The acquisition gives BCD Travel some additional digital acumen, and clients of Travelocity Business now get access to corporate travel services on a more global scale.

At the same time, but in a separate action, Travelocity agreed to sell London-based Holiday Autos, which has more than 5,000 car rental locations, to Dublin-based CarTrawler. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We’re a growth-oriented company and see this move as a smart, strategic acquisition,” said Mike Janssen, president of BCD Travel’s Americas region. “We see a fantastic cultural fit with TBiz. Their success comes from focusing on customer needs, enabling travelers and offering great solutions—in other words, they share our priorities and goals.

Launched in 2003, Travelocity Business was one of the top 10 travel management companies in North America, the companies said.

The acquisition does not impact Travelocity.com, which is a leisure travel business for consumers.

Sam Gilliland, the CEO of Travelocity Business’ parent company, Sabre, in the past has stated that the privately held company at some point would be looking to execute an initial public offering.

Travelocity and Travelocity Business don’t appear to be core to Sabre’s global distribution system and airline IT businesses so perhaps the sale of Travelocity Business is some kind of precursor to an eventual IPO. Holiday Autos also was considered ripe to offload.

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That’s not the greatest signal to be sending to the world just three months after raising $25 million in a Series B funding round.

The three-year-old company, which is left with a staff of around 130 after the bloodletting, clearly will be drawing down on some of its growth plans.

Faguet tells Skift that one focus will be on developing direct relationships with hotels in cities inside and outside the former Soviet Union that are important to Russian travelers instead of taking a broader geographic approach.

In addition to downsizing its staff, Ostrovok is trying to make its marketing spend more efficient.

Faguet labels the recent steps Ostrovok has taken as “very difficult” and “a tidying around the edges to a certain extent.”

The company isn’t giving up on growth, which is an imperative, but it is facing stubborn competition not only from Booking.com, but from offline travel agencies, as well, Faguet says, adding that about 90% of Russians still book their travel offline.

Part of the shift to online will take place “naturally,” Faguet says, but Ostrovok has also increased its brand awareness through a recently ended TV campaign on “prime-time channels,” and the company is currently analyzing the advertising’s impact.

Faguet concedes that Ostrovok’s overly ambitious project timetable and large burn rate forced management to spend an inordinate amount of time on fundraising, and this was a “huge distraction.”

Ostrovok has raised about $38.5 million in Series A and B rounds, and a few months ago was talking about trying to raise another $100 million in a year or two.

That timetable may have been pushed back a bit.

Faguet says Ostrovok needs to identify more opportunities for profitable growth, and that the next time it hits the fundraising trail, the company will have to be on a more solid financial footing to attract quality, equity investors.

Ostrovok’s growth story took a negative plot twist this week, and it will have to work hard to alter those perceptions.

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Naspers, the South African media and internet conglomerate which has a global portfolio of digital acquisitions, is now close to another one: it is buying India’s biggest bus booking service RedBus.in, for a reported price of between $100 million to $140 million, according to two reports in Economic Times and NextBigWhat.

The talks are still in advanced stages of negotiation, and it may involve a majority stake, not outright acquisition. Earlier this year reports came out that ReBus was trying to raie $20 million from private equity, but looks like it led to these sale talks. Last year Naspers took a stake in India’s largest ecommerce site Flipkart.

RedBus was founded in 2006, and grew to be the largest bus ticketing site in horrendously unorganized sector in the country. It says it is now selling 10 million tickets every year, with gross sales nearing $200 million annually. Bangalore-based Pilani Soft Labs, the holding company of Redbus, has raised about $10 million in three rounds of funding so far, from investors such as Helion Venture Partners, SeedFund and Inventus Capital.

From MediaNama, on Naspers’ travel investments in India:

If this acquisition turns out to be true, it will probably strengthen [Nasper India's] online travel ticketing venture Goibibo which already offers bus ticketing services along with flight and hotel reservation services. Last year, MIH Group had acquired 51% stake in the Gurgaon-based travel company Tek Travels, which owned a B2B travel portal Travel Boutique Online, which provided white label solutions for agents to offer B2B and B2C travel bookings online.

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U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle ruled June 15 that the provisions of Travelocity’s user agreement of February 4, 2010, require customers to individually arbitrate claims when the amount in dispute is less than $10,000.

In fact, if you want to book a hotel on Travelocity.com, you must consent to the user agreement, which bars participation in class action lawsuits.

The ruling is a blow to plaintiffs who seeks class action status for an amended complaint filed May 1 alleging that most-favored nation clauses between hotels and online travel agencies that bar the hotels from offering distribution partners lower rates than they do on the hotels’ own websites amount to a price-fixing scheme.

