(Published in TTG 15.12.11)

The Fiesta Hotel Group has found an innovative way to harness the power of guests’ holiday snaps on Facebook. Matthew Parsons finds out how clubbers in Ibiza are raving about their hotel stay

There’s no denying the influence of Facebook – especially in light of its recent valuation of $10 billion ahead of its IPO, planned for April of 2012.

Most travel companies have a presence on the social networking website in a bid to boost marketing and loyalty, and grow online sales. But earlier this year one hotel decided to bring about a more physical connection between its guests and Facebook.

In July, Fiesta Hotel Group’s Ushuaia Ibiza Beach Hotel (formerly Playa d’en Bossa) became the first hotel in the world to add “Facebook pillars” around the property, allowing guests to post status updates to their friends back home, and, in the hotel’s words, “make their friends jealous”.

Behind this fun way to allow guests to share their experiences lies a serious approach to data capture, paving the way for highly targeted campaigns.

Installing these pillars was inspired by two unlikely events – a Renault car show in France, and a Coca Cola event in Israel.

These events saw delegates given cards that contained chips with RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, allowing their movements, and engagement, to be tracked.

Fiesta approached the Dutch company that provided these cards, and together with Facebook set about transforming Ushuaia into a Facebook-connected hotel.

It’s all in the wrist
“Our guests are in the 20-30 age bracket – they are into social media. We asked: ‘How can they share their experience?’” says Alfonso Jimenez, marketing director of Fiesta Hotel Group.

It was not practical to provide hotel guests with cards, he says, so instead the hotel decided to place the RFID chips in wristbands, given to guests at check-in, and non-guests arriving to see concerts.

There are seven Facebook pillars: three with cameras (in the beach, stage and lobby areas) and another four for text-only status updates.

Once someone first swipes their wristband, they are asked to enter their Facebook name and password; from then on the pillars “remember” that person.

A pillar can also allow up to six people to sign in at any one time, so for a group photo each guest swipes in, and the same picture is updated to each person’s wall area on their Facebook page.

The hotel puts on four concerts a week, with each one attracting between 4,000 and 7,000 people, so the social media marketing potential is huge.

Numbers game
After just two months, Jimenez says he was happy with the results: 70,000 “Likes”, 6,600 Facebook status updates and 6,000 shared pictures had been generated.

These numbers represent a growing number of fans, and following this data capture, Fiesta was able to swiftly launch a campaign.
“In September, we offered a 15% discount to our Facebook fans. This led to an extra €30-40,000 in revenue for us,” Jimenez says.

“As well as filling rooms, there are commercial opportunities the technology opens for us. We can update the pillars so guests’ messages will also promote a particular DJ, artist or band. We are also selling merchandise.”

Paying off
The hotel spent €23 million on Playa d’en Bossa’s makeover, including the Facebook pillars and extra touches such as streaming TV and audio in the rooms, and special DJ suites – and believes the investment was worth it. Room rates may have risen from €75-80 to €150 per night after the refurb, but for its first season the 230-room hotel was at 85% occupancy.

In the current economic climate, Jimenez says social media marketing is important as hotels need to have that direct link with guests.

However, he acknowledges the trade plays a major role in sales. About 89% of sales come from the trade, and 65% from the British market.

He adds there is also a ripe opportunity for a niche music/clubbing operator to work with Fiesta.

Meanwhile, the hotel group is predicting its model will be copied around the world, and particularly in the travel industry.

“We worked on this with Facebook. It’s a crossover into the holiday experience for them, and they’re now using us as a case study,” Jimenez says.

(Published in TTG 08.12.11)

Travelzoo’s app has been downloaded by 200,000 people in just four months. David Ambrose tells Matthew Parsons how it was devised, and why it can help agents improve their own mobile websites

I  know an ungodly amount about thumbs,” admits David Ambrose. Travelzoo’s new business development director describes at length the “one-thumb” aspect of the company’s new iPhone app.

The average pixel size of a thumb (44 if you’re interested) is just one gem he shares about mobile technology, and he says there’s much agents can learn from how Travelzoo’s app was developed.

But he also warns business-owners they must be careful of getting caught up in app-mania.

