A new threat has emerged to the business of retail travel agencies with increased speculation that online auctioneer eBay is pushing ahead with the rollout of a fullfledged online travel agency model.
Travel technology company Cultuzz, the current supplier of accommodation content to eBay, is designing the new dynamic packaging feature. Michael Hughes, head of sales and marketing for Cultuzz, said the new feature will work with eBay’s auction and its fixedrate pricing models.
EBay members can currently bid for a travel product or use a Buy It Now function to purchase accommodation, air tickets, short breaks or car hire.
The new feature – expected to go live in Germany later this year and gradually go global – will see eBay combine air tickets and accommodation to create package holidays of its own. EBay and Cultuzz formed a relationship five years ago when they approached the tourism industry and offered a solution to sell distress inventory on eBay Germany.
Speaking at this year’s OpenTravel Advisory Forum in Montreal, Hughes said, “It never ceases to amaze me, we are fast becoming recognised in broader industry circles as a new generation intermediary as we prove that existing and expensive fee models, legacy system platforms with cumbersome architecture are a negative barrier for entry to developing markets of the world and their suppliers wanting to partake in global ecommerce distribution.”
Most recently Cultuzz moved into India where it has formed a partnership with eBay India. Gautam Thakkar, country manager, eBay India, said the opportunity for the approach eBay was taking was huge as an estimated 80 percent of travel products in India were not enabled for distribution worldwide.
Meanwhile, TripAdvisor, the world’s second biggest travel website with 20 million visitors a month, has come on to the radar of lawyers in the UK, who are being pressed to represent hotel groups angered by some consumer reviews on the site.
TripAdvisor runs more than five million “independent” reviews, posted by members of the public. TripAdvisor, which is owned by Expedia and is based in the United States, says it has a zero tolerance policy for fake reviews.
A London-based law firm says that several hotel groups have approached the firm to represent them in a potential libel case against TripAdvisor, following the alleged publication of negative reviews on the site. Yet TripAdvisor continues to expand despite criticism from some quarters. In the latest move, Thomson, which is owned by TUI, has agreed to blend TripAdvisor’s syndicated hotel and destination reviews within the Thomson.co.ukwebsite.
Thomson now sells 60 percent of its holidays online. And there is mounting evidence that user reviews such as those on TripAdvisor are gaining traction with the pubic. According to a Travel Trust Index report on the travel site, www.boo.com, travellers in the UK prefer to place their trust in complete strangers when it comes to researching and booking their holidays with 57 per cent trusting online travel reviews more than traditional travel agents.
Psychologist Donna Dawson said this research showed people would rather trust a complete stranger rather than a travel professional, adding, “We no longer need to meet face-to-face in order for trust to develop.”
