Travelocity is testing the relaunch of IgoUgo, its advertising and media play, with enhanced social travel-planning features.
The revamped site has a new logo, interface and "look and feel," makes member profiles more accessible, and emphasizes the ability to share trip information on social networks, including Twitter and Facebook, a spokesman says.
A Trending Trips feature scrolls horizontally from right to left across the homepage -- the Grand Canyon, Paris and Namibia are among those trending at the moment -- and users can select them to access an "I've been here" feature, which serves up profiles and travel tips from some of IgoUgo's 540,000 members.
The "I've been here" feature fits right in with other social-travel planning entrants, such as TravelPost Connections and TripAdvisor Trip Friends, all emphasizing personal trip recommendations from people in your networks.
IgoUgo has a new general manager, Aditi Gokhale, who has been overseeing the rebuild of the site, which is said to cover more than 9,000 destinations.
Part of the redesign was geared to "cut through the clutter" and present more relevant recommendations to users, the spokesman says.
"We wanted the site experience to better reflect the fact that IgoUgo is a great community of expert travelers who have been where you want to go and who have great, positive advice for your trip," the spokesman adds.
As IgoUgo tests the new site in anticipation of a Sept. 27 "official" launch, it takes a veiled shot at community sites such as TripAdvisor, which wasn't explicitly cited.
"While other sites seem to focus on where not to go, IgoUgo is all about advice from others who have had great trips, rather than people lodging complaints," the spokesman says.
As before, IgoUgo's homepage features a comparison-shopping advertising platform, which enables users to compare rates -- one website at a time -- for flights, hotels, cars, packages and cruises.