Expedia and other OTAs have long touted what has become known in the industry as “the billboard effect” whereby they have claimed that positioning on their sites generates not only bookings through the OTA but also a halo effect on the hotels’ own sites by generating brand awareness.
Non-loyal consumers start many of their searches at [...]

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In Ipsos Travel Barometer polling released this month, the number of respondents saying they’ll do more leisure travel in the next 12 months slightly topped the number saying they’ll do less, 19 percent to 15 percent.
In many cases, this isn’t just wishful thinking by consumers who are sick of being stuck at home. “What we [...]

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The biggest theme for those trips still on for 2009 was spending less money and researching online more—two factors that are probably connected, since respondents thought Web research was the single best way to save on travel.

Money-saving attitudes, unsurprisingly, have an effect on what kinds of ads are most likely to reach consumers. Asked which [...]

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In Europe, the US and Latin America, hotel prices in Spring/Summer 2009 had fallen to levels well below those in 2004, according to the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index, meaning hotel room prices were at their lowest level for five years.
UK travellers enjoy lower prices in many destinations
The average price of a room in Barcelona was [...]

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In the UK, Travel websites rely on search engines for two fifths of their traffic. In order to understand a bit more about what us Brits are actually searching for, we recently carried out some analysis of search behaviour within the UK travel sector.
In the UK, Travel websites rely on search engines for two fifths [...]

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Hotels.com Hotel Price Index reveals Irish and Norwegian travellers willing to spend more than other Europeans on a hotel room abroad, while Germans and Finns spend the least.
Hotels.com’s latest Hotel Price Index (HPI) has revealed that Irish and Norwegian travellers are bearing the mantle of being Europe’s biggest spenders when travelling abroad, spending on average [...]

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To ease crowds jamming airline counters, more airports are installing self-service kiosks farther from the terminal lobby for travelers who don’t print their boarding passes at home.
“Off-site” check-in kiosks are appearing at airport rental car offices, hotel lobbies, parking garages and other outdoor locations near — but not in — the terminal. “It leads to [...]

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50%+ increases in US and Australian Internet searches for flights to the UK
Edinburgh the most popular destination after London for American and Australian travellers
Budget airlines benefit from increase in overseas traffic
Experian Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, today reveals that both American and Australian Internet searches for flights to the UK have increased by [...]

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PhoCusWright predicted that the craze over apps may last only four or five years, but they will be crucial. Hotels and other hospitality-related industries need to plan a smart mobile strategy that will bridge the near- and long-term.
You may be right if you think the apps for smartphones like the iPhone or Android are passing [...]

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