NileGuide, the travel agency that attracted $3.5 million funding in 2010 from KPG Ventures and others, has announced a complete make-over for its website, along with additional features. The $3.5 million will be used wisely and according to the company’s main aim, that of becoming the world’s leading provider of great recommendation ‘for-travelers-by-locals’.

The additional features try to meet all clients’ demands. They have improved the Q & A section of the website with the help of Localyte, acquired at the beginning of 2010. The information is more accurate, as NileGuide has expended its global stable of Local Editors providing up-to-minute info on the cities where they live. The ‘Ask a Local’ feature connects users with the best of the 100,000 NileGuide community members worldwide.

Customers now have more options around finding places to stay, as shown from NileGuide’s new function for real-time hotel pricing and cost comparison, a service offered in partnership with Hotelicopter. Clients can now use this tool of transparency and compare prices.

Travel sites across the board are looking to make their websites more accessible and usable, as NileGuide competitor Travelocity recently updated its site with more tools for the blind to search and book flights, etc.  This comes through a partnership between the National Federation of the Blind and Travelocity.

Speaking of the competitive nature of the online travel industry, Google’s acquisition of ITA’s database, a deal worth of $700 million, has trumped the sector for the past few months. The ITA software was used by Bing, thus bestirring Microsoft and others that tap into its database to provide information for their end users.  Google has emphasized that its acquisition of ITA will not make Google directly involved with ticket purchases, and ITA will still provide its services to other search engines and travel businesses. The ideal is to drive more business to the travel industry overall, hinting at an advertising angle on Google’s part.