EasyCruises use eBay to raise money for a good cause

Sometimes, when launching a new travel agency, it is helpful to receive some positive PR. If you can help support people in need at the same time then this is a double benefit.

EasyCruises.com.au , a Sydney based cruise specialist, have created a micro site - CrusingForAGoodCause.com.au. The principle behind the site is that it highlights a no-reserve auction taking place on eBay Australia for a 10 night cruise on a Royal Caribbean trip in December this year. All proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross Sichuan earthquake appeal.

I always like seeing existing web based tools being applied sensibly - and the cruise looks nice as well. Frankly, after the week I am having, I wouldn’t mind going on the cruise myself!

Auctions have been problematic for online distribution in travel. Firstly it ties up availability for the period of the auction. Once you have committed inventory to an auction you could find it difficult to sell via another channel, especially if your inventory is limited. Secondly, as travel products are so diverse, while in principle a type of product is what a customer wants - actually finding enough customers who want a specific travel product and rate combination on a specific travel date can be tricky - hence market rates are never really attained through auctions due to insufficient demand.

Auctions that are “one offs” or are based on charity events don’t have these concerns.

I probably ought to disclose that EasyCruises are a customer. They use TourCMS (the reservation system my company runs). Actually I am quite excited by that. Cruise products are notoriously complex travel products however, with a bit of tweaking, EasyCruises have made good use of our functionality. You can see the integration - and book the above trip - on the EasyCruises website.

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