Travelocity

Travelocity is inadvertently moving further into the world of new media following its acquisition of Lastminute, but is it prepared to embrace it? Sean Hargrave finds out

With its pound 577m purchase of Lastminute, Britain's best-known dotcom, Travelocity saw its name splashed across newspaper front pages and business sections throughout May, prior to the purchase going through in July. While there's obviously going to be a lot of change in the structure of Travelocity to incorporate Lastminute, it would appear that its approach to new media is business as usual.

Aside from a partial move into mobile, the brand is set to continue using the Web as a sales tool to which people are attracted through a personalised eCRM programme and paid-for search. Branding will remain the preserve of TV ads - the mobile and interactive TV channels that its new acquisition brings with it don't appear to be on the agenda at Travelocity.

Mobile test-flights

Although it claims to have no plans to open up a mobile sales channel or use the technology for marketing, this summer will see Travelocity launch its first mobile service. Holidaymakers will be able to send an MMS that Travelocity will turn into a postcard and deliver it to the address given. This is "perfect" for the brand, argues marketing director Charlotte Harper, because it shows how it can have fun with new media.

"Our research shows us that our core market want travel to be fun and exciting," she says. "So the idea of sending us an MMS which we turn into a postcard is something really different that we think they'll react well to. As a challenger brand, we're always looking for ways to stand out that also give added value to our customers."

While this may be an interesting debut service, those involved in the B2B travel sector point to the services they're now launching, which they consider far more useful for both business travellers and holidaymakers.

Pieter Rieder, VP of multinational sales for American Express Business Travel Europe, suggests that the most effective use of mobile is alerts that tell travellers if flights are on time. "We're currently working with the airports to supply information to us so we can then text customers updates on their flights, such as if there's been a delay," he says.

"We're well advanced with the service in the US, but in Europe the airports are owned by a vast number of companies so there are a lot of negotiations involved. The extra information builds on routine texts we send to travellers who have opted in, which tell them what terminal they need to check in at and at which desk, so they can go straight to the right place."

Similarly, business travel specialist Portman Travel has recently introduced travel news alerts to run alongside texts which tell travellers if planes are running on time or are late. "People like to know why their plane is delayed rather than just get the bad news," adds Barry Fleming, the company's head of marketing.

As far as Travelocity's online strategy is concerned, there's one word that sums up its approach: personalisation. The brand is convinced the travel market is on the verge of splitting between services that compete mainly on price and those that are competitive yet take the time to personalise services so customers remain loyal.

The first step in this process has been for the brand to make clear to the public what it sees as its own personality - a branding exercise that has focused heavily on a TV campaign fronted by veteran travel presenter Alan Whicker.

"We wanted to make sure we were giving our brand a personality too," explains Harper. "We wanted to show how we were knowledgeable and well-travelled, as well as fun and audacious. For us, Whicker was perfect. It would have been easy to go with a young, trendy presenter, but Whicker has universal appeal because he's the original expert in travel and so sums up the philosophy of Travelocity being about empowerment to get out there and discover the world.

"It was a risk for us, but we're convinced that it has worked really well. In fact, we've done research that shows the TV campaign has given us levels of recognition akin to brands that have spent five times what we have."

Travelling partner

With its own personality defined and communicated, the time came to begin addressing personalisation to customers. The project is ongoing and is currently focusing on personalised emails.

"We build up a rapport with customers through a 'Bon voyage' printer-friendly email that gives them a guide to their destination ten days before they're due to leave," says Harper. "The guides are written by respected travel journalists and sum up how Travelocity is not about being a shrinking violet, but about discovering the places you go to.

"When customers come home we send them a 'Welcome back' email that introduces them to other destinations they might enjoy and reminds them about our Fare Watch service, so they can keep an eye on other locations.

"The online travel industry is at a crossroads between people offering services that are personalised and full of the brand's own personality, and those that just sell everything on price."

When it comes to personality, though, Associated New Media's Thisistravel.co.uk is pursuing a different tack. The site has just been relaunched with a new flight and hotel booking engine, which publisher Alex Saint claims has the unique advantage of customer feedback.

"Flights are pretty much about price, but with hotels people want to know what other customers thought of them," he says. "So with our partners, we've worked to ensure that they give us feedback data, which our systems can scan, get an idea of whether it's positive or not, and then rank the results accordingly. It's given us a real USP, which is hard to achieve in travel because it's such a crowded industry."

Building a personality for a brand is a good idea, according to Glen Drury, VP of business solutions at Kelkoo Travel. It offers a travel comparison service that's used by its owner Yahoo! and AOL. Research has shown Kelkoo that the majority of online travellers aren't particularly loyal to a brand, so by giving an online travel agency a character, it can stand out.

"The typical person buying flights and hotels online goes to three or four of the well-known sites, like Expedia, Ebookers and Travelocity," he explains. "They typically end up buying from the last site they visit, though, because by then they've