ChooseToTravel.com goes global.

Chris Knights (Co-Founder) | 17 July, 2010
ChooseToTravel.com now provides a global hotel booking engine with over 60,000 hotels.

Over the last few months we have been working on amalgamating our properties from our various Choose branded sites into ChooseToTravel.com. Today I'm pleased to announce go live! This has also been extended to our Travel Guides sections.

As hotels sign up on the various Choose branded sites and as travel guides get added, we now push these onto ChooseToTravel.com extending both exposure and reach.

Essentially we are trying to address both repeat customers (who know and trust our brand) and those whom are not so sure where they wish to travel. Both now have a single entry point and can research global hotel rates and destination info directly from ChooseToTravel.com.

Assuming they 'Choose' as destination they can also visit the appropriate Choose branded site for detailed info about their destination.

Add your listing for Free!

Jonathan Shaw (Co-Founder) | 28 May, 2010
In today's business scenario constant change and innovation is a must and for us, owning and managing a web business, this change is more dynamic and embedded in the organisation's culture.

Consumer generated content is key to maintain a healthy level of content which is constantly growing and more important satisfying the millions of online searches done daily

Our new listings facilty is our latest development and is a great platform for local businesses and services to list their offering. We have created over 140 categories in which such listings can be appropriately posted and the list is also constantly growing.

Our thousands of daily users across multiple destination specific websites do not only book hotels and accommodation online but also research for activities, things to do and things to see. After all, this is what travelling is all about! More Info: ChooseMalta.com/advertise

Do you need a holiday?

Jonathan Shaw (Co-Founder) | 14 May, 2010
At some point in time you have probably come across some sort of article highlighting the benefits of a regular holiday. Other articles are in check-list format and allocate scores according to your answers. Well, I'm of the opinion that if you are ready to stop and read such articles, there is no need to go further and you really need a holiday!

Nonetheless, the idea of planning a summer holiday during the month of May is also deeper than you think. It's been engraved in us throughout our childhood with the eagerness of our school summer recess since day 1. Who does not recall the counting of weeks for school to end for summer? For me, it was a weekly, if not a daily count and a prime topic in my school break!

Not many years ago, the planning of a summer holiday started with the choice of destination. The necessary booking requirements followed suit. Nowadays, low cost airlines, love them or hate them, have in a way revolutionized our holiday planning process and some, if not many, start with the low cost flight schedule and price.
If a destination is available at interesting prices, then the holiday destination choice is easily made! This is not the norm but I'm sure it happens often!

Once a destination is decided upon and flight secure the interesting search and choice of hotel begins. I love booking hotels online and finding a good unique hotel with the required characteristics and location has now become fun and easy due to online innovations. Viewing the hotels' neighbourhood on Google earth and street view is also great, time permitting.

Which brings me to the infamous list of things to do and see...... I tend to shortlist a number of items and relative addressed and then leave it up to mood, weather and last minute decision when on holiday. For me it works as it gives me enough functionality to take advantage of the local area attractions yet giving me flexibility to relax and have no rigid schedule on holiday.

Nonetheless in recent years planning a holiday has become intertwined and runs in parallel to discovering local good restaurants. I'm one of those that envies the food critic that travels the world tasting local cuisine and restaurants.
Whilst travelling, food and eating out is synonymous with the destinations culture and eating well wraps up a great holiday!

So, let's all start planning, we have over 70,000 hotels for you to choose from and for those that discover the ultimate local restaurant, please do email us so we share it on our new restaurant listings!

eCommerce - Taking business a step forward

Jonathan Shaw (Co-Founder) | 30 September, 2009

On Friday 25 September 2009 I was invited to speak at the above titled forum organised by the Malta Communications Authority. The aim of the forum was to highlight 3 local case studies and also launch e-commerce business guidelines for businesses in the Maltese Islands.

Having guidelines to assist local companies is a good initiative especially since a section on taxation and cross-border VAT implications for products and services for EU or Non-Eu clients was also addressed.

