A week late from the December 4 date bosses promised us back in October, but Easyvoyage - the French meta search engine with a difference - is now live with a dedicated UK site.
Looks like they've secured advertising fvrom hotelclub.co.uk, alpharooms.com and hotelconnect.co.uk amongst others for the launch.Lest we forget, Easyvoyage's founder Jean-Pierre Nadir told us they would spend around two million Euro on PPC keyword buying to support the launch of the UK site.
Went on the UK site,Looks Good, although clicked on Cruises, not a lot happened and then on the page a Red X Cruises appeared, clicked on that and got a lot of Hotels and apartments from Direct Holidays all priced in euros.
Maybe it's just a banner ad... but that bright orange colour at the top of the page reminds me of another brand or two with the moniker 'easy'. Surprised Stelios hasn't bought that URL or tried to stop them using it. Or has he?
Just hold on a minute, here. 2 million Euros for Pay Per Click? Another post quotes 30 mill for the BA website; another post has lists of even more demented names for travel sites, I mean "Viewdle" and "Zoover" - "zoover" what the flip has that name got to do with travel? Whats next? Spinglefroggit -dot - com? Now, this new site is a way of booking a hotel through someone else, via somewhere else with heavens knows what in between - so who actually takes possession of the booking? And how on earth is Joe Public supposed to work out who to shout at when it all goes pear shaped? There have been many, many(big) problems with lots of the present online (and offline, come to that) agencies getting it wrong, not transferring funds etc etc - it must be remembered that the hotelier must also trust the booking agent as much as the client. Technology may be all sparkly and wonderful, but at the end of the day if hotelier ain't got his money, the client will have to pay again. Now, all this money (I really don't believe 2 million Euros, bloke must be nuts) has to get a return. In any hotel booking there may be about £20 or so commission, probably less and perhaps, PERHAPS 1 or 2 % on flights (and 2 % of £60 is, well, not an awful lot) So this guy is going to spend all this dosh simply on per per click, let alone what the website must have cost, the staff, premises and what not to get into the highly (and getting highly-er (eh?)) competitive field of incidental travel booking - ruddy hell, a high street travel agency costs less than that - and people want to invest in that? Roll on the dot com travel bubble. Everyone has gone stark staring ruddy bonkers!!! (again)
Hello to you all, we missed this article last year, but thank you Travolution for getting our name out there.
We have seen the comments underneath this article and we would like to take this opportunity to reply.
Firstly to Lee Harrison, thank you for your compliment, the site is aesthetically pleasing, and there were a few hitches on our launch. The prices are all in GBP now. As for cruises, we are working on it.
Secondly, hello Jeremy Head, the bright orange 'banner' you describe is in fact an advert. It is now a lovely shade of purple. As for 'EasyVoyage', nope Stelios did not think of buying it.
Lastly, dear Murray H, thank you very much for your valuable queries. The name Easyvoyage is actually relevant to travel. I am sure you understand the concept 'easy' and the word 'voyage' means trip in less colloquial English.
As for your question about who is responsible for the booking, it is the partner - Easyvoyage does not sell anything and payment is NOT transferred via Easyvoyage. The visitor is redirected to the partner site. We also think you may have misunderstood the concept of Easyvoyage - it is also a price comparator, hence the need for partners. This is very useful to get the best deal.
We also appreciate that technology will not replace travel agencies, but it cannot be denied that searching for holidays, comparing prices for the best deal and getting all the travel information you need in one place whilst sitting in bed is pretty practical...don't you think?
Should you have any other queries, please don't hesitate to contact us: contact@easyvoyage.fr and we will be more than happy to help!