12.11.2008 par admin.

NORWALK, Conn.

Online travel retailer Priceline.com Inc. said Thursday its third-quarter earnings fell 16 percent from a year-ago period helped by a hefty tax gain, but results still beat Wall Street expectations.

However, the company issued a fourth-quarter profit forecast below analysts’ estimates, citing the weak economy’s effect on international travel.

President and Chief Executive Jeffery H. Boyd said bargain-hunting shoppers boosted bookings in the quarter, but international business slowed in late September and October. He blamed global economic weakness, the falling value of the euro and lower hotel rates.

Net income fell to $88 million, or $1.81 per share, from $104.4 million, or $2.27 per share, a year ago, which included a non-cash tax benefit of $47.9 million. Excluding one-time costs, it would have earned $2.39 per share in the quarter ended Sept. 30.

Revenue rose nearly 35 percent to $561.6 million from $417.3 million, as international sales rose 70 percent.

The results easily beat estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who expected profit of $2.10 per share on revenue of $546.6 million.

Priceline shares fell $5.53, or 10.5 percent, to close the regular session $47.07 ahead of the report. In aftermarket electronic trading, they rose $3.53, or 7.5 percent, to $50.60.

Priceline said the gross value of all travel services it booked in the third quarter, including taxes and fees, rose 47 percent to $2 billion.

Looking ahead, Priceline.com forecast adjusted profit of $1 to $1.10 per share in the fourth quarter — below analysts’ average forecast of $1.16 per share.

Source : businessweek.com

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23.10.2008 par admin.

Lastminute.com has improved its search facility by developing a tool that enables customers to find content on the site by entering multiple requirements into one box.

The new functionality will allow the use of a whole sentence to search across Lastminute.com’s travel and leisure options. Examples of searches would include “I would like a 5 star hotel on 10 November in Gran Canaria for 3 nights” or “a table for two in Covent Garden this evening”.

The update is a move from the traditional drop-down box search system, used by most online travel providers including Lastminute.com, which had a total of 78 search boxes across products including hotels, flights and theatres.

Research suggested that people new to online travel sites do not have the patience to fill in all the different boxes when searching through the web site, prompting the development of the new tool, the company said.

Source : hotelmarketing.com

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13.10.2008 par admin.

Depuis le 1er octobre, Thomas Cook affiche en vitrine les prix des forfaits tous frais compris. Lastminute le fait déjà depuis avril 2007.

La bataille du “tous frais compris” (TFC) sur les prix a bien été lancé par Lastminute. En avril 2007, l’agence en ligne faisait parvenir ce communiqué : “Qu’il s’agisse d’un vol sec, d’un voyage sur mesure ou clé en main, d’un court ou long séjour, d’un hôtel ou d’une location de voiture, les prix sont présentés en TFC”. Et, pour plus de limpidité, lastminute.com propose à ses clients un service de double affichage des prix des séjours clé en main : le prix hors taxe et le prix TFC. Cette démarche “a mobilisé une équipe de 4 personnes durant près de 6 mois, sans oublier les lourds investissements technologiques que cette migration a nécessité”.

Source : Le Quotidien du Tourisme

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29.9.2008 par admin.

Chez Lastminute, cet été, le nombre de commandes est resté stable.

Lastminute n’a pas perdu de client scet été. “Les Français sont autant partis en 2008 qu’en 2007″. Selon l’agence de voyages en ligne, les Français ont réservé leurs séjours tard cette saison, en moyenne à 17 jours du départ, contre 19 en 2007. La destination la plus demandée cet été (hors Europe) a été l’Amérique du Nord, cette progression de 27% “est essentiellement due à la baisse du dollar, qui a permis aux voyageurs de bénéficier d’une hausse de leur pouvoir d’achat”. La destination surprise pour l’Europe a été Chypre, avec une progression de près de 49%. En revanche la Turquie voit sa fréquentation chuter cette année, “probablement en raison des attentats du début de l’été 2008, tout comme le Maroc”. La durée moyenne des séjours “sur mesure” a été de 6 jours, ce qui montre “que les internautes utilisent ce système non plus pour des courts séjours mais pour construire leur séjour idéal en été, en s’assurant de combiner les meilleures offres”.

 Source : Le Quotidien du Tourisme

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9.8.2008 par admin.

The ExperienceFinder tool allows trip planning by categories and themes, planning and shopping through photo albums, video galleries, and rich maps come to life.

Travelocity’s ExperienceFinder booking tool, the interactive dreaming and planning tool that allows travelers to interact with and explore a city during the planning phase of their trip, has now been expanded to a total of 18 destinations.

The ExperienceFinder tool allows trip planning by categories and themes, planning and shopping through photo albums, video galleries, and rich maps come to life. Visitors can store their ideas in a “wish list” and return later to update that list or review it and make a purchase.

“The ExperienceFinder tool has given us the perfect opportunity to get the word out about our city’s unique culture and offerings,” said Amy Brock, Internet marketing manager for the Savannah Convention & Visitors Bureau. “With the challenges the travel industry is facing right now, this has been a great way to differentiate our city and continue making Savannah a thriving destination. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.”

