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Your support makes all the difference.If you've ever been sweet-talked into booking a holiday by an email advertising low hotel or airline prices for a limited time only, don't worry - you're not alone.
A new survey has suggested that "flash selling", the practice of advertising available space to a select few for a limited time only, is rapidly gaining in popularity.
Almost three out of ten Americans took a last-minute leisure trip last year, according to a survey from leisure marketing firm Ypartnership. One in seven booked the travel as the result of an unexpected email from a travel service supplier - a practice that is on the rise.
With the growth of sophisticated booking systems and customer databases, travel operators such as airlines, train companies and even car rental firms are getting better at knowing when they'll have capacity and when their customers want to travel.
Email shots to regular customers advertising special fares if travelers book by a certain time and travel within restricted dates are now commonplace, occasionally leaving traditional first-time bookers in the dark.
"Our private sales provide another channel for our supplier partners to reach an exclusive audience," said Brian Harniman from kayak.com, which launched a flash-selling members-only site in January. "By using insights from travel search data, our private sale service features great deals at luxurious hotels where we know many people want to stay."
Last week, Kayak competitor Travelocity launched its own Top Secret Hotels site, quoting savings of up to 70 percent on the regular hotel rate for users prepared to make "opaque" bookings - where the name and exact location of the hotel is not disclosed until the booking process is complete. Travelocity estimates that 20-30 percent of travellers are now looking for opaque deals, a practice originally introduced by Hotwire.com in 2000.
Tablet Hotels is another group that has made a name for itself in the flash-selling market. Every Tuesday to Thursday, it posts hotel deals for members that are "too good to be public". Jetsetter, a private community, features its own limited five-to-seven-day sales too, offering specific rates via email to its invitation only membership base.
Ypartnership's research suggested that high-income households were more likely to respond to "flash-selling" deals, which could account for the high-end nature of many time-limited sales. But with flash-selling brand names now establishing a significant Twitter and Facebook presence (AirFareWatchdog.com has over 34,000 followers on the microblogging site, for example) this exclusivity may not last for long - and "flash selling" can only gain in popularity.
http://www.ypartnership.com
http://www.jetsetter.com
http://www.tablethotels.com/
http://www.kayak.com
http://www.travelocity.com
http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/
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