Tag Archives: Kayak

Phocuswright: Mobile is key battleground, but it’s not all about apps

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By Travolution

By Travolution
Image: Phocuswright’s Marcello Gasdia

Mobile is now firmly established as the key battleground as the world’s biggest online travel firms fight for dominance.

At last week’s Phocuswright conference in Los Angeles, global giants Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Expedia and Kayak all highlighted mobile as vital to success.

Central to this for online agents and metasearch sites is how they use the mass of data available to personalise the mobile experience to tailor results for customers.

In emerging markets such as China and India the channel is essential as consumers are getting online through mobile first rather than via desktop.

Sam Shank, founder of HotelTonight, the mobile-only last minute hotel booking app, said the OTA role was evolving so that they were becoming more like personal travel assistants.

And Darren Huston, chief executive of Booking.com, the commercial engine of the world’s most valuable online travel firm Priceline, said: “Mobile is critical as a new platform to drive transaction but, more importantly, it’s offered everyone a computer in their pocket.

“People now book the first thing they need in a destination and then wander around with a phone.

“Mobile’s transforming the ability to create really cool end-to-end experiences for our customers.”

Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Expedia, said the OTA was benefiting from a growing travel industry and, in particular, the fast-expanding mobile sector.

Kayak founder Steve Hafner said the Priceline-owned metasearch site’s focus was on improving its app and a “very different experience” would emerge in the next six months.

Facebook global head of travel strategy, Lee McCabe, said travel was trailing other online sectors in terms of the app experience.

“The most important thing is convenience: do not make me work too hard; if it’s a transaction app, let me transact quickly and easily.”

A major open question for travel firms remains whether to favour apps or the mobile web, and Phocuswright produced research among US users suggesting the jury remains out.

Marcello Gasdia, Phocuswright senior analyst, said high level of use of mobile apps suggests they are dominant, but firms should not be too quick to discount the mobile web.

Gasdia said most app use involved three activities: checking emails, social media and gaming, with the amount of time spent in Facebook accounting for half an hour a day on average.

“Travellers are doing very few things in apps, creating the illusion they are taking over the mobile web,” said Gasdia.

Travel app usage, whether it involves a metasearch site, an OTA or a hotel or accommodation review or airline site, accounted for just 1% of daily app use.

TripAdvisor was found to be used by 30% of smartphone owners. Of these, 30% used the app and 18% the mobile website. Only 38% of visitors were app-only.

For OTAs, the research found there were nearly twice as many mobile web users as app users, the former averaging seven page visits per session while apps saw five sessions a month on average.

“App users were not opening these OTA apps every single day. Reach was not as high as we anticipated,” said Gasdia.

The Phocuswright research found even among people known to be actively planning a trip in June, OTA app engagement was low at just one in 10.

More than four in 10 did use an airline app, suggesting a “sweet spot” that was driving app adoption for airlines, said Gasdia.

– See more at: http://www.travolution.com/articles/2014/11/19/9043/phocuswright-mobile-is-key-battleground-but-it%e2%80%99s-not-all-about-apps.html#sthash.KT4ElfON.dpuf

Google remarketing and metasearch are Travolution board’s hot tips for 2014

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Google remarketing and metasearch are Travolution board’s hot tips for 2014

By Travolution

By Travolution

Google’s new Remarketing Lists for Search Ads is already starting to have an impact on marketing budgets, according to a leading agency working in travel.Speaking at last week’s Travolution editorial advisory board meeting, Nishma Robb, iProspect chief client officer, predicted this will be one of the key trends for 2014.

She said the agency is already seeing clients increase budgets for next year but are looking at how search is interwoven with display.

Robb said the remarketing capability currently being rolled out by Google was already seeing firms focus on optimisation.

“It’s encouraging businesses to get smarter about analytics and conversion. We will now be able to prove [the effectiveness of campaigns] through technology.”

This is what Google says about Remarketing Lists for Search Ads:

“[It] provides yet another opportunity to optimise your search campaigns by letting you tailor your keyword bids and ad text for your highest value prospects – people who have visited your website in the past – when they’re searching for what you sell.”

Google estimates that conversions online run at between 2% to 4% of visits, and in travel where customers visit in excess of 20 sites before committing that figure is usually a lot lower.

A Google Think Insights post said: “In standard search campaigns, your bids, ads and keywords are the same for every search and every searcher.

“But if you knew which searchers represented higher value prospects, you might want to bid higher, show on broader keywords or present different ads to these customers to improve your results.

“Remarketing lists for search ads lets you do just that. You can use your existing remarketing lists to more effectively reach past site visitors so you can get more conversions and potentially better ROI.”

Robin Frewer, Google director of travel and finance, said the functionality will enable travel advertisers to target certain customers according to particular insight into aspects of product they have shown an interest in.

He said Customer Parameters will be “really powerful for remarketing to customers with a specific interest in specific destinations, dates or product types” and will help travel firms increase the accuracy and therefore the profitability of their advertising.

Frewer predicted that there will be a shift to measurable, performance-based marketing activity and that this has already seen more focus on brand building online, which is becoming increasingly more accountable.

Another area the board picked out to dominate in 2014 was metasearch, with this sector expected to make big in-roads into the traditional beach market.

Kayak and, increasingly Tripadvisor, are expected to have a major impact in this area the former having already launched package price comparison and started offering its own packages under a deal with On Holiday Group.

Former Traveltainment UK managing director, Andrew Nicholson, said: “There is still a lot of brand equity in the meta play.

“Players in meta dominate flights, are very aggressive in hotels and beach will be the big market they tackle next. Definitely volumes are going through the roof.”

Ian Brooks, Puregenie managing director, said he could see travel metasearch sites coming to dominate as they do in other sectors like financial services.