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Daily deal or Flash Sale sites have been rising in popularity, Fab.com is a newer entrant that has quickly gained interest from consumers and even passed some of its retail counterparts. Looking at Compete.com we see that between Fab.com, Gilt.com and Ruelala.com, Fab.com has driven more traffic than its competitors since launch and now sits at about 1.5 million unique visitors as of April 2012.

But it’s not just traditional retailers who are getting in on the action. The concept of the flash sale has also gained traction in the travel sphere, and no wonder, it’s both aspirational and inspirational.

Travel flash sale sites give consumers access to travel deals they might not otherwise have in such a blatant in-your-face kind of way that it makes it hard to resist. So many of the previously retail focused sites like Groupon and LivingSocial have added travel specific sections (ala Groupon Getaways and LivingSocial Escapes) while sites like Jetsetter focus only on travel deals.  Many of us have given in and purchased the ‘2 night hotel getaway’ but have we used it? Buying on a flash sale site is much like buying yourself a gift certificate – you don’t need to commit to dates or times but you know you can redeem your purchase sometime in the future. This can make it even more tempting to buy, purchase a hotel room at a discount today and use it for your upcoming birthday. It makes the need to constantly check in with online travel agencies (OTAs) and their featured deals somewhat less frequent.

But whether you have or haven’t bought from a travel flash sale site most of us at least receive emails in our inbox from our favorite daily deal site(s). How big is this segment of consumers? Which sites drive the most traffic in the space? And how do most of these sites reach this segment of consumers?  Check out Measuring the Flash Sale Travel Segment to find out more about this growing segment of consumers.