BCV Affiliate Blog

It’s been a great two years for the Blue Chip Vacations Affiliate Programme, and we’re really happy with the progress you’ve helped us make. But we are always trying to improve the service, the communication, and of course, the revenue for both ourselves and all you affiliates. Read the rest…

The Zapcats Grand Prix comes to Newquay

Secure a Newquay booking and you could win a fantastic Zapcats holiday experience!

With a great start to 2010 under our belt, Blue Chip Vacations have teamed up with Zapcats Grand Prix to present its affiliates with a fantastic competition offer!

How does a 3 night stay for you and three friends in cosmopolitan surfer’s haven Newquay, as a VIP guest, sound?

Any affiliate sales made for a Newquay property for a 2010 holiday booked between now and 9 April 2010 will automatically be put into a prize draw to win a fantastic holiday experience with Blue Chip Vacations. The lucky winner will enjoy a 3 night stay for themselves and up to 5 guests in the luxurious Pentire Mews. These stunning individually designed apartments are a mere 5 minute walk from Fistral Beach. But that’s not all; we’re throwing in VIP access to the racing teams, a chance to meet the stars of the show; the drivers, and even the chance to be driven around Fistral Bay in a Zapcat! If that wasn’t enough, we’ll even treat you to a meal at the charming Fistral Blu during one of the race days for you and your party, a great spot to enjoy the legendary waves of Fistral Beach. This really is a prize that money can’t buy for one lucky affiliate to enjoy!

Read the rest…

After a record breaking January, Blue Chip Vacations have decided to say thank you to all you affiliates with its latest incentive! If you secure 10 confirmed bookings in February you will automatically go onto the increased commission rate of 6% for the rest of the month. So there couldn’t be a better time to start driving your Blue Chip Vacations’ sales!
With an average booking value of around £700, you could be pocketing £40 per sale you make for us! Now is a fantastic time for sales, with so many of us fancying a sunny summer break in an idyllic South Western retreat. In addition to this, our new website has just launched, offering visitors a more user friendly viewing experience. Read the rest…

If you go down to Blue Chip today – you’re in for a BIG surprise…!

Following a comprehensive usability and user experience study by Foolproof, Blue Chip have made some big changes to the look and feel of the main site; as well as improving functionality and navigation for a more user-centric approach.

What does it mean for you?

Well first of all you don’t need to change your links. The new site has been fully tested and all affiliate tracking and click-append to remove the main phone number are working correctly as for the old site. All the changes are aimed at improving customer experience at whatever stage of their holiday planning journey – from fact finding about the area to comparing features of individual properties. The big picture is that this should help in the decision making process and lead ultimately to increased online bookings and improved conversion rates.

The slides below indicate the changes that have been made to the site and the benefits that these changes should have.

The Home Page

The changes to the home page are largely cosmetic, with a new cleaner look and feel. In addition we have introduced new ways to search for a property, breaking down by holiday type for those browsers without a particular area in mind.

Search results page

The search results pages now include a horizontal search box allowing the user to amend their search criteria on the page. It more clearly shows the choices that they have already made and offers further options for refining their search.

We have also introduced a shortlist function to the search results page, allowing users to save their favourite properties while they browse others and to compare their property choices before making a final decision.

Town Landing page

The changes to the town, area and county pages include a written introduction to that place, large image banners and a brief introduction to Blue Chip. These pages can all be deeplinked to and may provide more appropriate alternative landing pages to the home page for much affiliate traffic. The changes to content and layout of these pages means that they should work out of context of the rest of the site; they do not assume that the visitor has any prior knowledge of either the area or Blue Chip, and so should provide a smoother journey and reduce bounce rates.

Property Page

The property pages have undergone perhaps the most radical overhaul. Blue Chip are particularly proud of their property images – all of which are commissioned by professional photographers. To make the most of them, the lead display image is now much larger than previously, and any interaction with the images will generate a full screen lightbox slideshow of all the images.

Other big changes to this page include:

thumbnail Google Map with the property location

at-a-glance pricing and selection information with prominent call to action

Summary of key information above the fold

Clear and prominent user reviews

Prominent tab structure to take the user to more detailed information

Pricing and Availability tab

The move to a 12 month calendar on the price and availability tab for each property means that customers can more easily see at a glance what dates the property is available to book. It is also easier to select their dates and get a price for their intended stay and go on to book.