There’s little point in designing an app for the sake of it – and it’s important to remember that smartphones, well, they can still actually be used to talk to people.

Travelzoo discovered this, among other key findings, when developing its own app – launched in the  US only at the end of July, and internationally at the end of September.

So far, there have been 200,000 downloads.

Some might regard Travelzoo as a bit of a latecomer to the app party, but Ambrose says now is exactly the right time to get onboard.

Citing new results from Google that show a staggering 300% growth year-on-year of people searching “travel” from mobile devices in the UK (more than in the US), he says there is a “new wave”.

“It feels like when the first website was published. It feels like a green field in front of you,” he adds.

Building blocks
When developing its new iPhone app, Ambrose says it was key to strip out a lot of content, look at design, and focus on location.

For an app, or any mobile website, he says content is king, and simplicity is always key.

“If your mobile website has 20 pictures, what am I supposed to be looking at?” Ambrose says. “There’s a lot of people trying to book on a mobile site nowadays, and they don’t want to wait.”

“At Travelzoo, we’ve removed a lot of the content. We asked ourselves, what’s useful when you’re travelling?”

As a result, the app has a complete cycle, available in five sections, ranging from planning a trip to when you land – the app automatically detects which country you are in.

When it comes to design, Ambrose says the customer needs to be able to buy with just one push of the thumb: “The mouse no longer exist. It’s about digits.”

He says the Travelzoo app also makes it easy to book on the partner’s website, or call the travel agent directly, as it taps into the phone function. This ability to call is also paramount to any mobile website, and phone numbers must be visible.

Location, meanwhile, is key because “people are also spontaneous”.

“About 10% of traffic to Travelzoo comes from mobile devices. The idea of the ‘on the go’ traveller is really interesting,” he says, with the app now tapping into Travelzoo advertisers that are geographically close to the user.

The location feature comes as little surprise, as Ambrose was the founder of Scoop St – a Groupon-style website aimed at restaurants in New York, which he sold to Groupon-rival Buywithme.com in the summer for $5 million.

Where agents fit in
The model is performance driven, and right now, Ambrose says travel is “powerful for us”.

He urges agents to get in touch, as Travelzoo’s new Getaways feature, could be a win-win situation, with Travelzoo able to drive customers to agents.

While Travelzoo is not a design helpline, Ambrose says the company does look at its travel agent partners’ websites, as he wants to ensure advertisers’ mobile websites are “a delightful consumer experience”.

The company emphasises contact numbers, encouraging subscribers to call agents, as well as soon being able to offer the chance to make a booking direct with the app with one push of the thumb.

Whatever the approach to mobile, Ambrose says agents should now think of a strategy.

“The UK travel industry must understand that the online storefront analogy is here to stay.

“This is a reality check,” he adds.

(Published in TTG 01.12.11)

Analysis tools are key to running a website as they help companies adapt their site to what their customers want. Matthew Parsons finds out how travel sites use analysis

Whether you’re launching your first website, or reporting traffic trends at board level, it pays to know your website stats.

For some travel agencies, it may be a simple case of testing how effective an advert in the local paper is at generating visits to your site.

Pure online travel agents (OTAs) are more likely to assess which key words are bringing people to their website, or how users navigate the site before purchasing a holiday.

However you use it, entry-level analysis is free with Google Analytics, and easy to set up.

At its most basic level, a Google Analytics account provides you witha line of HTML, which you add to your website’s footer area.

When you log into your account, 24 hours after adding the code, you will see a range of data, such as visits (total number of visits to your site), unique visitors (total number of unique visitors to your site), page views (total number of pages viewed on your site) and even the average time visitors spend on your site, as well as the number of new visitors.

Improving your sites
Daniel Hoggan, head of search at digital marketing agency Mediaworks, emphasises that you should only make changes to your site if they are supported by analysis of the site.

Analysis may reveal, for example, that certain website sections were receiving few visitors, such as a special deals page – and so would need better marketing.

However, for ecommerce websites – such as OTAs – more powerful analysis is needed to make sure conversion rates are as high as possible.

IBM offers analysis software called Coremetrics, which Hoggan says can cost “tens of thousands”. Google launched a premium version of its Analytics tool (costing £90,000) at the end of September.

