Student travel firm STA Travel has started offering free online travel tools to help simplify the booking process on its website.
The four new mini-applications – or ‘widgets’ – enable users to customize their travel planning experiences and share them with friends.
They cover trip countdown, weather comparison, travel to-do list and special travel offers and can be used either separately or as a suite of travel planning applications.
They are the first of an ongoing series of free online travel tools that are available directly from the STA Travel site, www.statravel.com/traveltools.
The widgets are claimed to enhance the usefulness or aesthetic appeal of the site by automatically distributing content from around the internet.
The STA Travel widgets, developed in partnership with digital strategy company ElectricArtists, provide a way for travellers to customise their desktops and personal web pages through highly visual displays of travel-related information, according to the company.
STA UK marketing director Celia Pronto said: “Young independent travellers are looking for flexible ways to prepare for their trips. This is a great opportunity to turn routine aspects of the travel planning process into automated tools that can be updated and customised in fun and creative ways.”
by Phil Davies