____________________________________

Hopefully this summary of the changes to the Blue Chip Vacations website has been useful and we think you will agree that they will be beneficial to improving conversion rates.

If you have any feedback on the new site or would like to discuss working with Blue Chip in the future, please get in touch at affiliates@bluechipvacations.com or feel free to leave a comment.

Blue Chip Vacations have created a new range off banners to compliment the changes to the website and brochure, with the themes “Relax, Indulge, Enjoy”.

I have included a sample here to give you a taste of what the new banners look like, and these and some further sizes can all be downloaded from the Blue Chip Merchant area on Affiliate Window.

If you need any specific sizes, please get in touch to arrange.

Read the rest…

First Sale Bonus

Are you new to the Blue Chip Affiliate programme?  OR have you signed up but not got around to doing any promotions? Well now is a fantastic time to start working with us and to make your first sale for Blue Chip!

February is always a very busy booking time here at Blue Chip; people are looking ahead to Easter and summer holidays, and average order values stand at over £700.  Standard commission is 5% on every confirmed sale, but throughout February we will be awarding an additional £10 bonus for those affiliates making their first sale for Blue Chip Vacations.

Remember you can’t direct link to Blue Chip from PPC ads on UK search engines, but there are a whole host of other ways to work with Blue Chip.  The datafeed on ShopWindow in upto date and we have just posted some brand new banner creative in a variety of sizes and styles.  If you need a bespoke datafeed, additional images or video creative, or would like to discuss having an exclusive discount then please contact us directly and we should be able to sort something out for you.

So what’s stopping you???

The Blue Chip property portfolio has had some changes over the last few months – so here is an update on our latest new properties and properties which have withdrawn.

NEW PROPERTIES!! Please add listings for these fantastic new properties to your site.  As new properties, they will have plenty of availability for 2010 and lots earning potential for your site.  If you need more information – please contact us direct at affiliates@bluechipvacations.com or are alternatively they will be available on the latest product feed to download from Shop Window on your Affiliate Window account.

Property Name	Property Code	Location	Deeplink
2 Seashore	se02	Newquay	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/newquay/2-seashore.html
33 Bredon Court	bre33	Newquay	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/newquay/33-bredon-court.html
46 Ocean 1	oc146	Newquay	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/newquay/penthouse-48-ocean-1.html
8 Sovereign House	sove08	Torquay	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/torquay/8-sovereign-house.html
9 Headland Point	hp09	Newquay	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/newquay/9-headland-point.html
Brownlow House	brownl	Plymouth	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/plymouth/brownlow-house.html
Bryher Cottage	bryher	Watergate Bay & Mawgan Porth	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/watergate-bay-mawgan-porth/bryher-cottage.html
Curlew Point	curlew	Whitsand Bay & Downderry	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/whitsand-bay-downderry/curlew-point.html
F3 The Pearl	peaf3	Newquay	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/newquay/f3-the-pearl.html
Harbour Heights House	harmev	Mevagissey	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/mevagissey/harbour-heights-house.html
Little Thatch	thatch	Dawlish	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/dawlish/little-thatch.html
Manor House	manho	Dartmoor & Country	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/torquay/manor-house.html
Rose, Weston Bay	west57	Sidmouth	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/sidmouth/rose-weston-bay.html
Tanna Nivas	tanna	Paignton	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/paignton/tanna-nivas.html
Topsham, Bay Fort Mansions	bftop	Torquay	http://www.bluechipvacations.com/holiday-cottages/torquay/topsham-bay-fort-mansions.html

Withdrawn properties

Please check your listings and remove these properties as they are no longer available to book with Blue Chip:

PROPRTY NAME	CODE	COUNTY
Ingle Tor, Bovey Castle	boving	Devon
15 Compass House	compas	Devon
31 Higher Street	hs31	Devon
2 Meadfoot Grange	me02	Devon
Penthouse 48 Ocean 1	oc148	Cornwall
Orchard View	orch	Devon
Barcelona, Priory Cottages	ptba	Devon
Granada, Priory Cottages	ptga	Devon
Marbella, Priory Cottages	ptma	Devon
Mijas, Priory Cottages	ptmi	Devon
Valencia, Priory Cottages	ptva	Devon
Little Ravenswell	ravens	Devon
2 Headland Point	tow02	Cornwall
Tregenna	tregen	Devon
20 Tor Sands	ts20	Devon
Upper Deck	upper	Devon
Ingle Tor, Bovey Castle	boving	Devon

Christmas and New Year are peak booking periods in the UK, with thousands of people looking for their ideal Christmas getaway in the South West every year.   And remember – you’ve got 2 great chances to win a holiday with Blue Chip Vacations when you make a sale for a Christmas holiday this year:

• Christmas incentive: The affiliate making the most Christmas and New Year sales will win a stay at Bredon Court in Newquay
• 2009 sale incentive: All affiliates making sales for holidays departing in 2009 will be entered into a draw to win a stay at Nassau Court in North Devon.

