The weekly news roundup: KAYAK’s analysis on hotel bookings for Rio 2016 Olympics, airline reviews at TripAdvisor, Copa Airlines’ digital transformation
HOTELS: Road to Rio 2016: When and how travellers are planning their stay
The Rio 2016 Olympics (August 5-21) is less than a month away. Despite the numerous concerns over the Games – from the Zika virus (mosquito-borne illness) to water pollution and political unrest due to Brazil’s economic recession – more than half a million sports fans from around the world are on the road to Rio.
Rio de Janeiro welcomes visitors from all over the world to its greatest sporting event. (Image credit: dolphinphoto/iStock)
Travel search engine KAYAK is lending a helping hand to the travellers by showing them how they can get value for money during their stay in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) for the Games.
From analysing its search data KAYAK found a 83% surge in hotel searches in Rio for August. The data also revealed the ways travellers are planning their stay in Rio, and when they book accommodations to get the best deals.
Here are the key findings:
- Most visitors searching for hotels in Rio come from the home base of Brazil, France and Great Britain.
- Price is a major consideration when booking accommodation for these sports fans, with 41% opting for 3 star hotels while 35% choose 4 stars.
- Hoteliers are pumping up the room rates of 3 star and 4 star hotels in the second and third weeks of August by up to 281% more per night,
- Most travellers plan to stay three weeks in Rio for the duration of the Games, with the most popular check-in date on August 5 and check-out date on August 21.
- Checking-in on a Saturday and checking-out on a Monday can save travellers up to 47% on the average hotel rate per room per night, compared to the most expensive combinations over the week.
AVIATION: Airline reviews take off at TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor has introduced a new airline reviews platform, which includes all major airlines globally, expanding its massive base to 350 million traveller reviews and opinions.
Travellers can now review airlines on TripAdvisor.
With this platform travellers can share their feedback, both good and bad, about all major airlines around the globe.
The global travel site has also introduced a newly redesigned Flights search service and beta launched its “flyscore” that rates the quality of each air travel itinerary for consumers.
The flyscore “helps demystify the flight shopping experience” by displaying a scale of 1-10 for individual flights based on the power of qualitative traveller reviews, the quality of the aircraft, in-flight amenities and the duration of the itinerary. Travellers can use the score to search for the best flight options before booking.
The reviews platform also showcases more comprehensive information about in- flight amenities, such as power ports and the type of in-flight WiFi available to flyers.
Additional enhancements to flight search are expected to follow later this year.
“The time has come for a better way to research, compare and shop for flights,” said Bryan Saltzburg, TripAdvisor’s senior vice president and general manager, global flights business.
“Additionally we’ve introduced a set of new features within our search experience to help consumers better understand the true value of air travel beyond price,” he added.
TripAdvisor said it has launched airline reviews in 48 markets in 29 languages.
Airlines that have embraced the reviews platform include Air New Zealand, ANA, Cebu Pacific, China Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, HK Express, THAI Smile, Virgin Australia, Aer Lingus, Aeroflot, AeroMexico, Air Canada, Transavia, Westjet and WOW Air
MOBILE: Copa Airlines works with MTT for its digital transformation
Copa Airlines, a leading Latin American airline and Panama’s flag carrier, has enlisted MTT, a Travelport company and provider of digital travel solutions, to help in its digital transformation.
Copa Airlines’ customers can manage their loyalty programme on the new apps.
Together with MTT, the airline has launched new apps for both iOS and Android devices to meet the needs of its increasingly digital savvy customers.
The apps, available in Spanish, Portuguese and English, focus on ease of use to ensure wide adoption among its millions of passengers in North, Central and South America and The Caribbean.
Among the features of the new apps are a slick and speedy check-in flow, interactive seat map, real-time flight status information and information such as flight dates and booking references.
The airline’s passengers are able to easily access and manage their ‘Connect Miles’, the carrier’s loyalty programme, via a personalised dashboard in the app.
According to MTT, further enhancements to the apps are planned in future updates.
Marco Ocando, senior marketing, e-business, and communications director of Copa Airlines, said the carrier was constantly innovating to provide the best options for its customers.
“As part of our strategy of digital transformation we seek to modernise our platforms to the easiest way for the client and, together with MTT, the experts in the field, we expect to overturn the traditional travel planning and verification progress, to a more interactive and user-friendly model.”
• Featured image credit (Rio’s Ipanema beach): dabldy/iStock
