Sabre Holdings has acquired IgoUgo.com, which has more than 350,000 members who communicate by writing and posting travel journals and photos of their experiences.
IgoUgo, which has collected 300,000 journals and 200,000 photographs, has licensed out its community to various travel companies.
Sabre says it has also launched what it calls the industry’s first travel key word search engine on the site.
“Unlike existing travel price comparison search engines, IgoUgo’s new search engine does not provide price-based results,” according to Sabre’s announcement.
“Instead, it improves the relevancy of keyword search results when the consumer is conducting research and planning on the Web.”
That feature removes the clutter of responses that are not travel-related and associated with traditional search engines such as Google, Sabre says.
An example is the word “java.” When a consumer enters the word, the search engine only returns travel related Web results and filters out references to coffee or other areas.
Said Eric J. Speck, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Sabre Holdings:
“Developing a keyword search engine specifically for travel is a natural extension of Sabre’s 30-plus years of experience in travel search technology.”
The enhanced IgoUgo site will enable Sabre to participate in the growth of paid search advertising.
Report by David Wilkening