Top 10 Christmas & Winter Break Ideas from Blue Chip Vacations

To help you off to the best start with your Christmas campaigns for Blue Chip Vacations, we have put together our top 10 Christmas break ideas.  All content on this page is unique and links directly to a landing page on the Blue Chip Vacations site

10% off all Christmas and New Year Breaks! Guests can save 10% on any Christmas or New Year holiday with Blue Chip Vacations when they quote code: “CNY10″ at booking.  Holiday must be a minimum of 3 nights and arrive between 19th December 2009 and 2nd January 2010.

LANDING PAGE DEEPLINK: http://www.bluechipvacations.com/calendar/save-10-on-all-christmas-and-new-year-breaks.html

Discount code: CNY10 Read the rest…

AFFILIATE CHRISTMAS INCENTIVE: The affiliate making the most sales for Christmas and New Year Bookings will win a short break in a luxury Newquay Apartment!

We want your help for one last push in 2009 – and to get as many Christmas and New Year bookings as possible.  The Christmas holidays are a peak booking period for UK Holidays, and there still some are big commissions to be earned.  To give  you an added incentive to promote us in your campaigns, we will be giving away a short break at an apartment in the fantastic Bredon Court in Newquay to the affiliate making the most Christmas bookings.

Bredon Court in Newquay

The Prize

The affiliate making the most Christmas holiday sales will win a short break at an apartment in Bredon Court in Newquay. Bredon Court is a new luxury apartment development built directly over-looking Newquay Golf Course and Fistral Beach – internationally recognised as one of the best surfing venues in the world.   Blue Chip Vacations currently have 19 properties available at Bredon Court, the majority of which have their own private balcony from which to enjoy the

stunning views.  All apartments and mews houses in the Bredon Court collection have high-spec interiors with luxurious fittings and furnishings.  Guests can sit back in comfort and style and enjoy their stunning view whatever the weather as most apartments benefit from full-height windows in living areas and forward facing rooms.

The competition

• The winner will be the affiliate making the most confirmed sales for Christmas and New Year bookings between 25.11.09 and 31.12.09
• The bookings must be for stays arriving between 19th December 2009 and 2nd January 2010 to qualify
• The prize is a short break at Bredon Court in Newquay and must take place between 11th January and 27th March 2010.
• Prize cannot be exchanged for cash.
• The winner must agree to Blue Chip’s standard booking terms and conditions and complete a booking form.
• The winners chosen dates are subject to availability.

CUSTOMER OFFER: 10% off all Christmas and New Year holidays and short breaks with Blue Chip Vacations

Its not too late to book a Christmas or New Year break in the Westcountry with Blue Chip Vacations – and now customers can save a very merry 10%!  Relax in style and watch the spectacular waves roll in from a luxury apartment with stunning sea views.   Or enjoy a traditional family Christmas in a cosy cottage with a roaring log fire.

To make a festive break extra special, Blue Chip have many properties decorated for Christmas and New Year and include Christmas gifts for guests such as Champagne, chocolates, hampers and more!  One Christmas booking will even receive £250 of Christmas presents in the Blue Chip Secret Santa competition!

To receive the 10% discount, the stay must be of 3 nights or more arriving between 19th December 2009 and 1st January 2010.  Customers must quote code “CNY10″ at booking to receive the discount and it cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount.

_______________________________

VOUCHER CODE: CNY10

_______________________________

OFFER LANDING PAGE DEEPLINK: http://www.bluechipvacations.com/calendar/save-10-on-all-christmas-and-new-year-breaks.html

_______________________________

Terms & Conditions:10% discount is valid for any booking of 3 nights or more arriving between 19th December 2009 and 1st January 2010. Promotional code ‘CNY10′ must be used when booking either online or over the phone to claim the discount. Discount cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount.

_______________________________