Recently in travelsupermarket Category

Check it out the new Skyscanner website. Explanation of features.

Results page:



Route map:



Busy week in meta search land.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: skyscanner

Kayak has moved today to appoint its first European and Asian managing director, namely Faisal Galaria, a seasoned global exec from Skype, FON and most recently jaman.com.

It's a critical position for Kayak, let's no beat around the bush here.

After receiving plenty of plaudits for its user interface and Ajax-heavy gadgets - a Travolution Award in 2008, in particular - it is now time to start delivering on the huge expectation.

So what will be the key goals for Galaria in his first 12 months?

Will the current strategy of white labelling and plenty of online marketing be enough to push Kayak beyond the gushing praise of many in the industry to become a major player?

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: kayak sidestep meta search travelsupermarket

Moneysupermarket’s trading update issued to the London Stock Exchange yesterday contained only one paragraph about travelsupermarket, but it was an interesting one nonetheless.

With most travel search engines in private hands it’s good for journalists, to say nothing of its competitors, that the UK market leader is obliged to let us all know a couple of times a year how it is doing.

The statement said that H1 08 revenues should be around 45% ahead of the same period last year, ‘with package holidays in particular performing well, based on improvements to the core product.’

These improvements are not specified, but could be technological improvements - the connection to the tour operators systems – or content improvements - signing up more partners.

But the fact that traditional package holidays are alive and clicking online is a good thing all round. A travel product which the internet was supposed to have killed off is flourishing, thanks to the internet.

It might also be a sign that travelsupermarket’s multi-million pound TV advertising campaign is working. Unless of course it’s just the tour ops dumping stock. Or using travelsupermarket as a marketing tool.

Martin Cowen chief writer Travolution

Or not.

The technology section on the Guardian website could hardly contain itself this week with a glowing tribute to Expedia, titled "Indulge your flights of fancy".

The puffery article started with something along the lines of:

...it's often the simplest, quickest and cheapest way to book a trip if it includes a flight and a hotel

And ended with:

as a one-stop supermarket that covers everything from cruises to corporate travel, Expedia does the job

Expedia's ad/PR agency - which we must, of course, had nothing to do with such fantastic coverage - will be over-the-moon.

However, there's another, er, supermarket on the UK travel scene which might be rather concerned about such flattery.

Yes, indeed. TravelSupermarket, which just happens to run travel search facilities on the Guardian website and has a handy - yet perhaps now, rather inaffective - box alongside the story about Expedia.



"Book a trip today", it says. But obviously not until you've checked Expedia!

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: expedia guardian comment is free travelsupermarket

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

[UPDATE at bottom of post]

Some interesting stats...

Expedia: started 2008 on $0.31 a share. Now $0.25. -19%

British Airways: started 2008 on £3.09 a share. Now £2.48. -19%

EasyJet: started 2008 on £6.13 a share. Now £3.24. -47%

MoneySupermarket (owner of TravelSupermarket): started 2008 on £1.40 a share. Now £1.14. -19%

Orbitz Worldwide: started 2008 on $8.50. Now $8.78. +3%

Priceline: started 2008 on $1.15 a share. Now $1.26. +10%

Ryanair: Started 2008 on Euro 0.39 a share. Now Euro 0.30. -23%

SilverJet: started 2008 on £0.48 a share. Now £0.15. -69%

Thomas Cook: started 2008 on £2.82 a share. Now £2.66. -7%

TUI Travel: started 2008 on £2.94 a share. Now £2.41. -18%

Travelzest: started 2008 on £1.01 a share. Now £1.02. +1%

Travelzoo: started 2008 on $0.14 a share. Now $0.11. -21%

UPDATE:

Sam I Am asks in the comments about the market conditions as a whole.

FTSE 100: started 2008 on 6456. Now 6215. -4%

NASDAQ: started 2008 on 2652. Now 2464. -7%

So one might say that the Orbitz and Priceline in the US - and not Expedia - are bucking the trend, while airlines in the UK are seeing a decline in share price worse than the overall market decrease.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Travelsupermarket.com ‘has delivered strong [Q1 08] results with revenues and visitors in excess of 50% ahead of the same period last year,’ according to a statement issued to the London Stock Exchange by its parent company, moneysupermarket group.

