Guardian Newspapers has become the first UK national newspaper to launch an online travel auction service. Guardianauctions.co.uk will be contained within the existing Guardian Unlimited website and will allow users to bid on travel-related products such as hotel breaks, flights and holidays. The technology to power the service has been developed by Truition and will see…
Guardian launches travel auction site
Guardian Newspapers has become the first UK national newspaper to launch an online travel auction service.
Guardianauctions.co.uk will be contained within the existing Guardian Unlimited website and will allow users to bid on travel-related products such as hotel breaks, flights and holidays.
The technology to power the service has been developed by Truition and will see various products from Lastminute.com, Thomson and Thistle Hotels used within the auction.
The move is the latest in a series of developments at the Guardian as it looks to position itself as a wider media brand beyond the traditional print offering and news website.
Discussions between the paper and Truition began early last year with a view to developing various auction-based services. Travel is the first of the projects to be unveiled by Guardian Unlimited.
Recently travel price comparison website, Travelsupermarket.com, teamed up with Guardian Unlimited to introduce a web tool that matches travel deals to suit the destination a viewer is reading about.
The feature monitors the destination the user is reading about and programmes a gadget within the article to provide bespoke travel deals.
Chris Pelekanou, deputy advertisement director at Guardian Unlimited, said: “Our readers and users are adventurous, independent travellers who enjoy everything from short city breaks to far-flung destinations.
“This new site will give them the chance to take advantage of great travel deals and at the same time provide an opportunity for travel companies to promote their products to the highest bidder.”
