Online travel booking group Webjet, which is in a joint venture with World Aviation Services of Malta, is preparing a slew of new initiatives in the second half of the year to bulk up its traditional flight comparison and reservation service.

The main change will be an overhaul of its hotel sales offering, in which new managing director John Guscic believes the Melbourne-based group needs a bigger presence.

“We think there is a great prize to be won for Webjet in securing more hotel business and that will be our focus, and we will have a strong push (for that),” he told Strategy Matters.

Earlier this year Webjet struck a partnership with Hotel Club, a subsidiary of New York-listed Orbitz Worldwide, that gave its customers access to almost 70,000 hotels. “We will look later this year at relaunching a more comprehensive hotel solution,” Guscic says, adding that Hotel Club will be part of that strategy.

“It’s going to be a very significant investment in our organisation and we need to make sure we take part in what we see is a very attractive market in which we are under-represented.”

With Webjet needing to adapt to each new country where it plans to operate, Guscic notes that it will tread carefully with its push into Europe.

“We won’t be tackling Europe as a homogeneous market; we will launch in one country initially and broaden out from there,” he says.

Speculation has pointed to Webjet looking at emerging European economies, because it has elected to undertake the project as a 50% joint venture with World Aviation Services Malta.

With Webjet set to release its full-year results in three weeks, Guscic is restricted on detailing future plans, but he hints at new offerings to stave off competition.

“We’re looking to be better at the merchandising and retailing capability within Webjet, (including) how we present the offers, the ability to change the price level for consumers,” he says.

Internet tracking group Hitwise continues to rate Webjet as the top site visited by Australians when it comes to comparing and booking fares, but it operates in a competitive sector with sites such as Expedia, Zuji and Flight Centre fighting for the same dollars.