Jan 19, 2015 | OTAs
Expedia to Aquire Travelocity
Well we did say so in the original post re Expedia Agreement in 2013 with Travelocity. We were not alone, most of the travel trade saw the writing on the wall. It’s not a done deal but the Federal Trade Commission posted on January 14 that such an application was in the works.
the Gnome may soon be Gone
Expedia Inc. spokesperson Sarah Waffle Gavin said “We can confirm that we have received early termination from the FTC on our HSR filing but have no additional information to share at this time.”
Under the 2013 agreement, Expedia has certain options to acquire Sabre’s Travelocity for a fair market price. And that seems to be moving forward now.
Read the full article for details at http://skift.com/2015/01/16/expedia-closing-in-on-acquisition-of-travelocity-from-sabre/
Jul 1, 2014 | OTAs
The Booking Battle: OTAs Break into the Loyalty Market | U.S. News Travel.
OTAs have begun offering loyalty rewards hoping that additional incentives will keep travelers from straying to other booking sites. Hotels have employed this incentive for a long time and hoteliers worry that programs like Expedia Rewards and Orbitz Rewards will continue to encourage travelers to make third-party bookings.
Online travel agencies target consumers looking to rack up and redeem points more quickly than they would through a hotel program, said Expedia CMO and Senior Vice President of Global Marketing David Doctorow. OTA program members can earn rewards by booking stays at eligible hotels, regardless of the brand they choose — allowing for increased earning potential. “There are more ways to get to a reward faster,” he explained.
For hotels it gets even worse; Orbitz recently announced a credit card partnership with Visa that enables members to receive an 8 percent return per dollar spent on hotel bookings and a 6 percent return on airfare bookings and package deals purchased through Orbitz.com with the Orbitz Visa card.
Have to say that pretty good for travellers, but where will this leave hotel brands, can they compete? What do you think?
Jun 20, 2014 | OTAs
Online travel agents: Sun, sea and surfing | The Economist.
Expedia has become the world’s biggest travel agent. Last year, its gross bookings were $39.4 billion, through brands such as Trivago, Hotels.com and Hotwire, as well as its own eponymous operation.
The third-largest travel agent, Priceline, whose brands include Booking.com, had booking sales of 39.2 billion in 2013.
In 2013 online travel agents (OTAs) had combined bookings of $278 billion, according to Euromonitor, a market-research firm.
OTAs are making their Mobile apps more appealing by, for example, adding location services that help travellers find the nearest rooms and restaurants. But the swing to mobile is also because the way people plan trips is changing.
But not markets are online: Germans still arrange their holidays through traditional travel agents. The Chinese, who now spend more on travel in aggregate than any other country’s population, but they booked only 15% of their trips by value online in 2012, says PhoCusWright. PhoCusWright estimates Chinas online bookings will be 24% by 2015, making the Chinese online-travel market worth around $30 billion.
Aug 26, 2013 | Marketing, OTAs
The Affiliate Deal of the Decade .
| Travel Research – Industry Events – PhoCusWright Conference
The chart shows just how badly Travelocity has slipped, but it still commands 16% of the market.
Also see our previous post
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