Travel Thinking | Marketing & SEO
Friday, May 16, 2008
BA Profits Soar
British Airways profits soared by 45% in the year to 31st March. Total pre-tax profits reached £883 million on turnover of £8.7 billion. The profits come on the back of bad news from most other airlines.
Stumble It!9:12 AM
Labels: BA Profits
¶ Stumble It!9:12 AM
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Lastminute Whinge on Google Trade Mark Move
Lastminute.com is whingeing about the Google decision to allow competitive trade mark bidding on its Adwords system. According to Lastminute the decision could cost a seven figure sum.
Strangely enough, this move by Google levels the playing field. Until recently only a privileged few brand owners had any sort of protection on the Google Adwords platform. Typically these were large budget holders who obviously spent enough that they could exert some influence with Google. Now, although its a trade mark bidding free for all, only the trade mark owner is allowed to use the trade mark name in its advertising copy.
Lastminute claim that 93% of searchers searching for "Lastminute.com" end up on the Lastminute.com website. From that statistic they are inferring that searchers for "last minute" only want the branded website. It would be easy to draw a conclusion that says searchers want last minute bargains. And aren't really particular about brand loyalty. After all, "last minute" existed as a market category well before Lastminute.com came along. Stumble It!2:06 PM
Strangely enough, this move by Google levels the playing field. Until recently only a privileged few brand owners had any sort of protection on the Google Adwords platform. Typically these were large budget holders who obviously spent enough that they could exert some influence with Google. Now, although its a trade mark bidding free for all, only the trade mark owner is allowed to use the trade mark name in its advertising copy.
Lastminute claim that 93% of searchers searching for "Lastminute.com" end up on the Lastminute.com website. From that statistic they are inferring that searchers for "last minute" only want the branded website. It would be easy to draw a conclusion that says searchers want last minute bargains. And aren't really particular about brand loyalty. After all, "last minute" existed as a market category well before Lastminute.com came along.
Labels: Google Adwords, Lastminute.com, Trade mark policy
¶ Stumble It!2:06 PM
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Easyjet Hammered by Fuel Costs
Low cost airline Easyjet is being badly hit by the rise in fuel prices. First half losses amounted to £57.5m compared to £17.1m a year ago. The main cause is the rise in oil prices.
According to the airline's chief, Andy Harrison, the rise in fuel will curtail the airlines rapid growth.
Another key factor impacting negatively on the financial results, were the costs associated with the absorption of BA franchise carrier GB Airways. Unlike previous acquisitions, such as Go, GB Airways was not operating a low cost model. Digesting GB will obviously be more difficult. Stumble It!6:00 PM
Low cost airline Easyjet is being badly hit by the rise in fuel prices. First half losses amounted to £57.5m compared to £17.1m a year ago. The main cause is the rise in oil prices.
According to the airline's chief, Andy Harrison, the rise in fuel will curtail the airlines rapid growth.
Another key factor impacting negatively on the financial results, were the costs associated with the absorption of BA franchise carrier GB Airways. Unlike previous acquisitions, such as Go, GB Airways was not operating a low cost model. Digesting GB will obviously be more difficult.
Labels: Easyjet, low cost airlines
¶ Stumble It!6:00 PM
UK Domain for Galway Hotel
Simply Clicks has created a UK domain and home page for the Glenlo Abbey Hotel. The hotel main website uses a dot.com top level domain (TLD) . This is hosted in Ireland and will show up in Google.ie results. The dot.co.uk domain has been created as a sweeper for UK only searches. The UK domain is not a redirect. Once uses are on the home page, they transfer to the main website through the normal means of navigation. Stumble It!5:52 PM
Labels: Glenlo Abbey, hotel SEO
¶ Stumble It!5:52 PM
Monday, April 28, 2008
Eye Spy Villa Security - Thailand
The owners of London based print finishing business, Fastnet Finishing, have further extended their activities in Thailand. A subsidiary business dealing in villa and condominium security has been set up. The businesss will be based in Thailand but target the holiday home buyer or the large ex-pat community working in the far east that has made holiday home investments in the east Asian country. Stumble It!8:27 PM
Labels: Eye Spy Security, Thailand Villas
¶ Stumble It!8:27 PM
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Two Spanish Travel Websites
I have just resurrected two Spanish travel websites. The first is La Ermita. La Ermita is midway between Murcia and Alicante airports. The second is Apartments San Miguel. San Miguel has easy access to six different golf courses. Both websites were set up for a Spanish based property agent. Stumble It!10:33 AM
Labels: Spanish Property
¶ Stumble It!10:33 AM
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Google Adwords Steps in on Pampering
Google Adwords has stepped in to ban a client's advertising copy. The offending copy referred to an Aveda Pampering Package. Aveda is a leading brand in the spa treatments market. The client, The George in Rye, offers Aveda pampering packages in association with the Rye Retreat a licensed Aveda beauty spa.
Google Adwords is applying its new rules on trademark use. Under these rules anybody can bid for a trademark brand but only the brand owner can use the brand in its Adwords advertising copy. The irony in this case is that although The George can no longer use the brand name in its copy it remains No.1 in Google's organic rankings for the term: Aveda pampering package. Funnily enough, the accompany snippet mentions the Aveda brand. Stumble It!4:03 PM
Google Adwords has stepped in to ban a client's advertising copy. The offending copy referred to an Aveda Pampering Package. Aveda is a leading brand in the spa treatments market. The client, The George in Rye, offers Aveda pampering packages in association with the Rye Retreat a licensed Aveda beauty spa.
Google Adwords is applying its new rules on trademark use. Under these rules anybody can bid for a trademark brand but only the brand owner can use the brand in its Adwords advertising copy. The irony in this case is that although The George can no longer use the brand name in its copy it remains No.1 in Google's organic rankings for the term: Aveda pampering package. Funnily enough, the accompany snippet mentions the Aveda brand.
Labels: Aveda, Google Adwords, Trademark rules
¶ Stumble It!4:03 PM
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Strength of Euro to impact on European Tourism
I was watching TV yesterday and saw a feature on tourism exchange rates. The figure quoted for the Euro was 1.12 to £1. This seems astonishing when the official spot rate according to FT.com is 1.24. A year ago the exchange rate was hovering between 1.45 and 1.50. Essentially, UK travellers will get 16% less for their money compared to a year ago. With 3% Eurozone inflation, a £ will effectively buy 20% less than a year ago. I think the UK tour operating sector is in a for a tough year. Although sterling has been relatively stable against the US dollar its also fallen against a number of other countries. Even the Australian dollar has risen 15% over the same period.
One upside will be for inbound operators and hoteliers. Stumble It!11:47 AM
One upside will be for inbound operators and hoteliers.
Labels: currency movement, euro exchange rate
¶ Stumble It!11:47 AM
