You can be forgiven for not having heard of the new social website on the block, as its still invite only however pinterest.com for me is going to be huge for the travel industry and here’s why…

As described on their website

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Traffic

In the last 6 months visits to Pinterest have risen 4000%, according to TNW in one week in December they received over 11 million unique visitors. Remember they have achieved all this despite being invitation only.

Some companies are reporting greater referral traffic from Pinterest than facebook.

SEO

Search Engine Land also points out that Pinterest is a great way to improve your search engine optimisation as it allows you to back link to your own site.

Viral

The buzz word of marketeers everywhere, viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increased brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives. A good example of Viral marketing was the Cadbury’s Chocolate’s, Gorilla advert, which was popular on facebook and youtube.

Pinterest’s users are loyal but more importantly, active, which increases the chance for your campaign to go viral their recent additional of pinning to facebooks timeline also adds to the viral opportunities.

Engagement

Companies should take every opportunity they can to engage with their customers, Pinterest offers a unique and simple way to interact.

We interacted with more customers in the first week on Pinterest than we did compared to the first week on twitter or facebook.

Pinterest also allows users to re-pin or even comment on the information  you provide, users don’t have to be following you or “like” you.

Shop

Remember when there were tons of independent travel agents on the high street, windows full of holiday offers. Well Pinterest can be that shop window, pin a picture of your holiday, your tour or your car hire offer and add a price to it.

but most importantly…  

Visual

Selling travel is a very visual experience, hence the use of brochures and companies investing heavily on image based websites for example; four season’s recently spent $18 million on their new website.

Pinterest allows companies to create a board based on inspiring images, these images should promote your destination, tour or even car hire.

Do customers react more to an image or to text?

Can an image say more that words?

For me, facebook, google plus and twitter are the go to sites for companies committed to social media, however I think Pinterest is best suited to travel, I for one wont be surprised when a whole host of companies get on board.

You can visit the usrentacar Pinterest board here, for those of you who aren’t on Pinterest yet, but are interested, we still have some invitations left, see our previous post.

regards,

Gavin

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Its almost the weekend… so how about a little bit of fun (I use this word loosely). Are you good a spotting things? Do you like Harry Potter?

If you’ve answered yes to both of these questions why not check out our exclusive Harry Spotter game.

Following the link here - http://www.usrentacar.co.uk/spot-the-difference-harry-potter.aspx

Can you spot all ten differences between these two pictures? If you can, why not email me them at jamest@usrentacar.co.uk and I’ll send you out a small prize.

regards,

James

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With car manufactures getting more and more advanced with their technology offerings, (see our post technology and car rental) the american automotive authority believes the time is drawing near when we’ll get in to our hire cars and not know how to even start them!

Facebook integration, keyless cars and even vehicles run on electricity are becoming the norm, if you’d mentioned this 10 years ago to the average Joe they would have thought you’d gone mental.

Here at usrentacar.co.uk we believe in being prepared, so before you drive out of the parking lot here are 5 things we believe you should know.

1. All drivers should know how to start the car, it use to be straight forward, stick the key in turn it and hey presto, these days its not so simple, take the Prius for example, to turn on the engine you insert the key, push down the brake pedal and press the “power” button….simples.
2. How to Turn on the lights, last thing you need is to be driving in a foreign Country fiddling around the dash board trying to figure out how to switch the lights on after along day at Universal Orlando!
3. How to Switch on the Windscreen wipers, again you don’t want to be caught in a sudden storm and not know how to quickly turn the wipers on.
4. How to open the petrol cap and where its situated on the car.
5. How to disengage the hand brake. (this one came from our facebook page, via John Young) ”I remember sitting trying to figure that one out for ages the first time we hired an SUV. The parking brake release was a button on the dash”.
6. How to operate an automatic, for UK drivers we generally all drive “stick” then change to automatic can briefly throw you, get use to the controls before leaving the car park. (suggested by Adam Robertson via facebook)
7. How to remove the key from the ignition, some vehicles require a push or a reverse twist to remove the key, better to figure this out before you’re miles away from the rental office. (suggested by Paul Bevan via facebook)

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Hi all,

Today’s post is part inspiration part information. As you already know the U.S. offers some wonderful destinations rich with culture and monumental features.