Google’s premium version is intended for websites with high traffic; it can analyse one billion hits per month, compared with 10 million
a month for the free version.

Both are designed for larger companies, and the level of detail can prove key to solving problems. However, Hoggan warns it is not an “automatic sales boost”.

“First you have to understand the data, and then make use of it,” he says. “One useful area is conversion rate optimisation (CRO). You can find where people are dropping off, as well as cross-browser compatibility.”

He cites one client’s website that was receiving a healthy level of traffic – but few sales. After cross-browser compatibility analysis, using IBM Coremetrics, he discovered there was a technical problem with the checkout basket.

The analysis revealed that those visitors using the Firefox web browser did not complete the booking process, and exited the website before successfully paying for their product.

The website was found to have “browser incompatibility” issues, and the bug was fixed.

Invest in the best
Direct-sell operator Villa Plus also opted for IBM Coremetrics. Business manager Simon Lifford says it is worth every penny, and this year became the first travel company in the UK to use it.

“We used Google Analytics for six years. It was fine, and helped us learn about analytics. But with IBM Coremetrics, although it’s a hefty outlay, you’ll learn all sorts of things.”

IBM Coremetrics has a dedicated travel division, and Villa Plus staff across IT, finance and marketing underwent days of training.

Lifford says its strengths are being able track the performance of banner ads placed on other websites, and indepth tracking of visitor movements.

Using the “Explore” feature to generate reports, Ilford says he tracks different entry points to the site, as well as “journeys” around his website.

“I’m fascinated by seasonality, so I’ll be looking at the conversion rates from January to July. I’ll look at the number of times people browse our site, and how they move around it.”

One of Hoggan’s travel clients is cruisekings.co.uk, for which he says the free version of Google Analytics just wasn’t enough. The ability of IBM Coremetrics to spot trends was another factor in Hoggan using this platform instead.

“It really helps you to look at segments of customers. It will tell you what you what you should be looking at – brand or non-brand visitors (visitors who land at your site through a search engine). For example, do non-brand visitors always leave your website on a certain page?”

No matter how big or small your website is, there’s definitely value in using analytics. But, as Hogan concludes, it’s not about the data itself, but about how you use that data to improve your website.

(Published in ttgluxury Winter 2011)

Hiking into volcanoes, painting, popping open Champagne bottles with a sabre – plus a new hotel brand concept. It can only be a ttgluxury Experience. Matthew Parsons joins agents who visited La Reunion and Mauritius on a Vanilla Islands trip with Sunset, Air Mauritius and LUX Island Resorts

Mauritius is synonymous with luxury, but with an ever-growing choice of high-end resorts, agents could be forgiven for starting to think they’re all merging into one gorgeous blur of sand, sea and stylish suites.

It’s crucial for agents to know which type of luxury resort suits clients best, so for the latest ttgluxury Experience, the group had exactly that opportunity, checking out seven resorts in one hotel group. And at the same time, finding out more about the Vanilla Islands concept and how it could help them think beyond the usual Mauritius fly-and-flop by jetting off to La Reunion to see how its rugged terrain and French lifestyle could become a twin-centre with a difference.

And it didn’t stop there – not only were the agents among the first trade trip to twin Mauritius and La Reunion thanks to Sunset Faraway Holidays, they also started to get wind of the biggest news in the Indian Ocean this winter: the transformation of Naiade Resorts into LUX Island Resorts.

With chief executive Paul Jones (see p62) at the helm for a year, Naiade has been in the process of a massive makeover into LUX which has seen most of the group’s properties in Mauritius and La Reunion make the switch. So, a big week lay ahead for the group after being rounded up by Sunset’s Sharon Jones and heading off on an Air Mauritius flight from Heathrow.

LUX Belle Mare (formerly Naiade’s Beau Rivage) is first on the agenda after touching down on a sunny Thursday afternoon in mid-September, and straight away it makes a real impression on the agents with its surprise painting lessons.
Those who aren’t feeling too artistic are left to enjoy lunch on sofas near the beach, happy to relax with delicious canapes and gaze out to sea.

