Professional: Internet – Bookings and complains

The Internet has changed the business model in tourism significantly. Anyone can book services with 2-3 mouse clicks. What benefits and what dangers customers identify in this process? Careful analysis of customers’ on-line behaviour helps companies create a successful business strategy and web-design. There are hundreds of booking sites, but what make them different, how they find their customer and keep in touch with them, how they built their relationships with providers?

ARTICLES

New survey reveals the online travel habits of UK consumers

James Morris

Only seven per cent research and buy their holidays from travel agents on the high street and one per cent book on Teletext. Nine per cent of internet users book their holidays on the high street after researching online and a further 17 per cent research holidays online then book over the telephone proving that the internet is the most important channel for researching and buying holidays.

Online travel in Europe

Kevin Eagan

Use of the internet for online booking as opposed to simply 'looking' – gathering information prior to booking a trip – is growing very fast in Europe, especially for flights and accommodation. This means that more than one third of total outbound trip volume in these markets now involves online booking for at least part of the trip, and it is over 50% in certain markets. The equivalent share was just 19% in 2003.

Online Holiday Bookings: why women are tops

Anna Luebke

With the sales in full swing, a trip to your local high street can be a dangerous business. Step through the doors of any major retailer and it's every man, woman and child for themselves as Britain's bargain hunter-gatherers succumb to their more primitive instincts. It's enough to drive anyone to daydreams of sunkissed beaches, and from there to mouse and screen and holiday sites online - especially if you're female. For, according to the results of one survey, unveiled last week, it is women ...

«560m make online airline Bookings» – survey

Laura Maudlin

The number of people booking flights online has leapt by 40% over the last year, a survey claims. The "dramatic rise" is detailed in a survey of airline IT trends by communications and technology solutions provider SITA. The global average of online airline ticket sales stands at 28% compared to 20% last year - which means that an estimated 560 million of today's two billion airline passengers now use the internet to make their bookings, SITA estimates.

How Businesses should Book airline tickets on the internet

Cecilia Garland

In today’s self-service world, the keys to significant travel savings are knowing where and how to shop. Web sites that began life catering to the leisure traveler (the airlines, Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity) now promote “one stop shopping” for small businesses. Their allure is ease of shopping, policy adherence, and reporting. But are these benefits real? What about pricing, the convenience of the flights offered, the location of the hotels, and – perhaps most of all, the value of your tim...