Below I have listed some of the more famous locations you can fly too and included the UK airport you can fly from and the carriers who can get you there.

Boston – (BOS)

Served From – Heathrow

Airlines include – American Airlines, British Airways, Delta, Virgin Atlantic

New York – (JFK)

Served From – London City, Heathrow, Manchester

Airlines include – American Airlines, British Airways, Delta, Virgin Atlantic, Kuwait

New York – Newark (EWR)

Served From – Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester.

Airlines include – Continental/United, British Airways, Delta, Virgin Atlantic, Iceland Express

Washington – Dulles (IAD)

Served From – Heathrow, Manchester

Airlines include – Continental/United, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines

Chicago – O’Hare (ORD)

Served From – Heathrow, Manchester

Airlines include – Continental/United, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines

Orlando International (MCO)

Served From – Glasgow, Gatwick, Manchester

Airlines include – British Airways, Virgin Atlantic

Orlando – Sanford (SFB)

Served From – Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Gatwick, Newcastle, Manchester.

Airlines include – Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomson Airways

Miami (MIA)

Served From – Heathrow

Airlines include – American Airlines, British Airways, Delta, Virgin Atlantic

Tampa (TPA)

Served From – Gatwick

Airlines include – British Airways

Las Vegas (LAS)

Served From – Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester

Airlines include – British Airways, Thomas Cook Airlines, Virgin Atlantic

Los Angeles (LAX)

 Served From – Heathrow

Airlines include – Air New Zealand, American Airlines, British Airways, Continental/Untied, Virgin Atlantic

San Francisco (SFO)

Served From – Heathrow

Airlines include – Continental/United, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic

Denver (DEN)

Served From – Heathrow

Airlines include – British Airways

Atlanta (ATL)

Served From – Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester

Airlines include – British Airways, Delta

Houston (IAH)

Served From – Heathrow

Airlines include – Continental/United, British Airways

Dallas Fort Worth (DFW)

Served From – Heathrow, Manchester

Airlines include – American Airlines, British Airways

Remember usrentacar.co.uk offers car hire USA from all the airports mentioned above.

regards,

James

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I’ve been having a look through the data collected from all our customers who have picked up USA Car Hire from us in 2011 and come up with a few….. ummm… interesting is the wrong word… ummm… random facts perhaps?

What’s in a name?

Now looking at the data, we can see that most lead driver’s are male and although usrentacar.co.uk is a global brand we note that the top 3 first names are

1. Paul
2. David (includes variants)
3. Robert (includes variants)

How?

From our data we can also see that more male’s take advantage of our website than females to make their car hire bookings.

On the other hand more females take advantage of booking via our call centre than males.

What’s in a number?

We attract more 18-24 y/o than we do 44-54 y/o but we attract more 55-64 y/o than we do the youngsters however our biggest age group is the 25-34 y/o market.

1. 25-34
2. 55-64
3. 18-24
4. 44-54

What’s in a vehicle?

I’ve already posted this information previously but the most popular vehicles rented this year were;

1. Intermediate Sports Utility – Ford Escape or similar
2. 7 Seater Minivan – Dodge Caravanor similar
3. Convertible 2dr – Ford Mustang or similar

Where you live?

1. United Kingdom
2. USA
3. Italy

within the UK

1. London
2. Glasgow
3. Edinburgh

Conclusion

So if you’re a male, your name is Paul, you’re aged 25-34, you live in London and you are looking to hire an Intermediate Sports Utility then….. it looks like you’ll be booking with us

Kind regards,

James

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Following on from yesterdays most popular vehicles of 2011 I thought I’d divulge the top 10 Car Hire USA pick up locations for 2011.

Now the list will be prodominatley Florida heavy due to the amount of UK visitors the U.S. state receives however its good to see from non-Florida pick ups creep in this year.

