Starwood promotes luxury destinations

Despite a declining travel market, Starwood recently began the first branding campaign for their Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts. This category includes “65 of the world’s finest resorts in 26 countries.” In May, the average daily rate increased on pace with inflation (at 3.2%) and occupancy is down 1.6%. The new site, Luxurycollection.com, includes National Geographic photography and a global event calendar.

(BrandWeek “Starwood Spotlights Luxury Collection”)

airlines enter new ad space

With fuel costs soaring (no pun intended), airlines are resorting to new ways of bringing in extra cash. Less controversial than the checked bag charges, some airlines are now selling ad space on boarding passes. Advertisers have the opportunity to target consumers who they know will be in a specific place on a specific day. The ads are also unobtrusive, so travelers shouldn’t mind the addition (especially if it keeps costs from going up even more).

(International Herald Tribune “Airlines start placing on ads on boarding passes”)

TripAdvisor network acquires new sites

Last Tuesday, TripAdvisor announced their purchase of VirtualTourist.com and OneTime.com. InterActiveCorp owns TripAdvisor, as well as Hotels.com, Expedia, and Hotwire. The network now owns a laundry list of niche travel sites. Sites such as these are extremely popular with consumers, for finding up-to-date information from peers and the industry.

(MediaPost “Two Travel Sites Get On Board With TripAdvisor”)

luxury sites team up

JustLuxe.com and online concierge RedButler are working together to create their “Luxury Lounge.” The site will bring JustLuxe content conveniently to RedButler users.

(Source: MediaPost “JustLuxe Partners with RedButler”)

summer travel

American Express has the greatest share-of-voice of travel advertisers, according to The Media Trust Company.

Rankings, including SOV:

• American Express 5.43%
• Best Buy with 4.40%
• MasterCard 3.83%
• Vonage 3.63%
• Best Western 3.51%
• Subaru 2.76%
• AT&T Wireless 2.75%
• United Airlines 2.72%
• Marriot 2.63%
• AT&T 2.36%

By industry:

• Car rental: CarRental.com, 45.57%
• Hotel: Best Western 25.22%
• Airline: United Airlines 42.27%
• Credit card: American Express 46.53%

(Source: Center for Media Research “Leading Advertisers to Start-of-Summer Travelers”)