Archive for the ‘Traditional Travel’ Category

Traveling Smart With an Online Travel Business

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Smart travelers have long known the benefits of vacationing through an online travel business. Online travel businesses tend to be easier to navigate. Since the business makes most of its money online, having easily accessible information and a user-friendly system is beneficial and most profitable to the company as well as the vacationer. Typically, an online travel business will have better access to great travel deals and with low overhead costs are better able to pass the savings along to their customers.

Online travel businesses are extremely convenient and easy to use. Since their business is promoted online and their customers are dealt with on the internet, online travel businesses have incredibly user-friendly systems. In most cases, the online travel business will walk customers through the entire booking process and provide as much information as possible to make the process easy. Customers can research and book their entire vacations online from home without having to interact with a travel agent who might have an alternative agenda (such as commission). With online travel businesses, customers have easy access to all of the available information at the click of a button. Nonetheless, should the occasion arise that a person is needed to answer questions, typical online travel businesses have staff on hand to respond to inquiries.

Online travel businesses also tend to have better deals and discounts than traditional travel agents. The online services have equal access to great deals and savings. With a traditional travel agent, the deals and savings vary greatly depending on the individual agent and their capabilities and connections. Online travel businesses do not have this problem. Every customer of the business has access to the same information and is able to book their vacations based on all the information presented. Online companies are also better equipped to offer great package deals to their customers. With reciprocal advertising programs and promotions, online travel businesses can receive great savings and special promotions. These savings and promotions can then be passed down to the clients. Unlike traditional travel agents, an online travel business can offer open access to all of their customers for all of their travel bargains.

Thanks to the upfront nature of online travel businesses, customers also have the opportunity to read many reviews and receive plenty of information about the prospective vacation. Hotels, cruise liners, and much more provide the online travel business with plenty of information and advertisements to entice patrons. These online companies have the additional benefit of allowing vacationers and patrons to write reviews and leave comments about destinations and activities. This ensures that the traveler is well aware of what they are purchasing and the great deals that are ahead of them.

Because of the simplicity of the online travel business, booking a vacation can be quick and painless. All of the information is directly at the prospective traveler’s fingertips. By dealing directly with online travel companies, prospective vacationers also have the capabilities to compare and contrast competitive pricing from various other travel companies. A process that once took weeks to finalize, can be completed within just a few short minutes.

The simplicity of the online travel business website makes it so everyone can easily gather information for a speedy and cost-efficient travel experience. These travel businesses have great connections and a wide network of reciprocal promotions that guarantee great pricing. The online travel businesses also offer these great savings to all of their customers on an equal basis. Open forums of reviews and comments are great tools for travelers to ensure that their vacation experience is optimal and not riddled with surprises. With just a few clicks of a mouse, a great vacation can be booked in minutes.

Travel Jobs & How to Make Money While You Travel

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

Ever had the desire to quit your lame 9 to 5 job, tell your boss to shove it, pack up and start traveling the world?


All of us have had that desire at one point! The thing that stopped you was probably the same thing that stops most people: money.


“How will I pay for my flights, food, lodging, transportation, yada, yada, yada,” you asked yourself.


Don’t let these concerns bother you too much, because there is an underground, growing group of travelers who are utilizing some simple but hidden techniques to make significant incomes while traveling.


Here’s an overview of how we make money traveling and by landing travel jobs:

Underground Travel Income Method #1 – Traditional Travel Job - Hold a job that either a) pays for us to travel or b) is located in the place we wish to travel to. This is the lowest paying and most complicated method of all, but is the most commonplace.


Common jobs that pay for travels are for professional speakers, salespeople, package couriers, flight attendants, travel nurses/doctors, conservationists, cruise ship workers, etc.


Travel jobs located in the places we wish to go to can be any of the above, but also are specific to the location we travel to. There are some FUN jobs overseas that are looking for foreign workers!


Underground Travel Income Method #2 – Travel Writing –
Travel writing jobs for magazines are more common than you may imagine. However, there are LOADS of other ways to write as you travel and make money, including blogging, picking up projects from sites like Elance and Guru, and writing travel guides, both online and offline.


Underground Travel Income Method #3 – Selling Affiliate Products –
Using a simple website, you can drive online traffic to a product that will be of interest to your online followers. Don’t be intimidated by this! It can be as easy as using your very own Facebook or Myspace profile. Affiliate products typically pay 50% to 75%, so you can make a very healthy income for selling just a few objects.

Underground Travel Income Method #4 – Filming Your Adventures – If you’ve got the camera out and you’re taking pictures, why not switch it to ‘film’ mode and make money from it? You simply make a video of your destinations using iMovie or Windows Movie Maker, then use your videos to create a customer base!

Underground Travel Income Method #5 – Podcasting – If filming scares you off or intimidates you, you can make an iTunes podcast. It is easier than ever to get listed in iTunes and there’s a HUGE audience of podcast listeners. Simply talk about the places you visit two or three times a week and watch how your following grows… and how your bank account grows!

Underground Travel Income Method # 6 – Ebay – The common misconception about Ebay is that you have to sell a physical product to make money. Here’s the trick: You can set up a fulfillment house to ship your product (or hire your little sister or the neighborhood kid). All you have to do is create your Ebay post from an internet café and collect the money!


Take any one of these six ‘travel job’ methods, and there are hundreds of travelers all over the world making more money than they would at a regular ‘job…’ and they’re living it up at exotic, world-class destinations. Take your pick, and take action on the ideas here!


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Online Hotel Bookings Exceed Traditional Travel Agent Bookings

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

Technology has always played a significant role in the travel industry but none could have predicted the monumental rise in online bookings. The hotel industry has seen tremendous growth in the past few years as millions of hotel properties are now offering their guests online bookings.

The potential for this growth has become more apparent in South Africa as the 2010 Football World Cup approaches. BookMyRoom-SA has seized upon this opportunity and offer guests a wide of South Africa hotels, guesthouses, self-catering and safari lodges to book online.  BookMyRoom-SA allows for instant booking with a secure payment facility, compared to many other South African websites that only offer the enquiry service. This service is fast becoming outdated as guests become more demanding in wanting to secure and pay for their accommodation in just a few minutes.

Online hotel reservations have therefore become a very popular method for booking hotel rooms as travelers from around the world can make room reservations from the comfort of their home. There are primarily two ways in which one can make an online booking, namely – Online Booking Services and travel agents.

A recent survey taken in 2008 says that only 39% of travel sales are made through travel agents, whereas the remaining 61% are made through online booking services. Clearly, the percentage of travelers making bookings through travel agents is less than half compared to bookings made directly at on online booking services. BookMyRoom-SA provide guests with real time availability where guests can view the hotel images, location, information about prices making it a lot easier for guest to book and pay for rooms.

One big reason why majority of the customers are using online booking services to make their reservations is because websites have significantly improved their design providing better navigation and content. BookMyRoom-SA has a range of South African hotels with an online booking engine provides real time, multi-lingual and multi-currency solution with a wide range of payment options. High security standards provide the utmost ease of booking, influencing customers’ decision making, ultimately reinforcing loyalty.