I was asked to speak about my business experience in setting up and launching ChooseMalta.com as our first website and eventually all of the other 'Choose' travel sites that we own and manage.

In sharing my experience I vividly recalled the obsession I had with three main areas:

1. How many people visited the site

2. If google had indexed us

3. Number of online orders

I'm writing this in this blog as anyone out there who launched a website can probably relate to these initial 'obsessions'. Reality is that years down the line, you still monitor the above 3 areas, yet not as frequently, as when you launch a new site! Nonetheless, what changes is that the analysis of these 3 areas becomes deeper and more complex.

 

Working hard behind the scenes.

Chris Knights (Co-Founder) | 27 August, 2009

Over the course of the last few months we've been working hard in the background to enhance your overall experience whilst browsing our site. Searching for a hotel can be over-whelming at times, we believe these new features will assist you whilst choosing and booking your hotel.

 

 

Recomendations
Last month, we released our recomendation/profiling framework. Put simply, this framework allows you to see what other customers are searching for and what hotels they are looking and booking. There are now two new 'pods' to look out for...

• What other customers are viewing...
  Located on the hotels homepage, this displays the four most frequently viewed hotels.
   
• Customers who viewed this item also viewed...
  Located on the hotel information pages, this displays four hotels that other customers have viewed similar to your recent search history.

Hotel Reviews (By our customers)
Nice images and - if available - video walk-throughs help when choosing a hotel, however these are almost always provided by the hotel. Over the last year or so we've been collecting reviews from real customers and are pleased to now include these reviews along side the hotel information. These reviews are from genuine customers, catagorised by type of traveler and are not vetted.  These reviews allow you to get advice from real travelers.

Near by Images
So many hotels focus on providing you with images of the hotel and its facilities that they forget to include images of the area. In collaboration with Panaromia (by Google) we now show area photos along side the hotel information to give you a 'feel' for the area.

We hope that these improvements will help you find the information you need to choose the right hotel for you more easily.

Chris

P.S. Last week, we also released some more destinations...

More destinations, more choice...

Chris Knights (Co-Founder) | 8 June, 2009

Eastern Europe is steadily becoming a popular choice among European travellers. With an abundance of architecture and unspoilt country sides these destinations are a perfect choice for the more adventurous traveller.

ChooseToTravel.com has recently launched Slovenia, Romania and Latvia.  Each site contains essential Travel Guides and a vast array of hotels to choose from.

Remember - Take advantage of our price guarantee and our Book now - pay at the hotel policy!

Staycastions

Chris Knights (Co-Founder) | 8 June, 2009

According to Wikipedia a staycation is defined as "A staycation (or stay-cation, or stacation) is a period of time in which an individual or family stays at home and relaxes at home or takes day trips from their home to area attractions"  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staycation.

With the current economic crisis still in swing, we decided to launch a number of sites dedicated to UK travel.  You may not choose to stay at home but prefer to take a break locally; allowing you to 'switch off' and take the family away, whilst not incurring the full costs of a holiday overseas.  Ever been to Bristol or Brighton?  Fantastic places!

So if you're considering a holiday in England (locally or from abroad), then check out our new sites and take advantage of our price guarantee and our Book now - pay at the hotel policy.

 

New Search

Lincoln Grixti (Web Developer) | 28 May, 2009
The new search pod released yesterday is as easy to use as 1 2 3.  All you have to do is type the name of the city, region, or hotel you wish to visit, fill in your travel dates, how many people will be travelling and hit search. 

If more than one destination is found matching your query, or you misspelled it, no worries.  An intermediate page will suggest a list of results and allow you to choose the right one.

If you wish to search for a particular hotel, just type ‘hotel: hotel name’ in the search box and the list of matching hotels with that name will be returned.

We hope you like it and as always all feedback would be appreciated.

More destinations...

Chris Knights (Co-Founder) | 7 April, 2009

Yesterday we added more destinations for you to choose from:

Well done everyone,
Chris

KISS -- Keep it Simple Stupid

Chris Knights (Co-Founder) | 1 April, 2009

This morning we went live with a new look and feel!  We've been meaning to do this for a while and finally we were able to allocate some time to it.

