Spanish-language option may give sites jump on competition

There are more Spanish-speaking users of the Internet in the U.S. than in some Spanish-speaking countries, yet many U.S. websites cater more to customers in those foreign countries.

None of the big three online travel agencies -- Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity -- has Spanish-language functionality on its U.S. site. Expedia, however, has a French-language site for Canadian customers, although those 6.7 million French-speakers are but a fraction of the 28.1 million Spanish-speakers in the U.S.

“Whoever is first out of the big three has an opportunity to be the dominant player in the Hispanic market,” said Richard Israel, vice president of Hispanic Solutions for comScore Networks, which measures and analyzes e-commerce. “It’s a demographic of 12 1/2 million [Latino] individuals [online]. Why wouldn’t they go after it? Honestly, I’m still perplexed why there isn’t more activity.”

With the help of a native Spanish speaker, I tested several Spanish-language sites. One of the better ones is Travel Now.com, a subsidiary of Hotels.com (owned by InterActiveCorp, the parent company of Expedia). Unlike some sites that revert to English as soon as you enter the booking process, TravelNow uses Spanish throughout the booking process. Univision.com, the website for Spanish-language media giant Univision, also offers Spanish-language travel services. (Click on “servicios” then “agencia de viajes.”) The site, which was in Spanish throughout the booking process, was intuitive enough even for me, whose Spanish is limited.

Strangely, not all Spanish-language sites are completely in that language. TicketBara to.com has several pages in Spanish but reverts to English on the fare search.

The convenience of Spanish-language sites often comes at a price. TicketBarato tacks on a $24.99 “automation charge,” the steepest I found. Univision.com charges $21 per ticket. Travel Now.com has a $10 service fee per ticket.

By comparison, Orbitz charges $6 per ticket; Expedia and Travelocity, $5. (Incidentally, the same flights can be reserved directly on the airlines’ sites without any added fee.)

Some airline sites have climbed aboard the Spanish-language bandwagon. South west.com has some Spanish consumer information (click “Vamanos” on the home page), but when you click to make a reservation, the site reverts to English. Northwest Airlines (www.nwa.com) has multiple language sites throughout the world and even allows you to switch between Spanish and English on its site for Spain, but not for the U.S. Spanish language functionality for the U.S. site is planned this year, said a Northwest spokesman.

United.com has 22 sites in the native language of the country. (Click on “worldwide sites” in the upper right hand corner of the home page.) If you click on the Mexico site, all notices are in Spanish, but the booking function is in English. United also allows you to book departures from any country from which United flies, not just the country from which you are booking.

JetBlue’s site has extensive Spanish-language functionality. Although some of the carrier’s major markets, including Los Angeles, New York and Miami, have high proportions of Spanish speakers, its launch into the Puerto Rican market in January 2002 created a new urgency for Spanish language.

“We see it as a matter of courtesy and caring for our customer rather than a necessity to participate in the marketplace,” said Christian Rishel, JetBlue’s director of interactive marketing.

James Gilden can be reached at www.theinternettraveler.com.