Costco Connection - July 2008

travel connection

A new place

to (re)visit

“These allow members to select from a number of featured accommodations, as well as transportation, sightseeing tours and length of stay, to create their own unique experience,” says Shannon.

Costco Travel’s
redesigned Web
site puts the world
at your fingertips
By T. Foster Jones

AS A TRAVELER, I can always find good excuses to revisit places I’ve enjoyed before. In addition to repeating some of the pleasant experiences of previous visits, I invariably discover some new and exciting aspect of the area that I previously overlooked or that has since been created.

I recently had the opportunity to do something similar, in a virtual travel sense, when I logged on to costco.com and clicked on Costco Travel. The online presence of the site has changed dramatically, becoming a much more informative and interactive experience.

Dig deeper

Click on any of the home-page menu selections and you will find there is now a wealth of destination and travel information,

including maps, more detailed hotel descriptions and photos, navigation tools, additional cruise-line and cruise-ship information, and improved cruise-planning content.

“Selling a limited selection of hotels and destinations allowed us to create rich content for the hotels we do offer,” says Matt Browning, information technology director at Costco Travel. “We coupled this with interactive maps that pinpoint the location of each hotel, which you can then click on for even more information. This is a personal touch that you won’t find on most travel sites.”

JUPITER IMAGES

On the cruise menu, you can now make plans by destination—Alaska, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Mexico, Panama Canal, South America and South Pacific—or by cruise line, including Azamara, Carnival, Celebrity, Cunard, Disney, Holland America, Princess, Regent, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn, Silversea, Uniworld and Windstar.

The menu bar at the bottom of the page provides additional information about Costco Travel, including frequently asked questions for single and group travelers as well as other helpful tips. “The buyers at Costco Travel have also created a ‘Hotel Ratings’ menu offering their own honest assessments of properties, which can occasionally differ from a hotel’s self-assessment,” says Shannon.

Home sweet home

As soon as you open Costco Travel’s home page, the launching pad for your virtual (and literal) travel plans, you’ll see several dramatic revisions. The page has been restructured, with a grid of bold, exciting photographs and plain, easy-to-navigate menu options designed to make information about all of Costco Travel’s services—cruises, destinations, rental cars and specialty vacations—simple to find.

“Choosing your vacation should be fun

and hassle-free, so, to make your decision quicker and easier, we’ve added new information and vacation-planning tools,” says Shannon Parker of Costco Travel.

Of particular interest in the center of the page is a selection of vacation packages and destinations listed under the headings of Buyer’s Choice or Your Way.

“The Buyer’s Choice packages include accommodations, transportation and sightseeing tours at particular destinations that are recommended by Costco Travel buyers as particularly good values,” says Shannon. With these packages, the hotels have been selected for you, although the length of your stay can be extended to suit your needs.

For Costco members who want more flexibility in their travel arrangements, Costco Travel has created the Your Way packages.

Connecting For complete vacation information, visit costco.com and click on “Travel” or call Costco Travel toll free at 1-877-849-2730.

Let the experts be your guide

Much of the additional content comes courtesy of Fodor’s, one of the most established destination travel specialists in the world. Shannon says that Fodor’s worked with Costco Travel to provide the most relevant information specific to the destinations being offered to Costco members.

“The intent behind all of this was to allow our members to create a fully realized travel plan, with enough information to allow them to visualize every detail on their itinerary.”