The new look takes it back to basics and as the title of the post states "keeps it simple". 

We hope you like it; all feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks to all involved,
Chris

 

More destinations...

Chris Knights (Co-Founder) | 9 March, 2009

Last week we launched ChooseQatar.com, ChooseBahrain.com and ChooseBeirut.com.  Thanks to all involved.

More soon!

Latest news, in real time.

Chris Knights (Co-Founder) | 16 February, 2009

We are well into the Web 2.0 era and as a company, we strive to keep ourselves and our websites up to date with the latest trends. We launched the NewsFeed last Friday and hope to continually improve it to bring you updates in real time, as they happen.

We believe it is important for our customers to know that we are a very active company and are constantly searching for ways to make online travel easier for you.

As always, should you have any suggestions, do not hesistate to contact us.

More pros for web advertising

Nakita Vassallo (Advertising Manager) | 2 February, 2009

Over the past weekend a friend of mine who works as a web developer was reading our ChooseToTravelcom blog posts and after reading mine pointed out that another important pro for online advertising.

Let's say one has a car equipment shop, so to say, and advertises on TV - chances are that out of 1,000 viewers, only a small percentage is actually interested and purchases vehicle equipment. 

On the web, the stats are different.  Should the same product be advertised on a car website, out of those 1,000 users the probability is that the bulk, not to say all - are people who are into car modifications and the lot and therefore purchase the products.

Seeing it from the point of view of the customer, or potential customer – as a car fanatic I probably wouldn’t be watching much generic TV but I would certainly be checking out car websites!

Web surfers have millions of options and ultimately will view the sites which are parallel to their respective interests and needs – leading to the fact that advertising online is not only the most cost effective, but also the most targeted media around.

Print advertising vs. web advertising and the latter

Nakita Vassallo (Advertising Manager) | 29 January, 2009

Prior to selling online advertising I used to sell print advertising.   Web advertising is so much more effective than print; let’s face it – where are you spending more time…on the web, or reading magazines?

Whilst print and TV advertising may not be as effective because an advert may be easily’ ignored’, there is no such thing as background internet.  The internet users are affixed to the screen whilst TV may be switched on but ignored and magazines may be thrown away…web adverts cannot be recycled…and are always online!

Web advertising is also the most cost effective medium around, allowing you to reach your target audience at the lowest cost-per-thousand.   Having said this, with web advertising you can reach thousands…and expand your potential target market to many times its current size.

Something important to mention is that advertisers must go where their customers are to reach them – and more and more than ever…customers are online.  The simplicity and ease of communication on the internet is of advantage to those advertising online – customers and potential customers can get in touch easily by email and get any query answered without the need of a telephone call/visit.

Web advertising can be easily measured – one can know how many people have seen the advert, or clicked on it – giving one accurate results.

Recently web advertising has secured itself as the preferred advertising method.  Considering web advertising has gained popularity only in the last decade or so, advertising online has gained a very quick popularity rise.

Why kill a tree when you can advertise online? :-)

Hi, my name is Nakita and I'm a talkaholic...

Nakita Vassallo (Advertising Manager) | 27 January, 2009

Have you ever heard of a brilliant salesperson who doesn’t like to talk for hours on end?

My very first word popped out at a mere 6 months old and I could speak in sentences aged one year.  Yes, I learnt to talk before I could walk – your tongue can take you places your feet can never walk to...

It was my gift of the gab, as I like to call it, which landed me my present job at ChooseMalta.com, part of the ChoosetoTravel.com network.  One of my now current bosses, Jonathan (who doesn’t like to be called ‘boss’, but well he’s got to be introduced…) tells me that I had sold him an advert which he didn’t even need…and hey presto…welcome to ChooseMalta.com…

Getting the basics right!

