Why Travel Sites Are Being Forced to Create Loyal Customer Programs

The best thing to happen since airfare travel sites went online, is the comparison shopping sites which are doing an excellent job of creating a uniform airfare stock market. No longer is it normal for a site to increase the price for a popular flight, without risking the loss of hundreds of sales, because of airfare comparison shopping.

The comparison shopping for airfare prices puts everybody's prices right out there for everyone to see. And in most cases the name of the airline is associated with the price. So more than ever, creating a loyal group of clients is becoming more important to travel sites.

Travelers are receiving everything from loyalty points to discounts and rebates for remaining loyal to a particular online travel company. This procedure has worked very well for the cruise line industry which showers loyal customers with unbelievable discounts on select cruises.

For example, Princess Cruise Lines, provides membership to a "Captain's Circle" club, where you have to a sailed a certain number of times with the cruise company in order to qualify. Members receive perks such as a quarterly magazine, with special pricing to special check-in privileges when boarding ship.

Usually when we cruise, we depart from San Francisco. The line to board ship extends out pass the terminal onto the sidewalk and this is when you arrive early. Becoming a member of the elite group and getting to pass up everyone in the line and go straight to the front of the line, is a benefit which was too good for me to pass up. It took me several years, but we finally reached the number of cruises which allow us to pass up everyone in the line. I can't explain what a great benefit it is to walk pass everyone, a thousand plus people, all standing in a very long line, watching and wondering, "Where are they going?"

It's the little things which, makes a customer loyal, and the travel sites have been forced into playing the loyalty game. In the pass, pretty much all they had to do was publish the web site and wait, while travelers flocked to the site and booked their travel.

Yes, online comparison shopping, for airfares, has made travel sites re-think how they are going to approach the Internet client. Free enterprise is great. Now if we can just get a couple of these large airfare comparison sites to offer affiliate programs! Oh well, I guess we can't have everything.

Find Your Travel Destination on Travel Sites

This is an exciting period for people to travel an as there are now very few inaccessible places on this planet. Fortunately, there isn't a corner of the earth that doesn't have a travel site dedicated to it so it is easy obtaining information on the internet. It is now true that increasing numbers of people carry out all their travel arrangements using internet web sites. The main problem is the convenience of it all and the huge savings that can be found using the internet.

I know it is the norm now but I am not comfortable planning my once a year vacation like this. However, I am still of the old school and prefer to sit down with a cup of coffee and plan my vacation with a professional, face to face. A travel agent will also fully expect changes to be made during the booking process and can be more flexible in their approach including when there are problems. Travel sites on the other hand tend to just be computerized and it is rare that you actually get to speak to a person and then if you do get to speak to a real person, you have no clue where they are.

They may say something just to appease you and it will not hold true in the end. There are too many factors that can go wrong and that's why I love having a travel agent because although I may spend a bit more than if purchasing from a website, the peace of mind is priceless. I have a good friend who would never use a travel agent as she books all her last minute vacations using travel sites because she can save a packet of money. She is good at this and saves hundreds of dollars of the proper price and has always had a good vacation.

I wish I could do this but my work just wouldn't allow me to suddenly take time of as they normally need a couple of months notice. Using a travel site does have other advantages as well because while you can save money on the vacation itself, there are also savings to be made on additional excursions and trips as well if pre-booked. Knowing a little about what you want and information about the location you want to travel too can be useful so I still research as much of this as I can online before I pay my travel agent a visit. It may not be fair on my travel agent but at least I know if something goes wrong, I will have someone to complain to on my return.

Travel Sites Boost Bookings With Multi-Currency Display

The fierce competition amongst travel web sites is forcing this rapidly growing online market to find new ways to gain a competitive edge.

The newest tactic adopted by travel sites to boost their online booking conversion rates is multi-currency displays.

Multi currency display systems allow travel sites to show all of their travel package prices in the web site visitor's currency.

This allows visitors to instantly see product prices in a way that is meaningful to them - in their currency language. It's instantaneous, easy to use and meets visitors' needs at the exact time they need it.

Travel sites around the world from South America to Australia and everywhere in between are experiencing increased conversion rates for online bookings as a result of adopting these multi-currency display systems.

The need for these systems has been driven by the increasing demands and expectations of net-savvy travelers.

The needs of travelers are perhaps more demanding than for any other online industry.

Travelers are often experienced net-users and critically time poor. Couple that with the countless number of travelers who use travel sites whilst in transit and you can add travel weary and perhaps 'a little less tolerant than usual' to this demographic's description.

These travelers' characteristics make it even more crucial to convey meaningful pricing information quickly and efficiently.

Travelers today want information that is personalised to them and they want it fast.

That is where the previous attempts at displaying prices have been proven to fail.

Travel sites quickly learned that displaying prices solely in US dollars or only in the business' local currency simply wasn't enough.

Everyday more and more travel sites are discovering that the pop-up currency converters of the 90s are also failing as the net-savvy online travelers market is no longer satisfied with that outdated attempt.

Did you know that pop-up converters require visitors to perform 5 to 6 steps every time they want to know the price of just one travel package?

5 or 6 steps sounds like a lot doesn't it? But here it is: Using pop-ups first requires the pop-up link to be located on the site, then clicked on. Then a 3rd party web site opens up (Oh yeh, with third party advertising on it!). Then the visitor needs to select their base currency; select their local currency; type in the amount and then finally click convert.

Sounds cumbersome doesn't it?

You may think it's a bit overstated to say that the pop-up converter causes lost sales.

Though consider it this way.

How many prices do you think a hungry, weary, jet lagged traveler is going to convert before getting frustrated?

In today's world, forcing travelers through a 5 to 6 click process to convert just one price will not only frustrate them but ultimately cause lost sales.

How much of their time do you think they will waste calculating prices on a web site before thinking. "forget it, it's all too hard, I'll go to that next travel site that's listed in Google instead"

Oops, there goes another lost booking, all because of the pop-up!

When travelers don't find the information they need quickly, in the way they want to see it; these time poor and travel weary warriors will simply pop-out to the next competitor's site that does meet their needs by speaking in the customer's currency language.

In one of the most competitive online markets with such extremely low profit margins, imagine what a difference those extra bookings would make to a travel sites bottom line!

Armed with this powerful insight all travel sites should be looking for a better, more efficient way to show multiple currencies on their site. A way that is completely seamless and gives visitors the exact information that they need when they need it.

Taking just minutes to install with only one line of code needed, travel sites around the world are gaining a competitive edge to win more online bookings by adopting multi-currency display systems.