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The online travel agencies’ hotel tax mess: Every state, every case
DigitalThe City of Los Angeles sued online travel agencies such as Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity and Orbitz in 2004, and over the intervening nine years, lawyers have built careers on the litigation. Oh, some cases have been resolved, with OTAs winning the majority, but losing some big ones. Looking at Priceline as a case in point, [...]
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Airline websites escalate customer feud with OTAs
TransportExperts say consumers can expect to see more enticements to book directly, as airlines try to steer travelers to their own sites instead of online travel agencies, or OTAs, such as Expedia or Orbitz. The feud is an old one: Airline sites offering fee-free booking had an edge over OTAs until just a few years [...]
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The next generation of Kayak wannabes: 10 travel metasearch challengers
DigitalIn the early 2000s there were a ton of travel metasearch sites (RIP Quixo), even before Kayak came on the scene in 2004. They faded away for awhile, but in recent years travel metasearch has come back in force and is hot, hot, hot. Witness Expedia’s majority stake in Trivago, Priceline’s still-pending acquisition of Kayak, [...]
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California state judge rules online travel agencies not subject to hotel taxes
DigitalMajor online travel agencies, including Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity and Orbitz, notched a big win in an almost decade-long hotel tax fight in California. A state Superior Court judge, hearing claims from the cities of Los Angeles, Anaheim, Santa Monica, San Diego and San Francisco, issued a summary judgment, holding that the defendants are not hotel [...]
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Why the “Mad Money” host is bullish about online booking sites
DigitalAre travel sites about to take off? For insights Jim Cramer consulted the charts. ”I’ve been a fan of this group for some time now,” said Cramer. However, the Mad Money host’s enthusiasm stems from improved fundamentals. In a recovering economy Cramer thinks people will travel more for both business and vacation. And he likes online [...]
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Local governments in New York get class action status in hotel tax suit
DigitalA group of local governments in New York State has won class-action status in a lawsuit that accuses online travel booking companies of failing to pay millions of dollars in hotel taxes, one of dozens of cases in a legal battle playing out all across the country. Nassau County filed the lawsuit in 2011 on [...]
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Japan’s largest travel site Rakuten Travel aggressively expands in Asia
DestinationsRakuten Travel Inc, Japan’s largest online travel site, is gearing up to add customers in Asia and cash in on strong regional tourism growth. “We aim to expand our business outside the home country, especially in Asia, thanks to sound economic growth and increased internet use,” said Yoshi Yamada, vice-chairman of Rakuten Travel, a subsidiary [...]
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Four global megatrends forcing the travel industry to adapt or die
DigitalThe World Trade and Tourism Conference took place this week in Abu Dhabi. The conference has ended, but interested parties can still comb through the taped sessions that discuss the trends and challenges that the industry is facing in the future. Dr. Daniel Stelter of The Boston Consulting Group provided an economic context for the changes that the industry [...]
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The online planning and booking habits of ten different tourist groups
OriginalInternet has undoubtedly changed the way the world travels, but there are many travelers that are still not booking online whether it be due to structural barriers, cultural preferences, or a lack of resources. A recent report by Tourism Australia researched what percentage of travelers from ten countries planned and booked their trips to Australia online, in the year [...]
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Hotels market their way around rate pacts with online travel agencies
DigitalAmid the larger discussion of whether rate-parity agreements are beneficial for hotel room suppliers, many revenue managers are using creative, out-of-box thinking to offer discounted promotions to segmented groups of travelers. One strategy is using “fences,” also known as closed user groups, to segment a hotel’s customer base and offer promotions to specific groups of [...]
