PALO ALTO, Calif. -- They're like the personal ads, the ones that
say "bright, young, single man seeks equally bright, young female
for lunch and maybe candlelight dinner for two."
Except that these ads say such things as "I would like to go
somewhere where I can see historic and cultural sites" or "married
couple with 16-year-old seeks Hawaii package, wants to tour Pearl
Harbor, visit Diamond Head and go deep-sea fishing."
The postings by aspiring travelers are turning up on a new breed
of Web sites such as Respond.com. And like the hopeful personal-column
readers who comb the listings in search of the perfect partner, a
growing number of travel agents are subscribing to on-line
travel-request sites in the hope of finding the perfect
customer.
All of these sites are actively seeking travel agency
participants. Will Clemens, Respond.com's chief executive officer,
said hundreds of agents have signed on in one or more of the
several dozen travel categories available on his site.
The categories range from generalized ones, such as cruises, to
soft-adventure categories that include "mountain-bike riding."
Here's the way Respond.com works: The prospective buyer selects
a category and fills out a form giving some details on the type of
trip wanted, the price range, number of people, number of days and
some specific components.
Respond.com's software selects the sellers to whom the request
will be routed. Sellers get the request without knowing the
identity of the potential buyer and can answer if they choose.
One recent posting, seeking a short cruise, drew a wide range of
replies with divergent prices.
Most of the replies offered specific departure dates and prices
and urged the requester to phone or e-mail an individual at a
particular travel agency. A few replies simply directed the
requester to the agency's Web site.
Clemens said that because Respond.com simply relays the
requests, the company has no hard data on how many sales the travel
providers make, but he said that travel quickly has risen to become
the site's busiest category.
Respond.com also offers products and services from antiques and
apparel to sporting goods and automobiles.
The site also offers a free 30-day trial period for sellers.
After that point, sellers pay according to the number of categories
they select, with fees starting at $10 per month.
Agents differ on the value of participating in the "up for bid"
Internet game.
Respond.com's devotees said the site has broadened the base of
their business, bringing customers from a wider geographical range
and helping the agencies fill in the gaps during slow telephone or
walk-in activity.
Gary Davis of Sunward Adventures in Riverside, Calif., said he
has learned how to fine-tune his use of Respond.com.
"In the beginning we probably signed up for too many categories
... now we're only in a few. But we still get hundreds of e-mails a
day," Davis said.
"We've learned how to sort through them and follow up the ones
we're more likely to close, and we're converting enough to make it
worthwhile."
Rhonda Ekenseair of Escape Travel in Little Rock, Ark., said her
agency gets more than 100 requests a day through Respond.com.
"Things were a little slow at first," she said. "However,
business has picked up a lot. About 25% of the requests are turned
into sales."
Other agents who have tried the service said the time involved
in answering the e-mails hasn't proved worth the results. They said
the majority of requests have been "fishing expeditions" for free
information.
All of the agents contacted by Travel Weekly agreed that
requesters who end up buying through the service are those who
reveal themselves soon after the sellers suggest specific
trips.
One agent said, "you've got to get the requester to come out and
identify themselves right away, then you can get talking to them in
e-mails or on the phone and get something done."
"The ones that don't reveal themselves right away usually are
just window-shopping for information and aren't going to buy from
you."
Respond.com, which began full operation last fall and is funded
by a number of leading investment bankers, said it is still
learning how to make the service more effective.
One way to do that is to encourage sellers to reduce the number
of categories they join. If sellers join too many, they run the
risk of being inundated with e-mails and are less able to sort out
the ones most likely to be productive.