Kango to Uptake - How important is your travel buisness name?

By karenbryan

April 18, 2008

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I received an email this morning from Kango informing me that they are changing their name to Uptake. The new name is deemed to be more relevant to the business’ aim of gathering, organising and delivering the collective travel wisdom from the internet.

It’s a big step to change your name and I’m sure that Kango must have thought carefully about this. Personally I don’t like the new name as Uptake could be the uptake of absolutely anything. I thought Kango had a lot more relevance to travel and encouraged you to travel in positive ” can go” way.

This all made my think about my own business name “Europe a la Carte“. Does it say what my business does? I chose the name when I started my travel business in 2002. The name was to indicate that you could see Europe on an independent “a la carte” basis rather than the “set menu” approach of a package holiday.

However my business name could be understood as being the name of a catering business as travel is not mentioned. Also “a la carte” does have some connotations of being more expensive which is contrary to my strapline of “authentic travel in Europe on a modest budget”.

I’ve toyed with the idea of changing my business name but haven’t been able to come up with a better replacement. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s difficult to encompass everything in a business name. Some have achieved this, one of the best examples I can think of in the travel industry is TravelRants. the UK travel consumer blog, where you can let off steam about travel related issues.

What’s your opinion on the importance of a travel business name? Do you think Kango is right to change their name to Uptake?