The ruling, however, appears to apply solely to Travelocity and the particulars of its user agreement, leaving other defendants, including Expedia, Hotels.com, Priceline.com, Booking.com, Orbitz, Wyndham, Carlson, Best Western, Choice Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, Starwood, Marriott, Trump Hotels, Hilton Kimpton, and EyeForTravel, still in play.

And, the ruling doesn’t necessarily remove Travelocity from the line of fire, either; the judge ordered the parties to provide updates on the arbitration proceedings every 90 days.

The plaintiffs unsuccessfully argued that Travelocity’s motion to compel arbitration, filed in April, would usurp their rights to file their claims as a class, and that it was unfair to compel arbitration in the same county where Travelocity has its headquarters.

It’s unclear if other defendants, to the extent that their own user agreements have provisions similar to Travelocity’s, will now likewise file motions to force arbitration.

Regulatory authorities in the U.K. are investigating similar hotel-price fixing issues involving online travel agencies and hotels.

Here’s the judge’s ruling:

Download (PDF, 181KB)

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But corporate managers in charge of spending for business conferences and conventions remain tightfisted with their money.

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SniqueAway will do just that as TripAdvisor has decided to retire the SniqueAway brand in favor of its acquisition, Jetsetter.

Less than three months after acquiring Jetsetter, TripAdvisor is phasing out its home-grown private-sales brand, SniqueAway, Skift has learned.

When TripAdvisor acquired Jetsetter in April, the spin was that the two brands, Jetsetter and SniqueAway would co-exist, but sales director Kathleen Hanefeld has emailed hotel partners, informing them that “as of June 28, SniqueAway.com will become Jetsetter.com.”

“Our parent company, TripAdvisor, acquired Jetsetter April 9 and, after reviewing what would be the best experience for our travelers and our partners, we decided to combine our assets and have SniqueAway become Jetsetter,” the email says.

Once the SniqueAway brand is phased out at the end of the month, partners will be introduced to “new team members,” and hotels will be given information about how they can partner with Jetsetter, the email says.

It’s rare for TripAdvisor to retire a brand, but despite its financial troubles, Jetsetter clearly was the better known and more successful brand of the two.

TripAdvisor’s Smarter Travel Media launched SniqueAway around September 2010 at the height of the flash-sales craze when, in addition to Jetsetter, Kayak was running private sales, as were companies such as RueLaLa.com and Vacationist, among others. TripAdvisor was still an Expedia subsidiary at the time.

Meanwhile, Expedia partnered with Groupon to launch Groupon Getaways, a flash sales effort where hotels are put on sale for perhaps a couple of days.

While Jetsetter still runs flash sales, about half of its hotel sales these days are of the standard, retail variety with no deadline for completing a sale.

Hanefeld told hotel partners that any sales currently scheduled to run on SniqueAway or Jetsetter won’t be impacted by the consolidation of assets. Jetsetter will operate under TripAdvisor’s Smarter Travel Media group.

Here’s the SniqueAway email to hotel partners:

Dear Partner,

I’m very excited to let you know of a change that’s coming up: As of June 28, SniqueAway.com will become Jetsetter.com.

Our parent company, TripAdvisor acquired Jetsetter on April 9 and, after reviewing what would be the best experience for our travelers and our partners, we decided to combine our assets and have SniqueAway become Jetsetter.

This transition gives us access to an even larger member base, as well as several other fulfillment and service benefits.

Here’s what this means for you:

- Any sales you have scheduled to run on SniqueAway will be completely unaffected by the change.

- Any sales you have scheduled to run on Jetsetter will also be unaffected.

- The partner extranet, our online tool for managing your flash sales, will remain active until the last SniqueAway reservation departs.

- All reservations and payments will remain secure, and our customer-service team will remain at your disposal to answer any questions at support@sniqueaway.com.

The success that SniqueAway has enjoyed has been due in no small part to our relationships with our partners, and I want to offer sincere thanks on behalf of myself and the entire SniqueAway (and Jetsetter!) team.

After June 28, we’ll be reaching out to our partners individually to introduce new team members and discuss options for partnership with Jetsetter. If you have any questions before then, please feel free to get in touch with me or email the team at partners@sniqueaway.com.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Hanefeld, CHSP

Sales Director

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Figures from the hotel comparison website Hotels.com suggested that searches for accommodation in Salvador have more than doubled in the first half of 2013, increasing by 126 per cent on the same period last year.

Searches for hotels in the northern city of Fortaleza have also risen sharply – by 108 per cent – while travellers looking for accommodation in the already popular destinations of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro increased by 32 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively.

Hotel prices have also begun to climb, though not yet to the levels London experienced during the 2012 Olympics.

Average hotel rates in the country rose by eight per cent last year to ($237) £151 a night.

Prices in Sao Paulo also increased by eight per cent to an average of ($212) £135 a night, while in Rio they rose by 13 per cent to ($277) £177 per night.

