[back]

Will the big four's sites be worth the wait?
16 December 2005

Will 2006 be the year when the mammoths of the travel industry really extend themselves to outrun their fleeter of foot online competitors? According to online market share figures from Hitwise UK for the month of November, Expedia and lastminute.com are in first and second spots with Thomson’s and Thomas Cook’s Web sites coming in third and sixth respectively. First Choice and MyTravel UK are in 8th and 9th places. Can any of the UK’s big four make it the top of the online travel tree or must they accept that they can simply never dominate the online marketplace in the same way that they have dominated the high street for so many years?

Thomson has ambitions to get there. It has announced its aim to become the market leader dynamic packaging portal with a huge upgrade in technology due to go live next year. The operator plans to provide Thomsonfly, other no-frills flights, and traditional scheduled airline seats coupled with accommodation and other holiday services.

Getting the technology right is vital. A quick comparison illustrates the gap. Searching for a two night break in Majorca, I found the fastest of the Hitwise UK top four was Expedia, returning results in 3 seconds, the slowest was Thomas Cook where I had to wait an excruciating 25 seconds before being offered a choice of holiday. It was interesting to see, though, that the Thomas Cook holiday for the same flight and same hotel was £25 cheaper than Expedia and offered half board rather bed and breakfast.

Is the extra 25 second wait worth the money? Of course; and you would suppose that this is where the established travel companies can score, playing to their strength of offering the best value. However, if their technology is workable but not brilliant, I am not sure this is good enough. Online consumers expect instant responses. If a consumer has not yet seen the prices on offer because of slow technology, then the delay is simply an invitation to visit a competitor’s Web site.

There is definitely a game of technology catch-up to be played and I do know that all the major travel companies are taking the upgrading of their technology very seriously, with millions of pounds being invested.

But meanwhile the goal posts are moving as the online travel companies’ Web sites become more and more sophisticated and new entrants, such as travelsupermarket.com and Travelzoo, start to make headway in their quest to grab marketshare.

I am quite optimistic for the traditional players. I think they will get there and prove to be a serious online threat to their newer competitors. I am not sure it will be 2006, though. Getting your technological act together takes a long time. 2007? Maybe!

[back]