In fact, food and drink score highly at LUX Belle Mare, as despite the short stay of one night, the group is treated to a stunning 12-course meal at fusion restaurant Indochine. Afterwards the hunt for the pop-up bar (a new trademark of LUX) is a nice touch, with clues leading the group to a makeshift candlelit bar hidden among gardens.

Hikers’ paradise
Next on the schedule is a first for all of our agents – La Reunion. It is also a chance to check out Air Mauritius’s first-class cabin for the 40-minute flight, which impresses. While it is not possible to gauge service on such a short flight, the spaciousness and flat-beds win the agents over.

Within minutes of touching down, a journalist from the local radio station jumps upon us and wants to know more about the trip, and what we are expecting.

It’s a similar question the tourist board must also be asking, as it develops its Vanilla Islands branding exercise, to promote the French department alongside Mauritius, Madagascar and the Seychelles in a bid to promote the lesser-known islands to the UK market.

Claire Nativel, UK and Ireland market manager for the Reunion Island Tourism Board, says: “We hope the exoticism, emotions and cultural inheritance of the Indian Ocean combined with culture, relaxation and nature will boost visibility for the region as a whole. This trip turns the Vanilla Islands concept into reality – and a more concrete idea for agents.”

Air Mauritius’ sales manager Jeremy Moore adds: “We are a keen supporter of the Vanilla Islands concept to help encourage travel to all the islands. This twin-centre experience will give people the chance to see two very different destinations that are just 40 minutes apart.”

However, Reunion is not for faint-hearted clients, as our guide Myella points out when she kicks things off with a few words of warning about swimming, strong currents – and sharks in particular.

It should be noted that the sea does offer friendly pursuits, such as humpback whale watching from June to September.

But it prompts Global Star Travel’s Dawna Brown to joke that maybe Reunion should come with a “health warning”.

“I was put off in the first 10 minutes, because of the shark warnings! It seems to be for hikers, and strong windsurfers. You need to be an outdoor person,” she says.

However, once the group delves into the centre of the island, with its misty mountains and waterfalls – and a spot of Creole cuisine of rice, fish, chicken, bean sauce thrown in – perceptions rapidly change.

“I thought Reunion would be small, with little going on,” Casterways Travel’s Kelly Tobin says. “The reality was that it was busy and diverse. If you’re not into the adventurous concept, such as hiking, you may struggle to find activities; you don’t come here to lie on a beach.”

The UK market represents just 5% of overseas visitors, with France making up the majority. However, the tourist office is keen to hit 10% over the next few years.

Our driver on the island, meanwhile, says we are the first group of Brits he has had in the 10 years he has been in his job, so there’s a lot of work ahead.

Our well-earned rest on the second night comes courtesy of LUX Ile de la Reunion, the island’s only five-star hotel – and also the only hotel to have direct access to a stretch of beach with its own coral reef.

With an impressive colonial lobby, Creole-style villas dotted among gardens, and suites designed with touches of Philippe Starck, the hotel certainly lives up to its new LUX name. With the hotel only ever receiving a few English-speaking guests though, some of the group finds there is a language barrier, and as a result say it may be wise to pre-book excursions if a client’s French is not up to scratch.
“I can see it’s important to have a client’s itinerary pre-planned. If they arrvied without this, they could spend a whole day trying to sort out trips,” suggests Canon Travel’s Vivian Townsend.

Global Star Travel’s Brown adds: “I was expecting La Reunion to be really five-star, but I was disappointed. Facilities could be improved, there was a language barrier, and the hospitality was not up to scratch. The British are more demanding. I will promote it though, as it’s good for independent travellers who are looking for something different – it’s good to have seen it as I know who it will suit and who it won’t.”

Volcano adventure 
The first full day is a knockout success, with the morning spent trekking into the heart of an active volcano. This experience takes everyone by surprise. Excited by seeing moon-like landscapes, the group hikes for 45 minutes into a crater.

“I never thought I’d do that!” exclaims Travelmania’s Jayne Gardner.  “It’s such a unique place.”

Following this, a well earned “p’tit punch” follows at colourful Creole restaurant Plaine des Cafres on the way home, which saw Air Mauritius’s Moore take to the bongos, backed by Sunset’s Sharon Jones on wooden shaker for a musical interlude. The group was really getting into their stride now.