Nothing else about travel is mentioned – the statement focuses more on how the business’ money channels are doing in the UK’s current economic climate. Overall, revenues from mortgages, loans, credit card and savings channels are up 10% off the back of a 15% increase in visitors.

Loans and mortgages have been ‘challenging’ but revenues remain level with Q1 07. Credit cards and savings have grown significantly thanks ‘improved commercial terms with providers’ and more visitors.

The personal finance sector is not Travolution’s area of expertise, but there is some crossover with travel. It appears that there is still a demand for financial products (as there is for travel) and consumers are using vertical search businesses to see what products are still out there, as much as to see what the best deals are.

The statement says that ‘the performance of our business shows the benefit of a difficult market to the price comparison channels.’

And when has travel not been a difficult market?

Martin Cowen, chief writer, Travolution

David Soskin, chief executive of Cheapflights, steps down.

Chris Nixon, managing director of TravelSupermarket, steps down.

Brent Hoberman, chief executive of Lastminute.com, steps down.

All loved being entrepreneurs. At least two weren't so keen on the numbers game, prefering to innovate and be in "start-up" mode.

Makes you think...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

There’s a big difference between talking about ‘ improved conversion rates’ in a press release and using the same phrase in a regulatory filing. So when moneysupermarket group plc tells the London Stock Exchange that its travel vertical has improved revenue per visitor as well as revenue per transaction in 2007, the OTAs need to look at numbers as closely as travelsupermarket’s direct competitors.

Travelsupermarket.com’s 2007 numbers show big increases across its metrical board;

• visitors 37m (06: 19.7m)
• transactions 30.6m (06: 17.2m)
• click-based revenues £13.6m (06: £6.8m)
• total revenues £15m (06: £7.5m)
• revenue per visitor £0.41 (06: £0.34)
• revenue per transaction £0.43 (06: £0.40)

Looks like the millions of pounds put into TV advertising is working then! Analysts were shown a slide based on a ‘custom defined Hitwise report’ which ranked travelsupermarket as the UK’s most visited travel comparison web site in January – the key month for bookings in the UK.

So travelsupermarket.com seems in quite good shape for its new MD. Travolution Towers has learnt that there is a shortlist of three – former travel supremo Chris Nixon is overseeing the hunt and said he wanted someone with international experience at senior level. Travel or search experience – watch this space.

And what about the travel search generally? Kayak’s takeover of Sidestep at the back-end of last year showed the sector has legs when commentator such as Henry Harteveldt at Forrester pointed out that, in the US at least, travel search's market share was holding steady at 12-15% of the online travel sector.

Kayak.com had 5.72% of the UK market in Jan08, according to travelsupermarket’s Hitwise report. Sidestep, bless, had 0.94%. Kayak remember raised $196m as part of the SideStep takeover: Mobissimo is lurking with its revamped intuitive and customisable engine. SkyScanner – 11.34% of the UK market in Jan - picked up some funding of its own in November.

And with the market leader in Europe’s biggest online travel market confirming improved conversion rates and hikes in visitors and revenue per visitor, 2008 could be the year when travel search finds itself.

Martin Cowen, chief writer, Travolution

Here are the top stories by visits on the Travolution website for the week ending Friday 1 February 2008.

• Opodo profits to trigger investment in site.
• Sky picks Expedia-TripAdvisor for white label deal.
• Telegraph reviews travel search business.
• Cheapflights will not be rushed into float decision.
• WAYN approach over sale - but not by AOL.

Best of the blogs:

• Google Suggest, from Les Exploers.
• 10 questions for tour operators, from Musings.
• Microsoft-Yahoo dino deal, from Buzzmachine.
• Facebook apps on any site, from TechCrunch.
• SEO millionaire, from SearchEngineWatch.

Please post and further recommendations in the comments section.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution