In January this year our research editor Professor Dimitrios Buhalis produced what he said were the 24 things to think about if you work in online travel.
Three months on, and with the economy pretty much biting everyone in the backside in some way or other, we wanted to identify the main concerns travel companies are currently facing.
One of the (many!) senior figures out on gardening leave at the moment obliged with our request and put forward the following list.
Advertising - How do I make pay-per-click advertising work and give me real ROI? Should I do it in-house or use an agency? What should I be bidding on, and how does Google really work for me?
SEO - How do I make my site SEO-friendly and does it really bring strong results? How much do I have to invest, and who gives the best advice?
Customer Loyalty - I just keep on buying new customers and I don't know how to adopt CRM principles. Help!
Price - I am fed up just competing on price. How can I differentiate my product to move the focus away from price?
Technology - Who provides the best booking engine? Why do companies over-promise and under-deliver? Who is the best and will they value my business?
[Talking of five concerns, ABTA has a few of its own and has written to UK chancellor Alistair Darling]
Do you agree?
I would definitely agree with point number 1 - I am finding it an on-going struggle to get to grips with PPC and those very questions are the ones I have.
I do personally still believe that you should do it in-house though - no one but you will be as focused on getting it exactly right (I do keep having to pause campaigns though while I try and work out whether they are a waste of money!).
Price is another key issue - agents who discount continually (likely to be agents sat in a shop already receiving a steady salary rather than those working for themselves!) do a major disservice to all other agents - and they only end up losing out themselves ultimately when they can never earn higher commissions because customers expect the lowest price from them!
If all agents stood their ground on price (and provided excellent service), we'd all be winners.
Technology - well I'm still working that out. I think it is in some ways harder for a small business to work out what is the best for them, since many systems can cost such a lot you need to be relatively certain the investment is the best option.