Day four, and an early morning drive sees the group ascend to a region known as the Maido peaks, home to hilltop communities that are only accessible by foot (or helicopter) and have no electricity. These kinds of trips are popular with hikers who want to escape modern life, and arriving to see the mist rise around us, it’s easy to see why.

Disco sensation
Our agents’ spirits also rise, preparing us for the flight back to Mauritius to check out four-star family-friendly Tamassa (pictured below), which the agents like for its “funky vibe”, contemporary rooms decked out in vivid greens and LED lights among the pools.

Tamassa is by far Brown’s favourite of the bunch: “It is more relaxed and not so formal. I like the bright lights, it’s funky.” Casterways Travel’s Kelly Tobin agrees, as she likes the “the buzz” of the hotel. Maybe that was partly because she enjoyed the late-night disco with a few of the group – maybe not such a good idea given the morning departure to drive to the south-west for a quick lunch at LUX Le Morne (formerly Les Pavillons).

As soon as the group arrives, they are whisked off to sooth sore heads at the resort’s spa – fresh carrot juice, mixed with face and foot massages, soon place everyone back on track.

The hotel hits the spot for Canon Travel’s Vivien, who says: “I love the beach, it’s quiet and you can just walk and walk.”

Most room categories are inspected, and with a beach wedding the backdrop for lunch, the resort ably shows off its romance factor, with the group agreeing it’s a perfect wedding and honeymoon choice.

It’s tough to tear ourselves away, but the van is waiting to whisk us north to our final hotel – LUX* Grand Gaube (previously known as Legends).

Our final two days allow more time to get to know Mauritius, from its botanical gardens and sugar museum to newly opened Labourdonnais, a 1777 Creole mansion which has just undergone a major refurbishment.

Being able to explore the islands, and meet locals, was a key factor to the success of the trip. “Meet the staff” evenings were also beneficial, with Gardner saying she now sees LUX as a “very personal group of hotels”.

As a result, our agents were able to meet general managers – crucial to building relationships and helping their clients.

LUX’s marketing executive Lindsay Leighton agrees, adding it was also good for the managers to hear agents’ feedback.

“The trip was a great success,” she adds. “The agents were lucky to experience the beauty of Mauritius and the dramatic landscape of Reunion, as well as enjoying our hotels. The way Sunset, LUX , the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, the La Reunion Tourist Board, Mauritours and Connections organised the itinerary meant the group got the most out of the destinations and the hotels.”
Meanwhile, Shamira Kaumaya-Hatt, commercial director at Sunset, adds: “This ttgluxury Experience was important to show agents the diversity. Partnering both the exotic beaches of Mauritius with the stunning scenery of Reunion Island makes for a perfect combination.”

(Published in TTG 24.11.2011)

There will be a record 100 technology suppliers exhibiting at WTM this year – 45 of which are new – covering everything from mobile trends and social media, to electronic payments and booking platforms.

There’s an exciting line-up of speakers too, including Nate Bucholz, Google’s head of travel, while Paul Richer, senior partner at Genesys, will be chairing each session.

Here are some of TTG’s top picks for agents…

SEO
Tuesday, 11am-12pm
Head to Platinum Suite 1 for the latest in SEO, with the Search Engine Update 2011 seminar.
Attendees will hear how to best manage your company’s presence on search engines from Jon Myers, director of account management, Yahoo!, and Nate Bucholz, from Google.

Content
Tuesday, 12.30-1.30pm
In Platinum Suite 1, the “Content Counts” session should provide agents tips on how your website can feature quality content that can inspire visitors, and convince them to buy from you. Speakers include Giles Longhurst, director at Frommer’s Unlimited, and Maud Larpent, senior manager of review services at TripAdvisor.

Social Media
Tuesday, 2-3pm
Find out about “making the most of social media” with Benjamin Jost, founder and managing director of TrustYou, and Debbie Hindle from Four BGB. They will be discussing why every travel company should be using Facebook, Twitter, customer reviews and other channels to build brand awareness, improve customer service and drive sales, and provide tips on building a social media strategy.

