Kuoni Revolutionises Selling Holidays on Broadband
Kuoni, winner of the Travel Weekly ‘Best Website Award’, is again at the forefront of technology and revolutionising the way holidays are being sold by launching their Kuoni Broadband website.
Sue Biggs, Kuoni Managing Director comments, ‘The launch of this new broadband site is in line with Kuoni’s philosophy of creating dream holidays. The new site focuses on the customers emotional and aspirational experiences whilst planning their holiday, bringing their chosen destination to life, rather than simply following a functional process.’
Matt Rooke, E-Business Manager Kuoni adds, ‘We are delighted to be the first longhaul company in the travel industry to offer this complete revolutionary service. The customer is able to obtain a real taste of the holiday they would like to go on with images from video, audio as well as the 360¡ all round views of the destination and even their chosen hotel room. We are proud to offer this new service as it is as close to ‘try before you buy’ as you can get.’
Kuoni are taking advantage of this changing market environment, and over the coming months are launching 50 broadband websites packed with videos and 360¡ images covering their most popular destinations and hotels around the world. The first country site launched on Monday 10th November covers Kuoni holidays to Barbados (www.broadband-barbados.co.uk
), which can also be accessed from the main homepage (www.broadband-travel.co.uk).
Visitors can view the site from the main homepage which links through a series of maps to regions and countries throughout the world. The Barbados site reflects how all the other country sites will look and includes an introduction along with over 30 minutes of video footage and a selection of 360¡ images of the destination and hotels selected. The hotel pages include key facts such as hotel grade, Kuoni’s Opinion, location and the main facilities of the hotel. From here, the visitor can link through to the Kuoni online booking facility giving them the opportunity to make an informed choice and complete their booking online quickly, easily and efficiently.
The UK internet scene is focused on the use of Broadband internet access, which effectively increases access to the internet by up to 10 times the speed of most common home internet access. Another advantage is the opportunity to include larger images and moving images on a website which for intangible travel products, such as holidays, helps considerably in bringing a destination or hotel virtually to life.
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According to national research, broadband access is currently available in 10% of UK households. However, in line with Kuoni’s quality product aimed at the more affluent market, a customer survey of their target market indicated 40% had broadband access. In addition, the growth in broadband usage is phenomenal (250% in the last 12 months) due to extensive marketing campaigns from BT and the internet service providers, with current figures showing a growth of 40,000 new users every week.
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