Recently I have been planning my holiday, I did what most people do and turned to the great all knowing internet. A couple of hours searching and bingo I’ll have it all sorted, one fantastic holiday!
The two hours turned into something of a marathon, which ended with me quitting in the early hours of the morning. The problem was that I didn’t know where I wanted to go, and travel websites do not cater for people in my situation.
Try it, go to any of the big travel sites, what is the first question you see? ‘where do you want to go’. I know when I want to go,but other than a few choice countries I haven’t a clue ‘where I want to go’.
Now ditch the internet and go to any high street travel agent. What is the first thing you see?… Everything! Shelf after shelf of holiday brochures. This is something that internet travel sites just don’t do. Many sites make the token effort of the obligatory inspiration page, presuming to know what the customer wants. None of these worked for me and I’m sure that they won’t work for most.
I needed to find that property and location that I would fall in love with, and without repeating the same search over and over for all the locations that I would like .
It’s sad that most of the travel industry seems to neglect a good portion of their customer base. Believe me, I would much rather book my holiday online, than make the journey to a number of travel agents.
Discovery is the key for customers who don’t know where they would like to go. If you don’t show what you have, how do customers know what they want?
Travel site owners, share all of your stock! and across many countries, let your customers see the great selection you have, let them filter on criteria that they want, not what is dictated to them. Only then will they discover and fall in love with that one special holiday, hotel or villa.
J Lance Pullen