Mobile
Wednesday, 10.30am-1.15pm
With one of the longest titles, “How and why we created one of the world’s first social media travel applications and made it a top 5 iPad app in 82 countries”, hear ebookers.com in Technology Presentation Theatre TT275 talk about its Explorer iPad app, which it claims sits in the top five travel apps around the world. Speakers include Rob Define, ebookers’ director of product strategy, and Fortune Cookie’s Justin Cooke.

Touch
Following Indaba, South African Tourism is rolling out its Touch Table marketing tool.

The device features four high-resolution 46” LCD displays, seamlessly integrated, and allows up to eight people to browse through content with with familiar control mechanisms such as touching, zooming and pinching.

It is designed to showcase South African experiences and destinations, and plugs into the tourist board’s database of 60,000 records. Get tactile at stand AF500.

For bloggers
Tuesday, 12-2.45pm
Visit Florida’s stand is “blogger friendly” this year, with free Wi-Fi and the chance to recharge phones and iPads. Staff will be on hand to talk about upcoming blogger trips with Visit Florida partners to the Sunshine State.

And relax…
It’s not all work – don’t forget the WTM Technology Drinks Reception on Monday, from 5-6pm in the Technology Presentation Theatre TT275, followed by TTG’s Travel Tweetup with DoubleTree by Hilton, taking place on Monday night in Bloomsbury, London. As well as great networking opportunities, we will have two social media “expert” agents, Travel Counsellor Graham Finch-Parsons and Timeless Travels’ Emma Wilkinson, on hand to answer any questions on how to use social media to grow
your business.

Check in with the advice clinicsThe Advice Clinics are returning to WTM, where delegates can book 15-minute one-to-one sessions on Thursday, November 10. A range of topics are covered, but on the technology side TTG’s Matthew Parsons will be on hand to offer advice on social media for your business, while Travel SEO’s Mark Hodson returns to provide individual SEO analysis of your website.

(Published in TTG 17.11.2011)

Social media was the hot topic at this year’s World Travel Market, with the exhibition even staging a separate “Social Travel Market”
on the third day.

As a result, it was no surprise that TTG’s third annual WTM Travel Tweetup attracted more than 200 travel industry tweeters, including representatives from Travel Counsellors, G Adventures, GoCruise and InterContinental Hotels Group, as well as bloggers from across the globe.

The event, hosted by DoubleTree by Hilton for the second year, represents the growing trend of “fringe events” that take place around WTM each year – and the growing importance of social media within the travel industry.

Similar events that took place during WTM included a Coast to Coaster blogger tweetup on Visit Florida’s stand on Tuesday, while in the evening a “blog camp” took place in central London that explored the relationship of bloggers with the travel industry and aspects such as fam trips and marketing.

During WTM, seminars included “Supercharge your blog”, “The perfect mix: Where social media fits into travel marketing” and “The perfect travel tweet”, which aimed to discover how to make the best use of 140 characters in promoting your travel company or your blog.”

“There now seems to be a regular build-up of these events, even before and after WTM,” said Alastair McKenzie, who spoke at the blog camp, and recently co-founded Travelllll.com. “These fringe events have now established themselves around WTM.”

In the flesh
The value of face-to-face networking was highlighted during Monday’s Travel Tweetup.

“It was definitely worth it – to be able to meet some connections from Twitter ‘in the flesh’,” said filmmaker Cailin O’Neil, while Charles Yap, director of global brand social media communications at InterContinental Hotels Group, said the event was “priceless” as it was “like seeing your Twitter stream come to live, eating and drinking”.

Haja Rasambainarivo, vice-president of Madagascar-based Asisten Travel, said: “We enjoyed meeting with several travel bloggers. A lot of them were interested in the lesser-known destination which is Madagascar, and are planning to visit us soon.”
Meanwhile, the evening was able to provide a relaxed atmosphere for pitching.

“As a north American blogger it was great for networking,” said Ayngelina Brogan. “I met a lot of European bloggers I was unfamiliar with and was able to introduce myself to PR and industry people in a casual setting. It was this casual approach that made it my favourite after-hours event. The opportunity to meet industry peers without anyone giving a hard sell of their blog or their client is perfect. I’d love to see more events like this.”

