Tuesday 20 March 2012

Rapid Growth of European Online Travel Market: HotelsForEvent Development Confirms Results of International Research

As the last research shows, the number of bookings made online grows rapidly. Such tendency is traced in event and exhibition industry as well. For example, within the last three months total amount of bookings made via HotelsForEvent tool rose up to 23%. This up-to-date service is in demand and satisfies the needs of both event organisers and visitors. On the one hand, HotelsForEvent makes it more organised and effective for visitors to plan their trip. On the other hand, event organisers earn visitors’ loyalty and gain extra income.

As HotelsForEvent aggregates data from 9 online booking systems (Booking.com, HRS, Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotel.info, Agoda, Otel.com and Travelocity) it guarantees price comparison from leading operators and generates a comprehensive list of accommodation offers valid for specific dates and location of the event. Price comparison and event-oriented features of the service are the main reasons for attendees and organisers to appreciate the convenience of HotelsForEvent.

The results of yStats.com report published on HotelMarketing can be found below.

In its latest "Europe Online Travel Report 2012" Germany-based yStats.com analyzes the European online travel market. In addition to the total European market, the report covers the largest markets Great Britain, Germany and France along with 23 additional countries in Western, Central and Eastern Europe as well as Scandinavia.

The overall development of the online travel market in Europe has been very positive. The total number of bookings through online travel agencies increased by almost 20% from 2010 to 2011. Great Britain is still expected to account for the largest share in 2013, followed by Germany and France. In 2011, the reach of online tour operators was also the highest in Great Britain, while the strongest growth was observed in Germany. In 2011, Expedia had the highest number of unique visitors in Europe, followed by Priceline.

Growing online revenue for travel in largest European markets

In Great Britain, more than half of all consumers avoid traditional travel agents altogether and book their holidays online instead. In line with this trend, more than half of all internet users used online services for travel and accommodation in 2011. As shown in the "Europe Online Travel Report 2012" by yStats.com in 2011, customers in Germany preferred traditional travel agents for expensive travel arrangements and online booking for cheaper tours. Online revenue has grown considerably in this sector, while offline revenue has decreased. In France, revenue generated with online travel bookings grew as well between January and September 2011, more than the total B2C E-Commerce revenue. Additionally, B2C E-Commerce revenue in the category "Travel and Holiday Accommodation" was higher in 2011 than in the next four categories combined.

Online bookings popular across the entire European region

Almost half of all Italian online customers booked their accommodation online in 2011, making this the strongest category in Italian B2C E-Commerce. In 2011, in the Netherlands online train travel planner "Nederlandse Spoorwegen" and public transport planner "9292OV.nl" were among the most frequently visited travel websites. In 2011, more than three quarters of all Danes booked their holidays online, while less than 10% used the services of a traditional travel agent. In Norway, "Travel and Holiday Accommodation" was the most popular online product category in the second quarter of 2011. According to the yStats.com "Europe Online Travel Report 2012" almost half of all passengers in Russia had purchased their flight on a travel website, while almost one quarter had booked tickets via phone. Using the internet to buy travel arrangements or accommodation online was popular in Turkey in 2011.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

10 Tips to Empower Your Event Website With HotelsForEvent

1 - Unique booking service especially for event web sites
HotelsForEvent was developed especially for event organisers. The HotelsForEvent service generates a comprehensive list of accommodation offers valid for the specific event dates and location. In addition  it features a favourite hotels selection for quick access.

2 - Price comparison and hotel database from 
9 booking systems
Price comparison
Event attendee will choose his accommodation from 235,000 hotels, provided by nine worldwide hotel booking engines (Booking.com, Expedia, HRS, Travelocity, etc.).

3 - Multiple language choice
At the moment, the HotelsForEvent solution is available in 10 different languages, thus ensuring product availability for local as well as for international visitors of your event.

4 - Relevant Search with versatile filters
The hotel search is simple and truly convenient due to a comparison of booking prices, “sort by distance to the venue” feature and a path tracking feature that allows the user to obtain the most relevant search results and find the best suited hotel extremely easy.

5 - Implement in 5 minutes free of charge
Using HotelsForEvent on your website is absolutely free as well as hotel booking. Anyone can set up this service for his event by using HTML code automatically generated by our system or as a direct link to the list of hotels in only five minutes. Simply enter your Event name, opening and closing date, venue location and integrate the widget into the website for any event.

6 - Flexible Widget customization
Create a full-featured hotel search engine within minutes to fit your event website design. Adjust colour and choose widget layout to create a perfect fit for your event website.

7 - Instant map search for hotels close to the venue
It is possible to conduct a visual search in the “Map search” mode and estimate hotel location, its proximity to the event venue and read brief hotel description at the directly at the map.

8 - Revenue from every booking
Get profit from each accommodation booking made from your event website by registering in our system.

9 - Online statistics
Registered users have 24 hours access to online statistics of bookings and can estimate their profit in advance.

10 - Register and get more
There is no need to register to set up HotelsForEvent for your event website. Stillby registering in the system the following extra options become available to event organisers: monetisation of bookings, service branding according to the event design, detailed statistics, and additional event promotion services.

Learn all features...