Top 10 Car Hire USA Pick up Locations 2011

1. Orlando International Airport (MCO)
2. Sanford International Airport (SFB)
3. Miami International Airport (MIA)
4. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
5. Tampa International Airport (TPA)
6. Las Vegas International Airport (LAS)
7. San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
8. Denver International Airport (DEN)
9. Phoenix International Airport (PHX)
10. Fort Myers International Airport (RSW)

Orlando International Airport continues to dominate for us Brits, but when you look past the top 10 some of our customers are looking to hire in some truly niche locations like Wilmington, Delaware and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Where would you most like to collect from?

regards,

James

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On Sunday I drove myself and the family up to Birmingham to visit the inlaws (don’t judge me), now the drive is only 3 hours but to my children it seemed like at least 10!

To pass the time we tried a few car games to keep them entertained and they seemed to work. The U.S. is such a huge place driving to theme parks and attractions are usually a minimum of 20 mins and if you’re on a road trip even longer.

Here are a few games you could try in conjunction with your USA car hire.

The Licence Plate Game

There are two ways to play this, the first one is very much suited to the U.S. Basically the idea is to spot a licence plate registered to every state in America, first to do it, or gets the most is the winner.

The second game evolves around making words out of licence plates incorporating the letters on the plate, the longer the word the more points you score.

The A-Z Game

This game requires the players to know their alphabet and is probably only suited to day time play. Players take it in turns to work through the alphabet, A-Z  spotting various things outside of the car – so the first player must find a sign with a word beginning “A” and so forth. A winner is decided when their opposition cannot think of a word.

Yellow Car Game

Now this one is strictly down to parental discretion but one me and my brothers enjoyed playing when we were young, but one my own children are banned from playing due to over eagerness.

However the idea of the game is simple, if you see a yellow car you punch your opponent on the arm stating “yellow car”. An incorrect punch earns the puncher a double punch. Punching hard enough to make some one cry is strictly forbidden.

Ghost

Players take turns at saying letters. If you say a letter which completes a word, or which means the letters can no longer be used as a word, you lose, so that play might proceed thus: “A”… “P”… “P”… “L”… “E”… The player saying “E” will lose here, having completed a word. An alternative might have been “I” which would leave the other players having to work towards “application”. The game is clearly named for its passing similarity to an Ouija board.

Guess the intro

In my day this was harder to play as we only had a cassette sterio, now a day the use of MP3 players makes this game a lot quicker.

This is how it works, the games master (usually the passenger in the front) play’s a few seconds of a given song’s intro, players then “buzz” in and guess the intro. Points are awarded for guessing correctly and subtracted for incorrect guesses.

I hope these games can help you pass the time. Are there any games I’ve missed or you could share?

regards,

James,

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Interesting statistics provided by Hitwise displaying the top 50 UK flight searches between May and July 2011.

The report shows market share and previous positions. U.S. hotspot, New York topped the report for the 3rd quarter running.

Below is the top 10 USA locations via search

1. New York (actual position within the top 50 – #1)
2. Orlando (actual position within the top 50 – #6)
3. Las Vegas (actual position within the top 50 – #11)
4. Los Angeles (actual position within the top 50 – #29)
5. Miami (actual position within the top 50 – #43)
6. Chicago (actual position within the top 50 – #49)

I’m surprised that Tampa and San Francisco didn’t feature within the top 50, and with BA offering new routes in to San Diego I’m surprised it didn’t get a mention, perhaps next year when  the service is more recognisable.

Which is your favourite U.S. destination?

regards,

James,

usrentacar.co.uk

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They may not be as popular as google, but over at Bing they do like to innovate. I was searching for some detailed airport maps for the USA and came across these excellent images.

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Petrol prices in the USA look set to reach a 2011 high this month as refinery issues continue to have an impact on the market. with the Midwest and West Coast being the hardest hit.

At present suppliers are using summer fuel, which is still required to be used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Summer fuel is in high demand but supply is short, which in turn is keeping pricing high.

Fuel prices will continue to rise in the short term until petrol/gas stations are able to decrease prices on the summer fuel in order to make the winter supply, prices then should begin to decrease.

Will you be more likely to pre-pay your fuel via our gold rate in September?

Kind regards,

James

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