The event also proved useful to new players to the market: Kieron Turner, who blogs at donteverlookback.com, said: “This was the first networking event we’ve been to since we started our blog. It was great to finally meet a variety of our fellow travel bloggers for the first time. The venue was outstanding and the various competitions throughout the night kept things interesting.”

Emma Wilkinson, from Timeless Travel, added she found it useful to pick up tips on anything from search engine optimisation to the use of videos on your website: “I learnt just how important SEO is, even though Google advises that original content is still more important. I had noticed that a huge amount of US websites for hotels were constantly repeating keywords, which doesn’t make for great reading, but increases traffic to the site. I have to start making sure our site has more keywords in content.”

The event took place at the DoubleTree by Hilton London – West End, and two lucky delegates won weekend stays at a UK DoubleTree
by Hilton property.

Find out more at ttgdigital.com/events/ttg-tweetup-with-doubletree and see overleaf for more pictures.

(Published in TTG 20.10.2011)

At just 25, Stephen Young is already a WTM veteran, with this year marking his ninth visit.

However, 2011 is set to be the most important yet as it marks the official launch of his company’s Nemesis suite of booking engines.

Designed with agents in mind, Young, financial director at Travel Indigo, says the idea came about following troubles with its own technology provider in September 2010.

“We sell a lot of educational tours, and there was a lack of available routes, airlines and available destinations. We undertook court cases in February, April and June 2011 and were successful on all three occasions,” he says. The company recruited three developers, who are based in Manchester, to design a new booking engine to suit its own needs. It proved so successful that the agency decided to roll it out to other small agencies and operators, via a new division called Indigo Travel Tech.

“It’s a good platform for independent agents to grow their sales,” Young says. The system is based on GDS feeds, as opposed to XML, and has access to 387 airlines and 150,000 hotels. “GDS is an older technology, but it is more stable, and cheaper, than XML. They are good quality feeds.

“When we sell the platform, there’s a lot of tailoring and customising at the front end, so the customer can choose the look they want. We offer daily updates up to when the system is ready for testing and handover.”

Turnaround times are quick, at seven days for its entry-level “Apollo” platform, which offers flights only. This option costs £3,995, while extra modules such as airport parking or XML feeds, start at £120.WTM will see the official launch of Middle East Journeys as the first client for its technology arm, but other customers include Hurlingham Travel, Byrite Flights, and Executive Travel & Tourism, in Jordan.

Security and innovation
Other clients include security companies, for which Indigo Travel Tech creates bespoke platforms, with extra levels of security. These clients send staff to areas such as Afghanistan and Africa, and for privacy reasons choose not to disclose destinations with third-party travel bookers.

Yet through these platforms, Young says Indigo Travel Tech is able to innovate its product. “One of these companies needed its staff in Africa to be able to book flights from their smartphone, and sometimes from the nearest airport. As a result, we’re adding GPS integration. It gives them that extra bit of information.”

The company is also targeting the tablet market. Young believes the desktop, or online, market is now mature, so is aiming to capture the younger market, via new agents or operators that are planning to sell holidays via tablets.

“We already have one client who’s signing up for our Nemesis platform for the iPad,” he says.

Going global
Going up against the likes of Multicom, Young remains undaunted: “It’s a brave move, to showcase it at WTM, but there’s no better way to promote it worldwide.”

There will be eight Travel Indigo staff manning the stand (TT201), and Young is happy to provide demos for interested visitors. Fiyaz Mughal, director of Middle East Journeys, will also be there. Travel Indigo will also be attending the TTG Tweetup with DoubleTree by Hilton on November 7 to talk more about its new platforms.

Entrepreneur in the making
Young has been in travel since he was 16, studying an AVCE in Travel & Tourism at New College in Swindon, and set up Travel Indigo before he had finished his final exams at Loughborough University, where he was studying Air transport management, in 2010. The other three founders also graduated in the same year. “During the recession in 2008, many airlines were shedding management roles to cut costs,” Young says. “So we thought let’s just start up our own company.” “We knew the airlines well, and could get good rates. Most of our product is flight-only, as ground activities tend to already be sorted by the schools, such as charity projects.” Prior to his degree, Young had worked for Tui and Thomas Cook, and in Luxembourg, Italy, France and Africa.

