Lonely Planet boosts site search with Endeca

Stuart Corner
Friday, 08 June 2007 09:09

Your IT - Home IT

Popular travel information website, Lonely Planet is moving to better exploit user generated travel content with a new search engine from Endeca that enables users to simultaneously across both Lonely Planet and traveller-contributed information on its site.

It claims that the new search facility "helps travellers effortlessly explore and discover related travel and destination information created by both independent travellers and Lonely Planet's expert authors and staff. The new search facility brings together content from Lonely Planet's user forums (Thorn Tree), destination guides, traveller tips, blogs, features, reviews, books, classifieds and video content..

Lonely Planet claims the new facility is far superior to a traditional keyword search engine "[For example] searching for  'Barcelona'...returns 1515 results, including information from all of Lonely Planet's diverse content sources. The results are 'topped' by a Barcelona destination guide, offering quick links to dining, sight seeing, hotels, night life and shopping in Barcelona, as well as a link to Lonely Planet's Barcelona Guidebook available through its online store and a promotion for accommodation in Barcelona."

Lonely Planet is positioning itself as being "on the cutting edge of the Web 2.0, user-generated content phenomenon" by combining user-contributed and its own content. It claims that "providing an experience that effectively harnesses community participation while maintaining intuitive search and browse functionality has led to increased user satisfaction and customer loyalty for Lonely Planet."

According to Lonely Planet's global ecommerce manager, Cameron Holland, "Endeca presented a unique option that addressed much more than just our previous search problems – a guided approach to integrated information presentation and discovery. It's been an instant success with our travellers enabling easier access to an enormous amount of travel content."

Endeca claims to be "a next-generation information access company, uniting the ease of search with the analytical power of business intelligence...combining patented intellectual property, breakthrough science and a deep focus on user experience." Customers include ABN AMRO, Bank of America, Boeing, Cox Newspapers, Dice, The (US) Defense Intelligence Agency, The Home Depot, Hyatt, IBM, John Deere, The Library of Congress, Nike and Walmart.com.