• by Adrienne Mand Lewin , May 29, 2007

The Web multiplies the opportunities to reach niche markets

You've scheduled time off from work. You've made arrangements for the kids. Now you're ready to book your dream vacation, and chances are you're going to do so online. According to a December report from travel, tourism and hospitality research firm PhoCusWright, online transactions will account for more than half - 54 percent - of all U.S. travel bookings in 2007, and that figure is expected to rise to 60 percent next year. Travel sites were used by 83,342 unique visitors in the United States in February 2007, according to Nielsen//NetRatings NetView.

So how do travel Web sites reach consumers planning a trip?

Micromanaging Your Travel Needs

To help break through the travel-site clutter, Orbitz offers such things as user reviews of hotels sortable by business, family and leisure travel, as well as Orbitz TLC, a program that alerts travelers via e-mail, text message or phone call to updates such as cancellations, gate changes, delays and other things that affect their travel plans. Orbitz also will alert up to six contacts of the status changes.

"I think it's all about giving travelers more control, more tools, better technology," says Orbitz spokesman Jim Cohn. "More control makes the travel experience more hassle-free."

To capture a larger audience, Orbitz recently launched several microsites targeting niche markets. "We're more focused now than ever before on catering to these markets," Cohn says.

In April, it created eco.orbitz.com, showcasing environmentally-friendly vacation options, and in February it launched roadwarrior.orbitz.com, which meets the needs of small business and independent business travelers, and includes travel tips and advice from former air traffic controllers.

Racing.orbitz.com, launched in March, caters to auto racing fans, offering a race tickets menu and vacation options for all major racing circuits. There is a family oriented site, family.orbitz.com, which highlights family-friendly hotels and travel options, and a four-year-old site, orbitz.com/gaytravel, catering to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

And through its CheapTickets brand, the company is offering volunteer.cheaptickets.com, which helps users plan and book increasingly popular volunteer vacations, Cohn says.

One of its most successful online "engagement tools" is Orbitz Games. Since September 2005, Oribitz has offered games pop-ups on news, sports and travel sites featuring activities like a virtual bean-bag toss, putting green, paper football, snowboarding and other sports and diversions.

While the pop-ups drive traffic to the site and have a high e-mail opt-in rate, the games also have been successful at capturing users' interest - the average session lasts 12 minutes, and 16 percent spend more than 30 minutes playing, Cohn says. The games also live on the Orbitz site.

Trips of a Lifetime: Going Once ...

American Express Travel recently completed its third annual online auction of travel packages. In April, the company offered a "declining price" auction for nine days through its rewards site, mylifemycard.com, and through americanexpress.com/travel.

Travel packages started at retail value - for example, a trip to Hong Kong might begin at $6,000 - and every 20 minutes the cost dropped along with the number of remaining packages.

"It sort of plays on the appetite for risk," says company spokes- woman Christine Elliott.

Each day was a new location and new price, including luxury destinations and places to visit for those on a budget: trips to Canouan Island in the Caribbean, alternative sights in Orlando, and an idyll in the Greek isles.

"We made a big effort to make sure there were things for everyone," Elliott says. "You might not want to take your toddler to Antarctica, but certainly a tour of America on an RV trip or trips to the Caribbean are more appropriate for a family. The idea was to find a nice balance between experiential travel and people just looking to relax."

The auction was promoted heavily through banner ads on news sites, travel sites and portals, Elliott says, as well as through direct mail to American Express members and their e-mail statements.

The promotion also benefited American Express' partners whose services were auctioned. "Because we have so many travel merchants that accept the card, this is a great way for them to have access to our cardmember base," Elliott says, adding that it was also a fun way for members to plan for the upcoming travel season. "The response has been very strong," she notes.

Creating Iconic Mascots

A ubiquitous presence on television, Travelocity's whimsical Roaming Gnome touts his visits to far-flung locations and, of course, the ease of booking trips through the Web site.

"Even though he is only three years old - a virtual toddler - he has achieved a notoriety akin to other well-known icons such as the Energizer Bunny, the Geico Gecko, the Aflac Duck," says Deborah Italiano, Travelocity's vice president of marketing.

The troll appears in offline and online ads and in Travelocity's partnership with "The Amazing Race." He has an online store selling 30 items bearing his likeness, which generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for Travelocity, Italiano says.

The company's current online advertising campaign consists of standard graphical ad units, rich- media units and text links. "Our standard online ad units carry the look and feel of the brand, including the Roaming Gnome, the logo and site elements, such as colors and booking tool components," Italiano says.

Some ads back special promotions, and others have geographically-targeted messages to key origination markets, she says. The majority of the campaign is focused on reaching general leisure travelers who are in the process of researching a trip, though Travelocity also has a partnership with the AARP to reach consumers 55 and up, as well as a site that identifies gay-friendly hotels.

There also is a Travelocity imVironment on Yahoo! Instant Messenger, which Italiano says "is essentially a microsite served through a desktop application."

Travelocity has a Gnome profile on MySpace and the Window Seat blog, which company employees write to "share travel perspectives and experiences," according to the site, which links off of gnomewatch.com. Italiano says the community aspect of both efforts "allows us to develop relationships with our target audience."