Enhanced booking process lifts easyJet hotel sales

easyJet’s accommodation bookings jumped 60% year-on-year over the past six weeks thanks to changes to its website.

The airline works with TUI Travel-owned Hotelbeds to offer rooms to customers while they are booking flights online and has recently made the booking process easier.

Nick Hughes, head of ancillary revenue at easyJet, said: ‘easyJet and Hotelbeds identified a number of key criteria which consumers needed in place in order to make their hotel selection easier and more engaging.

‘For customers who have already selected their flights on easyJet.com, a wider choice of accommodation with tailored offers is now being presented prior to checkout, and the results have been impressive.

‘We intend to build further upon this convenience for our customers of being able to add hotels to their shopping basket while in the flight booking funnel.’

News about the soaring accommodation sales comes just days after easyJet announced a tie-up with the Lowcost Travel Group to create a ‘very significant player’ in the beach and city holiday market.

Lowcost will provide accommodation and transfers, together with specialist marketing, call centre and customer service expertise, as the pair seek to build a ‘major force in the rapidly growing online market for flexible holidays’.

easyJet also offers customers accommodation on its website after they have booked their flights, with these rooms bookable via another TUI bedbank, LateRooms.com.

Background about easyJet and accommodation deals:
Lowcost wins easyJet holidays contract (08/11/2010)
LateRooms.com and easyJet launch co-branded site (15/05/2009)
easyJet launches package holiday brand (28/06/2007)

Other Hotelbeds news:
TUI Travel turns to Asian and Russian markets (23/10/2008)
First Choice mainstream in for the long-haul (01/05/2007)