Vacation Rental Business Dependent on Internet

Endless Vacation Rentals by Wyndham Worldwide and PhoCusWright recently released a report on the $24 billion US vacation rental industry which it described as "one of the untapped travel segments that is poised for significant change and growth".

What becomes evident from "PhoCusWright's Vacation Rental Marketplace: Poised for Change" is that this huge travel market sector is dependant on the internet for its growth. According to the report two thirds of vacation rental guests researched online for their last trip and 20% of online travel shoppers booked a vacation rental in the past year

The report suggests that vacation rental guests are well-off, well-traveled, well-educated and savvy Internet users.

Why You Don't Rank on Search Engines

Ever wondered why your business is not ranking well in the search engines? Have you spent valuable time and resources reworking your website and pouring more money into SEO and still not improved your rankings?

Mike Grehan posted a great feature on Clickz recently which points out something which every good search engine marketing prefessional knows, but which few would ever tell their clients, and this is that very often the reason a website does not perform well in the search engines is down to a flawed business model and not the code or SEP.

As Mike Grehan explains "I ask clients to be very honest about whether they believe they have a business concern online or just a Web site. If we discover they truly have a genuine business that can differentiate itself, we look at the Web site."

Read the rest of the articles at Clickz.

Google UK Revenues "Flat"

Google's UK business generated revenues of $776 million in the three months to end-September, according to the Q3 08 earnings statement from the search giant.

Chief financial officer Patrick Pichette told analysts that the "UK showed some softness" with the $776 million equating to a 17% increase on Q3 07.

However, compared with April to June this year, "the UK return is essentially flat...including the impact of currency."

Read rest of story at Travolution.

We're All Going On a Virtual Holiday

From Yahoo News

A new study out today showed that despite the credit crunch, 64 per cent of holidaymakers have or are still planning to take a holiday this year, and over three quarters (77 per cent) of UK internet users said that they use the net to research the holiday they've booked before they leave.

Online advertising to beat the credit crunch?

Travel marketers remain bullish about the performance of online advertising in the face of the current global economic woes. At Google's TravelThink event in New York recently, JupiterResearch reported the results of a travel marketing survey which showed that 94% of travel executives thought online advertising would provide the strongest return on investment compared to other media in the next 12 months. In addition, the study commissioned by Google suggests that some 20% of travel advertisers will spend more than $10 million on online marketing alone.

When questioned about individual marketing tactics, search engine optimisation came out top along with e-mail. "Search is like your Yellow Pages, billboard--everything all wrapped up in one," said Emily Riley, a senior analyst at Jupiter.

Agents' websites score badly on search engine optimisation

From Travel Mole.

An analysis of the websites of 115 Advantage agents in the UK found only 12% scored well when it came to search engine optimisation. According to Click with Technology (CWT), which carried out the analysis, the majority of the independent agents’ websites did not appear at all in searches with Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Only 35% had enough links pointing to their domain to maximise their search engine optimisation and only 49% scored well when CWT looked at indexed pages.

Websites scored better when judged for their content, with 82% of homepages having a clear purpose. But only 29% of websites did a good job of displaying offers and pricing.

Looking at all criteria – content, design and appearance, usability, web-user interaction, e-commerce and search engine performance – Advantage agents scored 63% overall.

More than half of UK travellers now book online.

From Travel Mole.

A recent Ipsos MORI poll for ABTA shows that more than half of UK travellers book their holidays and travel online. A total of 57% of people booked their last foreign holiday online, with just 19% doing so by telephone.

The 25 to 44 year old age group were the most web-savvy with 68% saying they booked their last holiday online.

The survey of 702 people found that holidaymakers in the Greater London region were the most likely to book a holiday online (68%) compared to the West Midlands, where holidaymakers were least likely to book online (45%).

Holiday Rental TV – the first video portal for vacation rentals.

Turismotec Ltd announces the launch of Holiday Rental TV (www.HolidayRental.tv), the world’s first video-sharing portal dedicated exclusively to vacation rentals.

Internet video is the ideal medium for vacation rental owners to use to showcase their property and for consumers to get a real feel for the layout and character of a holiday home before they book. Until now it has been difficult for property owners to get their videos in front of potential customers.

The launch of Holiday Rental TV provides a single source of worldwide vacation rental videos for people looking to book a vacation. For vacation property owners, Holiday Rental TV offers an opportunity to broadcast their holiday home video to interested consumers from around the world – and free of charge.

Holiday Rental TV has just completed 3 months of successful beta testing and is now ready to accept video submissions from vacation property owners worldwide.

“People just don’t trust photos anymore - they’re static and easily manipulated”, explained Mark Scriven, Turismotec Ltd M.D – “Video is a much more effective medium for presenting a vacation rental and its 360° perspective reduces the risk of a consumer paying thousands of dollars for an unsuitable property. Consumers are increasingly expecting a more informative and dynamic experience when they look to make expensive purchases online and Holiday Rental TV will provide just that.”

Property owners and agents are able select from a number of paid advertising options if they wish to enhance the visibility of their video on Holiday Rental TV. In addition, a video editing service is available to property owners who do not have the time or expertise to produce their own video presentation.