Lowcostholidays

lowcostholidays
Industry Travel,Tourism
Founded 2004
Headquarters Palma de Mallorca, Spain (former London)
Key people
 Paul Evans, CEO
Products Flights, package holidays, hotels and resorts
Number of employees
 500+
Website www.lowcostholidays.com

Travel company, lowcostholidays, is the consumer-facing brand of the lowcosttravelgroup which was founded in 2004. It operates to destinations worldwide, with a focus on European city and beach breaks. The site offers accommodation and dynamically packaged holidays from over 350 airlines and 240,000 hotels. Around 500 people work for the brand, which is based in Palma de Mallorca, with additional offices located in London, Atlanta and Sydney. lowcostbeds, the groups Swiss-based, trade-only bed bank is live in 47 countries. It provides over 240,000 hotels to agents, ranging from budget to five star accommodation and covers destinations worldwide.

History

lowcostholidays was founded in 2004 by CEO, Paul Evans, and currently operates in 13 different markets. Evans has a background in the travel industry, where he worked for companies including Saga Holidays, Airtours/My Travel Group, First Choice and Holiday Hotels. lowcostholidays’ former headquarters were located in East Grinstead, before relocating to offices just outside Gatwick Airport, in summer 2011. The brand then moved its business to Palma de Mallorca, Spain, in November 2013.[1] Following the move Evans responded to criticism, saying, “We are centralising our lowcostholidays business and simplifying our structure…having a single trading entity, through which all of our holidays are sold, means we can achieve significant efficiencies and cost savings.”[2]

The brand’s German site was the first to launch internationally,[3] followed by a further nine European sites. In June 2013, lowcostholidays launched its single parent holidays campaign, offering lone parents cheaper rates on selected hotels when travelling with children.[4] The same month, their Secret Hotels programme launched,[5] allowing customers access to cheaper beach breaks by booking an undisclosed hotel.

In early 2014, lowcostholidays expanded further, opening offices in Atlanta, USA[6] and Sydney.[7] The brand now operates in 13 different countries, with websites in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Australia and the USA. As lowcosttravelgroup reached its 10th Anniversary, it forecasted it would provide holidays for over 2.5 million customers in 2014.[8]

Awards

lowcostholidays was named ‘Best Tour Operator-Agent Website’ at the 2009 Travolution Awards.[9] In 2010, the company won Travolution’s ‘Rising Brand of the Year.’[10] It featured in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 League Table twice, in 2009 and 2011[11] and won ‘Best Optimised/Responsive Mobile Website’ at the MOMA (Marketing on Mobile Award) Awards in early 2013 .[12] The UK site has also been nominated for ‘Best Travel Blog’ and ‘Best Use of Mobile’ in 2014’s Travolution Awards .[13] The brand’s Irish site, lowcostholidays.ie, was voted ‘Best Online Travel Agent’ in 2013 by the Irish media.

Marketing

lowcostholidays launched its first TV advert, created by MPG Media Contacts, in June 2011.[14] A year later, a national bus campaign was launched, the messaging stating, ‘I bet you can’t guess what we do’; later replicated in a similar, ‘Does what it says on the bus’ campaign in September 2013.[15]

In October 2012, lowcostholidays offered a free holiday to a man named Thomas Cook, after he failed to secure a break from the travel company of the same name. In June the following year, the brand created a YouTube advert, consisting of UGC submitted by social fans in their Little Stars competition - the video generating over 126,000 views. In late 2013 and early 2014, lowcostholidays partnered with creative agency BETA to produce a selection of TV adverts that aired in the UK, Sweden and Denmark. The campaign continued into 2014, with 10 second, destination focused adverts appearing in the lead up to summer. In October 2012, lowcostholidays offered a free holiday to a man named Thomas Cook, after he failed to secure a break from the travel company of the same name.[16]

In June the following year, the brand created a YouTube advert, consisting of UGC submitted by social fans in their Little Stars competition - the video generating over 126,000 views.[17] In late 2013 and early 2014, lowcostholidays partnered with creative agency BETA to produce a selection of TV adverts.[18] that aired in the UK and Ireland.[19] The campaign continued into 2014, with 10 second, destination focused adverts appearing in the lead up to summer.[20]

References

  1. ↑ Draper, Elle. "LowCostHolidays moves to Palma, Mallorca". Spain Buddy. Gandy-Draper. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Hayhurst, Lee. "Evans bites back after CAA slams Lowcost's 'unacceptable' Spain switch". Travelweekly. Travel Weekly. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  3. ↑ Robertson, Edward. "Lowcost Travel Group launches first of 16 European websites". Travel Weekly. Travel Weekly. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  4. ↑ "lowcostholidays launches campaign for single parent families". lowcosttravelgroup. lowcosttravelgroup. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  5. ↑ "Lowcost launches first 'secret hotels' programme for beach resorts". Travel Mole. Travel Mole. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Baran, Michelle. "U.K.-based Lowcostholidays launches U.S. consumer site". Travel Weekly. Northstar. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "Lowcostholidays.com launches Australia site". Travolution. Travel Weekly Group Ltd. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Koumelis, Theodore. "53% rise in sales for global lowcosttravel Group". TravelDailyNews. TravelDailyNews. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  9. ↑ "Travolution Awards 2009: Winners and photos". Travolution. Travel Weekly Group LTD. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  10. ↑ "Travolution honours the best in online travel". Travolution. Travel Weekly Group LTD. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "Fast Track 100". Fast Track. Fast Track. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "Archive Results for Awards". MOMA. The Drum. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  13. ↑ "2014 Finalists". Travolution Awards. Travel Weekly Group. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  14. ↑ Eleftheriou-Smith, Loulla-Mae. "Lowcostholidays.com boosts awareness with first TV campaign". Marketing. Haymarket. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  15. ↑ "National Advertising Campaign". lowcosttravelgroup. lowcosttravelgroup. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  16. ↑ Oliver, Amy. "A man called Thomas Cook, a holiday firm without a sense of humour, and how a small company scored a PR victory over the travel giant thanks to Facebook". Mail Online. Associated Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  17. ↑ May, Kevin. "Hey, travel companies – the secret to winning on YouTube: use kids being cute". Tnooz.com. Tnooz. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  18. ↑ "Lowcost Holidays' January campaign to make up for digital marketing decline". Travolution. Travel Weekly Group LTD. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  19. ↑ "TV and weather boost lowcostholidays". Travel Daily Media. Travel Daily Media. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  20. ↑ Ishbel, Macleod. "Lowcostholidays urges travellers that they don’t need to go high cost in new ads". The Drum. Carnyx Group Limited. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
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