The first rule of Flight Club: memberships
Travelzoo heavily relies on memberships. The company, presenting itself as a “club for travel enthusiasts”, partners with travel suppliers to offer exclusive promotions to the subscribers of its main products: the website and newsletters, the Travelzoo mobile app - counting over six million downloads as of 2023 - and the so-called Jack’s Flight Club, a service focused on airfare deals.In 2023, the number of Travelzoo members worldwide peaked at over 31 million, with North America accounting for the most subscriptions. Memberships, however, did not represent the company’s main source of income, as Travelzoo has begun to charge an annual fee of 40 U.S. dollars to new members starting from 2024. Rather, most profits came from fees paid by travel companies for promoting their deals via the platform, as well as commissions made through hotel bookings and voucher sales. After halving due to the impact of COVID-19, Travelzoo’s global revenue increased gradually in the following years, totaling just under 85 million U.S. dollars in 2023. That said, this figure remained significantly below pre-pandemic levels.
How do North American consumers view the Travelzoo brand?
While North America is Travelzoo’s most profitable market, the competition in the region is fierce. According to a 2023 Statista survey on the brand awareness of leading travel portals in the United States, roughly eight in ten U.S. consumers were aware of Expedia and Booking.com. By contrast, just over one quarter of the sample said the same for Travelzoo. Meanwhile, when asked about the brands used for package holiday bookings in Canada, only five percent of respondents mentioned Travelzoo in 2023, compared to 14 percent who booked via Tripadvisor.These figures suggest that, despite the growing numbers of members and app downloads, in part driven by an expansion into Europe, the company might have to boost its brand profile to compete with big platforms like Booking, Expedia, and Airbnb. It seems, then, unlike the famous first rule of Fight Club, that talking more about its website, newsletters, and Jack’s Flight Club might be what could really help Travelzoo take off in the online travel market.
