Travel sites have begun to successfully utilize RSS feeds by breaking down potential feeds into very effective sub-sets. Orbitz and Expedia are two sites that have utilized RSS effectively by allowing users to customize the types of RSS feeds that they receive.
Orbitz separates its RSS feeds into specific sections on the RSS homepage. For example, the first section, titled Top Orbitz Deals, is broken down into the following sets of feeds; Flight Deals, Hotel Promotions, Car Deals, Cruise Vacations and Vacation Packages. The next section, entitled Specific Destination Deals, includes an RSS feed for popular vacation destinations, broken down by city. Each city has an RSS link for Hotel Deals and Vacation Deals. The final section of the RSS homepage, entitled Airfare Deals from Top Cities, provides an RSS link for airfare deals from each of the most popular travel destination cities in the United States.
Expedia has set up its RSS feeds with a similar fundamental idea, but in a different and innovative way. Expedia allows the user to customize the subject matter of their RSS feeds by offering numerous drop-down boxes to choose from. First, the user must choose the Trip Type from a drop-down menu that includes the options; Flight + Hotel Vacation, Flight Only, Hotel Only, Cruise and Deals. Depending on the first option that that user selects, more drop-down windows will appear so that the type of RSS feed can be further customized. If the user chooses the Flight + Hotel Vacation option, for example, he or she must then select the city of departure, choose a destination city or destination type and finally choose between a General, Luxury or Last Minute package.
Packaging RSS in this innovative way is very enticing to travel site frequenters because it allows them to receive up-to-date information regarding flights, hotels and vacations without the hassle of constantly searching on a website. Finding a good travel deal has traditionally required much time and effort due to the constant fluctuations in prices. Expedia and Orbitz have made the process of booking travel tickets infinitely easier and more expedient with their innovative offerings of RSS feeds.