lowcostbeds, the leading independent European bed bank, launches today in the US.

(September 2012)

lowcostbeds is now available in the US to the trade through a new website specifically created for US agencies: www.lowcostbeds.us. Following a successful roll-out in ten countries across Europe, the lowcosttravelgroup continues its expansion with a new office in Atlanta, Georgia.

US travel agencies can now register and access lowcostbeds´ 250,000 hotels and combine them with airport transfers to create a tailor-made low cost trip. lowcostbeds’ focus in the US will now enable agents to create their own low cost vacation packages for customers flying to a wide range of destinations, who want to add low cost hotels and transfers to their trip. lowcostbeds´ progressive new business model offers a comprehensive selection of exclusive hotels and deals in top destinations, including the Caribbean, a large variety of European beach resorts and popular city break locations.

Alex Gisbert, Managing Director International, commented: “We are delighted to launch lowcostbeds in the United States. We originally planned to launch at the end of this year, but have moved the date forward due to the high number of requests received from US agencies on our UK website. Thanks to our unique services, agencies now have the ability to create the perfect low cost trip for their customers. We have a call-centre available 24/7, staffed by well-trained English and Spanish speaking travel professionals, who can answer specific requests from travel agents.”

lowcostbeds now has over 15,000 travel agencies registered in Europe, a result of our triple-digit growth in the European market. lowcostbeds.us is owned by the lowcosttravelgroup, which has sales of over $600m. Created in the UK in 2004, it provides travel agencies with low cost hotels and transfers. lowcostbeds provides agencies with 250,000 hotels worldwide through directly-negotiated hotels, utilising leading XMLs through its own proprietary platform that uses live XML integration.

Finalists in the TTG Travel Awards

(July 2012)

lowcostbeds has been named as one of the finalists for the Accommodation-Only Company of the Year Award at the TTG Travel Awards 2012. The award will go to the accommodation-only specialist that the judges deem to have provided the best service to the UK travel trade in the 12 months up to June 2012. Areas of the judgement include: innovation in product and marketing, financial stability and staff development.

The awards ceremony will take place in London’s West End on October 4th.

National Advertising Campaign

(July 2012)

lowcosttravelgroup launched a national bus campaign in June. The marketing campaign has built up brand awareness across the UK by broadcasting lowcostholidays.com’s main messages, ‘bet you can’t guess what we do’, ‘get more sunshine for your money’ and ‘watch the games from the beach’. Already going from strength to strength, this promotion will heighten awareness of the special holiday deals offered by the lowcosttravelgroup for summer 2012.

TOWIE Special Creates Marbella Holiday Madness

(June 2012)

With holidaymakers looking for ideas to escape the wet UK weather, last week’s airing of “The Only Way is Marbs” featuring the cast of TOWIE in Marbella, drove a huge increase of searches and bookings to Marbella, according to lowcostholidays.com, one of the top 10 UK travel websites.

During the one hour that the show was broadcast, lowcostholidays.com saw a massive 1942% increase in searches for holidays to Marbella compared to the same time the previous week. Holiday bookings to Marbella are up 166% week on week, which is being attributed to the one hour special programme.

Matt Hall, Deputy Managing Director at lowcostholidays.com commented, “Last week, and over the weekend, we saw a huge hike in searches and bookings for holidays to Marbella this summer. The popularity of TOWIE combined with the miserable weather, has encouraged holidaymakers to head for this Spanish port with its beaches, clubs and bars”.

lowcostbeds launches to trade in Italy, Sweden and Spain

lowcosttravelgroup has announced the launch of its trade offering, lowcostbeds, into Italy, Sweden and Spain. lowcostbeds has already launched in Germany and Ireland.

The announcement follows aggressive expansion into Europe with the launch of lowcostholidays websites across Europe, as well as the appointment of Alex Gisbert as International MD for the Group in June 2011. lowcosttravelgroup now has sites active in Germany, Spain, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Ireland, with Italy the latest market to launch.

lowcostholidays.com launches all new Postcard App

lowcostholidays.com has launched its first travel application for holidaymakers. The ‘My Holiday Postcard’ App enables its users to send virtual postcards from anywhere in the world by taking a picture and sending it via email or popular social network sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

The App is available free of charge and for download on iPhone, iPad and Macs. To download the App, visit the App Store.

Fran Hall, Head of Marketing commented, ‘It’s a really useful App to help share your holiday experiences with friends and family or make them really jealous!’.

lowcostholidays.com launch first ever TV advert

lowcostholidays.com launched its first ever television advert today (24th June 2011). The TV advert follows lowcostholidays.com character, Smiley, to destinations around the world in the lowcosttravelgroup’s debut advert. The advert will air across the Sky Network throughout the summer.

Fran Hall, Head of Marketing commented, ‘It’s an exciting time for the lowcostholidays.com brand and the first of many adventures for Smiley and the lowcosttravelgroup.’

Alex Gisbert appointed International Managing Director for lowcosttravelgroup

lowcosttravelgroup has appointed Alex Gisbert as International Managing Director. Alex has a very strong travel industry background and will join the group on 1st July from his current role as Director of Online Partner Marketing for Expedia in Europe. He joined Expedia in 2007 as Regional Director Strategic Accounts from Opodo UK, where he was Commercial Director, and prior to that, he spent four years at the Thomas Cook Group.

lowcosttravelgroup launch lowcostholidays in Italy

lowcosttravelgroup has launched lowcostholidays into the Italian Market.

The group already has active websites in Germany and Spain, with aggressive expansion throughout Europe planned for the coming months. Austria, Switzerland, France, Norway and Holland are all expected to be online later in the year.

Paul Evans, CEO of the lowcosttravelgroup commented, ‘This is a very exciting time for the group with sales in Germany, Spain, Sweden and Ireland exceeding our original expectations’