My topic for the paper (as of now) is
going to revolve around travel booking, with a focus on internet booking and deal
sites such as Travelocity, Kayak, Expedia, and Hotwire. How do these compare to booking directly with
the provider? The transition from
physical, tangible travel agents has quickly shifted to deal searching
websites, making the travel agent almost obsolete. I want
to look at whether these websites are providing the services people actually
need and want and if not, what other ventures or opportunities are out there to
improve the experience of planning a vacation or getaway. Are people really just looking at these sites
to find a deal on a trip, or are they searching for more of a “travel agent
feel” on the sites- as in, do they want these sites to help them plan
activities on the trip, do they need help figuring out how to get from place to
place, and are there cultural circumstances that would apply to the location
they are visiting? Are there sites I don’t know about that are already combining
these options? Also, how would Groupon
and Living Social play into this? Or Homeaway and Airbnb.com? Are they even
comparable? What is more important to consumers- a budget friendly trip or
finding the perfect activities to do on the trip? Essentially, I hope to look
at what is being provided now for booking travel online, what sources consumers
are using, are they a replacement for the travel agent, and what improvements can be made.
This topic is interesting to me because I,
like many people, love to travel. However,
being a student, my budget is incredibly tight.
I always try to get deals where I can but sometimes that does not work
out in the best way (ex. Amsterdam hostel in the Red Light District- cheap for
a reason. Yuck.). I’ve used pretty much
all the travel book, deal sites and have also used airbnb.com and while I have
been able to find decent deals, that is only a tiny portion of the overall trip
experience. While I won’t be poor forever, I believe that traveling efficiently
and within a budget is important in order to make the trip as smooth as
possible. Planning is also something I really
enjoy. If I could be a travel agent, I would. Yes, I am relatively Type A. I did a solo backpacking through Northern
Europe last summer and never missed a train or had trouble finding my hostel,
all thanks to planning ahead! I am going to travel in a bit more style this upcoming
summer with my family and boyfriend through Southern Europe and daily
excursions are currently under research. However, I don’t want to get stuck
playing tourist the entire time. The
other, often more interesting, options can be hard to find if you’re not a
local, or don’t have a local friend. I
have been lucky enough to have friends to show me around in most of the places
I visited, or at least give me advice on where to go and what to do. Most people do not have that luxury. There are some fantastic blogs out there with
tips on what to do and where to go as well as sites like Lonely Planet and Trip
Advisor, but it would be nice to have a site with an easy to navigate, nice
looking layout, that allows you to book with ease and explore activities from
the same page.
As I just mentioned, there is huge
potential for travel and booking websites.
There are many that meet different needs and are doing a fantastic job but
the overall experience of booking travel online could be improved and made more
enjoyable. Designing to empower is
really important here. People are
becoming their own travel agents and taking charge of their vacations in ways
that weren’t previously possible without the internet and there can be even
more improvements in that respect. Most of
the issues I find with internet booking sites is that they don’t provide the
experience I desire. People are excited
about travel! It is their chance to get away and explore new places and
cultures! It should be a time that they have no worries and are in relaxation
mode. The experience in planning all of
that should be fun as well with as little hassle as possible. Most people
barely have time to go on vacation at all, let alone plan it. I think there is a lot of potential in this
field to make something great that would apply to a large majority of people,
whether they are looking for the absolute best deal, or looking for the best
options for a trip. With travel agents becoming less commonplace and a surge of
young people making traveling a priority, while on a limited budget, there
should be a service to provide the ultimate planning experience. Even for people who aren’t “planners”.
I
found an article on Mintel that I think will be extremely helpful:
Grabowski, Gretchen. "Travel
Booking." (2012): n. pag. Mintel. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.
<http://academic.mintel.com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/display/590865/?highlight=true>.
This article is very recent, from
December of 2012 and thus should be useful in addressing the current use of the
internet for travel booking. It also
addresses many of the same questions I’m looking at in relation to travel
agents being phased out, traveler cost concerns, and how travel providers can
keep up with online innovation. There are
several charts with recent trends that will be of use in analyzing what sites
are currently being used and comparisons of how often consumers use deal sites
versus contracting the provider directly.
This article will be good for the detailed data. I also looked through FastCompany to see what
else was out there and found several articles dealing with similar issues, in a
less data geared format. I should easily
have enough information to write a full paper on the topic, although I always
have a tough time filling up that many pages with my own thoughts.
