Exalead’s semantic search technology targets improved consumers’ online experience when booking holidays

Exalead’s semantic search technology targets improved consumers’ online experience when booking holidays

Exalead, a global information access solutions and search-based applications provider for the enterprise and on the web, is claiming that travel websites can improve their conversion revenue, ad clickthrough revenue and improve consumers’ online travel booking experiences by using its Smart Search for Travel and Leisure solution.

A survey conducted by eDigitalResearch, on behalf of Frommer’s Unlimited, to ascertain users’ online experiences while searching for holidays, found that “half of all travellers have struggled with poorly constructed, confusing and inaccurate websites that don’t provide them with sufficient images and information”. Organisations obviously need to work harder at providing a better service, said Exalead.

“Imagine if, instead of using a cumbersome search form, you could simply type ‘Formula 1 in Europe’ and the search returned ticket offers, associated promotions and advertising for travel, accommodation, dining and other relevant attractions,” said Exalead’s UK and Ireland managing director, Raymond Bentinck. “This would significantly improve the consumer’s experience and, at the same time, add revenue for sites and help differentiate them from their competitors.”

Exalead’s Smart Search processes a user’s profile, as well as relevant travel preferences, through observing their behaviour using Exalead’s semantic processing and relevance profiling technology. By interpreting user profiles, user queries and web page views, websites are then able to present personalised, relevant ad placements and social network content that correspond with a user’s stated profile as well as their site behaviour.

Semantics work for Real Travel

Exalead’s semantic technology already enables Real Travel users to evaluate their travel options against other peoples’ experiences found on travel blogs. Real Travel helps more than a million people plan trips each month with advice from other travellers provided in both hotel reviews and travel blogs.

“We needed a powerful search solution that could scale with us and effectively integrate traditional travel data with unstructured web information,” said Real Travel chief executive officer and founder, Ken Leeder. “After a thorough review, our search and data architects concluded that a partnership with Exalead would enable us to accelerate our development efforts and provide travel shoppers with the rich information they need to plan their next trip.”

“At Exalead, we believe activity centred travel arrangements will be a major step forward in making researching and booking travel online much less frustrating for consumers,” concluded Bentinck. “We see an emerging need to match highly customised bundled travel services to users depending on their real time needs thus, improving the value transaction for both the travel customer and supplier.”