CheapOair Announces Finalists Who Will “Travel the World for Less”

NEW YORK, September 26, 2012

CheapOair announced today the two finalists for its “Traveler of the Year” competition, the contest in search of the traveler who can best demonstrate how to travel the world for less. Votes were cast and the pool of ten semi-finalists was narrowed down to two, with Todd Van Duzer and the duo of “Captain & Clark” coming out on top. Van Duzer will travel to China and “Captain & Clark” will travel to India, along with $7,500 of travel money courtesy of CheapOair.

Todd Van Duzer has traveled to 25 countries and is a skilled photographer, capturing his many excursions via image and sharing them via his various social media platforms. Todd’s strong desire to share his passions in life, especially when it comes to travel, makes him a perfect contender in the final round of the “Traveler of the Year” competition.

Team “Captain & Clark,” also individually known as Chris Staudinger and Tawny Clark, met at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2008 and have since been traveling the world together in pursuit of taking on different “extreme” adventures. The two formed a pact to acquaint themselves with the world, and themselves, by continuously journeying to new locations that enrich their lives, not their bank accounts.

The Traveler of the Year Voter Prize was also awarded to Jen Gray, a voter in the competition, who was selected at random to win a $500 credit to be used to book travel with CheapOair.

“The Traveler of the Year competition has seen terrific success since it first launched and we’re thrilled to announce the two contestants who will compete in the final round,” said Peter Howard, chief marketing officer at CheapOair. “We believe that both Todd and team ‘Captain & Clark’ fully convey a natural ability to travel the world for less, and we’re excited to see how each one documents their trip to China or India. In the end, there can only be one to hold the title of ‘Traveler of the Year.'”

Votes were cast via the “Traveler of the Year” website, and voters could share their favorite semi-finalist’s video via Facebook and Twitter. The two finalists were verified and chosen based on the total number of unique votes, with one vote counted per unique email address.

SOURCE: CheapOair

Travelong Receives Million Dollar Sales Award from China Airlines

NEW YORK, September 20, 2012

Travelong, a full service travel agency and parent company to leading online travel agency, CheapOair, announced today that it received the “Million Dollars Sales Award” for the third consecutive year from China Airlines.

This award, presented to Travelong on August 24th, recognized the company for its sales exceeding one million dollars with China Airlines in 2011 and its achievement as an inventive business leader in the travel industry.

“On behalf of China Airlines, I would like to thank Travelong for its hard work and sales contribution to China Airlines,” said Steve Chang, General Manager of the Eastern USA Division of China Airlines. “We appreciate Travelong’s continuous support and look forward to working closely together for many years to come.”

“We are both honored and proud to receive this award from China Airlines for the third year in a row,” said Sam Jain, President and CEO of Travelong. “It is rewarding to see our efforts and improvements continue to be recognized as our company strives to maintain and advance services for our customers.”

Travelong continues to be acknowledged for its outstanding work and efforts in the online travel industry. In the past year, Travelong has earned numerous performance awards from partners including: LAN Airlines, Korean Airlines, Avianca and TACA Airlines and been named to Travel Weekly’s Esteemed Power List.

SOURCE: Travelong

CheapOair’s “Travel the World for Less” Campaign Tours the Big Apple

NEW YORK, September 18, 2012

CheapOair, a leading online travel agency, will continue its brand blitz of New York City by spreading its message of “Travel the World for Less” via street team and double decker bus. On Thursday, September 20th, CheapOair street team members will be boarding Gray Line buses to spread the news about the campaign and hand out chances for passers-by to win a free trip.

“This is a very exciting part of the company’s new campaign kickoff,” says Pete Howard, chief marketing officer at CheapOair. “In utilizing our home market of New York City, we’re thrilled to be able to deliver our message to both a local and international market of passionate global travelers.”

Team members will be on Gray Line buses branded with CheapOair’s new ad campaign featuring humorous taglines like “Cheap Flights make it easy to say ‘Phuket… Let’s Travel'” and “Cheap Flights make it easy to say ‘What the Helsinki… Let’s Travel.'”

The buses will make stops at a number of the city’s most popular landmarks, including Macy’s Herald Square, the Empire State Building, Penn Station, Union Square, South Street Seaport, Times Square, Columbus Circle and Rockefeller Center. At each stop, the CheapOair team will give away branded luggage tags and postcards that include rules on how to win a three-night stay in the city.

