Blog homeTravolution, a UK based online travel mag, have a new edition coming out shortly.
This edition is focussed on user experience. Wonderful. I love travel website user experience…. indeed I named my own company, Travel UCD after the User Centred Design methodology …. and we incorporated in 2002!
However, I don’t fully agree with the premise that has been put forward by David Bicknell via the Travolution cover story:
Travolution has been campaigning that a concerted effort by travel companies to improve user experience on websites can only benefit their consumers, and the sector as a whole. That is because consumers will want to develop a relationship with a site that makes it easy for them to research, book and enjoy their travel experience.
Firstly - what are Travolution doing campaigning? Are they political now? (I guess if they are going to be politicians, us blogger bods can be journalists!)
The point is, YES - if user experience on an individual website improves - that will benefit consumers that use that particular website. Commercially it is a great idea. No doubt about it.
However, I am concerned that the barrier to entry for smaller travel companies is now becoming greater and greater. I firmly believe that the web enables the smaller travel companies to compete with the big guys. Previously if you were a medium sized tour operator it would benefit you joining a larger travel industry group as you would have access to their highstreet based distribution channel. No longer.
Now, if I were a medium sized tour operator I would be looking towards the web. No need to merge with another larger group in order to gain access to their distribution channels.
I believe that user experience improvements, although ideal for individual companies and their users, actually will hinder the sector overall. It will make it too hard for smaller companies to gain a toehold within the travel industry. Only a few companies will come out at the top. Its a battle to extinction with just one or two big winners.
A healthy online travel sector is one that still has the niche travel industry companies still able to compete successfully.
We don’t want a situation like the record industry where independent record labels have to stop trading because they can’t get access to the same distribution contracts as the larger guys.
Anyway, it is still an interesting cover story. Go and read it.
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oh dear. you do like to try and be controversial don’t you!
Campaigning does not necessarily mean political. And since when did publications NOT campaign??!
Anyway, if our ‘campaign’ has a message it is - for the benefit of consumers - that the travel sector as a whole should improve its user experience online.
There is nothing wrong with a call to action like that.
I also disagree with your analysis.
Good user experience does not necessarily mean soaring costs, so small web firms would not necessarily find themselves squeezed out.
It is about UE + clever (though not always heavy) marketing + right partnerships that allows small web companies to grow and succeed.
Anyway, the other reason to ‘campaign’ about something is because it generally makes for good copy and starts the debate.
adios.
Hi Kevin,
Basically we are agreeing. User experience is critical. Indeed so critical that it is one remaining area for travel websites to generate competitive advantage over similar websites with similar products & technology.
Therefore yes money will be thrown at the problem. Which is fine for those who want to play those games as it will benefit them from an ROI perspective. It is possible to achieve a high user experience without spending significant money - but the skills to achieve this are in short supply (and not found in every web designer’s toolbox)
I was making the wider point about how, if this level of increased investment becomes the norm then smaller players will not be able to compete except by going through existing or new web based distribution channels - which is how it was 5-10 years ago. I don’t think we want to go back to that (although many larger travel distribution companies probably would….)
Good luck with the campaign
Incidentally, I see the same issue on content on travel websites
See
http://www.tourcms.com/blog/2007/09/24/the-hotel-description-arms-race-is-it-time-for-a-truce/
Hi Alex,
I take your point about smaller players struggling to compete.
Having written the original piece, I’ve subsequently spoken again with Paul Dawson from Conchango who
suggests 2008 will be a key year in addressing Web 2.0 issues:
“15% of IT managers’ budgets for development projects this year should be attributed to user initiatives. If not, a company is going to struggle. Why? Because good user experience means people come back, and if they like what they see, they’ll tell their friends. Products, price and delivery are becoming less of a differentiator; experience and usability are becoming increasingly important.”
I did like your analogy of the ‘arms race’. I agree that hoteliers will be holed up (in their own hotels?) struggling to fight their corner in a content battle they can’t win.
David
(See my RFID blog at http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/RFID-blog/)