ExperienceFinder cities now include:

Cancun
Jamaica
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
Orlando
Vail and Beaver Creek
New Orleans
San Francisco
Chicago
Hawaii
Miami
New York
Washington, DC
Charlotte, NC
Dallas
Savannah
Vancouver
Philadelphia

“The ExperienceFinder tool is changing the way in which people dream, plan, shop and book their travel,” said Troy Whitsett, vice president of design and innovation for Travelocity. “Interactive travel planning is becoming the way people prefer to shop, so we are excited to expand this tool to even more cities in the future.”

The ExperienceFinder tool is having an extraordinary impact on travelers thus far:

- ExperienceFinder turns the premise for online shopping on its head by changing the focus from just shopping, to dreaming, planning, shopping and booking.
- ExperienceFinder page views per session are nearly three times greater than Travelocity.com.
- People using ExperienceFinder are able to find all the tools they need to make an informed decision, which is why the session duration for ExperienceFinder is two and two-thirds times greater than Travelocity.com.

Related Link: Travelocity’s ExperienceFinder

Source : Hotelmarketing.com

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9.8.2008 par admin.

Once again, the travel website has landed ahead of schedule, delivering its ninth consecutive quarter of better-than-expected profits. Revenue soared 44% to $514.0 million.

Priceline has made success a habit. It doesn’t simply buzz the control tower every three months—it flat-out overshoots expectations by a wide margin.

The stock opened 13% lower this morning, despite besting the perpetually humbled pros by nearly 10%. It may be that spoiled investors have grown used to bigger surprises. It may be that the shares rallied heading into the report. It may also be that the company upped its guidance for the rest of the year, but did so in a cautionary tone as the online travel industry bumps up against economic weakness and airlines scaling back on their flight schedules.

The market’s reaction is a pity, because Priceline—and to a lesser extent Expedia—have become the two online travel sites that investors can rely on to deliver healthy growth these days.

Get the full story at The Motley Fool

Source : hotelmarketing.com

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5.8.2008 par admin.

Travelocity and lastminute.com have extended the booking window for last second deals, allowing travelers to book three weeks in advance.

Last second deals can save travelers up to 70 percent and are good options for those who want a spontaneous getaway. Until now, consumers could only purchase last second deals up to two weeks in advance.

For example, based on today’s date, travelers can now shop a variety of weekend getaways for the weekends of Aug. 1, Aug. 8 and Aug. 15. There are many options less than $200, to destinations all across the country.

“At a time when travel prices are increasing, and choices are decreasing, offering these deals further in advance is a way we can help our travelers continue to fulfill their travel wishes, despite these tougher economic times,” Noreen Henry, vice president of hotels and packaging for Travelocity, said.

Travelocity and lastminute.com offer last second weekend getaway packages to hundreds of domestic and international destinations. They can be purchased from three weeks to three hours before departure (five hours for international travel). Packages can include flight and hotel with optional car, flight and car or hotel and car.

Source : hotelmarketing.com

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30.6.2008 par admin.

Lastminute.com is to upgrade its dynamic packaging technology so any product on the online travel agency’s platform can be sold as a single product.

The new system will allow users to combine flights, hotels and package holidays with other destination services such as restaurants, activities, attractions and theatre tickets.

Due for full release in early-2009, lastminute.com hopes the new platform will push the OTA into vastly “improved areas” of search and packaging capability for customers.

Until now users have not been able to add ancillary services onto their main transaction as lastminute.com was using two separate pieces of technology to run the booking systems.

Further technology changes behind the scenes will include the ability to serve product offers on lastminute.com pages based on the weather in certain destinations.

UK managing director John Bevan told Travolution the site experienced major increases in traffic when the UK weather is poor, so technology is being developed to automatically feed appropriate offers and creative into the main pages.

by Kevin May

Source : Travolution.com

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5.5.2008 par admin.

Lastminute utilise les commentaires clients pour choisir ses produits.

Les avis que les clients laissent sur le site de Lastminute.com sont pris en considération pour décider ou non du retrait d’un produit.

Les notes et commentaires clients font, depuis leur lancement au mois de mai, “partie intégrante des “process qualité” établis par les équipes de lastminute pour apporter toujours plus de transparence aux consommateurs”. Une alerte hebdomadaire recense les éventuels produits ayant reçu une note inférieure à 2,5. Sur cette base, “les départements “production et qualité” investiguent ensemble pour décider du retrait ou du maintien du produit dans le catalogue”. Pour Lastminute, les 25.000 avis recensés en ligne ont fait émerger des attentes parfois surprenantes des voyageurs. Le site met en exergue tel ou tel commentaire. “Les buffets étaient somptueux et la nourriture africaine et européenne excellente. On aimerait cependant pouvoir s’attarder davantage à table après le dîner” ou encore “nous vous conseillons de prévenir votre clientèle que cet hôtel reçoit une importante clientèle italienne qui parle fort de jour comme de nuit et se couche très tard”.

Source : Le Quotidien du Tourisme

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