Both cities are due to host World Cup matches, as are the cities of Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Natal, Manaus, Recife, Cuiaba and Curitiba.

Another factor influencing the increase in price for hotels is the country’s booming economy. Brazil attracted 5.4 million visitors last year, a rise of 4.5 per cent on the previous year, according to the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism. Of those visitors, 155,548 were British, a four per cent rise on 2011.

While 57 new hotels are expected to open in Brazil this year, there are concerns that there may still be a shortage of rooms by the time the tournament begins.

“It’s great to see interest is building in Brazil ahead of next year’s World Cup,” said Alison Couper, from Hotels.com. “Looking beyond the World Cup to the 2016 Olympics, however, we could find that hotels in Rio are scarce. Although the city is working towards a target of 50,000 rooms, this is half as many as London had in 2012.

“While prices in Rio will almost certainly be higher than they were in London last year, travellers should still be able to get good value for money if they book early.”

• Read about Rio’s preparations for the 2014 World Cup

• Costa Verde, Brazil: green is the colour

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Police move past barricades in Istanbul square. / Associated Press

Ongoing protests in Turkey have seen a sharp fall in inquiries for hotel rooms from holidaymakers.

Hotel searches for Istanbul have decreased by 99 per cent between May 28 and today, according to the hotel comparison website Trivago. Searches for Ankara, where protests have also taken place, have dropped by 86 per cent over the same period.

While tour operators to Turkey have yet to report any holiday cancellations, there is concern that further unrest could damage the country’s tourism industry.

“Since the day the riots began in Istanbul, we have noticed a significant decrease in searches on trivago for hotels in Turkey, in comparison with this time last year,” said a spokeswoman for Trivago.

“Although the riots have been primarily located in Istanbul and Ankara, the popular coastal resorts of Antalya, Bodrum, Izmir, Cesme, Marmaris, Kusadasi and Fethiye have also experienced a combined decrease in hotel searches of 81 per cent.”

Yesterday, the Foreign Office warned that further violent protests could take place, highlighting two major pro-government rallies planned for Ankara on June 15 and Istanbul on June 16.

It said the main trouble hotspots were Taksim Square, Istiklal Street and in the Besiktas area of Istanbul; the central Kizilay district around the Prime Minister’s office in Ankara; and the town centre, near the water front in Izmir.

Protests have also reached tourist destinations including Fethiye, Marmaris, Bodrum and Mersin, but the FCO said these have so far been mostly peaceful.

In Bodrum, demonstrations have centred around the city’s marina, away from the beach resorts that attract thousands of tourists each year.

Today, riot police moved into Taksim Square in the city centre to remove anti-government protestors. They replaced banners hung by the protestors with a national flag and a portrait of Kemal Ataturk, the father of the Turkish state.

Tour operators have been monitoring the situation closely. Akin Koc, managing director of Anatolian Sky Holidays and chairman of the Association of Specialist Turkish Tour Operators, said: “We have received one or two calls from clients and agents to check the situation but we have not had any cancellations. Likewise none of our clients have contacted us to delay their departure or alter their itinerary as a result of the protests.”

He is currently in Turkey at the moment and said that he is hopeful that the situation will pass soon as the Prime Minister agreed to meet protest organisers tomorrow.

Michael Fleetwood, product manager for Cox & Kings’ Europe said the protests have not affected their tours. “We have a group tour departing this week as planned, and clients already in the country, and will continue to monitor the situation very closely,” he said.

Thomas Cook said holidaymakers were continuing to enjoy Turkey’s resorts: “Our experienced teams on the ground assure us that, while there have been reports of a few peaceful demonstrations in some of the tourist areas, they are fully operational,” a spokesman said.

British tourists cancelling their holidays to Turkey do so at their own risk as the Foreign Office has not advised against travel to the country. Therefore, tour operators are under no obligation to offer them a refund, or even alternative travel dates.

The FCO has also said that local transport routes may be disrupted and recommends leaving more time for getting around, particularly for airport transfers. 

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There is always room for improvement when it comes to the former platforms, but often real success, or at least influence, comes from imagining a new way to travel (just ask Airbnb.)

This week’s SkiftSeedlings takes a look at the former type of initiative: Five early-stage travel startups that are reformatting or building a layer on top of existing services. Startups that imagine a better travel experience, one feature at a time.

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For all of our SkiftSeedlings collection, check out our archives here.

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Such cultural vibrance positions Asia as an attractive destination for travelers of all stripes, seeking anything from conventional resort stays to meticulously planned city tours to off-the-beaten-track wildlife escapades. This explains the Asia tourism industry’s massive size — which is slated to reach USD 357B by this year, a 64 percent increase from 2009.

While industry competition is brutal, a number of trends are converging to unearth a variation on the conventional travel experience.

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