www.SendUsPacking.com sees latest features of John Lewis gift list as a threat to tour operators

March 6, 2009 - PRLog -- John Lewis has just announced a new service on its wedding gift list – enabling guests to contribute financially to a couple’s honeymoon. Established online gift list company Send Us Packing welcomes the news, as healthy competition that will educate the honeymoon market about the benefits of such lists. However, Send Us Packing also highlights that John Lewis’s service will squeeze out other tour operators, as John Lewis honeymooners are only given the option to book via their agent Greenbee Specialist Travel.
 
Nichola Ealson, Managing Director of SendUsPacking.com explains:

"In a survey we undertook at a recent wedding show, we discovered that a staggering 80% of couples we talked to had used the John Lewis gift list service for their wedding presents.

This news is great for John Lewis and their exclusive travel service Greenbee Specialist Travel, but bad news for other agents, who could effectively be squeezed out of the market.”

The advantage of soon to be married couples using Send Us Packing’s service is that the company is not affiliated to any tour operators or travel agents. This means that couples can purchase their honeymoon from whichever operator they choose and Send Us Packing will help facilitate the payment.

www.SendUsPacking.com has seen a whopping 40% increase in couples registering for their service, since pre-recession this time last year.

The reason for such an increase is not actually that newly engaged or wed couples are being financially reckless, but that they’re discovering a new way of getting financial assistance for their honeymoon – by getting their friends and family to pay for it!

With the average Honeymoon costing £3000, a growing number of financially-savvy brides-to-be are turning to the new breed of online gift lists, specifically aimed at their honeymoon. These gift lists work in much the same way as more conventional lists held by department stores, but instead of listing household items they contain "days" or travel expenses from a couple's honeymoon itinerary.





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For further press information please contact:

SendUsPacking
Alexandra Tilley Loughrey
Tel +44 (0) 7775 620112
Email: alexandra.tl@btopenworld.com

Notes to Editors:
About SendUsPacking

www.SendUsPacking.com is a service that helps honeymooners pay for their trip by asking friends and family to contribute towards the cost, which is a perfect solution for the credit crunch.

With more couples getting married later in life there is a less pressing need to organise traditional wedding gift lists. Most couples already have all the household items that they need so, as an alternative to toasters and extra sheets many are taking the opportunity to ask wedding guests to contribute towards the cost of the honeymoon. www.SendUsPacking.com offers an online service to help manage this process by allowing couples to organise their itinerary and then take online payments towards the total honeymoon bill.

Senduspacking already subscribe to the guidelines set out by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) regarding Prepayment business models. We hold all client monies in a separate account that is not used for any purpose other than to hold contributions. This means that Senduspacking cannot use the money contributed to a list for anything other than paying out to the list owner.

SendUsPacking is available online at www.SendUsPacking.com or by phoning 08707 606 737

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SendUsPacking (SUP) is an online service that allows travellers to create a holiday itinerary and then ask friends, families or business sponsors to contribute to the cost of the trip. Ideal for sabbatical, gap years, honeymoons, weddings, birthday.