(Published in TTG 10.11.2011)

Following a deal with video-conferencing provider Polycom, Sabre is claiming a first with its new Virtual Meetings system, which could prove lucrative to business travel agents.

When you’re asked to book business travel next year, you may notice a new option flashing up on your screen: video conferencing.

Following a new deal between Sabre and video-conferencing provider Polycom, Sabre Virtual Meetings will be available to all agents using the GDS– and at the same time create a new revenue stream.

As UK businesses look to cut costs, video conferencing is becoming a popular option, and by plugging into Polycom’s network of rooms, which offer high-definition technology, it doesn’t have to mean poor quality audio or web cam streaming.

“Since 2008, we’ve all been using webcasts and phone calls for meetings,” says Suzanne Neufang, general manager of Corporate booking tool provider GetThere and vice-president of Sabre SaaS (software as a service), “but the chance to get back to face-to-face is great.”

The Sabre system allows agents to view global conference room availability in real time, review rates, and book rooms as easy as other travel options.

Sabre claims booking video conferencing is as easy as booking a flight – but with the advantage that lower costs will be favourably looked upon, and may form a key part of corporate travel policies in the future.

Polycom has access to public rooms (such as hotels) and corporate-owned rooms (such as Regus offices) across the UK, that offer high-definition facilities. It also offers the option to use an iPad or Anroid-based tablet, using its RealPresence platform.

“For agencies, it creates an opportunity. It’s about changing from being travel agencies to being travel collaboration agencies,” Neufang explains. “When a corporate client calls you, and says ‘I need to be in Santiago next week, what are my options?’, you can list which flights they can catch, and the costs, as well as offering, for example, the chance to video-conference for two hours instead.”

The system equally applies to domestic travel, as an agent could save a busy executive the time on the train by suggesting an hour or two in a local video-conference room, for example between Manchester and London.

As for take-up in the UK, Neufang believes it will be agents that drive this: “The agent is still very much the person to get a corporate client where they need to be, but now they virtually get them where they need to be.”

Julie Oliver, managing director at Business Travel Direct, agrees.

“We now need, as TMCs, to be part of the ‘trip avoidance’ conversation,” she says.

“People want us to help manage their spend, and sometimes it’s about not travelling.

“It’s great the GDSs have jumped onboard. I’m keen to see how it works, and if it could become part of our workflow. Depending o the prices, it could add another sting to our bow.”

Exact locations are still to be confirmed, Neufang told TTG. “For this system to be effective, we need to have an inventory of rooms. We’re working on this now, and expect an announcement soon in the UK.”

And while the new system will create a new revenue stream, Neufang also admits Sabre was still working on the prices, and “was not ready to publically disclose” anything just yet.

For Oliver, however, it’s not so much about the cost: “TMCs are no longer just about booking a hotel or flight, it’s about having that meeting. It’s important to be part of the conversation”

The reservation system is due to launch in the first half of 2012.

It’s something many people will dabble with, whether in their local bar (where often there’s no fee to play, as the bar relies on players to have a drink or three to boost their courage), with friends at home, through Facebook, or even professional websites. Like travel, it can be an exhilarating phenomenon, with hearts pumping fast and pulses racing.

The trick is patience – another attribute travellers will no doubt be able to relate to – and learning the rules is a must. Websites such as PartyPoker Español are an ideal place to find your feet. Luckily this website has an area that teaches you the basics, and my advice is to start with Texas Hold’em.

It’s a cliche, but true – it’s a game that’s easy to learn, but difficult to master. Acting like a complete novice can sometimes trick fellow players, as they instantly lose the ability to judge you. But my advice, get online and practise, practise, practise. (The worst case I’ve seen of this is a player who turned up with a print-out of the hierarchy of winning cards, which they referred to constantly during the game. They also happened to win a lot of hands, and coming third in the tournament. Still, get the practice in, then try this…)

Advance slowly, and get earning for that next city break or backpacking stint to South America. The best part? Next time you’re travelling – especially backpacking – and finding that breaking the ice is difficult,  as soon as you open up the pack you’ll discover nothing brings people together more than a game of poker.