development, calls a period of "aggressive growth plans" around Europe.
A second site is to launch by the end of April in another European country (Leonhard is tight-lipped as to where) but it is unlikely to be in the UK, where TUI subsidiary Thomson has a strong user review programme already up and running through TripAdvisor, and ownership of HolidaysUncovered.
Although some of the 780,000 reviews are brought in from other TUI systems, Cheqqer's aggregated platform may also make it a strong contender to run as the main review service in offline travel agent retail outlets, Leonhard says - a logical development for TUI, which has hundreds of shops around Europe, but one which also mirrors the Travelport Opinions project.
The enthusiasm for the project from within what is a traditionally a product-led business indicates how established players have seen there is money to be made from the media end of the industry.
Although Leonhard obviously shies away from saying TUI has imitated Expedia by diving into the media business (via the TripAdvisor acquisition), she acknowledges that traditional travel firms are now keen to explore ways to attract new and different types of revenue.