Blog homeYesterday Boo.com relaunched - but this time as a travel website. I won’t bore you with the details as for smaller travel companies it is not that relevant.
I can still remember when it was a fashion website - before it went wrong and ceased trading in 2000. Now it is run by Web Reservations International, a company that purchased Worldres (a hotel reservation system company) that I have done some work for in the past. I know therefore that the hotel reservation side of the new Boo will be good.
Anyway, it made me go and take a look at the Wikipedia entry for Boo. There I found an interesting statement - and I quote “One contractor alone was reputed to be earning over £100 an hour”. (This is about USD 200).
I guess this figure was written to shock those reading the entry that the Boo “burn rate” was high. Actually this is pretty much a standard rate, even in 2000, for a specialist IT contractor. Nowadays this is a normal hourly rate for an agency (its still on the high side for an individual IT contractor, unless specialist). I am only shocked that people could get shocked by this rate.
This kind of goes back to the problem that I outlined in my post about skills shortage a few days ago. Let me tell you why.
Take for example a small tour operator - maybe 10-15 staff. The senior staff (normally the founders and owners) will have significant experience in the product side of the business (creating brochures, taking sales calls, handling money, tour operations, pricing the product) - should they get to a problem in any of these areas - they don’t really need a consultant or contractor to come and help - as at some stage in their career (or company history) the senior staff will have done the work “hands on” - and will know it inside out. However, if the problem is with the website (”Why isn’t our website selling more?” or “How do we sell more holidays direct rather than via travel agents?”) - then previous experience in travel product counts for little - and outside help is often required.
With smaller tour operators the first point of call is normally a local web designer - but the problem with local web designers is that they are exactly that - great at putting your brochure online - but that is it. Now I know a lot of web designers - some are even friends - but I wouldn’t ask many of them to create a strategy to increase sales for a niche product (or indeed devise a new product that meets an untapped demand).
So - local web designers (with a rate at say £30-50 per hour (60-100 USD)) - are affordable by smaller travel companies (but only in very limited quantities) - but deliver mixed results. Specialists are expensive - but can deliver solid returns.
Tricky isn’t it.
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