The trip giveaway contest will run through October and to enter participants can either Tweet a picture of themselves in front of the bus and include the phrase “#traveltheworld4less bus @CheapOair!” or visit the CheapOair New York City website.

The “Travel the World for Less” campaign reinforces CheapOair’s brand promise to deliver quality and value that supports people’s travel needs and wants. “Travel the World for Less” was launched alongside CheapOair’s social media contest, “Traveler of the Year,” which is searching for the traveler who best demonstrates how to travel the world for less. Two semi-finalists, to be selected by CheapOair’s social media followers, will embark on the journey of a lifetime, one to China and the other to India, with $7,500 courtesy of CheapOair.

SOURCE: CheapOair

CheapOair’s “Traveler of the Year” Challenge Journeys on to Phase Two

NEW YORK, September 5, 2012

Today, leading online travel agency CheapOair launched phase two of its “Traveler of the Year” competition in search of the traveler who can best demonstrate how to travel the world for less. Ten semi-finalists have been chosen for an opportunity to advance to the third and final round, where two finalists will be sent on a trip to either China or India on flights sponsored by Emirates, each with $7,500 of travel money courtesy of CheapOair.

During this phase, the social community will cast their votes online to select the two finalists. Voting starts today and runs through September 21 on the “Traveler of the Year” website.

To encourage social media followers’ involvement, CheapOair will host micro-contests throughout phase two allowing fans to win prizes via Twitter and Facebook.Facebook fans who share their favorite semi-finalist video via the “Traveler of the Year” website will be entered to win CheapOair’s Travel the World for Less Tool Kit, valued at $300.

Throughout phase two, CheapOair’s Twitter followers can share their favorite video, add hashtag #traveltheworld4less to any tweet or follow CheapOair for the chance to win a $200 American Express gift card.
Anyone who votes for their favorite video will be automatically entered to win $500 in future travel with CheapOair.

“Our ‘Traveler of the Year’ competition has already been a great success, and we are looking forward to phase two in which our fans and followers will decide who they want to ‘Travel the World for Less,'” said Peter Howard, chief marketing officer at CheapOair. “The campaign will continue over the next few months as our two finalists, and ultimately the winner, are selected.”

CheapOair’s 10 semi-finalists were carefully selected by a panel of judges who reviewed entrants’ submissions and evaluated their videos based on creativity, demonstrated travel experience, ability to create quality content and on-screen presence. The 10 semi-finalists for “Traveler of the Year” are:

  • Captain & Clark: Captain Chris Staudinger and Tawny Clark met at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2008 and have since been traveling the world together in pursuit of taking on different “extreme” adventures, including everything from extreme hiking to extreme cooking.
  • Kyle O’Donnel: Fascinated by his father’s stories of traveling as a photographer in the military, Cyle traveled during every semester break in college to learn how to compose, capture and develop his photography.
  • Giovanni Silva: Giovanni is an independent film director, photographer, editor and world traveler who has journeyed to 37 different countries around the globe.
  • Keaton Davis: A prize-winning videographer, Keaton uses his 10 years of travel experience in Europe, Central and South America and Australia as leverage.
  • Kristen Van Nest: When not working as a global branding specialist, Kristen is a world traveler who has been to over 30 European cities.
  • Lauren Rains: Lauren is the co-founder of Outdoor Minded Magazine and founder of The Mad to Live blog, which highlights stories from the road based on her adventures in travel and entrepreneurship.
  • Mannie Boitz: Mannie is a program assistant who hails from King Cove, Alaska, a community of 700. Now a resident of Wasilla, she loves to climb and is excited to travel the world.
  • Robert Guiterrez: Founders of the His and Her Travel blog, Robert and his wife document their time teaching and traveling across the world.
  • Ryan McDevitt: Ryan is a world traveler who has visited close to 40 countries, documenting each experience in his online gallery of photographs from around the world.
  • Todd Van Duzer: Todd is a marketing major in the Honors College at Arizona State University who has traveled to 25 countries studying identity, branding, social interaction, body language and stress-free productivity.

Host of the “Traveler of the Year” contest, travel enthusiast Paul Rogers will be launching phase two and introducing the semi-finalists via a video blog. An avid traveler who continually looks for life’s next adventure, some of Paul Rogers’ top experiences include skydiving in New Zealand, climbing Mt. Whitney in California, seeing the Matterhorn in Switzerland and golfing in Ireland. All of these experiences are documented for his web travel adventure show “Where’s Walnuts?”

SOURCE: CheapOair