Jonathan Shaw (Co-Founder) | 26 January, 2009

It’s easy to create and launch a website. It’s actually easier than many people think it is. Yet, creating the right platform to suit multiple users with varying internet skills is another story. My background is management consultancy and I have limited IT knowledge.  My partner heads the IT team yet they have a consumer centric approach. This in my opinion is key to any online business. The consumer’s web experience is crucial and this is in my opinion achieved by getting the basics right!

Our travel sites are not perfect and we constantly work to innovate and improve. Key elements are:

   1. Timeliness in product offerings
   2. Fast page download times
   3. Advanced search facilities
   4. Concise and relevant information
   5. Secure and no hidden cost element
   6. Easy to use and navigate

The elements listed above are not rocket science yet we all browse the net and encounter sites which break most of the basic rules. More important, the elements listed above are not just an IT wish list. Like traditional ‘brick & mortar’ companies, these key elements are a constant balance or work between inter-company departments. At Inspire we sincerely inspire to meet and deliver these elements so that consumers and suppliers like you have a great web experience with us. Enjoy!

The Double-C

Jonathan Shaw (Co-Founder) | 3 January, 2009

The first time that the credit crunch (I call it the Double-C) really hit home was in London last November. I was attending the World Travel Market in London with Caroline and the whole mood combined with the slowdown in travel bookings got me thinking. Whilst I believe that the uncertainty element and the extreme media negative exposure does not help this recession will be tough yet not insurmountable. Travel is nowadays a necessity and not a luxury. We all need to escape and get out of our environment and we will still do so, yet with more attention. Some destinations and travel operators will hurt and these are the ones either targeting high yield customers or operators with high costs and exposure. For others it will be an opportunity to embrace this period and become more efficient. For online companies like ours we must now take the opportunity to promote the wide variety of better deals whilst giving better value to the consumer. It’s not easy but it’s not impossible! Within the next 4 months we will all learn how to live with this situation. We cannot control most external factors yet we must learn how to contain them. Basically, learn to live with and around it!

Another move...another office!

Jonathan Shaw (Co-Founder) | 26 October, 2008

We have again taken over new offices at Msida to house our growing operation. The ChooseToTravel.com portfolio and team is growing at the rate of one new memb er of staff a month across the operation which now manages various travel sites including ChooseItaly.com, ChooseDubai.com and ChooseSouthAfrica.com.

The new 463 square metre office space gives us room to grow the business whilst also providing a more inspiring working environment for our dynamic team. We have 3 open pl an floors with operations and IT having one each. The third floor penthouse is a super comfy, Google style canteen with table soccer, Nintendo Wii, large shower/ wet room and a state of the art kitchen. We spend a large chunk of our life at work and a great e nvironment for a ll is crucial! Hopefully we will not move for a couple of years!

 

Hello Nakita...

Jonathan Shaw (Co-Founder) | 2 October, 2008

Nakita was born to sell,  sell and sell! When we set-up the company I was the one in charge of sales and I humbly believe that I did well. Yet, over these years, administration and business development and unfortunately the dreaded financials took a lot of my focus and time.  I was on the look-out for the ideal sales person for quite a while.... until Nakita came along! Online marketing and advertising is the future which we are already living in the present! Our websites get huge international traffic and advertising on our sites provides suppliers and companies with excellent value and rate of return. Nakita’s main role is not just to sell but to also ensure that both our suppliers and consumers get what they require. Nakita is focussed and has unlimited energy and drive. Qualities, which are crucial for any successful sales person! Happy selling Nakita!

Infrastructure upgrade, and Special offers!

Chris Knights (Co-Founder) | 8 September, 2008

It was bound to happen - Our traffic has been growing at a steady rate and sooner or later we were going to have to move our websites to a bigger, more powerful Infrastructure.

This upgrade happened last night and we used it as an opportunity to also launch two exciting new features: Special Offers and Allocation. We have worked on them for quite a while and we're all very happy to finally see them on the live website.

 

As always, feel free to use our feedback form if you have any suggestions.

Thank you,
Marc